An overview from my keynote on innovation culture at MI EXPO...

Love, hate and desire drive innovative cultures, says Beswick!

Only 3% of businesses can consider themselves to be truly innovative, according to Cris Beswick, innovation, strategy and leadership expert. Addressing  UTalkMarketing’s MI Expo, Beswick said that despite the fact “businesses are all competing for the same things”, only a few can say that they offer something truly unique to customers.

“In business, we are all here to differentiate, yet the reality is we all compete for similar things, in similar ways and at similar prices,” said Beswick.

“The ones [businesses] that don’t subscribe to this notion and step outside of it – the Googles and the Apples of this world, are the ones that innovate. I believe that any person in any organisation has the potential to do amazing things. Average companies do not innovate – fact.”

Beswick said he believes that the key to becoming an exceptional brand is to create a “culture of innovation” by employing the right people and by focusing on the three emotions that drive the success of a business – love, desire and hate.

“Everybody in an organisation has to love what they do. Managers cannot contractually make staff become energetic and inspired – it’s about having people working in a company that they believe is going somewhere,” he said. On the point of desire, Beswick cited the example of people queuing for hours to get hold of new Apple products.  “That’s desire – people buying with their hearts and not their heads. There are comparable products out there but people have fallen in love with that round little Apple symbol,” he said.

“And hate, [that’s about] your competitors hating you guts. You want to have them scratching their heads and saying ‘how did those guys do that?’”

Beswick outlined seven key traits that he believes can drive innovation in business; strategy, people, community, communication, environment, creativity, risk and leadership; and cited Richard Branson as an innovate individual, illustrating the point that it is often people’s quirks that allow them to innovate.

“Branson was dyslexic at school and a bit of an outcast – look at him 30 years later”, he said. “It’s often more eccentric people, who might not appear to quite fit in, or who look at the world in a different way, that have the ability to innovate,” he said.

He also stressed the importance of an organisation working as part of a team, and working flexibly, to achieve goals. “Create a team spirit, create as flat a structure in your organisation as possible,” he said, adding that getting rid of departments and silos is one of the ways organisations can encourage innovation.

“In terms of innovation, too many people want quick wins. It’s bloody hard work and won’t happen overnight,” he concluded.

How well do you know your customers?

Over the past decade, I’ve been preached to time and time again by MDs and CEOs about ‘customer-centricity’ and how ‘we know what products and services our customers like and we even know what they want us to improve upon and which of our new products they’ll like’. My response: “I rest my case. Haven’t you’ve just told me all about your ‘stuff’ and nothing about your customer?

Being truly customer-centric isn’t about showing them what you’ve got and asking them if they like it. It’s about looking at the world from their perspective and appreciating the problems and tensions they face and the things they aspire to. Without the right insight it’s more likely that what you do will be more about what’s best for your organisation rather than your customer.

When you really know your customers you’ll go beyond trying to sell them products and start to focus on solving their problems and that’s when you start to fuel innovation and differentiation. In the modern fast-paced commoditised world we operate in, it’s no longer about ‘what you do’ it’s about ‘how you do it’. Your competitors can copy products along with everyone else but they wont be able to do it like you do!


“We have only two sources of competitive advantage. The ability to learn more about our customer faster than the competition and the ability to turn that learning into action faster than the competition."


Jack Welch, former chairman/CEO, GE.


There are two points when customers talk about your business. When you’re pretty ‘Poor’ at what you do your customers will let everyone know about it. In the middle sits ‘Good’ but no one really mentions this as ‘Good’ has become the new ‘Average’. At the other end of my scale is ‘Exceptional’ and people talk here of brand loyalty, recommendation and constant endorsement, even Love!

The customer-centric organisations that sustainably differentiate do so because they understand the symbiotic relationship they have with their customers. The benefits for both are obvious but never the primary focus. In adopting this ‘Strategic Mindset’ you move beyond the traditional lip service or at best superficial attempt at customer focus. However, this means creating a different organisational approach to how you do what you do and involves being what I call ‘People-Centric’. Striking the right balance between customer pleasure and shareholder return will always, always be done through your people.

