December 2, 2008
03:21 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Often our clients ask us: how do we know if we are an innovative organization and how can we measure if we are improving? Based on our experience practicing, teaching, and consulting in Innovation Management, we developed an empirically-based model or framework to view innovation from a team and organization-wide perspective. This model, which we call the “Innovation Field,” is described in our bestselling book, The Seeds of Innovation. Here is a quick overview of the model.
The Innovation Field incorporates eight key areas or elements that, together, create a systematic and holistic view of how to ensure and improve upon the conditions needed to support and sustain team and organizational innovation. These eight elements, which can be viewed as the “soil” composition necessary to grow the “seeds” of innovation introduced in last week’s post, are:
1. Shared Innovation Vision and Strategy
2. Innovation Environment Supports
3. Innovation Resource Allocation
4. Innovation Process Networks
5. Innovation Programs
6. Innovation Skills Development
7. Innovation Rewards and Recognition
8. External Stakeholder Innovation
Let’s take a look at the first two of these elements (don't worry, we'll examine the other elements in future posts!):
1) Shared Innovation Vision and Strategy
It is critical that all employees have a good understanding of the overall organization–the vision as well as the operating strategies and goals–so that they can align all of their innovation activities and focus their efforts for the organization’s benefit. However, often we have witnessed leaders stand up at their annual meetings and request “we need more innovation” without outlining what they mean by “innovation” and “in what areas, they require more innovation.” Do they want and will they approve radical innovation or are they really seeking incremental innovation? With limited resources, where should the focus be placed? In order to maximize the contribution of all employees, it is important first to have a clear vision of why you want to become a more innovative team or organization and, secondly, how you plan on integrating all the diverse innovation activities so that they support the overall organization’s strategies and goals. This should not be a “one-shot” event at an annual meeting; rather, it needs to be an ongoing program.
2) Innovation Environment Supports
One of the biggest influences on and determinants of innovation is the “culture” of the team and organization that either supports or hinders innovation. When we say culture, we are referring to the patterns of behaviors, shared values, formal and informal power structures, and generally “the way we do things around here.” Organizations not only have to compete for customers and finite financial resources, they also have to compete for staff. Organizations that treat their employees with respect and provide a “culture” of support for personal and collaborative innovation, in our view, will win in the coming years.
Innovation leaders need to create a psychologically secure, i.e., safe, environment in which employees can not only take risks but also take harbor and relax long enough to contribute their best ideas for strengthening the organization. It is important to note, however, that an innovation leader does not have to build consensus. Experience has shown that stopping to build consensus is too slow, if not impossible, for today’s fast-paced economy. Instead, collaborative innovation, where ideas are developed based on the collective experiences and shared knowledge base of all stakeholders, allows leaders to retain the responsibility of making the final decisions and move the innovation process forward. Collaborative innovation means that everyone is given the opportunity to become meaningfully engaged and participate to provide insights for the collective good.
Cultivating and growing an innovation culture involves feeling “free” to challenge each other and ask questions, experiment with alternative ideas, and embrace change versus hang too tightly onto the past.
Are you Innovating with Meaning by identifying your Shared Innovation Vision and Strategy, as well as creating and sustaining a supportive Innovation Environment?
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (www.seedsofinnovation.com). They are co-authors of Innovating with Meaning (forthcoming).
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
November 25, 2008
09:56 am | 0 recommendations | 3 comments
We would like to briefly share key lessons from the bestselling book, The Seeds of Innovation. From our experience conducting research, teaching, practicing, and consulting in Innovation Management for over 20 years, we see that innovative thinking can be enhanced by improving core competencies (i.e., knowledge, skills, and attitude) in three key areas: Creative Thinking, Strategic Thinking, and Transformational Thinking. Outlined below is a quick overview of the 9 “seeds of innovation.” For more details and tools and techniques, please see our book, The Seeds of Innovation.
The Seeds of Creative Thinking
Overall business performance can be enhanced if employees are encouraged to believe in their own creative thinking abilities, become more curious, and discover new connections.
Seed #1: Believe in Creativity
It is not enough for a leader to simply encourage “creativity” and creative thinking. Everyone must believe in their own creative thinking abilities. They must also be willing to unlearn some of their old habits in order to truly participate in the innovation agenda and become an integral part of the organization’s innovation engine.
