Beyond The Buzz of Innovation

Get practical. Here's how to truly apply the hot concepts of everyone's favourite word.

By Ed Bernacki

Everyone's hot on innovation. Just check your own publicity. More than likely it asserts that your association "provides innovative services to members." But behind the talk is a lot of misunderstanding about what creativity and innovation actually mean in a business setting and how to apply the concepts.

Having worked in and with several associations, I've observed that they seem to fall somewhere between two extremes: groups that administer membership services, and groups that create benefits for their members. The difference appears to be that some association executives solely implement the ideas of their board of directors, and some take more initiative in bringing their ideas of their board of directors, and some take more initiative in bringing their ideas to the board. The executives who continually reshape products and services are skilled in harnessing their imagination to create opportunities. The behaviour of the strict implementers, in the other hand, tends to reflect a lack of awareness and use of the basic creativity tools. Also lacking are an understanding of how innovation affects the bottom line, and focus on nurturing an organizational climate that inspires staff and members.

Five years with Canada's Ontario Soccer Association (OSA), Toronto, taught me and important lesson: creating value for your members has little to do with a business orientation or access to resources. It has more to do with the desire to create opportunities for your members. Without knowing it at the time, at OSA we were following many of the key parameters for innovation. We worked with a sense of urgency in solving problems and an equal sense of urgency to develop opportunities. We did not wait for yearly retreats. We used three questions on a frequent basis to uncover insights that would improve the way our members experience the association.

1. What did we do last year that did not work well and needs to be enhanced?
2. What did we not do last year that we should do this year?
3. What did we do last year that worked well but that could be enhanced anyway?

The first question made sure that mediocrity did not creep in. The second reflected the need to look systematically for opportunities. The third stamped out apathy and complacency.

At OSA, the idea-generating questions led to several activities that added value to membership. We launched a magazine that enabled the association to develop sponsorships and market membership programs. We also started an annual trade show and conference. In addition, we established several volunteer advisory boards with business insights and contacts to support the work of our elected leaders.

OSA's continual focus on generating ideas for new activities had three key benefits: It grew our membership and revenue base; it lessened our dependency on government funding; and it created an environment that was challenging, highly satisfying, and fun.

Growing an association through innovative thinking

In considering the growth that can go hand in hand with innovative thinking, associations cannot ignore the related costs of the activities that fuel the growth. But don't forget to also consider the cost of not being innovative. Trying something new is costly - doing so carries a risk of the unknown. However, there is also a risk in maintaining the status quo. Which is the bigger cost and risk to your association in the long term?

Growth stems from using ideas to do two things - solve problems that waste resources and create opportunities that produce new resources. Start by making two assertions.

1. Good ideas already exist inside your organization. They are in the minds of your staff, members, board, and suppliers.
2. What's likely missing is a system to nurture, enhance, and execute these ideas.

Keep in mind these definitions

• Creativity - involves the tools and processes that result in generating new, original, or unique ideas.
• Innovation - involves the process of generating viable business ideas - ones that add value.

As such, creativity helps you find ideas, while innovation helps you profit from them. Described here are ways in which some organizations profited from a wealth of innovative thinking.

Sponsorship simulation. The Canadian Soccer Association, Ottawa, wanted to enhance its relationships with key sponsorship executives and encourage sponsors to take more initiative in working with one another. The association hosted for all sponsors a daylong workshop that included a novel simulation. Sponsors were given a new product to market that they were not familiar with. Thus, a hotel marketing director had to market soccer shoes, and so on. The group was taken through a number of situations in which a variety of sponsorship deals had to be constructed. The event forced marketing directors to reconsider many of the assumptions they had made about sponsorship.

Marketing makeover. A non-profit provider of first aid training needed to increase its revenue base and recognized that the market for its general course was limited. The organization held a creativity workshop to explore new ways to package training. The challenge was to change the organization's perspective by considering who needs first aid training in society. The group identified a market that it had never considered: couples expecting their first baby. The organization quickly recognized a bottom-line potential that required little development work and created opportunities for sponsorship and future extensions of the training package.

Member motivator. To place more emphasis on membership services, a number of associations are replacing the traditional keynote speech at the annual conference with a membership workshop. A facilitator briefly discusses the value of new ideas and new thinking. Then delegates, sitting in a roundtable setting, receive a handout challenging then to address two issues:

1. Do you have one or two ideas that would give you better value from your membership?
2. What are the greatest challenges that you or your organization face this year?

Each table nominates a note taker. Delegates brainstorm ideas, then summarize them into a small set of important ideas and challenges. One recent conference produced 60 pages of ideas, which are now being addressed.

Nurturing a culture that's open for thinking

The place to start a drive toward innovation is with the climate of the organization. What is the prevailing attitude toward ideas and creative thinking? The climate is the space, attitudes, and feelings that shape the way people act on a day-to-day basis. Most associations already have one key ingredient necessary for innovation - passionate people.

Here are common factors that create obstacles to a creative climate.

1. Perception of insufficient time to be creative. This is a common reason for the lack of creative results.
2. Lack of urgency to change the status quo. This factor can be highly stifling to many younger people who join the organization eager for the dynamics of change.
3. Political problems. Needless to say, battles between volunteers and defensive actions on the part of executives who want to protect their turf, halt creativity.
4. Evaluation pressures. When the focus is strictly on quantitative factors with little regard to qualitative ones, creativity is hindered.

Association executives must step back to reflect on these two issues: Do staff feel that they have the flexibility and time to reflect on creating value in their jobs? Secondly, do they fell overwhelmed by the amount of work, or highly challenged by the possibilities of the future? Staff perceptions will dictate your ability to operate more innovatively.

The culture of an organization is also reflected in its facilities. Businesses are thinking beyond desks and furniture to create spaces for different types of work. Consider whether the space you use for meetings contributes toward creative thinking. Many boardrooms are bored rooms - dark and dull. Companies today are converting office space into areas that are more like creativity labs or gymnasiums for creative aerobics.

Cultivating your own creativity

Once in a while a product jumps off the shelf and yells, "Buy me!" You pick it up. It interests you. In fact, you think it's great. The Apple iMac is such a product. But what makes it a great product?

The many consumers of the iMac appear to purchase the product not only for its price but its design. The product reaches a level of simplicity and functionality that produces a positive emotional response in people. Although few products and services will produce an emotional response, doing so can be considered the ultimate goal. People not only gain utility form a great product or service, they are inspired by it.

To create a great product or service, you need to be able to define what makes an idea great.

• Great ideas have quality, integrity, and clarity.
• Great ideas create a clean and clear solution.
• Great ideas make sense of the situation.

The best tribute to a great idea is the response, "It's so obvious. Why didn't I think of that?"

Sir Geoffrey Palmer, former prime minister of New Zealand, responded to my challenge to define a great idea when he said, "Analysis and thought are critical to the recognition of a great idea, but they are not enough. In the end, great ideas often come from instinctive flashes of insight. When you have a great idea, you know it with conviction, even if other people do not
recognize it."

Analysis, thought, instinct, and conviction - a powerful blend of concepts, together making the difference between the mediocre and the spectacular. If you guide your association in absorbing the analysis, thought, instinct, and conviction of everyone on staff, your members and all others stakeholders are sure to see the difference.

Written By Ed Bernacki for Association Magazine 2002