Innovation
Innovation can be taught, learned, and shared.
Innovation is a way of looking at the world with new eyes. Over time people and organizations can become accustomed to viewing challenges as obstacles instead of opportunities. This creates a scarcity mindset that reinforces practices like resource hoarding and keeping obsolete practices which kill efficiency and subvert healthy adaptation. Innovation is the practice of applying natural curiosity to improve some aspect of a necessity or worthwhile pursuit.
Innovation doesn't always include the latest technology, sometimes a significant improvement can simply be the application of an existing idea in a new context. Innovation is as much a mastery of asking why as it is creating new solutions. PI has curated many innovation strategies and other free resources to help you spark new ideas, invent new tools, and improve the world.
Idea
We provide support for new ideas!
Many truly amazing ideas are wasted because there doesn't seem to be the necessary support to develop them. A simple observation by a front-line employee could reframe a new successful business model or lead to an exciting discovery. Most organizations don't take full advantage of their greatest assets; People and information. People bring passion and experience, and information offers a path to clarity. By intentionally mining these resources an organization can easily overcome its largest obstacles and achieve its highest goals.
History provides numerous examples of ideas coming to the right people at the right time. However, sometimes the difference between the right person and the wrong one is the correct frame of mind. This productive mental state can be cultivated over time with mindful reflections or it can be facilitated by an expert. PI has experience in many industries and environments, let us help.
How Can We Generate Great Ideas?
As the world becomes increasingly more connected, pressures to perform are abundant. Do you have a plan to navigate this ever-changing landscape? We can help you:
- Innovate your processes
- Develop your teams
- Clear direction for leadership decisions
- Powerful action plan templates available
Great ideas can come from anywhere! When people are equipped with the right tools and empowered to lead, innovation is the natural result. Let us help you make the most of the experience of your patients, customers, vendors, and employees.
How can you Innovate Faster?
There are many useful tools with which to practice innovation. Understanding what each offers provides a range of choices to customize appropriate solutions for any given scenario. Fully engaging in the innovation process can yield truly amazing results.
- Create new products
- Develop your teams
- Prototype Ideas
- Apply Technologies in Novel Ways
New technologies are valuable assets in the innovation process; however, like any other tool, it is limited by the imagination of those using it. Curious people are at the center of every successful initiative.
IMPLEMENTATION
Get it done.
Once a course of action has been identified, vetted, and approved many of the significant details can get lost during the implementation process. Those who have experience with large or complex projects understand that there is a certain art to making things happen. Understanding how to implement and conduct a project is essential to achieving goals important to the organization. Sometimes the innovation process is so stimulating that it is difficult to find an actionable focal point. Too often what began as an inspiring concept gets diluted to a manageable level. A mediocre interpretation can easily be avoided with proper planning.
In many cases, a project is delivered to the implementation team with several last-minute add-ons, restrictions, and conflicting priorities. These problems can be avoided by using proven systems engineering approaches and project management techniques. In most situations, it is possible to correctly scope an initiative without losing essential elements in the process. In fact, nearly any project can be completed without compromising quality, if it is well-planned. PI can provide the skills, tools, and support needed to achieve exceptional results.
How can you match reality to your vision?
Putting an innovative idea into action can be one of the most difficult parts of an improvement effort. However, by using smart planning tools and strategies it is possible to achieve great success during the execution of the project.
- Minimize Costs
- Avoid Delays
- Achieve High-Quality Outcomes
When done well, the Implementation phase can actually be an enjoyable benefit to the improvement process. Most of the costs and benefits of a project are realized during this phase. Success is determined by careful attention to detail, commitment to quality, and expertise. Understanding how to navigate these domains will improve the outcome of your project implementation.
IMPROVEMENT
Small steps lead to large gains.
After an innovation is implemented it is essential to have a plan to make improvements. This is a critical step in creating a perpetual innovation cycle. By building on the momentum of the innovation process it is possible to accelerate the value of the effort. By building an improvement effort into the process, even modest innovations can snowball into giant leaps forward. Automatic reports of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) can facilitate the process. However; sometimes understanding what to measure and improve can be an elusive task.
Fortunately, there already exists a tremendous amount of qualitative and quantitative knowledge necessary to guide the improvement process. Although, navigating the various tools and related literature can take years to master. Partnering with experts who are already familiar with the field is a great way to capitalize on sustainable gains. PI has extensive experience with applying improvement science methodologies. We can help you keep your efforts lean and agile.
Build sustainable improvements
The novelty of some innovations is their entire value statement, and sometimes that alone is enough. However, most people who choose to innovate have a larger goal in mind. Continuing the innovation process beyond the implementation phase offers several tangible benefits
- Do more with less
- Develop long-term solutions
- Integrate new ideas
The key to greater insights, value, and profitability comes through continuous innovation. By adding incremental improvements to an existing innovation, additional leaps forward are possible. By conserving resources through a sustainable mindset, each innovation generated from these improvements is more likely to have the necessary support to achieve new gains and utility.
Express a Need
Needs are a part of life, some of these needs are essential for day to day living, others are part of a emotional well-being. It is said that nessesity is the mother of invention. The foundation of innovation is based on some need. Maslow observed that not all needs are equal, this observation lead to the heiracry of Needs. Over time this heirarcy has evolved, and this frame work is a useful tool to understand the nature of the need or needs. Documenting how a given need affects an individual or organization is great asset for being able to articulate a well crafted problem statement.
Articulate a Problem
Some of the most obvious problems are those that cause the most pain or discomfort. Einstein once commented that if he had one hour to save the wolrd, he would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and spend the remaining 5 minutes working on the solution. Many problems are part of a larger set of issues. Employees of Toyta manufacturing company will ask "Why" five times before they begin working on a problem. Going five layers deep on an issue means that effort isn't wasted on problems that are syptoms of a larger concern. Sometimes it takes more than five times to get to a simple explanation for why a problem exists in the first place. Look for systemic connections between related problems. An innovative solution shoudn't solve one problem only to make an other problem worse.
Adjustment
Sound ideas with solid backing can still fail to achieve the intend result or reach their ideal end-users. Factors like a recession, changing end-user needs, and supply shortages can thwart all of your careful planning and implementation.
One of the elements of Murphy’s Law states that “Everything takes longer than you expect.” A good project manager will attempt to account for unknown factors. However, making small adjustments can have potentially significant benefits to the project time table and success of the project.
Maintenance
Many innovators and entrepreneurs get so deep into the product launch that they forget about what it takes to keep the momentum going. There is a temptation to make operations too lean, the problem with this notion is it reduces the shock capacity of an enterprise. Shock capacity, or Robustness, is the ability to have a failure but not have it affect operations. Sometimes this means redundancies or premium grade equipment. Eventually everything will brake if it doesn't become obsolete first. This concept applies to brand management and HR as much as it does to machines. Make maintenance a priority, it keeps the enterprise fresh.