Innovation in Indian Management

Indian management is often conservative and insists that people work nine to five and stick to the knitting. Few companies have what IBM called ‘wild ducks.’ Conformity has been a central value of Indian life. All wild ducks are tamed to conform long before they reach the workplace. Innovation comes from people. Technology is only a tool that may enhance it. People and their invisible minds are key. Thinking tools are a mechanism to teach creativity. This requires exploding myths about obedience and stereotypes about ‘good’ managers who do not rock the boat by asking inconvenient questions. It also involves promoting, nurturing leadership styles. Just as the quality movement in Japan started in society and slowly built up into a tidal wave overwhelming industry, the innovation movement too needs to start with a change in social values. Innovation is a customer based and employee respecting philosophy that has benefited many modern organizations. It is also a tool that can shape organization culture into a happier, more humane, friendly place. An Innovation Star sustains and nurtures innovation spirals and the innovation process that is critical for success.

Consistent Innovation

Be sure that you have put in place a sustainable model for consistent Innovation. Once the returns from innovation start to pour in, the organization should focus on maximizing the returns through routine implementation. Harvesting is a mechanical and essential process. Use an Innovation Center to provide the foundation for a long-term initiative. Large, tradition bound, successful organizations, tend to prefer the stability that formalized procedures provide. Even though most companies accept the idea of innovation being important for success, most are not committed enough to practice it on a long-term basis. This book provides the underlying processes required to make it work on a sustainable consistent basis and demystifies the process for use across the organization. Management is bottom-line driven. Usually extremely result oriented in the short term and often losing faith in concepts very quickly. Innovation is a concept that requires a long-term buy-in and takes time to be fully ingrained in the organizational culture. Consistent, long-term commitment and long-term implementation is key to making the climate of innovation a way of life. The benefits of an innovation intervention in very early phases are intangible. Long term top management participation and commitment is key to success. A critical mass of participants in a company practicing Innovation Tools (IT) is essential to demonstrate financial and process quality impact. Innovation practices, besides leading to continuous improvement, also result in quantum shifts in the business, leading to unprecedented profits. But patience and the Bhagavad-Gita principle of ‘Do your work without expecting results,’ are required. Organizational variables like quality of work life, teamwork, tolerance for new and disruptive ideas and unimpeded communication are required to make innovation initiatives work. Deploying the time, budgets and people required to make these initiatives work, requires management buy-in. Innovation champions are critical to carry through long-term initiatives

The Blank Slate

The year ahead is a blank slate. A white page. The events to come are offstage, waiting in the wings. You have an opportunity to reengineer, to reinvent, to restructure your life. So let’s start the makeover, the new you. Remember your dreams, your aspirations, things you have always wanted to try, to learn. Listen carefully to yourself. Talk to a friend. Take notes. Look at the four quadrants of your life – family, work, social and personal. Start with ‘personal’: Before you are a parent, a team member, an elder, you are a person. Usually, people give their own needs the lowest priority. Here are a few suggestions: Personal goals Improving health, eating healthy, exercising daily by going for a walk for atleast 45 minutes. Practicing yoga, meditation. Make friends with a young doctor. Find a new hobby or go back to an old one. Family Spending more time with family, doing more fun things together, having meals together at least once a day without the distraction of TV, cell phones or newspapers. When you can talk and listen to members of the family, even the small children. Work Expanding your sphere of influence, attending training programmes. Reading and trying to improve your wealth of knowledge, or learning by being attentive to other people. Social Keeping in touch with the extended family, Meeting old friends. Becoming involved in an NGO or neighbourhood organization to help others, while you spend your spare time usefully. Be decisive do not postpone taking decisions. During the coming year, identity your new work life balance. Approach it like a menu. See what you want to add and what you want to remove Study your life for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Pay attention to what is happening to the environment around you. Perhaps a new opportunity awaits in the wings. Be prepared to grab it as walks past! Many may tell you money is not important. I disagree. You need to fuel your goals with the liquid stuff. What are the new skills you need to operate in the changed environment? Get the training required. Get organized. Get networked. You will need a lot of help to make things happen. Make a plan. Find a way to measure progress and readjust as you go along to reach the goals you have identified. Get set for the New Year!

Innovation Mela

Innovation Melas celebrate the spirit of innovation. The most innovative new ideas are studied and applauded. In short it is a day to enjoy, inspire and celebrate corporate innovation and honour the imagination. It is a great way to provide a holistic view of events, while celebrating innovation publicly. Inviting a customer to provide his point of view could create a special wave of excitement. It is a banquet for the imagination: well loved, proven ideas rub shoulders with exotic new imports. Half completed projects call for volunteers. Implemented ideas are paraded and honoured. Case studies in the market are presented, competitions and quizzes stimulate participation. Problem owners call for consultants to tame their problem projects. Everyone rolls up their sleeves to tame wild ideas. Top management provides recognition rewards and support. The most interesting wild new idea, which does not, at the moment, seem implementable, is chosen for taming. This is a mega event which involves the whole company. It is a chance to showcase the best ideas, while reviewing and revisiting all the thinking tools. The innovation Oscars and the Innovation Hall of Fame can flow out of this event. Let your people look at this note and reflect on the ideas presented.

Feedback Systems

Make sure that a log book is maintained by every innovation spiral. Weekly meeting minutes can ensure a smooth flow of information. Regular reports from each spiral ensure that the activities planned are moving smoothly. Monthly reviews can help in providing valuable feedback and opportunities for expanding participation. They also ensure top managements’ attention to projects. Formal feedback should be provided to problem owners, who bear the brunt of implementation in unfamiliar territory. Rewards should be an integral part of the system. Innovation should be part of the individual’s measurable job description, not just something he does if he feels like it. * Have a talk on innovation by a Company CEO who has practiced it.

Complete the Action Matrix

Study your Action Matrix and let every team state its goals clearly and understand that goal. The Innovation Champion can put together the whole matrix filled by different teams and circulate it. The innovation process is an enjoyable process. The teams have had a chance to design an implementation action plan. It is probably a course of action, which has the fingerprints of all participants. This naturally ensures the buy-in of the team. The most important part of this process is that it integrates the viewpoints of all stakeholders and turns spectators into participants. This is about win-win solutions. It is about collaboration compromise and co-operation. It takes into account how people think and feel and acknowledges their need for affirmation and nurturing. The action matrix is the map to be followed in implementation.