Seed #2: Be Curious
The foundation of creativity is the curious mind. Without a curious mind, many great opportunities will simply slip by unnoticed. Employees should be encouraged to broaden their perspectives and look for ideas beyond their particular department, organization, and industry. Innovative organizations encourage their employees to ask questions and challenge “the way it’s done in our industry.” It is important to note that employees can be encouraged to ask questions while still respecting the essence and realities of organizational life.
Seed #3: Discover New Connections
Creativity involves connecting diverse objects or thoughts in a new way. For some, this is an easy task. For others, learning specific creativity connection techniques is beneficial for jumpstarting their creative thinking.
The Seeds of Strategic Thinking
Creative thinking is only part of the overall concept of “innovative” thinking. In order to be truly innovative, a creative idea must add value to the organization. Employees need to develop their ability to turn their creative ideas into strategic ideas that can bring maximum value to the organization. Employees can learn skills in seeing the BIG picture, looking to the future, and doing the extraordinary.
Seed #4: See the BIG Picture
Often employees will bring creative ideas forward and expect their leader to determine how it fits or doesn’t fit the strategic context of the business. It should be the responsibility of each and every employee to understand the overall business context within which his or her creative ideas may fit. Employees can learn skills in seeing the bigger picture and enhancing their understanding of how things are interconnected within the organization and in the overall marketplace.
Seed #5: Look to the Future
All employees need to be challenged to look to the future instead of holding too tightly onto the past and “the way it’s done in our industry.” Once employees have these insights into the future, they need to develop the skills to integrate these new ideas into their operating plans. In addition to being able to share best practices, all employees, more importantly, should also be able to look for “next” practices.
Seed #6: Do the Extraordinary
Great innovators evolve from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Employees can learn how to apply the strategies and ideas of great innovators, as well as develop a predisposition for stretching beyond the norm.
The Seeds of Transformational Thinking
Employees need to be encouraged not to overlook the “human side” of innovation. In our experience, you can not have organizational transformation without personal transformation. Specific intra-personal and inter-personal strategies for developing, presenting, and implementing new ideas can be learned and practiced.
Seed #7: Seek Greater Awareness
Innovators benefit from gaining a greater awareness of themselves and the effect their behavior can have on others, as well understanding the dynamics of innovation in the team and organizational setting.
Seed #8: Ignite Passion
Passion is really about linking creativity with a higher purpose. Ultimately, as Tom Peters would say, passion is what makes and sustains “excellence” (and thereby innovation) in organizations. Employees can benefit from developing skills for overcoming resistance to change, as well as skills to continually ignite their own passion while they work to identify, recommend, and implement new ideas.
Seed #9: Take Action
Great ideas are not really “innovative” unless they are successfully implemented. Employees can learn specific action steps that can increase the likelihood of an idea being understood, accepted, and implemented. They can also learn specific steps to help build the collaborative networks needed to support new ideas.
The seeds of creative thinking, strategic thinking, and transformational thinking need to be integrated in order to capitalize fully upon the innovative thinking potential of all employees. Are you Innovating with Meaning by enhancing your core competencies in these 9 key areas?
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (www.seedsofinnovation.com). They are co-authors of an article, "Innovating with Meaning," in Leadership Excellence Magazine (November 2008) and the book, Innovating with Meaning (forthcoming).
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
November 18, 2008
09:54 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Through our work in organizations, with clients, as well as with students in both public administration and business administration courses, we have witnessed a wide range of definitions of “innovation.” Some of these, of course, are better than others. These definitions typically include references to “creative thinking,” “brainstorming,” “new products and services,” “breakthrough technologies,” and/or “radical business models.”
It’s one thing for a leader to stand up and ask for innovation, but quite another if everyone in the room has a different viewpoint as to what the leader is asking for! In this connection, it is very important to take the time to discuss and clarify what the concept of innovation means to you, your colleagues, and your organization so that everyone has a common platform or foundation upon which to work! Indeed, we have found that articulating such a shared meaning and understanding is a staple of sound innovation practice.
In the bestselling book, The Seeds of Innovation, we offer a simple, yet comprehensive, definition of Innovation that consists of four key building blocks: (1) Creativity (a “new” idea); (2) Strategy (a new and “useful” idea); (3) Implementation (“taking action” with a new and useful idea); and (4) Profitability (bringing “added value,” not necessarily in financial or monetary terms, to the team or organization through the implementation of a new and useful idea).