To do this, everyone in your organisation needs to understand how to collaborate on solving your customers’ problems in order for you to provide an exceptional end-to-end customer experience. So, in the same way your customers aren’t ‘Transactions’ your people aren’t ‘Resources’. Create a true relationship with your people and inspire them to be exceptional. Then passionately forge a relationship with your customers by replacing a ‘product-centric’ model with solutions as the fundamental part of your value proposition. Differentiation, innovation and shareholder return will be your natural by-products.

Good luck!

Promotion: The only way isn't always up!

The value of any brand is based on the talent of the people in the organisation!

It is not a business that takes a revolutionary step or comes up with a must-have product, but the people behind the business. It is the final few words that make all the difference here - knowing what to do with the talent you have in your organisation. Unfortunately, many modern businesses still operate in a traditional way when promoting talent: in other words, the best salesperson becomes the head of sales. But this is an approach that can, at best, misplace talent, and at worst do serious damage to a business. Just because you're great at sales, doesn't necessarily mean you'll be great at managing a sales team! While the person becoming head of sales has been rewarded with a pay rise and more responsibility, the business may have lost its best salesperson and, in cases where the management skills are lacking, contributed to a major downturn in the sales team's morale and performance.

Getting the right people on board is hard enough to do in the first place, so finding the right way to retain them should be your top priority, right? The traditional approach has been to reward top performers with a promotion, as it typically comes hand-in-hand with a pay increase. As the global economic recovery slowly gains momentum, research suggests that nearly half of your top talent will look to the horizon for fresh opportunities. But is the dangling carrot of 'career advancement' the best way to retain them? It is time for organisations to look beyond linking engagement and remuneration with 'promotion' - it isn't guaranteed to align employee goals with an organisation's fundamental objectives. Engaged employees are people that are highly motivated and are passionate about your organisation. They will have an emotional attachment and in most cases be willing to contribute far more than they are contractually obliged to. When you have a culture where discretionary effort is part of the day-to-day differentiation, business performance and shareholder return will far outpace your competitors.

What you will also have is shared purpose: openness and a level of understanding (being 'people-centric') that will allow you to align employees' aspirations and goals with the vision and strategy of your organisation in order to inspire them to maximise their personal potential. When you start dialogue with your people about what they want, you might be surprised to find that 'promotion' probably isn't it; but it's often a fait accompli. The world's leading organisations have 'talent mobility' that allows alignment, engagement, development and freedom for their talent to rotate or take different directions, other than upwards. It is about allowing your people to decide how they want to progress through your organisation, instead of only being promoted upwards. The challenge then is to support them, train them and develop them to reach their true potential.

Apple's tagline is: 'To build something truly different, you need to work in a truly different way.' It may be time for such a change in your organisation. Is it time to ask yourself some questions about your business and your team? Have you asked your people what they want? Have you ever offered them the ability to create their own role, or have you ever considered letting your people choose their managers and leadership teams? On the face of it, these seem like pretty big questions, but your company will only become 'outrageously good' as a result of doing things differently. If you engage your people and align them to your organisational journey, you will set their talent free. Utilise your people - make them a part of the decision-making process and you won't be constantly faced with the dilemma of 'do we or don't we?' when playing the promotion card. This may seem like a radical prospect, but remember what Mark Twain said: "If you always do what you've always done, you will get what you've always got!"

7 Steps to achieving innovation in 2011

Ok, before you read on let me be absolutely clear about one thing. There are no quick routes, shortcuts or guru inspired equations that will deliver true innovation. The truth is that it’s hard work and it takes time if you want it to be a sustainable part of your business. But it’s absolutely worth the effort, as we all know it drives business growth and competitive advantage!

The challenge most MDs and CEOs face is how to create a company with an entrepreneurial and innovative culture. To help meet that challenge the companies I work with buy into my philosophy that ‘innovation is a by-product of being exceptional’ and that unless we strive to be outrageously good at what we do the chances of being truly different, innovative and world-class are remote.