Execute, communicate and train

Implement like an Innovation Star. This is the day to make a final presentation to all the teams in the presence of top management. Get feedback from all stakeholders and respond to concerns. It is a good idea to leave the plan to be studied by all participants. Each can peacefully reflect on it, internalize it. This is the time to get the resource budget cleared. All participants and stakeholders must now receive a clear communication on what to expect. Here it is important to note the process-- communication has to be long term, continuous and consistent. Human resources professionals and problem owners must ensure that the necessary training modules are implemented and their efficacy measured. Management systems implementation should now kick in. The management information system to ensure clear measurement of action should be available to all players. The website and other internet support systems should be properly administered by a webmaster to ensure the seamless flow of information where possible. A regularly produced e-bulletin would help. Knowledge, information and wisdom are important. ‘Know How’ is essential, but ‘do how’ is just as important. Teams by now have dived into the messy business of how to implement what they have chosen as solutions. They have created plans and strategies and worked co-operatively and negotiated the best route to take. Action now becomes the priority.

An Innovative Advertisement

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Problem Analysis

Innovation is to analyse your problem in depth and make sure that everyone understands all aspects of the problem. Answer these questions together. Record all points using a poster and post-it slips. What is the present situation? Why has the problem arisen? Why should it be solved? Why is it a problem for me personally? What thoughts have I already had, or what efforts have I made to solve the problem? Why are these thoughts or efforts insufficient or unavoidable? What kind of action can I initiate towards solving this problem? What would the ‘ideal’ solution be? If you can able to answer the above questions, it will guide you to not only to find out the right solution but helps you to find new resolutions.

Impact Analysis

It is now time to prioritize problems to be solved. Make sure no time is wasted on non-critical problems. Team members can critique and analyze each problem ruthlessly. Put them up on white boards in your innovation centre so that people live amidst them, feeling free to add their thoughts. Task for the day Choose problems which are high-value, big-ticket items for the company. The four key issues which you like to consider are: increasing revenues, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction and improving employee participation. Analyze each of the problem using the format given below: Impact Analysis – Outcome Time Increasing revenues Reducingcosts Improving customer satisfaction Increasing employee participation 1 Month 3 Months 6 Months 1 year Have a long term goal and stick to it through difficult times.

Sub-problem Statements

Each problem can be broken up into sub-problems. A problem is like a jigsaw puzzle, made up of many pieces which are its sub-problems. Create small teams around each sub-problem. Allow each team to work using thinking tools. Create a problem statement and sub-problem statement as per the following format and work on it with your organizational problems: Problem Statement Problem : How to…………. Serial No Sub – Problem People to be involved Budgets Outcomes Teamwork drives innovation. Challenge each other when working together.

Management Systems and Implementation – the Steering Committee

Create a steering committee to lead and coordinate the innovation initiative. The chief innovation officer is usually the chief executive. He is supported by the innovation champions and at least two members of the top management. This committee should conduct weekly reviews. They will ensure smooth process flow while inspiring the teams to deliver results. The duties of the innovation champion will be as follows: • Ensuring that the innovation spirals meet regularly, • Organizing the training of the trainers and others on an ongoing basis. • Regularly following up to ensure that the tasks agreed to are carried out. • Facilitating collection of monthly reports and preparing a consolidated report. • Handholding teams, encouraging and promoting innovation across the company. The steering committee meets once a month to review and take corrective action. The floor should be kept open for those who would like to participate. All teams can meet to gather forces for implementation. They should ensure that support is provided for innovative projects with potential.

Power of Communication

Here are a few steps you can take to improve your communication as a brand: • Let what you think, say and do be the same thing • Listen to feedback and make people feel safe to express ideas, opinions and feelings. • Be aware of how your brand is being built. • Be aware that silence also speaks. • Avoid conflict. If it cannot be avoided defuse it. • Return missed calls, emails and other queries.

The Economics of water degradation

The south Indian town of Tirupur is probably one of the richest towns in the world, producing tee shirts and other garments. The dyestuff from manufacturing soaked into the earth, so that all the water turned to the colour of dyes. Few of us are aware of how waste affects our precious, finite water resources. Water cleans and purifies. But water itself can be so polluted that it can become a pollutant or a poison instead of being the world’s best cleanser and drink. The river passively accepts any garbage when people dump their daily waste into the river; the chemical composition of the water itself is changed. Animals, aquatic creatures, birds and people are harmed by drinking such water. Untreated sewage from cities enters many water bodies. Here micro organisms begin to decompose organic matter like vegetable and household waste. A lot of oxygen is consumed by micro organisms in this process. As oxygen level fall, many types of fish and other aquatic life die. As oxygen levels touch zero, the water becomes septic and foul smelling. Our cities need to recycle sewage before it leaches into rivers. As in the case of industries like the leather industry, hazardous chemicals leach into the soil and become part of growing plants and crops. Imagine the effect of eating the food from these places. The sad part of this story is, that it is all invisible. When pure rain falls on garbage, it is dissolved and ground water and soil become poisoned. The economics of water degradation are obvious. Cities that invest in proper recycling and waste control, create jobs in these areas. They also attract prosperous people to live there. Pollutants can also seep down and affect the ground water deposits. City sewage is treated correctly in India only in 10% of the cases. Industrial waste flowing into rivers, is what makes it so tough to clean holy rivers like Ganges. Agriculture chemicals – fertilizers and pesticides find their way through water into rivers and finally into our homes. Efficient water management, composting and waste control, has to start in homes. Each of us makes a difference! Regards, Dr. Rekha Shetty Water Warrior

Give Generously, Live Abundantly

Laila Alva, a fifth grader sent US$ 20 to RBI Governor Rajan during the September foreign reserves crisis . “I saved this on my last trip abroad with my parents. I thought I could use it but the country needs it more than I do!” she wrote. The Governor, while appreciating her gesture, promised better times. This attitude of giving and sharing can have viral impact on the community. During, the season of harvests, Apostle Paul says whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Giving he says, “Should be cheerful and not motivated by guilt”. He says that if we sow generously we will reap the ultimate blessings - a bumper crop of righteousness! So what can you give this year? • You can give your time – the most precious of human assets. Give time to those who need it: lonely people who have lost hope, and are troubled. • Give your talent, whether it is playing cricket or music or dance, teach it to youngsters, educate a child out of school. • Give your ideas and thoughts to create clean, green streets. • Give your treasure, your money, to the extent you can, help others to develop skills. Giving generously is a blissful, joyful activity. “Give others all that is alive in us – our interest, understanding, knowledge, humor, everything in us that’s good. In doing so, we enhance the sense of aliveness in others while enhancing our own. When we give, we get a “heightened vitality” of what it means to be human.” – Erich Fromm Give laughter, smiles, blood, a gift, an invitation, share a meal, offer good advice when asked, give forgiveness, love and caring unconditionally, especially to those who deserve it least.