The expression of creativity without consideration of strategic needs/intent and implementation concerns/effects, including the operational, financial, and psychological or human elements that always come attached to creative ideas, has limited value in organizational life. You can see from our holistic definition of Innovation--which can be summarized and stated as the “profitable implementation of strategic creativity”--that we consider the concept of innovation to extend well beyond the new products, technology, or business model views that can be found more commonly in the innovation literature. As such, everyone in the organization should be encouraged to participate in finding and implementing new and useful ideas, especially those that are truly meaningful and make a positive difference for customers, employees, partners, and the community (of stakeholders) "at large"!
In support of Innovating with Meaning, we urge you to take the time to define and build a common understanding of what you mean by the term “innovation,” instead of simply stating it as an objective or corporate mantra!
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (www.seedsofinnovation.com). They are co-authors of an article, "Innovating with Meaning," in Leadership Excellence Magazine (November 2008) and the book, Innovating with Meaning (forthcoming).
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
November 12, 2008
03:37 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
If there ever was a time for a “can-do” attitude to help find innovative solutions to our personal and collective troubles, this is it! Many of you may remember the words uttered not too long ago by former U.S. Senator and economist, Phil Gramm, who downplayed the idea that the nation was in a financial recession; instead, he "diagnosed" the situation as a “mental recession,” likening the country's (and its citizen's) ills to what we all know as mental depression. In this regard, Gramm provocatively said that “We have sort of become a nation of whiners…complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline.”
Although we don't happen to agree with Senator Gramm's diagnosis, we do believe that Americans, like all people, must consciously and deliberately resist the human tendency to become “prisoners of their thoughts.” Only in this way may we increase our capacity to cope effectively and creatively with whatever comes our way in life--from the smallest disappointments to the most formidable of life's challenges. And this includes our capacity, as individuals, as organizations, and as a nation, to deal with the current economic crisis.
In this connection, moreover, it is through our search for meaning that we are able to reshape our patterns of thinking, “unfreeze” ourselves from our limited perspectives, find the keys and unlock the door of our metaphorical prison cell. When we search for and discover the authentic meaning of our experiences, we discover that life doesn’t just happen to us. We happen to life and we make it meaningful.
In his Foreword to our bestselling book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, Dr. Stephen R. Covey (bestselling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) introduces the following three lines that he came across in a university library while on a writing sabbatical in Hawaii:
- Between stimulus and response, there is a space.
- In that space lies our freedom and our power to choose our response.
- In our response likes our growth and our happiness.
Importantly, these three lines relate directly to the first principle that we introduce in Prisoners of Our Thoughts, “Exercise the Freedom to Choose Your Attitude,” which is based on the wisdom of the world-renown psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl (author of the classic bestseller, Man’s Search for Meaning). Dr. Frankl, a Nazi concentration camp survivor, is perhaps best known for practicing and espousing “freedom of will,” especially in terms of one's choice of attitude, as a point of departure on the path to meaning. In Dr. Frankl's own words, “Everything can be taken from a man but--the last of the human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's way.” In other words, in all situations, no matter how desperate they may appear or actually be, you always have the ultimate freedom to choose your attitude.
Of course, for many, if not most, people, exercising the freedom to choose their attitude is easier said than done! Just in case some of you are also wondering if you can exercise the freedom to choose your attitude, here is a quick exercise that, we promise, can and will help you to do so.
Whenever you confront a situation that is especially stressful, negative, or challenging for you, we want you to list “ten positive things” that are or could be associated with (or could result from) it. That's right, we said ten “positive” things! Stretch your imagination and suspend judgment, listing whatever comes to mind, no matter how silly, far out, or unrealistic your thoughts may appear to be. Feel completely free to determine or define what “positive” means to you and recruit family members, friends, colleagues, co-workers, etc., to help you with your list, if necessary.
After you've completed your list, look at it closely, and let the positive become possible in your frame of reference regarding the situation. Sometimes this is very hard to do. It requires a letting go of old ways of thinking, fear, pain, remorse, disappointment, frustration, perhaps even grief and anguish.