The bottom line is innovation is all a bout people. Creating the right culture and engaging people to want to be exceptional is what the worlds leading, most innovative companies do best. They are talent-rich, entrepreneurial communities, collectively passionate about what they do and how they do it. Whatever sector or market you are in, whatever product you sell or service you offer, forget it. If you’re the MD or CEO, from now on I want you to think of yourself as being in the people business! The first thing to get your head round is that shareholder value is no longer delivered by the hard traditional metrics but by what I call the three emotions of business, Love, Desire & Hate!

You and all your people need to absolutely ‘Love’ what you do and how you do it. Your customers have to ‘Desire’ your brand to the point that you’re the no-brainer choice. Finally, your competitors should hate ‘Hate’ you. They should be constantly scratching their heads trying in vein to catch up. Now if that isn’t what we all want our innovation efforts to deliver us then I don’t know what is!

I believe building an innovative ‘people centric’ company is about your approach to these seven things, Strategy, People, Community, Environment, Creativity, Risk & Leadership. These seven key themes are explored in more detail in my latest book ‘The Road to Innovation’ and all play a huge part in getting you, your people and your business further down the road to innovation. So, if you’re up for the challenge here’s an insight into where I think you should start.

The fact is that the road to innovation is more important than the destination. The best companies in the world say they are on a journey as it’s the journey that creates significant change, especially when that change has a clear purpose.

Strategy…

You need to be absolutely clear about the strategy for innovation and differentiation you want to achieve and most importantly, your people need to be clear about it as well so involve them in the process. After all, if they deem it ‘your plan’ they’re less likely to do it and certainly won’t do it well. There must be an overarching vision that drives what you do so don’t be afraid of using new language, think big and be ambitious.
People…

Change has to start at the top so if you’re now thinking in terms of being in the people business appreciate their value to the company but most importantly their as yet untapped potential. Give your HR director a seat at the top table. After all, if delivering innovation is going to be done through your people then his/her input is now strategically vital. Oh and by the way, change their title from HR to HB (Beings). They’re people not resources remember. Find out what individuals are best at and most enjoy then sculpt roles around them. Rewarding people for their efforts is key but not always in the traditional way.

Community…

Creating an innovative culture means creating a silo free community where everyone is able to contribute and where there is no place for the status quo but you can’t do it on your own. Vital to the success of creating the right community lies in choosing the right champions. This is a group of people representing all corners of the business, not just filtering and supporting messages from the top down, but feeding the voice of the organisation out from the centre.

Environment…

If you want your people to love what they do, think differently must provide an environment that fosters creativity. You must create ‘an amazing place to work’. You must create spaces that are stimulating for idea generation, are practical for evaluation and implementation and that foster collaboration and social interaction. The bottom line is physical space matters. Make it grey, linear and boring and it will negatively influence the way people think and the way they feel.

Creativity…

Creating a truly differentiated company requires you to push your people away from well-trodden paths and expose them to different perspectives and points of view. Show your people that they can be creative and give them the tools to be so. You must also expose all your people to real customer problems and needs so they know why and where you need them to think differently.
Risk…

Innovation requires risk but the biggest gamble is to do nothing. However the traditional business model is focused on minimising risk. But if you end up doing nothing, then you are assuming that the future will be no different from your present or past, and that you are happy with where you are today. So, address your exposure to risk and justify every step of the journey. Change your people’s attitude towards risk and empower them to learn from it rather than fear it.
Leadership…

People need a clear vision; they need to know what direction the company is going in, what the destination is and whether the journey will be worth the pain. So, a leader must make the future seem bright, achievable, desirable, and possible. The leadership role is not for the faint hearted and in truth the leadership badge can really only be bestowed upon someone by the people who choose to follow said person. Study some of the contemporary, genuine leaders in the world and you’ll see they have similar traits. They’re absolutely on-fire, they’re dynamic and they’re inspiring. To be so they have to be inspired themselves and that helps make them sincere. They’re passionate about the company and its brand and they demonstrate that they ‘live it and breath it’ every day.

Good Luck!

10 Innovative New Year's resolutions for your business...

As most of you will know my aim is to revolutionise the way organisations approach strategy, leadership and innovation.  My advice has helped to put innovation into business, helping to instigate bold visions and objectives. I help organisations have meaningful conversations about what it takes to be exceptional and create real innovation capability. The New Year is an opportunity for a clean slate – people are refreshed and more susceptible to change instigation than in a stagnant or negative mind frame, which a difficult year may have incited.

