Flux provides an important and topical communication platform for your overall innovation management solutions.

Flux means 'a constant state of change' or 'the rate of the flow of energy’. We hope to increase your flow of creative energy to find innovative ways to deal with the constant state of change!

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Freda

Innovation Conference 2010: The Burning Platform

21 & 22 July 2010 
The Hilton Hotel, Sandton. Johannesburg 

Mindstir partnered with Knowledge Resources and The Da Vinci Institute to host a conference that featured innovative case studies from companies like BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO, HOLLARD, SAPPI and more.  As well as best practice reports on CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION, INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY, DESIGN THINKING, REWARDING INNOVATION, RECENT SA INNOVATION MATURITY RESULTS and more!  Full brochure <http://www.kr.co.za/Conferences/Brochures/2010/Innovation.pdf> 

To access some of the presentations, please  go to http://www.kr.co.za/Conferences/Portals/Portals_10/Innovation/Welcome.html

Could it be that encouraging employee innovation has more to do with an environment that allows for mastery and less with monetary rewards? Enabling mastery in your organisation is a reward in itself. Create the right environment and employees will generate and implement many worthwhile innovations.

Creating a platform for employees to innovate and improve their organisation is slowly becoming standard practice. Organisations are realising that employees have hands-on experience and if allowed they will generate solutions to cut costs, streamline processes and introduce new products and services.

Apart from the obvious benefits in organisational efficiency, effectiveness and growth, innovation platforms enable employees to engage with their organisation. Gallup research has shown that the more engaged employees are, the more they innovate.

As these employee innovation programmes mushroom, one of the main questions to be answered is how to motivate employees to innovate. In many cases, a combination of reward and recognition is applied with rewards being predominantly monetary. 

According to Daniel H Pink – much of the work in organisations in the 21^st century is, due to the increased complexity and creativity required, way beyond Motivation 1.0 (instinctual drive to survive) and even Motivation 2.0 (carrots and sticks method). Our modern day work environment requires what Pink describes as Motivation 3.0: an environment that allows employees autonomy, opportunity to master and purpose. Innovation certainly fits these criteria therefore qualifies for motivation 3.0 as a driver. 

All three the elements Pink identified are important and impact directly on the quality and quantity of employee innovation. Mastering “mastery” however, could be a sound first step to encourage employees to innovate.

Still wondering if your company should move to Open Innovation ? According to this article many companies are benefitting greatly already, for example:

• Cisco: Cisco's internally generated growth is at 5%. Its partner-based growth is 10%.
• Clorox: Clorox target for growth from innovation is 4%. Last few years it was around 2.5% to 3.5% = significant portion of growth.
• Royal Dutch Shell: About 40% of projects in Shell's R&D program come from GameChanger. [GameChanger is its open innovation program]
• Rockwell Collins: 75% of firms expect 40% of innovation to come from external sources by 2012. 
• Hewlett Packard: 60% of ideas are generated internally via HP Garage. Use employee crowdsourcing to filter and refine these.

Follow the link for the full article

Open innovators outperform the market by 16.9% 

Trends are important to all innovators. We want to know where the market is moving so that we can ensure our innovations address the needs of our target market, but we also want to be ahead of the market and anticipate needs. I analysed the 2010 trends from the following sites to find the common elements: 

• Trendwatching 
• Trendhunters
• Web trends (CNN) 
• Branding and marketing trends (Branding strategy Insider)

Real x 3 = sustainability

From the predictions of the above websites, it seems that there are three “real” factors that supports and leads to sustainability – the key for 2010.

Real time: Aptly named Nowism by Trendwatching, this trend impacts on both real time services and products. Think of the SMS you get confirming any transaction that has gone through your bank account.

Real time is an integral part of the buzzword Augmented Reality (AR) where real time applies to a specific location or activity. If I’m an hour early for an appointment in Pretoria, Foursquare (a mobile phone application) will help me find  out which coffee shops are in the area, how they are rated by their customers and which one best suits my specific tastes. At the same time, I can see if some of my contacts on Foursquare are perhaps in the area and possibly schedule an impromptu meeting.

AR is only possible because of the wide range of online applications where customers can rate and comment on the world they interact with. Does your business take these comments seriously? Have you got a strategy to manage your real time brand?

Real time products are developed to track and trace whatever information you need.The activity monitor, for instance, is a small device that monitors the rate of calories used up during your exercise routine, based on your online profile set up. Then there are businesses thriving due to their use of real time messaging. Launched in San Francisco in early August 2009, Curtis Kimball's mobile Crème Brûlée Cart has attracted more than 8,000 Twitter followers, who rely on his tweets to find out exactly where he'll be, and what flavors are on the menu. The Warm Cookie Radar from Specialty's Cafe & Bakery sends customers email alerts when batches of just-baked cookies have rolled out of the oven.

Real Time is much more than “cool” as it opens endless opportunities for creating real value in 2010.

Real you: Authenticity is essential in a real time world. Just as more models and celebrities are exposing their realness by appearing without make-up (or Photoshop), comments and ratings from consumers are exposing your real brand. There is no point in trying old tricks like emotional advertising without a real foundation. Telling customers that you understand how the recession is impacting on them while giving directors huge bonuses and upping service fees – does not work. 

A sub trend within “real you” touches on your company’s real generosity. Walt Disney has a “Give-a-day-get-a-day” policy where people work at one of their preferred charities for a day in return for a free day pass to the entertainment centre. Corporate Social Responsibility programmes are not just about giving money anymore, you have to make a real difference and it’s even better if you provide a channel for (and reward) employees and customers to give generously.

Real you require realness from everybody. Your FaceBook and other profiles, tweets and reviews are accessible and carry your personal brand. Privacy is scarce and your life is on show!

Is your brand real and can it be more generous in a real way? As an individual – are your on-line profiles/ reviews real?

Real economics: Eco trends are expanding beyond just being a marketing ploy; eco hygiene has to  be an  integral part of your business model. Real economics implies that as a company you look beyond today’s profit and design your products to enable consumers to be eco-friendly as that is the only way to sustainability. 

The recession has sparked (or supported if you prefer) business where people can rent almost anything. If you are getting married you can rent a wedding gown, chairs, tables, decorations and whatever else you may need. If you don’t want to pay, there is also the option of bartering which is becoming increasingly popular. 

Real economics has led to many self-help concepts like pubs, and hotels internationally. It can directly impact on your business model and seems to work well abroad. Can self-help save your customers money? Perhaps provide convenience?

Be it self-service, generosity, eco consciousness or swopping/ renting – how can you apply real economics in your business?

Real time, Real You and Real Economics will make your organisation sustainable. 

Are you managing your real time presence? Are you real so that real time reviews correlate with what you say about yourself? Are you actively looking at real economics? If you answered “no” to any of the questions above, you have a starting point for your next innovation!

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Freda Gray is Co-founder and a Director of Mindstir