Experience has shown that this simple exercise opens you up to deep optimism no matter how challenging your circumstances. In all cases, people come to acknowledge that they are free to choose their attitude and view their circumstance(s) from many different perspectives. And, no matter how desperate the situation or condition confronted, everyone ultimately acknowledges that something positive could result from it. Importantly, through this exercise, people learn an effective way to release themselves, at least partly, from their self-imposed thought prisons.
Remember, although we may not be totally free from the various conditions or situations that confront us--in our personal and work lives--the important thing is that we can choose how we respond, at the very least through our choice of attitude. And even if you don't see the cognitive or emotional benefits of maintaining a positive attitude toward a situation you are facing, please consider the physiological benefits. One of the real powers of positive thinking is that it is good for your health!
Now ask yourself: Are you a prisoner of your thoughts? Are you choosing your attitude or just letting “life” happen to you? In order to innovate, all of us need to know how to break out of our inner mental prisons or our set ways of looking at our work, our organization, our industry, and even our personal life. So, from now on, we challenge you to Innovate with Meaning by choosing a more open viewpoint and a more positive attitude!
NOTE: More information about the "Ten Positive Things" Exercise, including illustrations of how it has been and can be used, as well as about the core principle upon which it is based, is available in our book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts.
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (www.seedsofinnovation.com). They are co-authors of an article, "Innovating with Meaning," in Leadership Excellence Magazine (November 2008) and the book, Innovating with Meaning (forthcoming).
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
November 5, 2008
05:52 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Have you ever worked in a job that you really didn't like or didn't feel fulfilled by the work that you were doing? More broadly, have you ever wondered if there was more to “life” than what you were experiencing? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are not alone. And importantly, you should know that because we're all human, it is totally natural--and healthy--to ask ourselves such fundamental questions about the way we work and live. In fact, we propose that the search for meaning is a “megatrend” of the 21st Century. Our book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, deals explicitly with this quest for meaning as it applies to both our personal and work lives. It is grounded firmly in the philosophy and approach, with the personal urging, of the world-renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Viktor Frankl, author of the classic bestseller, Man's Search for Meaning.
We are, by nature, creatures of habit. Searching for a life that is both predictable and within our “comfort zone,” we rely on routine and, for the most part, learned thinking patterns. In effect, we are prone to create pathways in our minds in much the same way that a path is beaten through a grass field from repeated use. And because these patterns are automatic, we may come to believe that these habitual ways of thinking and behaving are “beyond our control.” In other words, life, it seems, just happens to us. As a consequence, we lock ourselves inside our own mental prisons and hold ourselves “Prisoners of Our Thoughts.” This, in turn, limits our true potential, including our potential to innovate--in our personal life and in our work life.
In our experience, the capacity to advance and sustain innovation at all levels, both personally and collectively, is dependent upon a level and type of “engagement” that cannot be attained without acknowledging and cultivating what Viktor Frankl referred to as the primary, intrinsic motivation of all human beings, that is, the search for meaning. To be sure, the power of full engagement is closely associated with unleashing innovation potential. But this is not enough, good intentions notwithstanding, for all approaches to achieving full engagement are not created equal. Totalitarian regimes, for example, may technically obtain “full engagement,” but they risk doing so for the wrong reasons and, ultimately, wrong results! (Do you remember when “driving fear out of the workplace” was in fashion as a guiding principle of Total Quality Management?)
Alternatively, we propose that the real objective of engagement must be founded on an authentic commitment to meaningful values and goals or to what we describe as the “will to meaning” in Prisoners of Our Thoughts. In other words, the real power behind advancing and sustaining innovation is the “power of meaning-full engagement!” And this kind of engagement can only be achieved if we are not prisoners of our thoughts and if we do not hold others prisoners in our thoughts.
Are you a prisoner of your thoughts? Moreover, are you holding your co-workers, your colleagues, your partners, and/or your customers “prisoners” in your thoughts? In order to Innovate with Meaning, we have to ensure that we don’t lock ourselves inside our own inner mental prisons. And, importantly, we have to recognize that, metaphorically-speaking, it is us, each and every one of us, who holds the key to unlocking the door to our prison cell!
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (www.seedsofinnovation.com). They are co-authors of an article, "Innovating with Meaning," in Leadership Excellence Magazine (November 2008) and the book, Innovating with Meaning (forthcoming).
