Announcing:

** Would you like your own in-house innovation intranet to help everyone in your organization think more effectively? If so, the InnovationWizard, a dynamic, fully developed innovation resource. is for you. For more information, staff@thinksmart.com.

** NEW Training: Innovation is a team sport but it depends on individual competencies. Personal Innovation Competencies is a new training/coaching program designed to improve the bottom line by helping individuals identify skills they can develop and practices they can adopt to enhance innovation. For more info, staff@thinksmart.com.

InnovationDNA Online Series -- Part 1:
Defining Innovation & Challenge

Welcome to the InnovationDNA Online Series! For an overview of the series, staff@thinksmart.com.

'Because its purpose is to create a customer,
the business enterprise has two -- and only these two --
basic functions: marketing and innovation.
Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are 'costs.'
-- Peter Drucker, Ph.D., from 'People and Performance'

What is innovation? We talk about it a lot. Companies put it in their mission statements and in their ads. But what is it really? Simple definitions are great and the one we like is:

'Implementing new ideas to create value.'

ACTION: Talk to people in your organization to see how they define innovation. How does your CEO define it? You could put up a large sheet of white paper with 'How do YOU define innovation?' and let people create a graffiti wall of definitions.

What prompts innovation? Lots of things ... problems, new technologies, ideas that show up in the middle of the night, changes in demographics, visions of how things might be, and passion for new possibilities. These innovation drivers eventually create a 'Challenge' which is the first operational dimension of innovation.

DNA Model: The seven operational dimensions of innovation are in the green DNA helix and, like a staircase or a roadmap, the helix starts at the bottom and reads toward the top. http://www.thinksmart.com/mission/
dna/index.html

Challenge ... the Energy Source

Innovation, by definition, means doing things differently, exploring new territory, taking risks. There has to be a reason for rocking the boat, and that's the vision of what could be ... it's the challenge. The bigger the challenge and the commitment to it, the more energy the innovation efforts will have.

On an everyday basis, the creativity and drive to solve problems might well lie in the framing or stating of the challenge. When people are involved emotionally in empathy for the problem or the value of the solution, indifference can turn to fervor.

Springboard Stories*: From Space to Zero Waste

In 1961, President Kennedy challenged us to put a man on the moon and return him safely home before the end of the decade. This seemingly impossible task became history as the world watched Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon five months before the 60s ended.

Ray Anderson, CEO at Interface, the largest manufacturer of commercial carpet in the world, wants his company to *restore* the environment. The challenge to his organization is 'create zero waste.' By creating QUEST Teams (Quality Utilizing Employee Suggestions and Teamwork), they are well on their way to eliminating carpet waste in landfills and as a bottomline bonus, they have saved over $165 million in the past few years .

Mini Scavenger Hunt: What does Challenge look like in your organization? Ask at least 3 people these questions and then send any insights (brief please) you might glean to: staff@thinksmart.com, subject: CHALLENGE

? What is an example of a big challenge that created lots of excitement and new ideas? How did you feel being part of that process?

? Are you excited by your company's mission and purpose?

Tool of Interest ... you might want to get more familiar with 'Future Search' which is a great way to find the challenge that excites passion and the energy needed to create change.

Book: Discovering Common Ground by Marvin Weisbord
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/
ISBN3D1881052087/innovationnetworA/
1020003194-3691331
Article: http://www.co-intelligence.org/
P-futuresearch.html
Article: http://irma.irm.ernet.in/network/
3-3doc2.html
Website: Future Search Network http://www.futuresearch.net/

Further Reading:
Book: Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model by Ray Anderson
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/
ASIN/0964595354/qid=1013529894/
ref=ase_innovationnetworA/102-0003194-3691331

Web Article: Business Hero: Ray Anderson, whose environmental consciousness started out as 'comply, comply, comply,' is now considered 'The Greenest CEO in America.' For more information: http://www.myhero.com/hero.asp?hero=r_anderson

Web Article: 'The Interface Model' by Ray C. Anderson
http://www.csbsju.edu/creativity/
creativity00/AndersonArticle.htm

* Springboard Stories ... Stephen Denning, formerly with the World Bank, led a transformation using one 29-word springboard story as his main tool. For more information about this story and the book that resulted from this experience, go to:
http://www.thinksmart.com/mission/
workout/hotoffpressbooks.html