So, here are my top ten tips for implementing change in 2011, and the New Year’s Resolutions your business can’t afford to ignore. 

Get Strategic! - Leave the past two years of negativity behind and create a new vision for the future and the legacy you want to leave. Make sure the challenge is bold enough but achievable enough then communicate it to your people.

Get Ahead! - Give your HR, OD or talent leader a seat at the board table. If they haven't got the business acumen, teach them so they can become a more strategic part of the organization.  Cultivate talent and understand the importance of finding and nuturing great leaders.

Get Real! - Employee engagement 'HAS' an impact on business success, FACT! If you haven't got a strategy, create and implement one as fast as possible. 

Get Creative! - Banish the 'status quo' from your organisational vocabulary and start looking at embedding a 'culture of innovation' as a strategic way forward.  Strive for the exceptional and others will follow.  Creativity is an attitude, and one that considers experimentation, repetition and trying things out to be the norm, not the unusual.  Creative people are always wondering how to improve the ideas and solutions they come up with, striving for better results.

Get Inspirational! - Communicate to your people that the 'performance' you want from them is less to do with financial targets and more to do with their desire and ability to be exceptional.  In my experience results will follow once this culture is created.

Get Talking! - Create a format to allow regular conversations with your people about what they want and need in order to inspire and engage them.  This will create an open market for ideas that will ultimately benefit your business and increase the personal and job satisfaction of your employees.

Get Connected! - Double-check your organisations internal relationships are aligned. If they aren't, find out where the tension lies and create a route to the 'breakthrough culture' you need.

Get Practical! - Create a sincere and sustainable way to tick the two main drivers for your employees, 'involve' them and 'appreciate' them.

Get Emotional! - Check that the following are present in your organization every day; Vision, Passion, Engagement, Creativity, Shared Purpose, Collaboration, Risk & Sincerity. If they're not, add them in!

 

Get Sensible! - When doing all of the above, find a way to embed my three sense checks into every process. LOVE; if we do this will our people love it? DESIRE; if we do this will our customers desire it? HATE; if we do this will our competitors hate it?

Good luck!

A final blog before this years CIPD conference...

So, in an attempt to appease Mrs. B for my usual hectic schedule and the fact that a speakers/experts life is one rarely based at home. And in the knowledge that I’ll be away again at the CIPD Conference for most of next week I’ve taken a much-needed weekend off and am staying in a fantastic hotel in north Norfolk.

But before I sign off for the weekend I’d like to share with you, my fellow CIPDers a review of what we’ll be doing next week, so here’s a review from People Management magazine…

“Another innovation in the ACE Interactive Zone will be VBI or “Velour-Based Innovation” – the brainchild of author Cris Beswick and Perry Timms, head of talent and organisational development at The Big Lottery Fund. Sitting on a bright sofa, in Baddiel & Skinner Unplanned style, they will be encouraging crowd-based discussions and the sharing of expertise in an informal setting.”

I’d like to invite people who want to take part in a more informal, discussion based, ‘keynote conversation’ about the stuff that really matters to people on the front line of HR, OD & talent management in organizations. Come and join us on either or all of the three days the conference is running and take part in what is tipped to be a break from the norm not only for the CIPD but also from the usual keynote address.

Like Perry and I, your hosts, we’ll want you to be provocative, interactive, vocal, thought provoking, dare I say it; we want you to disagree as much as you might agree. What we’re looking for is the corporate yin & yang, for people to disagree as much as they agree, for people to have different opinions and perspectives as much as they have aligned ones. We want diversity of thought and experience about what works, what doesn’t, what should and what might in an effort to help push people away from their well trodden paths and support the philosophy of doing things differently!

Everyone wants the CIPD to give him or her something different, to change, to move with the times and innovate. Well they’ve delivered. They’ve proved their up for it by embracing VBI (Velour Based Innovation) so now all that’s left is for you their audience to put your money where your mouth is and attend VBI, where, like anything in business, you’ll get as much out of it as you put in!