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
October 31, 2008
02:05 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments
There is a well known saying, “You get what you ask for!” Many organizations identify or list innovation as a core value in their mission statements and then fail to follow up with the necessary action steps to ensure that innovation does, indeed, become a rallying cry throughout the organization.
We believe, among other things, that innovation should be clearly described and prescribed as an explicit objective in everyone’s performance appraisal. In this connection, it is important to ask for new ideas and then expect that these new ideas be developed and implemented to support the overall organization’s strategic objectives. It is also important, of course, to provide the necessary supports for these ideas so that they can “make it through the system.” And it is vitally important to acknowledge and reward innovation.
Research has shown that innovators respond most readily and effectively to challenges when they can make a meaningful difference, when there are opportunities for personal recognition and respect, and when there is the freedom to complete specific tasks in a way(s) that they deem appropriate. Each of these factors, moreover, ranks ahead of the most common reward mechanism, “show me the money!”
The very acts of asking for innovation, reviewing innovative outcomes, and recognizing/rewarding attempts as well as successes, can serve not only as powerful motivators and inspirations for your current employees but also as key strategies for attracting high quality recruits.
So, are you walking the talk or just talking the walk of Innovation? Are you Innovating with Meaning by authentically asking yourself and the other members of your organization for Innovation and then showing that you really mean it?
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (www.seedsofinnovation.com). They are co-authors of an article, "Innovating with Meaning," in Leadership Excellence Magazine (November 2008) and the book, Innovating with Meaning (forthcoming).
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
October 22, 2008
08:09 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Over the years, we have consulted with many clients who have implemented idea programs as an integral part of their overall Innovation Agenda. The design and implementation of such programs must be well thought out, in order to build innovative thinking skills, participation, and trust among all employees. Here are just some of the idea program design principles to consider:
- Leader support--Are the leaders willing and able to support the idea program? Are they ready to “walk the talk” and authentically communicate that ideas are important to the organization?
- Objectives--What are the “real” objectives of your idea program: (a) to find quick “cost savings”; (b) to encourage idea-sharing between departments in an effort to break down silos; (c) to capture valuable insights as a means of managing the organization’s knowledge; and/or (d) to identify ideas that can be quickly developed, funded, and implemented? Are these objectives commonly understood across the organization?
- Participants--Is the idea program open to everyone in the organization? Is participation included as a requirement in each employee’s annual performance objectives? Should the idea program be expanded beyond the walls of your organization to include partners, suppliers, and customers?
- Process--Is the process of submitting ideas, receiving feedback, funding ideas, and implementing ideas easy to use and quick? Does the process include a “rewards and recognition” component? How is the “integrity” (i.e., authenticity and transparency) and accountability of the program ensured?
- Coordinators--Who are the coordinators of the idea program and what is their scope of decision-making authority?
These are just some of the principles you need to consider when designing an effective idea program. Are you “Innovating with Meaning” by taking the time to design a solid and meaningful idea program before you launch it with your team or organization?
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (www.seedsofinnovation.com). They are co-authors of an article, "Innovating with Meaning," in Leadership Excellence Magazine (November 2008) and the book, Innovating with Meaning (forthcoming).
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
October 14, 2008
10:46 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
So often leaders think that they are communicating a focused message to the members of their team or organization but, in many instances, their message gets lost in the clutter. Often these leaders move on to the next message before the members of their team/organization fully and commonly understand the first one!
Innovative managers understand that they should first determine the focus of the message that they would like to convey and then spend a lot of time "selling and reselling" (i.e., communicating) the focused message to their team.
In our experience, the most effective leaders are those who can authentically commit and focus their teams/organizations to/on three fundamental strategies, such as:
-
Ensure that the customer is the focal point for the organization [everyone must know and share a common understanding of the customer (consumer/citizen/patient/student–however your customer is defined) and look for ideas to improve the customer experience in a meaningful way]
- Build their brands (everyone must be looking for ideas to build business offerings that are clearly differentiated in the marketplace and that add value in a meaningful way to their community of stakeholders)
- Strive to be lean (everyone must be on the lookout for meaningful ways to cut costs and improve work processes)
Are you "Innovating with Meaning" by determining your focus, authentically committing to it, and then dedicating the effort to selling and reselling this focus over and over again until it is commonly understood and accepted?
