Thoughts on The Apprentice...

A recent article in the Independent on Sunday questioned whether The Apprentice represents the antithesis of what modern business is really about and if it's time to promote business in a better way on mainstream TV.

Here are my thoughts but please feel free to comment and add your own...

I don’t know any serious businessperson or entrepreneur that would disagree with The Apprentice being the antithesis of modern business. I’m sorry Lord Sugar but even you can’t deny that it’s just good prime time entertainment, less-real business and more show business!

Its remit is without doubt to entertain and it certainly does but I think it’s a stretch to suggest the candidates represent the top young business talent the UK has to offer. Any serious young entrepreneur (having said that some of the candidates aren’t that young) wouldn’t be distracted with thoughts of self-promotion or capitalizing on short-term fame. Unless an appearance on the show, however brief is a premeditated, strategic, fame-hungry move that is?

As a genuine thought leader and speaker myself I can tell you that the speaker circuit is ‘flooded’ with ex apprentice contestants now hungry to impart their extensive business, strategic, leadership and motivational expertise. A few are exceptional, like Tim Campbell from series one for example. Others seem more focused on capitalising on the opportunity of a radio or TV career that a momentary appearance on the small screen creates. However, should we really condemn them for that?

Unfortunately we live in a society that values the opinion of a celebrity over that of a true expert. So, I think it’s time to ‘fire’ the apprentice and make way for the true experts to be given a platform to impart real knowledge and insight into what it’s really like to run, lead and grow successful, dynamic and agile businesses. Understanding ‘real-world’ subjects like leadership, engagement and innovation will help our public and private sector organizations rescue our economy, repositioning the UK as the economic powerhouse it should be.

On another, more topical note, maybe ‘firing’ The Apprentice will free up some much-needed budget creating the financial breathing room for BBC Director General Mark Thompson to deal with his issue of not being able to offer ‘commercial salaries’? And maybe the new director of BBC Vision will breathe a little innovation into the institution and create a business programme with real substance. Get in touch and I’ll host it if you want? Just don’t condemn me for wanting my five minutes of fame!

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!

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

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

Velour Based Innovation helping to 'Spice' things up! – Cris Beswick

If you’ve seen the past couple of blogs by me and fellow VBI (Velour Based Innovation) speaker Perry Timms hopefully you’re getting the sense that we’re bringing a fresh perspective to this year’s CIPD conference.

Perry and I will be speaking as a Baddiel & Skinner style duo in an attempt to create livelier and informal peer debate as an alternative to the traditional keynote style. In essence, we’re going to spice things up a little! So, being partial to the odd analogy that got me thinking? How spicy are you and your organisation? In our second session of the conference on Wednesday 10^th at 1pm we’ll be kicking off an hour’s discussion around ‘celebrating averageness’ in organisations. In my latest workshop I discuss the concept that average tastes like chicken, we’re indifferent to it.

Although now somewhat of a cliché and used for incongruous humour ‘it tastes like chicken’ still describes food or situations that have no real relevance. So, in the eyes of our respective customers if we’re not at the very least a ‘spicy’ piri piri chicken dish we’re invisible, we’re average and that means in the world where differentiation and clearly visible excellence are paramount, we’re doomed to failure!

So, how do you and your organisation demonstrate to your people and your customers that you’re a gastronomic delight, that you’ll tantalise their taste buds at every opportunity and that you definitely don’t taste like chicken? How do you demonstrate that you’re definitely not average? So, comment on this blog, tweet your thoughts and share your point of view with Perry, myself and the rest of the audience at ‘Celebrating Averageness’ our 2^nd VBI session on Wednesday 10^th at 1pm.

This and more will form our own outcome-based conversations with you at VBI, an exciting part of ACE Interactive and #CIPD10.

For more information on our VBI sessions, check out ACE Interactive on 9, 10 or 11 November and join in the debate.

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

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

Experiential Mentoring...

OK, what do I mean by experiential mentoring? My belief is, if you want to increase creativity and innovation within your business you should start with a real, high priority business problem rather than investing in broad-based “creative thinking and innovation training”. Traditionally companies who have “invested” in such workshops presume that mindsets have been changed overnight so just “wait and see” if the investment pays off.

My approach is based on delivering visible and tangible results by engaging a team on real life business issues that they can sink their teeth into. Often it’s these problems/barriers and the mindset of the stakeholders that they cannot be solved that holds a company and its teams back.
By using real situations like these I believe that teams are engaged more, inspired and enthused as to what is possible with the right help and guidance instead of wondering how to sustainably apply tools learned on one day workshops.

Common knowledge suggests that as human beings we progress in our abilities when we are coached, guided or assisted which is why my approach as a mentor works towards helping team members deliver tangible differences that they and the wider team can see have value. This then starts to create an organisational culture that embraces creativity and innovation.

Motivated and entrepreneurial cultures within organisations thrive on stories and experiences of fellow team members or the business as a whole. So what better way to inspire a culture of creativity and innovation than to use “experiential learning” to allow teams to participate in the process first hand and be part of the solution creating authentic and motivational experiences that are relevant.

Cris Beswick

Critical Thinking...

So, what is critical thinking and why is it so important? Well in simple terms it can be defined as thinking that involves applying judgement and the putting aside of subjectivity and pre-conceptions in favour of a more logical, real life approach.

Critical thinking helps us separate issues and prioritise them by balancing them against the problem at hand. Modern business teams now have many tools and techniques at their disposal, critical thinking being just one of them. The buzz surrounding these new paths to insight and innovation can cause confusion about which tool to use for what purpose. Inappropriate use of the wrong tool/technique only generates poor results and then lack of confidence in these new, unconventional approaches.

Over the years a lack of real understanding of brainstorming techniques and when to use them is a good example of this very issue. The term brainstorming is now used as a general expression when teams want or need to gather round a table and discuss problems or create solutions. In some ways it is to business what the word Hoover is to vacuum cleaner.

In reality, brainstorming should be used as a creativity tool, to generate ideas, not to gather information or try to build a better picture of a problem or brief. Using brainstorming to solve problems merely produces opinions, statements, and general conclusions but not specific points or a deeper understanding of a problem. For listing problems you want factual observations based on reality and for that you need specific tools to help you such as the 5 Whys problem-solving technique.

Problem solving or answering briefs although generically branded as a creative process actually requires a rational and systematic approach, some elements of which require creative, irrational and random thought. The process should start with insight which requires critical thinking and judgement. This then provides the creative stage with a solid brief/foundation from which to develop. However judgement comes back into play when you need to evaluate creative ideas in order to move towards developing and implementing one of them.

Adopting a systematic approach to the way you think and how you think about problem solving and idea generation and adding critical thinking into the mix helps determine a deeper understanding of a problem, thus helping avoid straying from the intended purpose which commonly results in merely solving symptoms not causes.

The general perception is that when poor or no decisions/ideas are made by a team then they lack creativity. However poor decisions or ideas are usually down to poor thinking habits, more often than not due to pre-conceptions and assumptions gathered over time.

People generally play down the insight stage of any problem solving process on the basis that their assumptions are enough in order to progress with. This just means their understanding of the real problem and hence the starting point will be way off. If the end result (destination) to any process is determined by the starting point (origin) the solution will be commensurate.

What I’m trying to say is that being creative is only part of the story. The road to innovation involves several stages and several different tools, critical thinking being just one of them.