Twitter if you’re going to attend using the tag #CIPD10

See you there and heckle me if you dare!

Cris Beswick

Embracing a little Risk the CIPD way. Hopefully it wont be a Juvendiceed!

We all know that if we want to move on, progress, dare I say it, innovate! We need to take leaps of faith, educated guesses or sometimes just do the entrepreneurial gut feeling thing. As long as you’re not cavalier about risk it keeps you fresh, on your toes and moving forward. Risk is progressive!

This year the CIPD has in my humble opinion embraced a little risk. They have taken the raw idea of two of last year’s speakers, Perry Timms, Head of Talent & OD at Big HR and myself and turned it into a living, breathing entity.

They have pushed themselves away from their well-trodden path and given this years conference delegates the chance to engage with real experts with real opinions on real subjects. What I’m talking about is VBI (Velour Based Innovation) and it’s something that appeared out of the ether, albeit on one slightly vodka fuelled evening! Even I don’t know why the idea of sitting on a purple velour sofa and having conversations about how to build amazing organisations popped into my head.

However, what I do know is this; both Perry and I are advocates of thinking differently, trying new things, taking leaps of faith and inspiring others to do so in an attempt to change the organisations we work with into world class communities of exceptional people.

If you want to show the CIPD that you as their community are up for that then join us for an hour each day and participate in our keynote conversations. We’ll kick off the direction of each session but what happens after that is up to you and where the conversation goes. Help Perry and I avoid a Juvendiceed and launch a format that deserves its place on every conference agenda.

Oh, and if you haven’t got a clue what a ‘Juvendiceed’ is then you’ll just have to buy my book or if you’re one of the lucky ones I might give some away in our sessions!

So, come and take up the challenge or help your fellow peers learn from some of the amazing stuff you’ve done by joining Perry and I in one of our VBI discussions, I dare you!

You can join us for our VBI sessions on the following days and times:

Day 1, Tuesday 9^th - 13.00-14.00

Day 2, Wednesday 10^th - 13.00-14.00

Day 3, Thursday 11^th - 12.15-13.15

See you there…

Cris

I dare you to do better! – More pre-CIPD Conference thoughts…

So, further to my last blog on the 19^th, Velour Based Innovation helping to 'Spice' things up! My fellow speaker Perry Timms has posted his latest taste of what you can expect from us in our VBI sessions.

Perry shares with us his observations that yesterdays performance levels aren’t good enough for tomorrow, or even today! This is something that I’ve been writing about for some time now and is heavily featured in the workshops and speaking I’m doing for organisations at the moment. What I’m talking about is averageness!

Not too long ago, good was better than average but the pace of change and customers/consumers becoming savvier on a daily basis has rendered good the new average. It is now paramount that we, whether ‘we’ is a private company, a public organisation or central government learn to look at the future with the intent of keeping up with it as we’re all being outpaced at the moment.

The world’s most successful organisations are agile, engaging, learning entities where average has no place and only exceptional fits in. So the question I work with my clients on is; what will it take to create an organisation-wide movement towards being exceptional? Also, is everyone in the organisation up for it?

The financial crisis we're in has shown us that complacency has no place in a modern society and especially has no place in the global economy we work in. Life and work have to be a challenging as it makes things exciting and it pushes us to improve, so the question I have started to ask my clients is “Who will rise to the challenge of changing their organisation from average to exceptional? Even if your organisation is already genuinely amazing, I have a challenge for you; I dare you to do better!”

So, come and take up the challenge or help your fellow peers learn from some of the amazing stuff you’ve done by joining Perry and I in one of our VBI discussions, I dare you!

You can join us for our VBI sessions on the following days and times:

Day 1, Tuesday 9^th - 13.00-14.00

Day 2, Wednesday 10^th - 13.00-14.00

Day 3, Thursday 11^th - 12.15-13.15

See you there…

Cris

Innovation! The by-product of being Exceptional!

Innovation is still the buzz word de jour in both the private and public sectors. Regular book launches, articles on the critical application of innovation for commercial survival and keynote speakers preaching the importance of workplace creativity all combine to cement innovation’s place in the contemporary organisation and that of the future.

