Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Seeker is looking for a solution to save stranded Whales, Dolphins, and other big fish
Every year more than 2000 fish/mammals around the world get stranded and majority of them do not make it back to the sea. The occurrences of big fish/ mammal stranding and the causes are still a subject of scientific research and debate. Current known ways of rescuing, results only in saving a few, smaller and younger ones.ideaken.com platform is hosting a challenge to identify practical solution to save stranded Whales, Dolphins, and other big fish
The challenge is looking for a solution in following areas.
Point 1) Identification of the reasons that causes stranding and ways to fix those reasons.
OR
Point 2) a) Keeping the stranded big fish / mammals alive, far longer than possible today b) solution to move them back in the deep sea, and c) ways to avoid re-beaching
OR
Both Point 1) and Point 2) above.
Your solution will be reviewed by the experts in big fish/ mammal rescue field for applicability and suitability.
Read more about the problem here or Sign Up Now to start solving.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Putting the theory of collaborative innovation to practice - ideaken.com is live!
We call it a beginning of how power of social media shifting from instant gratification to creating a sustainable value.
ideaken team is excited and proud to announce the launch of a platform for collaborative innovation.
We believe our platform offers many firsts on how software as a service (SaaS) is getting rolled out to the world. We also believe that we offer the best possible platform to date which facilitates innovation via collaboration. And we are committed to keep it that way.
Check out collaborative innovation concept overview and how the platform works
Welcome onboard!
Monday, September 28, 2009
On what my obstacles feed?
To increase the speed, I need more power; more power is at the expense of more weight, which in turn decreases the speed. Be it an automobile or an enterprise, knowing - on what your obstacles feed - helps. Following questions; when answered, will find some of yours.
Culture / Mindset
1) Do you associate part of your employee satisfaction to the innovative culture?
2) Does your enterprise enforce people to think only in terms of their roles?
3) Are you stuck with the thought that innovation is responsibility of HQs?
4) Is conviction that you are an innovative enterprise holding you back from doing more?
5) Is the world passing by? Are you too internally focused?
ROI / Priorities
6) Are your stakeholders’ & investors’ short term focus backed by solid reasoning?
7) Is your customer-acquisition spending primarily on tangible aspects?
8) Does your enterprise facilitate ability to change course on the way?
9) Do you deal with R&D cost Vs Benefits same as you deal with Cost price Vs Selling price?
10) Do you stay ahead of competition or follow it?
Enablement / Motivation
11) Does your leadership tend to notice the crisis manager more often than the one who avoids crises?
12) Does your enterprise recognize importance of incremental innovation?
13) Do you have an on-demand, two-way pipe between the business challenge and the idea sources?
14) Do you believe remuneration is good enough motivation for someone to innovate for you?
15) Have you visualized your junior employee taking a brilliant idea to implementation?
Somewhere between ‘why’ & ‘why not’ – that worthwhile journey begins.
Culture / Mindset
1) Do you associate part of your employee satisfaction to the innovative culture?
2) Does your enterprise enforce people to think only in terms of their roles?
3) Are you stuck with the thought that innovation is responsibility of HQs?
4) Is conviction that you are an innovative enterprise holding you back from doing more?
5) Is the world passing by? Are you too internally focused?
ROI / Priorities
6) Are your stakeholders’ & investors’ short term focus backed by solid reasoning?
7) Is your customer-acquisition spending primarily on tangible aspects?
8) Does your enterprise facilitate ability to change course on the way?
9) Do you deal with R&D cost Vs Benefits same as you deal with Cost price Vs Selling price?
10) Do you stay ahead of competition or follow it?
Enablement / Motivation
11) Does your leadership tend to notice the crisis manager more often than the one who avoids crises?
12) Does your enterprise recognize importance of incremental innovation?
13) Do you have an on-demand, two-way pipe between the business challenge and the idea sources?
14) Do you believe remuneration is good enough motivation for someone to innovate for you?
15) Have you visualized your junior employee taking a brilliant idea to implementation?
Somewhere between ‘why’ & ‘why not’ – that worthwhile journey begins.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Negative capability
People innovate, a process or a system doesn’t.
People are your positive capability; not enabling your people is your negative capability.
Fortunately enabling your workforce is quite in your control, and can help reduce the negative capability to great extent. Ways to enable your people is only limited to your imagination.
Enable it by giving employees their own time in the area of their interest.
Have on the spot reward at the assembly line
Create an inclusive mindset; flat structure which retains the ideas
This could become a long list ...