The Innovation Spiral

The first step in developing an environment that nurtures creativity is to separate idea generation from analysis. Most business sessions do not yield too many breakthrough ideas because managers are too busy shooting down each other’s ideas. Such meetings produce boring, safe and often useless suggestions. So create an Innovation Spiral where members will feel safe to be open, inventive, and even silly. Playfulness and fun define this positive climate and is critical to the emergence of creative ideas as the new ideas being developed should be challenging. If all the emerging ideas are ones that you feel comfortable with, then these ideas are old and the team should challenge themselves further. Here are a few self-limiting obstacles to creative thinking: * The habit of self-censorship. * A lack of respect for others. * Adopting the status quo. * Assuming limitations, instead of possibilities.

Innovation

Innovation deals with bringing in new methods and ideas resulting in required changes leading to successful innovation. The term innovate derives from a Latin word which means, ‘to renew’. Creativity and Innovation are different in principle. Creativity is the spark and Innovation is the fire in the fireplace which cooks and bakes. Planned innovation requires analysis, systems and hard work. Creativity is divided into four components: the creative person, the creative process, the creative product and the creative environment. Why Innovate? Innovation turns problems and inconveniences into profitable elements of a business. The mightiest of modern organizations have been built in a few short years through the power of information and the human mind. Helping to manage human imagination, to develop creative solutions, will be the secret of winners in the future. Innovation can be seen in every field and every sector. Corporations that adopt innovation as a way of life never need to compete. Theirs is the path where no one has gone before; the path which leads to untold success. ‘There are no limitations to the possibilities of the human mind. Microsoft’s only factory asset is the human imagination,’ Frank Moody.

Innovation

Innovation deals with bringing in new methods and ideas resulting in required changes leading to successful innovation. The term innovate derives from a Latin word which means, ‘to renew’. Creativity and Innovation are different in principle. Creativity is the spark and Innovation is the fire in the fireplace which cooks and bakes. Planned innovation requires analysis, systems and hard work. Creativity is divided into four components: the creative person, the creative process, the creative product and the creative environment. Why Innovate? Innovation turns problems and inconveniences into profitable elements of a business. The mightiest of modern organizations have been built in a few short years through the power of information and the human mind. Helping to manage human imagination, to develop creative solutions, will be the secret of winners in the future. Innovation can be seen in every field and every sector. Corporations that adopt innovation as a way of life never need to compete. Theirs is the path where no one has gone before; the path which leads to untold success. ‘There are no limitations to the possibilities of the human mind. Microsoft’s only factory asset is the human imagination,’ Frank Moody.

Culture of Innovation

The culture of innovation in large companies is always a systematic long term process gradually involving all key players in the company through small commando teams of between 5-7 people. Beginning with building the intangible positive field, it involves the systematic practice of thinking tools, the formula for thinking out of the box. The tools are embedded like gems in the necklace of the positive field. Regular practice of the tools makes them a part of your mental software. It becomes as much a part of you as breathing. To think systematically, every day is not a normal habit. One has to make the effort. Involving others makes it easier because thinking as an interactive activity is far simpler than thinking alone. The ping pong of team interaction helps keep new ideas in the air, while developing them. As in weight watchers, the support of the team is critical for sustained innovation. Some people ask, how one can go through this whole process and get any work done. The answer is simple. While learning to drive one has to keep so many separate actions in mind. But once you have learnt to drive, most of these actions become automatic. Often, you are almost on auto pilot, as you think of the day ahead. The same thing happens once the process of Innovation and the thinking tools are internalized.

The Road Map to Transformation

 To create an initiative to be led by team leaders and their ideas, so that their youthful, proactive innovations can transform the organization creating a positive climate and using the 47 thinking tools.  The present system is geared to do the opposite: it seeks to fit them into the existing traditional system.  There is also a need to take senior and middle management along if this is to work. Mentors should be part of the process of innovation.  An Innovation champion will be chosen from the group, who will steer the Innovation Initiative facilitated by an Innovation Trainer.  Innovation Stars will be made responsible for innovative actions. This will be a part of individual KRAs with feedback and rewards systems.

Enhance a Positive Field

• Light a fragrant agarbathi or use an aroma therapy diffuser. • Open all the windows and let in the sunlight. • Call a friend who really likes you and just bathe in the unconditional positive field of friendship. • Turn on your favorite music and let it pour over you and into your mind and heart. • Try to organize a car pool or transport van for team members. • Organize an outing with the team. • Organize joint shopping expedition for a limited value. • Eat together during lunch, specially for a weekly treat. • Have a well-decorated office. • Organize a movie screening.

Everything Changes

The first rule of innovation is ‘everything changes.’ A block of ice becomes water and later rises up as vapor in the unlimited sky. Air and water and ice are essentially the same. Let us consider the changing nature of life. Should furniture and living space change as a child grows from babyhood to a teenager? The height of beds, the handles of cupboards and doors should take into account the eye level and hand level of the growing child. Barrier free spaces in public places will be needed by the physically challenged as well as the changing demography of rapidly aging populations. A more human approach is architecture for the blind, where sensory signals can be felt with the bare feet or hands, like you feel typewriter keys with your fingers, is essential. A paraplegic once reminded me that I was a TAB – Temporarily Abled! Anytime, any place, can signal the first time we become physically disabled. Michelangelo was once asked how he created all those wonderful statues. He said, “I have never created a statue in my life. I just stand in reverence before a block of marble, when it arrives from the quarries of Cararra. For I know within every block of marble, there lies a statue waiting to be liberated by the touch of the Master’s hand.” So too, within every space, lies the possibility of a masterpiece, emerging with the touch of an artist’s imagination.

Thinking outside the box

Breaking the boundaries and thinking outside the box can have interesting results. Space is often treated like a closed box. The Japanese poets have always spoken of the skyscape and trees and landscape as being part of the living space. Designs should celebrate the sky and trees that surround the space. Consider the concept of stress free architecture. Old Indian village homes had a pot of water at the entrance, to wash your feet and face before entering. How would it be to walk through a water channel as you enter a house? The Japanese who have a culture of discipline where one rarely disagrees with an elder, have punching bags in their offices with increasing levels of daily stress and long working hours; I would recommend a stress busting corner in every working and living space. A place to absorb earth energy by walking barefoot on a safe, springy patch of grass. A central space in skyscrapers, where trees can grow and birds can sing and sunshine can pour into the hearts of concrete jungles. I still remember the circular shape of a hospital in Mangalore, with a garden and flowing water in the middle. “No one can get well, if they cannot see the sky, smell the flowers and hear the flowing water,” said the chairman of that hospital.

INNOVATION IN LIVING SPACES

Peter Drucker in his classic work on innovation speaks of a real estate company which became a success in a depressed postwar market. It was in the aftermath of the Second World War. Nobody was investing in buying new houses. Young people, just married, were particularly averse to investing in a home. Till a young real estate genius became a runaway success in a depressed postwar market. He did not sell houses, he sold dreams. He sold a little 200 square feet studio apartment with a 2000 square feet blueprint of a dream house. “Build your dream home as and when you can afford it, in modules,” was the message. He used the concept that people invest in dreams rather than immediately visible, touch and feel products. The innovation tool, ‘Turn it upside down’ (TUD) helped me turn a major corporate hospital brand from a place of illness to a sanctuary of wellness. The same hospital taught me that the most important part of a place of healing, is not the floor, not the walls, not the counters. These things were important to caregivers who were on their feet, vertical to the floor. But hospitals are built for patients – most of whom are horizontal, on their back, lying on beds, looking at the ceiling. One of the hospitals where special care has been lavished on the ceiling is the Singhania’s hospital in Kota, Rajasthan. The ceilings are a blaze of color. Collages are created out of broken marble chips. What must have started as an attempt to practice economy, has resulted in a masterpiece to keep patients as happy and amused as the changing patterns of clouds in the sky!

The mind is the greatest resource needed for innovation

With mental capability, there are few limitations. Overload a machine and it can break down. Even computer chips have their speed limits. Resources can run dry. However, if we can help people make better use of their minds, the returns are immeasurable. The mind computer has the capacity to store an equivalent of 7550 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Scouting other industries

Studying the methods used in other industries is a method of importing ideas from a totally different field. To proactively network with totally different industries can spark off extremely innovative ideas. In a very successful turnaround, an Indian scooter company borrowed ideas for its dealer outlets from high fashion retailers in Paris.

Scouting other industries

Studying the methods used in other industries is a method of importing ideas from a totally different field. To proactively network with totally different industries can spark off extremely innovative ideas. In a very successful turnaround, an Indian scooter company borrowed ideas for its dealer outlets from high fashion retailers in Paris.

Benchmarking competitors

New ideas come to those who carefully and systematically study the methods of competitors. Opportunities for improvement can be identified by benchmarking against industry leaders. Stars are systematic in their methods of looking outside their companies, and of scanning their environment regularly for collaborative opportunities. For example, many Indian companies use ideas from foreign competitors, who then become collaborators.

Marketing practices

The marketing and sales departments are the eyes and ears of the company in the marketplace. They are part of the market intelligence system that keeps company officials informed about the rapidly changing conditions in the micro and macro environment. The gathering of this information is usually casual, depending on the individual’s own interest. This may consist of market gossip, newspaper and trade reports, clues from the field force and information from outside sources. The information is often random and sketchy. The company may learn too late about a dealer’s need or a customer’s changing aspirations or a competitor’s aggressive move, to respond effectively. Stars are able to excel due to their practice of the following: • Training sales staff in the process and systems of collecting information • Using the internet, media and contacts to gather all available information • Buying information from specialized market research companies

Listening to the customer

Stars made regular use of market research to source new product ideas. Market research enables the company to understand a marketing problem better because customers spark off innovative ideas faster than any other resource. New product ideas are likely to emerge from the marketplace during research. This is because changing fashions and improved communication networks are creating new aspirations among customers. This information has to be solicited, as it will not flow or be recognized in the hustle and bustle of chasing bottomlines. Careful observation, interpretation of information, and recognition of opportunities is the key to success. Stars alone had a method of systematically measuring the levels of customer satisfaction and incorporating the customer’s voice into product development. In addition to market research, Stars also utilize methods like Tapping Customer Creativity (TCC). Understanding customers and measuring customer satisfaction levels are extremely important for success in the market place. When we study innovation across the globe, we find that rich countries are on top of the list. But poor countries need innovation for their survival. Innovation is crucial to Indian companies because of the chronic lack of resources. Unctad’s Innovation Capability Index puts China at 72 and India at 83. The World Bank has India at 26 and China at 57.

Aspirants and Non-starters

Aspirants: These companies recognize that innovation is integral to success in the marketplace, but have not put in place, systems to drive innovation. These companies want to be innovative, but don’t know how. Many of the companies surveyed fell into this category. These companies have the potential to be much more successful. Non-Starters: These companies do not recognize the importance of innovation.

Taming Water

Water is the giver and taker of life, as we in Chennai know, as the monsoon approaches. Over 2500 years ago Mohenjo-Daro was built in the middle of the Indus valley civilization. Engineers brought water to streets through covered drains and enormous pipelines. Water has many uses: water for transport, for electricity and energy, for chemistry and industrial production, for leisure and recreation, for health and cleaning. All this makes water planning an aspect of development itself. In 40 AD, Sextus Julius Frontinus observed that the true miracle of Egypt was not the pyramids but its water systems. So too Rome known for its Colosseum and Pantheon, was made possible by its aqueducts and hidden water pipelines. It is working with water that has made human civilization possible. In the desert of Africa, in Libiya, engineers have found a hidden underground pool the size of Germany. They started working on piping it to where most of their people live, on the shores of the Mediterranean. This is called The Great Man Made River project, which is expected to be as long as the Rhine. It will eventually cover 3,380kilometers. Where did this water come from? Ten thousand years ago, the Sahara was a green savannah with animals like giraffes and elephants. This is the hidden ground water stored from those distant times, under the desert sand. The quadruple aged water aquifers that were uncovered in the 50s had projected sizes varying from 4,500 to 20,000 cubic kilometers. The majority of this water supply was accumulated almost 15,000 to 25,000 years ago, while some water tanks are believed to be a few thousand years old. It was bombed by Nato and nearly 50% of the people had no running water. Today it has been repaired. The growing water scarcity of the North China plains and the sinking groundwater table that threatens the very existence of Beijing as a capital, have led them to revive a gigantic plan, first suggested by Mao Zedong in 1952. The project will take 5 per cent of the Yangtze’s flow and pump it hundreds of kilometres to the water-thirsty cities and farmlands of the north – as far as Inner Mongolia. Man has built 45,000 dams over 15 meters high. Over 4, 00,000 sq. kilometres are flooded by this dammed water. Water rich countries like Iceland was working on entering the hydro age when everything from cars to factories will be driven by water. More than 2000 years ago, Pausanias, the Greek Geographer, declared that no city can call itself one, unless it has an ornamental fountain! Man has tried so hard to control water. But water effortlessly takes back control!

Nurturing the Workplace

Gandhiji knew it when he filled the streets with people singing Vande Mataram. A national anthem celebrates nationhood, the blood, sweat andtears of creating a country. It aims to transcend logic and unleash the tigers of passion. The Americans stand there, hand on heart, before their flag and sing the Stars and Stripes. It creates a wave of national pride and primes people for leadership. The Japanese use this same force to create love for the company they work in. Vivekananda carried the message of India to the world with his matchless talk which starts, “Arise, Awake, stop not till the goal is reached”! Words absorb and radiate power because of their meaning and usage. Gandhiji created a few words, “bullets” of truth that turned a large passive lake of humanity into a tsunami, which forced the British to leave India. They were: • Quit India! • Do or Die! • Purna Swaraj! (Total freedom) • Vande Mataram! • Jai Hind! • Be Indian, Buy Indian! • Swadeshi! • Satyameve Jayathe! Mantras or brief prayer-words were created by ancient seers to enter the heart and regenerate the awareness of the soul.’ When you infuse a sense of pride and joy in what you do, it becomes a joyful experience, instead of a chore. To work at something you love, to be “self-actualised”, in Maslow’s terms, is to protect yourself against dying young.’ ‘People can be very happy if they love their work.

Leadership and consumer relevance are the top drivers of innovation

There are two essential ingredients for successful innovation: Leadership and Consumer Relevance. Innovative processes do not begin in the R&D laboratory. They are initiated with a mandate from the highest level of the corporation. Identifying the consumer’s needs is an equally integral part of the innovation process. Ensuring employee participation in planning and a complete buy-in into innovative strategy is critical. At Unilever, top management strongly believes that innovation has to be closely linked to the business strategy.

The process of managing innovation ties in closely with organizational freedom

Managing innovation is not an oxymoron. Highly innovative companies manage the actual process of generating, developing and implementing innovative ideas better than their competitors do. This process involves a lot of deliberate duplication and redundancy in order to foster knowledge sharing and communication. There are a million garage start-ups in IT. In rural India, cowshed innovation is common. But in every case, it has blossomed in an atmosphere of organizational freedom. Microsoft says that their only factory asset is the human imagination.

The Six Rules for Innovation

Rule 1: Thinking is something that can be learnt Rule2: Thinking is a progression, a process Rule3: Listen to others Rule 4: Involve everyday Rule 5: Invest and understand Rule 6: Patience is key

Factors that Drive Innovation

An over-emphasis on doing things right the first time inhibits innovation. • The way creative individuals are treated has a major impact on organizational innovation. Organizations must reward successes produced by innovations and keep encouraging people in the face of so-called failures. Rewards nurture creativity through affirming its value to the organization. While most Aspirants and Non-Starters had no reward for individual creativity, all Stars did. • Turf protection and barriers between different functional areas are major obstacles to innovation. Encouraging cultural, racial and gender diversity helps reduce these barriers. • Non-Starters choose to spend most of their time on making small improvements to existing products, while devoting very little attention to new product development. They need to focus more on breakthroughs and radical changes. • All employees should be involved in innovation by learning the tools of creativity and providing a positive, enabling field. Stars make use of a strategic planning approach that involves the whole team in not just executing strategies, but actually planning them. This approach creates buy-in from team members. • Top management should drive the process by providing a personal example. Management needs to talk less about innovation and do more on the ground. • Most Stars have an idea generation process, but not all of them use it. This shows that having information is different from using it. People may know a process theoretically; organizations alone can ensure that it is used. Top management commitment is critical to universal understanding and sharing of thinking tools. • Time and resources need to be allocated for learning innovation tools and processes. Stars studied more books on innovation than Aspirants or Non-Starters. Additionally, Stars attended more training programs on innovation. • Stars spend much less time in meetings. Additionally, the productivity of meetings for Stars was higher.

Idea generation

Stars make extensive use of brainstorming to generate ideas. Idea generation is most productive when it is used to tackle a specific business problem. The rules for a successful idea generation are: suspend judgment, postpone reaction and extend effort. In addition to brainstorming, Stars make use of many other tools for the generation of ideas.

Factors That Differentiate Stars

Stars were very positive about their company and its future. They believed that the quality of their products was higher, and that their market share was increasing. Employee satisfaction levels were high because people were committed and engaged. Some of the other factors that differentiated Stars from Aspirants and Non-Starters were: • Stars had a greater belief in the need for creativity in the organization. • Innovation was clearly mentioned in their mission statement. • They systematically measured customer satisfaction, and used this information to make course corrections. • They spoke directly to their customers. • New ideas were often obtained through market research. • They made use of outside consultants. • They used cutting-edge technologies to impact bottom lines. • They were able to ensure that different departments worked together. • They excelled in environmental scouting for ideas. • They had a shared process of idea generation.

Innovation Stars

Employees at a number of India’s top companies responded to a survey that gauged the innovativeness of their organizations. Based upon the responses to the survey, companies were classified as Innovation Stars, Aspirants and Non-starters. Innovation Stars were found to be more profitable, to have more satisfied employees and to have much lower employee turnover. Innovation Stars: These companies excel in all areas, tangible and intangible. Such companies are characterized by high profits, superior quality of products and services, high levels of creativity, brilliant marketing practices, strong brand equity and image, wide market presence and low employee turnover. The Star is an extremely innovative company, which has succeeded in maximizing innovation in all areas of its operations. The climate of such a company is extremely nurturing and rewards creativity while being supportive of experimentation. People working there are excited about going to work; they are thrilled about their company’s future.

Actions that Encourage a Culture of Innovation

• Doing things right • Doing the right things • Do away with unnecessary tasks • Improve existing tasks • Replicating best practices • Doing things not done by others • Breakthrough ideas must be welcomed • Appropriately disseminating knowledge and information • Encouraging cross-functional team work • Rewarding and recognizing efficiency • Providing constructive performance feedback • Appreciating gender, race and diversity • Investing in new technologies • Communicating directly and consistently with customers • Rewarding risk taking • Investing a lot of energy on creativity

IMPACT ANALYSIS

It is now time to prioritize problems to be solved. Make sure no time is wasted on non-critical problems. Team members can critique and analyze each problem ruthlessly. Put them up on white boards in your Innovation Centre so that people live amidst them, feeling free to add their thoughts. Choose problems which are high value, big ticket items for the company. The four key issues which you may like to consider are – increasing revenues, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction and improving employee participation. Analyse each of the problems using the following format Impact Analysis - Outcome Time Increasing Revenues Reducing Costs Improving customer satisfaction Increasing employee participation 1 Month 3 Months 6 Months 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years Reflections and actions  Motivation of employees and innovation complement one another.  Organize a movie screening.  Have a long term goal and stick to it through difficult times.  Kick the old coffee habit. Have a glass of fresh fruit juice instead.

Revisit the problem bank

Consider the following types of problems in addition to the obvious ones. • Problems that might arise in future in each of the 6M areas. • Problems that can be avoided if identified. • Problems which can be prevented with condition monitoring. • Problems which may arise when there is a change in any of the 6M areas. Create problem banks around the initial problem statements you identify. A good company maintains a problem bank on its intranet to solicit comments from its workforce. As problems keep getting solved, they can be replaced with new unsolved problems. Reflections and actions  The lack of collaboration between departments stifles innovation  Have a well-decorated office.  Throw out negative emotions like you do thorns in the flesh  Go on a ‘juice diet’ for a day. Start with vegetable juice, and sip fruit for lunch and dinner.

6M Map for Problem Analysis

Every problem can be analyzed by looking at the 6 Ms – Men, Materials, Machines, Methods, Markets, Money. Get the team to study all 6 aspects of the problem past, present and future. If the group is working on new ideas for marketing a product, say, they could review the past and draw up an action plan for the present and future on a three year scale. The 6M Map provides an elegant format to help understand the underlying structure of your company together. It enables you to dissect all parts of your organizational anatomy. ‘Men’ for instance, involves employees, suppliers, customers and encompasses all stake holders. Markets could also include internal customers. Each of the 6 Ms should be thoroughly studied for problems. It is important to involve everyone in identifying the real problem. What is a problem for the worker need not seem like a problem for the manager. Mr.Ramesh, H.R. Director of Hyundai, once recounted the case of an absentee worker. He was constantly absent because of backache. Everyone thought he was malingering, until it was found that he was shorter than the other workers, and was straining his back by stretching it. Increasing the height of the platform on which he stood solved the problem and eliminated his absenteeism. Reflections and actions  Vision and leadership are necessary to inspire a widespread commitment to innovation  Eating together during lunch, especially for a weekly treat. A monthly moonlight, pot luck dinner with families or colleagues can be planned.

Problem Analysis

Take a look at the outline of problem analysis below. Let the team discuss the problem in depth and make sure that everyone understands all the aspects of the problem. Ask the team to answer the following questions for better understanding of the problem a. What is the present situation? b. Why has the problem arisen? c. Why should it be solved? d. Why it is problem for me personally? e. What thoughts have I already had, or what efforts have I made, to solve the problem? f. Why are these thoughts/efforts in sufficient or unavoidable? g. What kind of action can I initiate towards solving this problem? What would be the ‘ideal’ solution?  ‘Innovation should be part of everyone’s job description’.  Organize a joint shopping expedition for a limited value.  Visualize success and joy  Eat only freshly cooked meals, not refrigerated leftovers

Creative Problem Solving

Study all the problems identified in the problem bank together. And then ensure that each one is turned into a problem statement in the form of a question. Identifying and formulating the problem is the most difficult part of creative problem solving. Very often we state symptoms of the problems and end up wasting scarce resources chasing the illusionary ‘golden deer of the epics’. Management then becomes so emotionally committed to the wrong path that we can end up moving faster and faster along the wrong road. It is like a man who drills an oil well, in a bad spot. More and more money is spent with no resulting strike. But those involved, refuse to fill up the unproductive well and move on to a new location. They continue throwing good money after bad, because they do not want to admit that a mistake had been made initially. Problem as first stated: How to improve the brakes supplied to the car maker? Creative analysis: Why do we want to improve the brakes? Answer: To stop cars at a shorter distance Creative Analysis: How else can we stop a car at a shorter distance? Why do we want to stop the car at a shorter distance? Answer: To increase safety of occupants of the car. Restatement of problem: How might we improve safety in a car’s stopping system? Result: This is much broader than the original challenge and opens a wider door to novel ideas. At one of my early creativity laboratories for mothers, twenty-two years ago, one of the participants said, ‘My problem is how I get my son to eat eggs for breakfast.’ A rigorous analysis of the problem uncovered the real quandary, ’How do I get my son to eat a nutritious breakfast?’ The restatement of the problem enabled the mother to give the child a variety of foods ranging from cheese and idlis, to cutlets and samosas, instead of forcing the child to eat the hated eggs. Redefining the problem statement is the challenging part of the process, as all of us who have struggled with the task of arriving at a hypothesis know. Stating and understanding the problem correctly is the key to the Innovation Initiative.

Idea generation

‘For every problem there is a solution that is simple, attractive... and wrong’. Beware of obvious solutions!’ Arthur Clarke It is worth remembering here, that the rules for thinking are totally different from the rules for doing. You can set up a 100 million dollar factory in your mind, study the mathematical implications and destroy it without losing a single dollar. However, as soon as the first brick is physically laid, or the first employee hired, you start losing money. Do not analyze your thoughts during idea generation. Remove all boundaries. Apply analysis only in the fourth stage of the creative thinking process. It is ideal to train trainers in the thinking tools and then encourage them to deliver training to the teams.

Product Development – in the marketplace

When you take the germinal product into a protected test market observe the way it is used by the customer. Try different versions of it, if possible. For example, Godrej are carrying out hands on experiments with customers in different retail formats whilst developing furniture that customers can accept as easily as the furniture made by the local carpenter. Use the following map to recreate your product. This map can help you identify key elements in product development. Use existing facilities to refine products in the market place. Once a new product idea germinates, it needs time and space to grow and develop that idea. Insist that unfamiliar, strange, unusual elements are developed. Support the Champion, tone down the attackers. Work on taking it to market fast on a small investment with the possibility of a profit. Don’t try to create the perfect product in the lab. The immediate reaction is often to remove all elements that make a product new and different. Most groups will rush to protect familiar aspects of the product and if it is wild idea there will be a concerted rush to domesticate it and retain its old and familiar attributes. Fiercely protect the wildness of the idea by enclosing it in a sanctuary. Allow it to roam free in the sanctuary for a few days. Don’t touch it. Remember if everyone loves an idea, it is probably 200 years old!

Test Product Specifications in the Competitive Marketplace

Let your teams use this map to help create an experiment in the market place. Carefully calibrate the product creating a careful balance between what the customer wants and what the competitive market will bear. On a new product, make small investments. Change and react to what happens in the market place. Like a potter uses his hands to shape wet clay, refine your product as it makes its way tentatively through the market place. Remember, a kite can only be tested when it flies. Don’t keep your product too long in the laboratory, launch it, test it and improve it as you go along. Be hungry for early profits. Let the product evolve to achieve customer delight.

Greenhouses and watering Cucumbers

‘A cucumber a day keeps the doctor away!’ believed the Roman Emperor Tiberius. The Roman gardener produced a cucumber a day, right through the year, using an early version of a greenhouse. Cucumbers were planted in wheeled carts, which were wheeled out into the sunlight daily. They were taken inside to keep them warm at night. The cucumbers were stored under frames or in cucumber houses glazed with either oiled cloth or sheets of selenite. Imagine growing what you want right through the year. Conquering the seasons, while saving water, energy and other resources. That is what a greenhouse does. A greenhouse or a glass house is made of transparent material like glass. Greenhouses in hot dry climates are called shade houses. In the 13th century greenhouses were built in Italy to house exotic plants from the tropics. In 1438 we read of mandarin trees being grown in a greenhouse in winter. This is found in the records of the Joseon dynasty. Sanga Yorok, written in 1450 AD Korea speaks of a greenhouse where temperature and humidity could be controlled. The concept of greenhouse appeared in the Netherland and England in the 17th Century. These early greenhouses required a lot of work to close up at night and maintain temperatures. Today Netherlands produce millions of vegetables and flowers using greenhouses. The French used their first greenhouses to protect orange trees from freezing and called them orangeries. Pineries or pineapple pits became popular. In 17th century Europe, the palace at Versailles had a greenhouse that was 490 ft long, 43ft wide and 145 ft high. In England during the Victoria Era, botanists became involved ushering in the golden era of greenhouses. Botanist Joseph Paxton, built the Crystal Palace in London. The New York Crystal Palace and the Royal greenhouse of Laeken were built in Belgium for King Leopold. In 1880 the first greenhouse was built in Japan by a British merchant who exported herbs. It is fascinating the way ideas spread across the world. Sailing across oceans with commerce and sometimes religion. The 20th century saw the geodesic dome. Polyethylene filter became widely used for greenhouses. Today commercial glass houses are filled with equipment including installations for heating, cooling and lighting. Computers are often used to control the conditions for optimum growth. Food supplies depend on greenhouses in high latitude countries. In Andalusia, Spain, greenhouses cover 49,000 acres. They can be seen from space. South Korea is the Asia’s leader in reducing its greenhouse gas emission by 30%. They plan a low carbon economy to accelerate economic growth. Incidentally the country is one of the top 10 carbon emitters. The country is full of greenhouses on both sides of the highway. The greenhouse of Gosan completed a massive turnkey project for growing green peppers. The stunning new nursery is on a scenic mountainside, it measures over a hectare. It has a sustainable heating system with a pump which can cool and heat. Greenhouses all over South Korea grow exotic vegetables and flowers like roses and orchids. From simple greenhouse to multilayer cultivation systems, they use revolutionary multilayered water and energy saving systems to conserve resources. There is less loss of light radiation, or water evaporation in these. Today the Netherlands has some of the largest greenhouses in the world. A major producer of food these structures occupy10,256 hectares. Today, we also see floating greenhouses. Cornerways nursery in UK, uses waste heat and carbon dioxide from a nearby sugar refinery. The refinery has a novel way of reducing its carbon emission through a good cause. One can easily foresee greenhouses on the Moon or Mars or even distant planets where Earth colonies may appear! Regards, Dr. Rekha Shetty Water Warrior

Service is the differentiator

Whilst the product or service may be quite similar it is possible to differentiate your product by offering a unique service. Airlines may be the same, but Kingfisher Airlines differentiates itself with the way helpers take care of your luggage -- the way the passenger is treated as a ‘guest’. Hospitals may be the same, but ‘Our working is an offering to God’ motto at the Satya Sai Hospital in Whitefield Bangalore differentiates it from more commercial institutions. Use this diagram to revisit existing product service packages and explore how you can further differentiate your product or service. Action: Explore services that can make your product unique.

Relationships – Revisit, Review, Relate

Building relationships, with suppliers, customers, press and other stake holders, is key to the success of your innovation initiative. They cannot be built overnight, only when we need help. Relationships have to be a carefully nurtured 365 days a year exercise. The web of relationships creates the networking required for success in problem solving. Great relationships with your stake holders make the process of achieving ‘stretch’ goals interesting and exciting. So make this day for the 3 Rs - Revisit, Review, and Relate. Revisit the mission statement of your company and review the progress of the projects with special reference to building and enhancing relationships : • Within the commando teams • Between Innovation spirals • Between the steering committee and the spirals Make sure that there is no turf protection.

