Whenever I ask people how they come up with ideas for new products, services or solutions for their organisation, the usual answer is “Well, I’m really not that creative!” And right after that, they’ll talk about their creative hobbies and entrepreneurial side projects. Or how they recently solved an issue for their manager, resulting in company wide adoption of their solution.
It’s rarely a lack of creativity blocking people, it’s focussing their creativity energy, applying it to a specific customer/consumer segment or a challenging (technical) issue, and all that under pressure. Or worse, the company culture makes them feel unsafe to share their ideas.
I’ve helped many organisations focus their (collective) creativite brainpower and overcome these obstacles, and would love to do the same for you! Be it in creative brainstorm sessions, through training and working on your company culture, or by setting up robust Idea Management practices.
Imagine the number of good ideas you’ve had in the past year, that you just didn’t follow through on. Now multiply that number by the employees in your organisation. Higher than you thought? That’s how many good ideas your organisation has missed out on, simply because they were not captured, fostered, and enriched. In short: You need Idea Management!
And it doesn’t just stop when you have lots of ideas in your Innovation Funnel. Selecting the right ideas to develop further is easily as big a challenge. And when decisions are eventually made, there’s often little rationale to it and a decision trail is missing.
Building on 15 years of experience at organisations large and small, I can help you organise for successful Idea Management, and employ a rational Idea Selection methodology. This includes visualisations that we can use when pitching a portfolio of ideas to your (innovation) board or other stakeholders.
Developing (ecosystems of) products, software and services is - and will always be - where my background is. Some of the activities I can help you with, or even take off your hands completely:
Which activities are relevant to your specific business depends on so many variables that it's impossible to list them all here. So let's just have a chat about how I can help you specifically!
The days when employees were just faceless cogs in a big machine are thankfully mostly behind us. Today, every employee - even a civil servant - is expected to take initiative, improve customer service, refine processes, develop new ideas, and sell their ideas. This type of behaviour, however, does not always come naturally to everybody. My Innovation Masterclasses are specifically meant to elicit an innovative mindset and honing it in a safe environment, with the end result of persisting it in their daily work activities.
These masterclasses usually run for three (non-consecutive) days and are attended by trainees, and/or employees taking a next step in their career. Practical application is key in Action Learning, so ideally all participants will work on their own current assignments (cases/projects) throughout.
Tailored offerings are of course possible. In collaboration with The Behaviour Company we can also add personal effectiveness modules and even individual coaching.
Inspiration for innovation is all around us, every day. Discovering opportunities is mostly a matter of being aware, keeping an open mind… and opening your eyes! The EyeOpener helps achieve this by finding inspiration in everyday situations. It guides your team through an Action Learning process, specifically guiding them in:
The EyeOpener has helped teams gain valuable insights into the needs of their consumers/customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. As an added bonus, it has had a radical effect on the general awareness and innovativeness of the participants themselves. And… it’s just great fun!
Slide decks, assignments, exercises, reading, simple e-learnings, animations, questionnaires, infographics, learning plans, et cetera. I’ve written, designed and created them all over the years. Some for my own facilitated trainings and workshops, but also a full course “Innovation & Knowledge Management” for the online MBA program at Schouten Nelissen. I’ve even mentored MBA students in their graduation assignments.
If there is any training or education you want to offer your colleagues, and you need a course and materials developed, contact me! Together we can define learning goals, examine the ideal mix of theoretical knowledge and practical experience, and shape this into a tangible and effective learning experience.
Especially when the topic is (related to) innovation, open innovation, creativity, idea management, knowledge management, business models, communities & crowdsourcing, consumer insight, et cetera, I'm sure I can help you!
To void misunderstandings, in any business modelling exercise, it’s always pivotal to first distinguish between your Business Model and your Business Case.
Your business model(s) describe the various aspects needed to conduct your (new) 'business' and achieve your goals, even if you are non-profit or governmental. It describes key activities, roles, partners, supply chains, the intended customers or consumers, et cetera. All of these aspects must work together seamlessly. Some organisations have their own templates for recording and conveying this, but in case you don’t: I can wholeheartedly recommend we work in the Business Model Canvas. Read more on the Wikipedia page or in the book.
The Business Case (or “Earnings Model”, or "Financial Model”) describes the flows of cost and income, models these, and then attempts to make calculated forecasts. I’ve created and reviewed dozens of these, and can of course help you with yours!