Media Information

Innovation and creativity have been in the media a great deal lately.
Behind these words are many myths and stereotypes. I want to take some of the misunderstanding out of the work with this media overview. Let's call this a "behind the jargon look" at innovation and creativity.

The business of creativity and innovation is highly sophisticated. The industry association is the Innovation Network found at www.thinksmart.com Working definitions of each term are:

Creativity - involves the tools, systems and processes that result in creating new or original ideas.

Innovation - involves the process of generating new ideas that are viable business ideas, ones that add "value".

As such, creativity helps you find ideas while innovation help you to make money from them!

Many people confuse these terms:

1. Innovation and technology - Many people assume innovation and technology are the same. They're not. Technology may be innovative, as it is new and original. But if we use technology, this does not necessarily make us innovative. Innovation, in terms of innovative thinking, is about new things in new ways, not new things in old ways!

2. Innovation and R&D - Research and the related development and commercialisation work are extremely important for manufacturers and producers. But, this does not excuse thousands of service based companies which do no R&D. The greatest gains in business will be made when the service sector takes on the principles of innovation in terms of how create opportunities, solve problems and develop their systems.

3. Tax incentives, R&D and Innovation - Can tax incentives increase the degree of innovation in a country? Maybe…probably not. If a CEO makes a decision on R&D based on the tax write-off rather than on the likely outcomes of new profitable technologies, one would have to question the decision making of the CEO. Investment in research is an investment in tomorrow's profitable products. If a company is not investing today, what will generate wealth tomorrow?

I often use the analogy that investing in research and expecting Innovation is a kin to investing in running shoes and expecting physical fitness. It may happen but many other events must occur to get the results we want.

4. Creativity versus "Crazy-tivity" - Edward de Bono was one of the first to champion the cause of new ways of thinking in business. Why is this important? To improve the bottom line. He made a clear distinction between creativity and crazy-tivity. He refers to commentators or writers who say that being creative is something about art or advertising.

5. Is advertising a "creative" industry? It likes to think so … but can accountants be creative?
Review the definition of creativity - finding new, original and unique ideas. Accountants or those in advertising can be creative if their results are new and original solutions, strategies, or opportunities. A major advertising agency recent got caught using an idea for a commercial that came from Canada. It suggested that the Canadian advert providing the inspiration to develop a similar version for Australia. I suggest that copying ideas is closer to stealing than creativity.

6. Is Creativity a "new" Thing? - Alex Osborne first conceived Brainstorming in business. He thought the meetings in his advertising agency lacked original thinking. He created a process to help people to "use their brains to storm through a problem". That was in 1938. The original purpose was to improve the quality of decisions and the contribution people make in meetings.

Media Questions for Company Directors
Media looking to separate the myths from the reality when a CEO says, "we are an innovative company", should review the findings of the research highlighted below to guide your questions. If highly innovative companies have these attributes, form questions around them. Also, ask about the percent of revenues from new products or the packaging of new types of services? If a CEO comments that invest heavily in R&D, question whether other parts of the organisation need innovative thinking and what the company is doing to facilitate this.

Research into Innovation & the Bottom Line
PriceWaterhouseCoopers interviewed executives from 300 large UK "innovative" organisations (defined in terms of continually launching new products and services - and profiting from them). In the words from the report, "we were surprised by the direct link between innovation and profitability". The survey found ten characteristics that separate the highest performers from the lowest, with trust as the number one differentiator. These ten factors are grouped together as three underlying capabilities

A. IDEA MANAGEMENT PROCESSES
These high performers focus on developing critical underlying capabilities that underpin their success and distance them from the competition. The top 20% in the survey turn their ideas into action via well defined idea management processes which:
1. Seek ideas and knowledge widely from customers, suppliers, employees, other industries and competitors.
2. Allow ideas and knowledge captured to be shared, stored in user-friendly form, and made freely accessible.
3. Actively encourage diversity of viewpoint, talent and expertise.
4. Delay the premature evaluation of new ideas by giving managers considerable discretion to pursue ideas without subjecting them to a formal appraisal.

B. SHAPING A CREATIVE CLIMATE
The most innovative companies bring their idea management processes to life by creating climate that encourages ideas to flow freely through the
business by:
1. Developing and promoting people who share a common set of values and using both values and competence as criteria for appraisals.
2. Using carefully designed reward and recognition systems to reinforce management behaviour that encourages innovation.
3. Training managers to support as well as challenge and to coach rather than direct so that they create a climate more favourable to innovation.

C. BALANCING LEADERSHIP AND DELEGATION
An effective balance between leaders and followers is crucial to sustaining an innovative working environment. For the highest performers this means:
1. Defining which decisions can be taken unilaterally and which must be based on consensus so that the social contract between leaders and followers is made explicit.
2. Recognising and rewarding people who take the lead in encouraging others to challenge current ways of working by, for example, sponsoring and protecting mavericks.
3. Employing human resource processes that, by recognising that leadership roles are often separate from management positions, selectively promote role models at all levels of the organisation.

Background on the Idea Factory
Ed Bernacki started his concept of the Idea Factory in 1996.

The Idea Factory Is...

• A management philosophy that stresses the development of ideas and innovation as the key to business growth.
• A system that instils an equal sense of urgency to create revenue opportunities and to solve business problems.
• A tool kit to improve brainstorming by focusing on reaching a particular "result".

The Reason for the Idea Factory
Ed Bernacki believes that most "good" business ideas already exist in the heads of staff, suppliers or customers. However, few businesses use a system to leverage the knowledge that exists or to enhance it further. As a result, many ideas remain buried and often stifled.

Why an Idea "Factory"?
The Idea Factory is an easy-to-understand metaphor to show the need to focus ideas in order to achieve results:

• you need raw materials eg time, a challenge, energy,
• you need to process the raw materials eg brainstorming tools to create value
• you need to produce a result and ship it out the door eg the idea, an action plan

What Can The Results Be?
The Idea Factory is a step-by-step process to teach businesses how to find ideas and turn them into profitable results, be this to:

• solve business problems - reduce shipping errors and damage
• create business opportunities - identify new markets or strategies
• prepare the business for the future - re-invent the business

Media comments on Creativity & Innovation

Media Ed Bernacki of The Idea Factory at 613 263 0046 (+1 613 263 0046) on issues of organizational innovation, idea management, conferencea, and creativity in general. Email info@wowgreatidea.com