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (ww.seedsofinnovation.com). They are co-authors of an article, "Innovating with Meaning," in Leadership Excellence Magazine (November 2008) and the book, Innovating with Meaning (forthcoming).
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
October 8, 2008
09:36 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Welcome back to the Innovating with Meaning Blog!
Many of our clients have expressed frustration at the lack of commitment to innovative ideas within their organizations. Many people complain that their managers lack vision or “just don’t get it.” Although this may be partly true, we must all realize that, ultimately, we have the responsibility to package and sell our ideas in a manner that maximizes the potential for understanding and acceptance. Here are five tips for selling ideas from our best-selling book, The Seeds of Innovation.
1) Understand and address the needs of your audience. Often we fall in love with our analysis and our ideas and fail to communicate in terms of the buyer’s needs instead of just our own. Take time to understand your audience. Not everyone looks for the same thing--some want to see the numbers, others want to understand how the idea fits with the organization’s strategic direction, while others want to know what impact the idea will have on the organization, employees, and other stakeholders.
2) Understand that others do not have the in-depth knowledge you have. Make sure that you share relevant background information on the problem, issue, or challenge, including the extent of its severity and why it needs to be (re)solved now before you present the details of the idea. Our golden rule is never present an idea until you have agreement to the problem.
3) Understand that although people say they want innovation, their definition might only include low risk ideas. Unfortunately, many people do not believe in the potential of a new idea unless someone else, especially someone they admire, has already experienced or accepted it. Every manager or customer wants to balance or manage the risks associated with a new idea, so show them that your idea is already proven in the marketplace. Find another organization, either in your industry or in another sector, that has succeeded with a similar idea, or find parts of your idea that have been successful elsewhere. Showing the buyer that your idea will work serves to lower the perception of risk and helps them switch from “the way we’ve always done it” to your new way.
4) Understand and address your buyer’s need for something “distinctly better.” In order to encourage your buyer to switch from what they are currently using or doing, you need to show them how your idea is distinctly better. Why should they bother switching? What new value are you adding and bringing to them? Remember, your buyer might think it’s easier to just keep doing what they have always done.
5) Understand that everyone is at a different stage of the idea "buying" process. Some might be ready to say yes immediately, while others need time to think about it, reflect on its implications, or possibly review more information. Realize that, like a good baseball player, you have to go back up to bat again and again, and you can’t always bat 1000.
Are you "Innovating with Meaning" by understanding and meeting your customers'/buyers’ needs?
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (ww.seedsofinnovation.com)
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
October 1, 2008
08:27 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Welcome back to the Innovating with Meaning Blog!
Life is about choices. Just like the contestants on the popular television show, "Deal or No Deal?", who have to choose between making a deal with the banker or carrying on with the chance of identifying a case containing a million dollars, we are all faced with making choices that send us along different paths in life. Often, these choices can lead to fulfillment or, alternatively, to feelings of "missed opportunities". These choices can be in our professional as well as in our personal lives.
Some of the missed opportunities others have shared with us include the following:
- Missing out on the opportunity to travel to a "dream" destination
- Missing the opportunity to learn from a "master" in a specific field
- Missing the opportunity to start their own business
- Missing the opportunity to really contribute in a unique way to their communities
- Missing the opportunity to pursue further education and/or change career paths
- Missing the opportunity to spend more time with family and friends
Each of these opportunities, which would (or at least could) have opened the doors to new learning and connections, was lost because the person felt that the risk was too large or because the person, consciously or not, gave into pressure to follow a path that others had written for him or her.
"Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"--Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
Innovation is about unlearning the old ways and forging into new territory. Importantly, innovation is not just a topic for organizations. In order to maximize our opportunities, we also have to embrace the concept of “innovating with meaning” in our own lives. Yes, that's right. Now is the time to start taking steps onto the path that you truly want to take in your life--both your personal life and your work life. Are you "innovating with meaning" by making sure that you don't have too many missed opportunities in your life?
Blog Co-Authors:
Dr. Alex Pattakos is the author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts (www.prisonersofourthoughts.com) and Elaine Dundon is author of The Seeds of Innovation (www.seedsofinnovation.com)
Recommend This If you liked this, let others know:
