The Innovation Network (KIN) is a members only community, however this blog reflects musings and interests of the KIN Facilitators and members that may be of interest to the wider world.
It was fascinating to read about and see how TED prepares its speakers.
I've often wondered how TED speakers come across so confident and compelling. No, they don't use teleprompters or note cards. Whilst there is definitely a process to follow in preparing a story, in the end it comes down to a lot of preparation and feedback.
I'm certainly going to take the storytelling route in preparing for the KIN Spring Workshop - I hope you find Chris' advice useful too.
It's pretty counter-intuitive that procrastination and creativity are connected, right?
There is plenty of evidence however that by delaying completion of something, you end up with a better, perhaps more innovative, result.
Think of the process as a shape of a 'U'. Those that get right to it and come up with an idea really quickly (the big downward slope of the U) may miss ideas. Dwelling on concepts and applying considered design may result in other, better alternatives. Conversely, those that leave everything until the very last minute (the upward slope of the U) are likely to also miss opportunities that dwelling-on may offer.
It seems that those who quickly come up with one or two ideas, then think on them for a while, maybe try a few out (the Design Thinking process) and finally make a decision down the line, may come up with more innovative and successful solutions.
A similar phenomenon that we've all experienced is when faced with a tricky problem and we decide to 'sleep on it'.
Take a look at Tim Urban's very funny and illuminating TED Talk on being a master procrastinator and his 'instant gratification monkey'.
If you need an external stimulus to stop you procrastinating, try http://www.stickk.com/
Stikk is a fee goal-setting app from behavioural economists at Yale. The idea is that you make a public goal, set the stakes or pledge, get a referee and add friends for support. I love the idea that some of the most successful pledges are apparently those that result in something you don't want to happen. For example, '$100 goes to the National Rifle Association if I don't meet my deadline' (assuming you don't support the NRA!).
I've been preparing for the KIN Spring Workshop on 22nd March at The Shard.'Reimagining the Innovative Organisation'. Adam Billing of Treehouse Innovation will be running an experiential exercise for us. This will be a fun interactive session that will use Design Thinking principles to stimulate ideas for innovative management practice. Treehouse have an app called Sprintbase that helps organisations systematically tackle tough challenges by including design thinking into problem solving.
In the run-up to the KIN Spring Workshop at The Shard on 22nd March, we will be sharing some insights on 'Reimagining the Innovative Organisation' (the theme of the workshop).
The first of these is an excellent RSA paper* that illustrates the value of melding Design Thinking, Systems Thinking and entrepreneurship.
KIN has looked at Design Thinking in the past and the Spring workshop will feature a Design Thinking exercise from Treehouse. The paper posits that this approach is not sufficient without a holistic perspective or context in which an innovation is to be deployed or scaled. We also recently had an excellent Systems Thinking masterclass led by the School of Systems Change, so we are clearly on the right path!
A brief extract that underlines the importance of human-centred approach to innovation...
"In Democratising Innovation, Eric von Hippel argues that we have moved
into a ‘user-centred’ as opposed to ‘manufacturer-centric’ era of innovation.
As Jeanne Liedtka said in the 2015 Batten Briefing on Innovation and
Growth : “The most secure source of new ideas that have true competitive
advantage, and hence, higher margins, is customers’ unarticulated needs.”
Businesses are now routinely generating innovation using human centred
methods. These processes employ user research, experimentation, prototyping,
and iteration and foster innovations that meet a particular human
need rather than being purely product-driven. These methods have been
used to inform design innovations in everything from airline flatbeds at
British Airways to breathable sportswear at Nike.
Whilst Design thinking has obvious benefits in product innovation, it's application to management processes and service solutions is less clear. We will be considering this in depth at the workshop. The RSA report supports this application...
Design-led innovation has demonstrated a clear dividend in consumer facing
industries, and design thinking is no longer the preserve of product
developers. The process also generates service solutions, new concepts
and governance models, and it is being used to envisage new business
strategies and services across sectors, including the public sector".
* Thanks to Izzy Taylor of Plan International for bringing the RSA report to KIN's attention
