Friday, September 08, 2006

"Make Innovation Work in Your Workplace"

The August 2006 issue of T+D contained an article titled "Make Innovation Work in Your Workplace" written by Jeff DeGraffis and Pete Bacevice. The article provides 7 techniques, used by Fortune 500 companies, to teach employees to be innovative.

#1: How you innovate is what you innovate.
Organizations need to understand the creative results they are trying to acheive. From there, determine which method, or combinartion of thinking methods, is suited for your company's needs.

#2: Enlist your "creativizers".
Innovators can include administrative support, line workers, or middle managers. Round up your staff members who already make innovation happen. Convene with them regularly to provide direction on where to apply innovation-focused projects.

#3: See one, do one, teach one.
Keep the innovation process rolling by developing a culture where the people with innovation potential can learn from the more experienced innovators.

#4: Show, don't tell.
Demonstrate your innovation concepts through pictures, videos, and other visuals that will engage the imagination and enable people to see a clear picture of your idea.

#5: Hide innovation inside Trojan horse projects.
Work innovative people and practices into large projects. Since failure is an inevitable outcome, this will give you the room you need to learn from your mistakes.

#6: Use the 20/80 rule and work from the outside-in.
"Launch your more radical innovation projects in the areas of your company that are in a crisis or on a roll."

#7: Leave room for discovery.
Leave room in your organization for the accidental discovery through experiments, diversity, and learning.

Read the complete article ($10 for non-ASTD members) >>>.

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