But what matters is - your own means of enabling on the ground. To have an enablement plan in place, obvious place to start is to look out for non-enablers, the road-blocks.
a) First and foremost - have you established a channel, a way of reaching out to your talent sources? Sending an email or putting up a blog is an option but this unstructured approach may not get you very far. Pull, in other words self-service and volunteered effort works the best.
b) Have you figured out ways to motivate a potential contributor? Certificates are good, but unfortunately it does not excite the real talent. Most like recognition and nobody says no for dollars. Most importantly map the motivation to the intellectual satisfaction.
c) Have you decentralized innovation? Do you have a team that innovates or do you have a team that innovates & coordinates the innovations of all employees across your enterprise, check out this big difference.
Figuring out your own set of enablers and keeping them fresh fosters your innovation journey.
Give man an assignment to innovate for days. Or Enable your workforce to innovate anytime, anywhere - self served.
“Give man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” - Lao Tzu.
People are your positive capability; not enabling your people is your negative capability.
Fortunately enabling your workforce is quite in your control, and can help reduce the negative capability to great extent. Ways to enable your people is only limited to your imagination.
Enable it by giving employees their own time in the area of their interest.
Have on the spot reward at the assembly line
Create an inclusive mindset; flat structure which retains the ideas
This could become a long list ...
But what matters is - your own means of enabling on the ground. To have an enablement plan in place, obvious place to start is to look out for non-enablers, the road-blocks.
a) First and foremost - have you established a channel, a way of reaching out to your talent sources? Sending an email or putting up a blog is an option but this unstructured approach may not get you very far. Pull, in other words self-service and volunteered effort works the best.
b) Have you figured out ways to motivate a potential contributor? Certificates are good, but unfortunately it does not excite the real talent. Most like recognition and nobody says no for dollars. Most importantly map the motivation to the intellectual satisfaction.
c) Have you decentralized innovation? Do you have a team that innovates or do you have a team that innovates & coordinates the innovations of all employees across your enterprise, check out this big difference.
Figuring out your own set of enablers and keeping them fresh fosters your innovation journey.
Give man an assignment to innovate for days. Or Enable your workforce to innovate anytime, anywhere - self served.
“Give man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” - Lao Tzu.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
On the cloud, and counting
Today - electricity, enterprise email provider & online CRM are on your service payment list, served from the cloud.
Hiring talent is world’s oldest way of managing innovation. And way back, people figured out that talent could be also hired as-and-when needed & for-the-time it is needed
Moving on from there, a new revolution is taking place. Innovation is now open.
Following is the direction; a typical senior management has started thinking.
1) I do not need the best talent, I need the right talent.
2) I do not need the right talent forever, I need it for now and I don’t know when next.
3) I do not want to go attempt and search the right talent, I want the right one to approach me.
4) I do not want to keep paying for something with a probability of not meeting my expectations.
If you closely look at this new mindset, you will find it to be a win-win for both the sides.
a) Global pool of talent – The long tail phenomenon, the right talent you are after may not be the most visible or present is the most obvious place, or part of the best and biggest groups. Innovation intermediaries are now connecting your enterprises with the right talent across the world.
b) Customers – are obviously the best source of intelligence on how they can be served better. And when they are served better, then chances of lot many more customers feeling the same is high, directly affecting your business growth. It is becoming increasingly important to connect with your customers, not as an event, but to stay connected.
c) Research vendors – are opening up for a partnership which is not a fixed price contract for doing research, the outcome based contracts are on the rise. Also enterprises are tying up with multiple research vendors, and research vendors working for more clients simultaneously, as a result both sides increasing the chances of hitting the plum.
d) Academia – Most of the academia are happy to be associated with the enterprises on the relevant subjects. You won’t find an innovative enterprise not having few associations for tapping the talent in academia.
These are the things lined up for your next cloud.
The world never stops, the ones perceived to be the best, give way for better ones.
Tip is – go tap it.
Hiring talent is world’s oldest way of managing innovation. And way back, people figured out that talent could be also hired as-and-when needed & for-the-time it is needed
Moving on from there, a new revolution is taking place. Innovation is now open.
Following is the direction; a typical senior management has started thinking.
1) I do not need the best talent, I need the right talent.
2) I do not need the right talent forever, I need it for now and I don’t know when next.
3) I do not want to go attempt and search the right talent, I want the right one to approach me.
4) I do not want to keep paying for something with a probability of not meeting my expectations.
If you closely look at this new mindset, you will find it to be a win-win for both the sides.
a) Global pool of talent – The long tail phenomenon, the right talent you are after may not be the most visible or present is the most obvious place, or part of the best and biggest groups. Innovation intermediaries are now connecting your enterprises with the right talent across the world.
b) Customers – are obviously the best source of intelligence on how they can be served better. And when they are served better, then chances of lot many more customers feeling the same is high, directly affecting your business growth. It is becoming increasingly important to connect with your customers, not as an event, but to stay connected.
c) Research vendors – are opening up for a partnership which is not a fixed price contract for doing research, the outcome based contracts are on the rise. Also enterprises are tying up with multiple research vendors, and research vendors working for more clients simultaneously, as a result both sides increasing the chances of hitting the plum.
d) Academia – Most of the academia are happy to be associated with the enterprises on the relevant subjects. You won’t find an innovative enterprise not having few associations for tapping the talent in academia.
These are the things lined up for your next cloud.
The world never stops, the ones perceived to be the best, give way for better ones.
Tip is – go tap it.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Who stalled my innovation?
When innovation gets caught up on the way, it becomes a liability. Benefits which are scheduled to arrive and accounted for is delayed, while the investments made keep adding up. Failed innovation is a natural process; it takes 10 to get the 1 right, and is far better than the stalled effort.
The best place to start is to figure out if resistance is taking a toll. This typically happens towards the very beginning or towards the very end when key stakeholders are involved, who, like everybody else have natural tendency to resist change.
Check if the effort is spent in one direction, without a stock take, for too long. Form a steering committee external to the innovation team derived from a diverse background, which provides independent inputs periodically.
People pick signals from leadership, if a leader’s commitment is diluted or has backed off, then you will see the untold consequence on the ground.
The stalling factor for your enterprise innovation could be entirely different, which, only you can figure out and act on. And when you do, consider following,
1. Check if key people have left or withdrawn interest.
2. Check if budget got utilised elsewhere.
3. Check if it lacks an unbiased view. Form an external steering committee.
4. Check if you are hoarding it up, de-centralize innovation and look beyond the obvious.
5. Check if you need basic processes around innovation, like you have for other critical things.
Revival resembles being in new locality of a familiar town, to get back home, it is essential to catch the one going in the right direction!
The best place to start is to figure out if resistance is taking a toll. This typically happens towards the very beginning or towards the very end when key stakeholders are involved, who, like everybody else have natural tendency to resist change.
Check if the effort is spent in one direction, without a stock take, for too long. Form a steering committee external to the innovation team derived from a diverse background, which provides independent inputs periodically.
People pick signals from leadership, if a leader’s commitment is diluted or has backed off, then you will see the untold consequence on the ground.
The stalling factor for your enterprise innovation could be entirely different, which, only you can figure out and act on. And when you do, consider following,
1. Check if key people have left or withdrawn interest.
2. Check if budget got utilised elsewhere.
3. Check if it lacks an unbiased view. Form an external steering committee.
4. Check if you are hoarding it up, de-centralize innovation and look beyond the obvious.
5. Check if you need basic processes around innovation, like you have for other critical things.
Revival resembles being in new locality of a familiar town, to get back home, it is essential to catch the one going in the right direction!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
What’s everyday among Apples?
If someone asks you to name 3 innovative companies, the companies you will name will most probably be the ones that go about doing innovations as a continuous process. Less of strategy and more as way of life, they are the ones who have escaped from the trap of planning for the innovation long ago and have got down to doing it.
You will also notice that these companies do not invent big every day, however they make sure they do it continuously. The small innovations get the due acknowledgment which paves the way for big. Innovation does not need to be always radical.
On the other hand some companies are accidental innovators, nothing wrong, except that the probability of unintentional innovation is slim.
The top management has a reason to be not happy with one-off innovations. Try this,
1) Have intention to move towards innovative culture, make it as visible as possible, part of your every communication.
2) Do previous step often
3) And when you do this often, you and others in your team will figure out the how part, yes it just happens!
The most important things are the simplest, just that they are not the most obvious. While you are figuring out the how part, do check out the following
a) Your employees and customers who are NOT part of your R&D team are also well placed to provide the ideas.
b) Find a way to reach outside your enterprise boundary, the latest trend has got all the top companies initiate collaborative innovation in some form or other.
c) Invest in collaboration software which enables innovation management
Process enablement promotes perseverance, perseverance brings sustainability … building sustainable innovation culture itself needs innovation.