And you new it was coming… BUT! How many organisations are looking at innovation in a truly holistic way? Ticking the innovation box isn’t just a matter of providing workshops on creative thinking and brainstorming techniques or adding the word to a brochure, strap line or mission statement in the naivety or hope that people will somehow be convinced that your organisation is innovative because you say so!

I don’t believe an organisation can issue itself with an innovation badge. Externally, your customers or the people you provide services for must see and experience your innovativeness for themselves. By your very actions, the things you do and how you do them will see those very people label you innovative. They’ll pin the innovation badge on you! Then there are your people. Internally, organisations must be as ‘people centric’ as they are ‘customer centric’ in order to create amazing places to work and inspire people to achieve great things.

As consumers we all migrate to amazing companies; like magpies to milk bottle tops. We’re inspired by things like Red Bull’s brand extension into things like aerobatic display competitions and extreme games sponsorship. In essence, from the consumers’ point of view they’re cool! Another example is Innocent Drinks. As consumers we like their products but what impresses us more is the fact that they are cited as being a cool company to work for. It’s that traits which really links them with being innovative not necessarily their products.

The point to my point is that companies like these understand what it takes to do things differently and understand the holistic approach required to create a remarkable organisation. If by default they then do something that the public, their competition, or we brand as ‘innovative’ so be it but their concentration will more likely have been to inspire their people to do and keep doing amazing things.

“If you have truly inspiring and motivated people around you, you can do anything, we have an ambition to be Europe’s most talent-rich company, and as long as we keep trying to achieve that, we’ll be ok.”

Dan Germain, Head of Creative – Innocent

So private and public sector organisations alike, inspire your people to be absolutely exceptional at what you do and how you do it and the innovation badge will no doubt be bestowed upon you. Whether it is or it isn’t you’ll definitely create an amazing place to work for you and your people and be the no-brainer choice for your customers! And after all, isn’t that what we’re trying to ‘innovate’ for anyway!

Cris Beswick

How to create innovative organisations?

February sees the launch of my new book, The Road to Innovation co-written with David Gallagher of www.chapterandverse.co.uk who for the last six months has painstakingly helped me dot my i’s and cross my t’s.

The book is as valuable to business and organisation leaders as it is for HR practitioners and employees because it’s a practical guide to the business buzz word de jour ‘Innovation’. Because of the current economic downturn it’s come to even greater prominence and in the boardrooms of large organisations and in meeting rooms of small and medium-sized businesses up and down the country, the call from business owners, directors and managers is unanimous:

“We need more innovation”

But what does innovation mean in the modern business context? Can a business become more innovative? What do these organisations actually want to achieve? How will the leaders in the business make the changes required? And where on earth are they going to start? Innovation isn't embedded into a company’s DNA by reading books on how to brainstorm or play creative thinking games. The Road to Innovation finally gives business leaders clear, practical and actionable insight into the seven key areas that are fundamental to creating a company capable of thinking differently and innovating.

Cris Beswick is an accomplished speaker, advisor, author, non-executive director and consultant. Having founded several successful companies over the last decade and following the sale of his last award winning design consultancy, he now works with businesses and organisations to help them understand innovation, helping create the right strategy for it and developing an environment and a community in which it can thrive. The results are great places to work for your people, added value for your customers, and sleepless nights for your competitors.

The Road to Innovation will be available on general sale from the 20th February but if you’d like to order copies in advance for you, your colleagues or your team please email orders@ltbpublishing.com and we'll be glad to help...

To discuss Cris's availability for consulting, advising, facilitating and/or speaking please feel free to call Nikki on +44 (0)8453 72 44 22 or email her at nikki@crisbeswick.com for more information...

Me, the CIPD & HR’s true raison d’être!

After three days back in my hometown of Manchester last week speaking at this year’s CIPD conference I return elated at the thought of HR practitioners having a route to the top table of their companies. I refrain from phrasing the above ‘finally having a route’ as my perspective and area of expertise is but one of many. However my thoughts on innovation and how businesses can change from “Good to Great” in the words of Jim Collins (who incidentally was the keynote speaker at the conference) by using it as a catalyst for everyone thinking differently about what they do and how they do it seem to provoke the right thoughts with the CIPD audience who attended the ‘Building Innovation Capability’ workshop.

