News
Which Innovation News do you want first? The Good News or The Bad News?
Which Innovation News do you want first? The Good News or The Bad News?
The Good News: You
know your company must embrace innovation if they're going to survive this
economy. You've done your homework; you
know you need easy-to-use yet powerful technology. You enable everyone to work together. Contributions
are captured. Your organization's
executives are on the bandwagon. They've
delivered a great kick off speech and let everyone know they're encouraged to
put aside time for innovation.
know your company must embrace innovation if they're going to survive this
economy. You've done your homework; you
know you need easy-to-use yet powerful technology. You enable everyone to work together. Contributions
are captured. Your organization's
executives are on the bandwagon. They've
delivered a great kick off speech and let everyone know they're encouraged to
put aside time for innovation.
You've selected the best technology to serve as the backbone for this new-found culture of innovation.
You begin to assemble all your smart people on line so they can
collaborate. You've identified the 'early
adopter' types in your organization so you can empower them to be leaders. Those individuals with common areas of
interest are identified and grouped.
You begin to assemble all your smart people on line so they can
collaborate. You've identified the 'early
adopter' types in your organization so you can empower them to be leaders. Those individuals with common areas of
interest are identified and grouped.
- You've identified the challenges most likely to yield
incremental innovations so you'll get some quick wins to both cost justify all
the expense and to keep everyone excited about the endeavor. - You've taken the issues your senior
executives lose sleep over and translated those into challenges your team
members can mull over and make contributions toward. - You
have a plan to (down the line) invite your vendors, your distributors, your
partners, your customers and academic experts with useful domain knowledge into
the process. - Smart people are making useful contributions based on your
guidance and the encouragement of management.
- You're getting great ideas.
- Good
ideas are pulling in additional opinions, enriching the very best ideas. - The system automatically generates wonderful
reports noting growing adoption rates, high activity numbers and detailed packages
for the best ideas, readying these winning concepts for production.
OK Now The Bad News: (Cue
the evil music.) Although people are
suggesting great ideas, there are those in your organization wearing black
hats. Their comments are not devil's
advocate in nature. The comments shoot
down the new ideas, as well as shooting down the inventor who posted the new
concept. It appears these 'Negative Nellie'
'types gleefully push down other folk's creative thinking. Team
members who stuck their necks out are suddenly discouraged; they're self
censoring.
the evil music.) Although people are
suggesting great ideas, there are those in your organization wearing black
hats. Their comments are not devil's
advocate in nature. The comments shoot
down the new ideas, as well as shooting down the inventor who posted the new
concept. It appears these 'Negative Nellie'
'types gleefully push down other folk's creative thinking. Team
members who stuck their necks out are suddenly discouraged; they're self
censoring.
Idea submission comes to a screeching halt. You can watch the graphs trend downward. You're contemplating the destroying the
'Mission Accomplished' banner.
'Mission Accomplished' banner.
What To Do?
Well you can have the software alert you whenever these
people contribute so you're poised to
moderate these comments. You can
edit their work. You can delete their negative contributions. But here's where I'm going to
suggest a more extreme action plan'You need to give them the boot from the
collaborative environment.
people contribute so you're poised to
moderate these comments. You can
edit their work. You can delete their negative contributions. But here's where I'm going to
suggest a more extreme action plan'You need to give them the boot from the
collaborative environment.
You need to ask them to leave. You're essentially 'unfriending' them. Of course you can give them read only access
so they stay in the loop but they can't put forth their destructive
attitudes.
so they stay in the loop but they can't put forth their destructive
attitudes.
My premise is this:
Those with conservative prejudices can not only derail the
positive energy and the thought processes of your go-getters'they're likely not
adding too much to the conversation anyway.
positive energy and the thought processes of your go-getters'they're likely not
adding too much to the conversation anyway.
Closed-minded people have impaired creative problem-solving skills.
What you might be missing by taking this action'One of the
great things about collaborative environments is the way the technology can
enable knowledge transfer and sharing.
great things about collaborative environments is the way the technology can
enable knowledge transfer and sharing.
