How Manufacturers Can Approach Redevelopment
In a collaborative program with the Michigan Manufacturers Association, PDMA Michigan hosted a seminar featuring Gina O'Connor, an international expert on corporate innovation. Over the course of this four-hour seminar, members and guests learned what it takes to build a true innovation function in a business organization.
O'Connor presented a framework that was generated from more than fifteen years of research on innovation capability. That framework deals with leadership, strategy, resources and structure, in the context of four kinds of uncertainty:
Technical Uncertainty | Resource Uncertainty | Market Uncertainty | Organization Uncertainty |
The management system that helps guide innovation capacity and innovation maturity connects the following considerations:
- Metrics and Rewards
- Structure and Links
- Sound Governance
- True Collaboration
- Charter and Scope
- Leadership and Culture
- Skill Sets and Talent
- Processes and Tools
The right management system connects three key competencies that make all the difference; these are discovery, incubation and acceleration. Discovery deals with creating and exploring opportunities. Incubation involves converting these opportunities into propositions through experimentation. And acceleration involves exploring business concepts, connecting them to value creation and capture. These innovation competencies can be developed and sustained with a mindset that connects leadership, culture, processes, structure, metrics, processes and collaboration with scope.
During the course of this seminar, O'Connor assigned a very detailed Innovation Capacity Assessment, which provided a valuable take-away for attendees. The assessment yields a picture of an organization's management of discovery, incubation and acceleration. The discussion following the assessment exercise provided some valuable insights on the realities of building and sustaining a realistic base for innovation capacity.
The feedback on this program was very positive, and it serves as a guidepost for future collaboration between the MMA and PDMA Michigan. We wish to thank the staff and executive leadership of the MMA for the opportunity to partner.
Google: Forces of Innovation
A 2010 program featured Ryan Stonehouse, speaking on his company Google, and the Five Forces of Innovation.
Ryan provided an engaging overview of the history of this iconic company, along with some interesting milestones from its relatively brief eleven year existence. He also provided some insights on the forward evolution of Google.
Five Forces of Innovation at Google
- Knowing the Cost of Tomorrow... understanding the realities of information.
- Wisdom of the Crowds... understanding how people contribute and collaborate.
- Open Beats Closed... open innovation thrives on open platforms for scale and speed.
- Cloud Competing is Here to Stay... for everything from health to entertainment.
- Mobile is Truly Massive... for everything - search, apps, watching, doing and buying.
These five forces of innovation are part of the strategy and culture of Google, engaging and integrating the bases for growth, performance and change. [Check the latest business results for Google and get a sense of how this is working for investors and consumers.]
How Google "Programs" Innovation Today
A. Investing in Platform Extensions and Exploration
B. Managing New Products with Launch & Iterate Model
C. Focusing on Solving Big Problems - Healthcare, etc.
D. Creating Products for Higher-Order Solutions
E. Focusing on Data - Data Beats Everyday Opinions
These corporate lessons are embedded in the Google culture, and while smart engineers and great cafeterias may seem like the big engines of happy times, the real work of innovation depends on this disciplined approach of investing, managing and creating. Hard work drives innovation, and innovation is a way of being.