A strategic, business approach to the use of ‘innovation’ as opposed to the popular misconception that ‘innovation’ is about being creative or just about the development of new products and/or services or indeed resides in the sole domain of the design or R&D department.

As a keen user of analogies, my perspective and my keynotes are less concerned with helping companies create the next iPhone but more about helping them become the next Apple!

With fellow speaker Ian Plover our task was set some months ago by the CIPD to help them communicate the truth about innovation and how their membership, HR practitioners, could use it to drive their value and contribution to their respective companies in order to gain that illusive seat at the top table.

As a thought leader on business innovation the road ahead for me was instantly clear. It was less about getting HR to focus on being innovative themselves and more about how HR could use the values and environment that sustainable innovation requires in order for their people to embrace doing things and contributing differently. Innovation should be seen as a destination and the journey towards it gives change and different thinking a sense of purpose. It helps embed the desire to move away from the well trodden path with a sense of engagement and purpose or vision into a company/organisation and its then that ‘it’ (innovation) stands a chance of becoming sustainable because the capacity and desire for it has been increased.

After Jackie Orme’s outline in her opening keynote suggesting that HR needs both specialists and generalists, and that it is a profession made up of people “who see themselves as business people” my thoughts are clear. If HR can create the momentum within a company then it gives the individual people it works with traction to grow and vice versa. At the same time if HR uses that momentum and creates a HR strategy that is aligned to the core business strategy it will by default cement its value as a true strategic partner helping deliver the business objectives through the value, engagement and contribution of its people which is surely its true raison d’être!

If you and your business want to understand the value of innovation and how it can be used as more than just the latest buzz word de jour but as a catalyst for making your company/organisation not just good but great contact myself Cris Beswick, or Ian Plover for an initial chat.

Email Cris on cris@letsthinkbeyond.com

Email Ian on ip@businessofchange.com

Thinking Differently about Innovation...

Innovation is as vital to a business as a desk and telephone, but many only realise it when they lose touch with customers, spiral into decline or lose position to a competitor. Only then do they appreciate the importance of using design and creative thinking to generate fresh ideas, manage them and re-connect them to their customer.

Innovation should be a never-ending process, a part of company culture, embraced by all and not seen as a magic wand wielded only by the creative team. It should be a cornerstone of strategy and have a place in ongoing business development with its own budget. According to Design Council research in 2003, 47% of rapidly growing businesses had introduced new products or services in the last three years, compared to 26% of companies overall.

This kind of evidence suggests that innovation isn't something you'll get round to when you can afford to take on more staff or when you have time - it's an essential, without which a company can only maintain the status quo. But how does it work in practice? How do you increase the odds in favour of good ideas emerging in the first place, let alone turn them into commercial winners? A recent study by the Design Council and the DTI showed that innovative businesses have remarkably similar attitudes, be they blue chip manufacturers or creative industry start-ups. For these companies, innovation is part of the culture. Instead of shutting people away in a room marked 'ideas' or ‘brainstorming’ while the rest of the operation trundles on as before, they ensure innovation permeates every aspect of a business. People working for innovative businesses are inspired to pursue innovation with genuine passion that goes beyond simply doing a job.

Many creative companies place too much significance on their creative departments to unearth ‘aha’ moments of brilliance yet stifle them of creative freedom and thinking time in place of getting ‘stuff’ out of the door. Real creativity and innovation that delivers a step change to create real competitive advantage takes time, money and effort. The latter is the only one most companies count on whilst not allowing people the time and freedom to be creative and not setting creativity and innovation budgets.

As a class leading example, Google’s employee job description states that each person must spend 20% of their time on something creative and innovative that they believe will benefit the company and its customers and they even have someone who heads that initiative up on a global scale. He has the title of… Director of Other.

The truth is that people generally think of creativity and especially innovation as an ‘aha’ moment. A tiny spark of light that hits you out of the blue without warning; Eureka is the common phrase. In fact creativity and innovation are about habit, repetitive thought processes and a culture created by a team that promotes constant questioning and incremental development of everything they are doing. This is what the Japanese call kaizen, ‘Continuous Improvement’ or literally ‘Transforming Value’.

It’s the ‘aha’ moment that people search for and think that they can turn on as and when they want to be creative or innovative. It’s this conventional idea that many people define what creativity is. The reality is, you can’t ‘manufacture’ ideas as they come from constant thought about problems and they come from habits. Creative people generally have different habits for how they use ideas, how they play with ideas and how much time they spend seeking alternatives (experimenting). It’s also about how low their inhibitions are about filtering things out we would filter straight away and how much longer they will entertain those ideas to see what value they have. That’s why they’re creative.

So in essence, the ‘aha’ moment isn’t as important as the habits that lead to the moment. Unfortunately this means there is no creativity pill but a realisation that creativity and innovation will take time effort and resources and will be achieved by incremental changes that will create sustainable and commercially viable points of difference.

I help facilitate all of the above by mentoring in a hands on, sleeves rolled up way within a company or team. I like to get my hands dirty and create relationships with the people I work with by helping solve real problems or briefs, using them to illustrate alternative viewpoints and ways of approach. I don’t believe you can expect a step change from a two day workshop or creative thinking course as that’s not enough time to change a culture within an organisation to embrace innovation and creative thinking. My approach is Kaizen based, incremental, sustainable and commercially viable.

Cris Beswick

Creative Leadership...

Creative leadership is about process not product! Let me explain; Creativity and problem solving is about thinking, thinking differently and wider, using different perspectives than everyone else, yet traditionally creative individuals and teams are measured on the end result not their mindset or their process.

Organisations that embrace creativity and different ways of thinking should also have real vision, not a mere mission statement but something that calls people forward to be part of something bigger than they are as individuals. Human nature pushes people to aspire to being part of a great story. That’s when you get emotional attachment from your team, when they feel they have a stake in the big picture.

It’s no different than what all designers do in any field whether it is the latest Aston Martin, iPhone or Sony TV. We try to achieve emotional attachment and experience to products, services and brands. So, creative leadership should be about the company’s own brand and what it means to its team members as individuals. What does it mean to work here? What’s the ‘Signature Experience’ and how am I emotionally attached?

I believe a lot of this comes back to honouring the process as much as the end product. Encouraging entrepreneurship in individuals is crucial as it breeds confidence to take small calculated amounts of risk. That means people push boundaries and feel confident doing so, without fear. That’s where innovation comes from. The outcome or product could actually be wrong but creative people are motivated just as much by the process or the journey as they are about the end result. The job of the creative leader is to make that journey inspirational, publicly highlighting ‘on-vision’ behaviour and attitude.

All this serves to create loyalty and engagement and when people are engaged they are more often in line with the company vision so the whole process becomes self perpetuating. Just like a brief from a client creative teams (and others for that matter) within an organisation must have a brief that leaves no room for interpretation or misdirection. They must understand what the core company vision is so they can align everything they do to it in a long term strategic way. With those defined boundaries set they can concentrate on what they do best, being creative, answering the brief and enjoying doing it.

However, here’s the word of warning. This vision must constantly be reinforced because different people within any organisation will have different roles and tasks that seem removed from contributing to that vision. They will also let their day to day task list overshadow the big picture letting the pressures of delivering the ‘product’ distract them from the reason why. Everyone must be shown where they fit into the strategy and how they uniquely contribute to the big picture as without the engagement of everyone the vision isn’t achievable.

Every business should look at itself as if it were a client and constantly look to add value by answering an internal brief. What do we want to do, what’s our vision? Why do we want to do it, what’s our reason? How are we going do it, what direction do we take? Then how do we constantly communicate that to our clients and our people?

Part of what I do as a creative consultant is to help business leaders define ‘What’ and then be the one that champions ‘Why’ and ‘How’ as part of the strategy for creating an internal culture that is highly creative, motivated, engaged and is the perfect ‘Greenhouse’ for cultivating innovation. A company’s point of difference should be significant not only because of its ‘products’ (what it delivers to clients) but its ‘processes’ (how its people deliver). In a corny way maybe what I’m saying is beauty really could be on the inside!

Cris Beswick