A
collaborative environment can facilitate positive mentoring.
collaborative environment can facilitate positive mentoring.
When college graduates come to your organization
fresh from school, they're usually missing the 'real world' expertise required
to do their jobs effectively.
fresh from school, they're usually missing the 'real world' expertise required
to do their jobs effectively.
The collaborative process helps those senior domain expertsshare best practices with the next generation.
It's essential to growing the next generation of expert team
members. But as we know (anyone who
tried to teach their grandmothers to use email) more senior folks can be
resistant to new technology. They may be
equally resistant to new ideas. They're
conservative by nature.
You want their contributions, based on their experiences, to
provide their mature perspectives. But
you don't want them to shoot down creative thinking before it even gets off the
ground. Today's sophisticated
collaborative software enables 'alerts' so the system moderators can be notified
when key words or phrases are posted so action can be taken. Thos who evidence themselves as destructive contributors
can be 'followed' so that all their contributions are brought to the
moderators' attention; their negative input 'well'moderated.
provide their mature perspectives. But
you don't want them to shoot down creative thinking before it even gets off the
ground. Today's sophisticated
collaborative software enables 'alerts' so the system moderators can be notified
when key words or phrases are posted so action can be taken. Thos who evidence themselves as destructive contributors
can be 'followed' so that all their contributions are brought to the
moderators' attention; their negative input 'well'moderated.
The technology isn't the strategy, but it is the backbone
for the collaborative innovation effort.
The best software systems have built in tools to make this whole process
easy. Great contributions may be
serendipitous, but luck doesn't have anything to do with it.
for the collaborative innovation effort.
The best software systems have built in tools to make this whole process
easy. Great contributions may be
serendipitous, but luck doesn't have anything to do with it.
Tadmor, C.
'Not Just for Stereotyping Anymore:
Racial Essentialism Reduces Domain-General Creativity', Psychological
Science Journal.
'Not Just for Stereotyping Anymore:
Racial Essentialism Reduces Domain-General Creativity', Psychological
Science Journal.
Ron Shulkin is Vice President of the Americas
for CogniStreamer', an innovation ecosystem. CogniStreamer serves as a
Knowledge Management System, Idea Management System and Social Network for
Innovation. You can learn more about CogniStreamer here http://bit.ly/ac3x60
for CogniStreamer', an innovation ecosystem. CogniStreamer serves as a
Knowledge Management System, Idea Management System and Social Network for
Innovation. You can learn more about CogniStreamer here http://bit.ly/ac3x60
Ron manages The Idea Management Group on
LinkedIn (Join Here) http://bit.ly/dvsYWD . You can follow him Twitter. You can follow his
blogs at this Facebook group. You can connect with Ron on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn (Join Here) http://bit.ly/dvsYWD . You can follow him Twitter. You can follow his
blogs at this Facebook group. You can connect with Ron on LinkedIn.
CogniStreamer' is an
idea management software tool. It is an open innovation and collaboration
platform where internal colleagues and external partner companies or knowledge
centers join forces to create, develop and assess innovative ideas within
strategically selected areas. The CogniStreamer' portal is an ideal
collaborative platform that invites users to actively build a strong innovation
portfolio. In addition it provides a powerful resource for internal and
external knowledge sharing. The CogniStreamer' framework is used by
industry leaders such as Atlas Copco, Bekaert, Case New Holland, Cytec, Doctors
without Borders, Eandis, Imec, Phillip Morris, Picanol and ThyssenKrupp.
idea management software tool. It is an open innovation and collaboration
platform where internal colleagues and external partner companies or knowledge
centers join forces to create, develop and assess innovative ideas within
strategically selected areas. The CogniStreamer' portal is an ideal
collaborative platform that invites users to actively build a strong innovation
portfolio. In addition it provides a powerful resource for internal and
external knowledge sharing. The CogniStreamer' framework is used by
industry leaders such as Atlas Copco, Bekaert, Case New Holland, Cytec, Doctors
without Borders, Eandis, Imec, Phillip Morris, Picanol and ThyssenKrupp.