You will also notice that these companies do not invent big every day, however they make sure they do it continuously. The small innovations get the due acknowledgment which paves the way for big. Innovation does not need to be always radical.
On the other hand some companies are accidental innovators, nothing wrong, except that the probability of unintentional innovation is slim.
The top management has a reason to be not happy with one-off innovations. Try this,
1) Have intention to move towards innovative culture, make it as visible as possible, part of your every communication.
2) Do previous step often
3) And when you do this often, you and others in your team will figure out the how part, yes it just happens!
The most important things are the simplest, just that they are not the most obvious. While you are figuring out the how part, do check out the following
a) Your employees and customers who are NOT part of your R&D team are also well placed to provide the ideas.
b) Find a way to reach outside your enterprise boundary, the latest trend has got all the top companies initiate collaborative innovation in some form or other.
c) Invest in collaboration software which enables innovation management
Process enablement promotes perseverance, perseverance brings sustainability … building sustainable innovation culture itself needs innovation.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Get the ball rolling
That word – ‘innovation’, usually finds its place in organizations’ strategy either directly or indirectly as a non linear initiative, budget thrown in and going back to business as usual.
Not so surprisingly, there is a huge gap which gets created between the strategy and what eventually happens on the ground.
What can one do to get the ball rolling in the right direction?
1) Do one simple check as a first step, see that the strategy involving the word ‘innovation’ is not done just to make your annual presentation look good but is aligned to a business objective.
2) Leave lot of room for change on the way, having a direction is good when it comes to innovation, but don’t get stuck with it.
3) Conflict of opinion is a biggest killer of innovation, and dropping the project is more often the way out to avoid the disagreements.
For a strategic objective to increase the sales, you will find things like better branding, advertisement, and new geography in the operations plan. Similarly the pillars of your innovation operations plan should be a) Platform conducive for innovation b) Encouragement - be it reward or recognition c) Non political transparent process to evaluate ideas.
You have the pins lined up; and you have the ball.
Not so surprisingly, there is a huge gap which gets created between the strategy and what eventually happens on the ground.
What can one do to get the ball rolling in the right direction?
1) Do one simple check as a first step, see that the strategy involving the word ‘innovation’ is not done just to make your annual presentation look good but is aligned to a business objective.
2) Leave lot of room for change on the way, having a direction is good when it comes to innovation, but don’t get stuck with it.
3) Conflict of opinion is a biggest killer of innovation, and dropping the project is more often the way out to avoid the disagreements.
For a strategic objective to increase the sales, you will find things like better branding, advertisement, and new geography in the operations plan. Similarly the pillars of your innovation operations plan should be a) Platform conducive for innovation b) Encouragement - be it reward or recognition c) Non political transparent process to evaluate ideas.
You have the pins lined up; and you have the ball.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Utilize the latent talent
Every organization has talent, which is more diverse than the roles available and assigned to an individual employee.
Every organization has a purpose to fulfil and obviously the roles are derived from that end purpose in mind and assigned top down. Though there is nothing wrong in this approach and nor does it need to change, this approach does not utilize the hidden talent of your employees, at times it could be a wrong assignment of a role; which is difficult to get rid overnight, and sometimes it is the absence of right encouragement which stops the employee from opening up.
Bigger problem though is the lack of realization, both on employers and employees part, that the talent is right there. Organizations constantly are trying to reduce the existence of this problem and many have succeeded to some extent. It is a quest to leverage what they own and pay for, pick the brains of their employees and convert that non time consuming sparks into revenue generation offering or a cost saving process.
“Obviously, the highest type of efficiency is that which can utilize existing material to the best advantage” - Jawaharlal Nehru
Every organization has a purpose to fulfil and obviously the roles are derived from that end purpose in mind and assigned top down. Though there is nothing wrong in this approach and nor does it need to change, this approach does not utilize the hidden talent of your employees, at times it could be a wrong assignment of a role; which is difficult to get rid overnight, and sometimes it is the absence of right encouragement which stops the employee from opening up.
Bigger problem though is the lack of realization, both on employers and employees part, that the talent is right there. Organizations constantly are trying to reduce the existence of this problem and many have succeeded to some extent. It is a quest to leverage what they own and pay for, pick the brains of their employees and convert that non time consuming sparks into revenue generation offering or a cost saving process.
“Obviously, the highest type of efficiency is that which can utilize existing material to the best advantage” - Jawaharlal Nehru
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