Know the customer: Face to Face

Knowing the customer is a long term process. Keeping your finger on the pulse of customer trends can ensure consistent profits. Here are some of the systems that could help build and understand lifetime relationships with the customer. Encourage the teams to go out and meet customers. Let them get a hands on experience of how customers really think. Let them organize in-house interviews and focus groups with customers. Interviews and focus groups can give a lot of information. They can help customer’s participate in reinventing processes and products. Management by walking about (MBWA) is the hands on way to find out what the customer feels day to day. Research and surveys give you information. But customer aspirations and fashions change. Those who are not in close touch with their customers may be too late to react to new trends. Barrack Obama became President of the United States by contacting 5 million people on the internet. He collected far more funding than powerful old timers like Senator Mc Cain and Hillary Clinton. Raw data needs to be interpreted in terms of customer needs. The way McDonald’s responded to change in the attitude to health and concerns about obesity by providing low fat and salad meals shows a proactive attitude to change in customer needs and tastes. This naturally leads to protecting profits. The concern for the environment is another issue where the auto industry has to take customer focused decisions. During an economic down turn does a big gas guzzling car become almost vulgar? Are people ready for electric cars? Is the Rs. 1 lakh Tata Nano poised to grab world markets? Study the needs hierarchy. Is it true that on the brink of the economic precipice, people are more concerned about surviving, than about impressing the neighbours? There is a whole new economics of recession. Study the emerging trends and get advice from experts. Reflect on your findings. Study broad demographic changes and question where a global major should invest? In India with its largest number of young people or China with its aging population? How should Indian companies change their strategies to deal with the explosive youth power? Will inexpensive luxuries become more popular?

Keep in touch with Customers

Customer creativity enables the company to negotiate new products with customers. It is the kind of process that reinvents the future. For instance, customers were not even aware of the possibility of a Walkman. Only an intense negotiation between top management, manufacturing and customers could have created it. Customer interaction can be induced by the following: • Management by Walking About (MBWA) is the most appropriate way to ensure that the customer’s voice is built into products and processes. • Advisory committees of opinion leaders can be an effective method of keeping one’s finger on the pulse of public opinion. • Focus group interviews to enable customers to explore ideas with skilled facilitators, trained to go below the surface of suggestions and complaints.

Innovation Blog - Innovation mind bytes

 Be willing to test ideas in the market and correct them in the market place. Don’t wait for perfection on the drawing board. An idea is like a kite. Fly it, to test it in the wind.  Keep a low key. As the Zen thinkers say, be like an underground stream, not like a rocky mountain face. Competitors are alerted and more likely to attack a mountain.  Co-operate instead of confronting.  Keep initial budgets small.  Reach out for low hanging fruits. Be hungry for results.  Be impatient for profits.  Learn in the ruthless university of the marketplace.  Reach for the untouched and the unreached. As first mover, make full use of your advantage.  Be patient with teething problems. De-bug as you go along.  Good is the enemy of Better.

Working with Wild Ideas

A germinal idea requires the sanctuary of a mindspace that is totally nurturing. It requires a space to grow so that its wildness is not nipped in the bud. Who knows what weed will become the coffee bush? Develop sanctuaries for wild ideas. Let the wilderness flourish in a totally non-threatening atmosphere. Let the ideas grow high and tall. Leave all pruning for later. New ideas need to play freely, like crawling, naked babies with no discipline. Suspend judgment, postpone reaction, extend effort. Hindustan Lever has its innovation centers. Cognizant has budgets for its mavericks and no stop signs within those budget allocations. Ask all participants to make an impossible wish – zero cost, zero rejections or doubling productivity. Then proceed to tame them bit by bit by using the innovation tools already learnt, like 6M. This process can be extended as you learn all the tools. So, go ahead and spend time setting impossible goals and developing wild ideas.

PMI

This is a simple mapping tool. PMI stands for P - PLUS M - MINUS I - INTERESTING PMI enables all individuals to study the three important aspects of the problem. School children in many countries use this to gain insights to all sides of a problem or mapping a situation. This a simple scanning tool to understand the geography of a problem.

Bug List Technique

Hendry Petroski - “Evolution of Useful Things” The bug list technique was developed to capitalize on this tendency of faulting things around us to lead to corrective action. Identify things that irritate or “bug” them. Consolidate a list. Vote and resolve the Bug.

Metaphor

Procedure for Use: Identify the issue you would like to innovate on. eg: “How to make customers your raving fans?” Ask each member of the group to record their feelings about movies. Experiential metaphor may include having the group to go for a movie. Apply these ideas to the problem using force-fit and record all ideas. Role-play of a movie can be used to extract ideas.

Experiential Attribute Matching

Experiencing an event is totally different from thinking about it. Adapt to the environment, live each moment fully and never be a spectator. For spectators get nothing out of life, participants get everything.

Tent Thinking vs. Marble Place Thinking

A tent can be put up, shapes can change, it can expand or reduce and it can be put up elsewhere. Marble Place thinking involves fascination with permanence. Adaptability according to the situation.

TURN IT UPSIDE DOWN (TUD)

• Step 1 Hospitals are places for the sick. How to make sure more people use the hospital? • Observations : It is difficult to market illnesses because no one believes they will fall ill. They are protected by what insurance people call the immortality complex. • Step 2 • Turn it upside down Hospital is a place where people go when they are well. • Solution Start preventive health and perfect health programme to attract people who are well. • Benefits 1. The market segment increases to cover a vast population: There are lot more people who are well than those who are ill. 2. The relationship starts on a happy note. The basis for a life time relationship is achieved.

A Holistic Approach to Health

Sushruta Samhita, the ancient Indian work by the physician Sushruta, describes perfect health as a state where all body parts function at their optimal level and wherein the body, mind and spirit are in perfect balance and in a state of bliss. This is the highest goal. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely an absence of diseases or infirmity. Really speaking, health is not a state but a continuous adjustment to the changing demands of life and the environment. Positive health implies perfect functioning of body and mind in a given society. Ayurveda defines health as: Svasthya—to be one’s own spiritual self. It is a state of balance between the three doshas (which are mind body energies: vata or wind; pitta or bile; and kapha or phlegm) that govern our external and internal environment, leading to a contented state of the senses, mind and soul.

Force Field Analysis

The name comes from the technique’s ability to identify forces contributing to or hindering a solution to a problem and can stimulate creative thinking in three ways: 1) To define what you are working towards (vision). 2) To identify strengths you can maximize and 3) To identify weaknesses you can minimize.

Crawford Blue Slip

This is one of the simplest, yet very effective, creativity generation techniques. It can be used to collect a large number of ideas in a short time. Because the ideas are recorded and shared without the name of the originator, people feel more comfortable about expressing ideas. There is less concern that their ideas will not be considered useful.

Snowballing

Every idea can be developed and grown by snowballing. Ideas are added to the original thought. The use of check-lists can be useful. Each idea can be developed by 4 or 5 groups and then put together for the main group.

PO

PO is a tool perfected by Edward De Bono and is a word used to protect delicate new ideas from destruction. Create a sanctuary for a wild idea. PO1 : Intermediate Impossible: PO1 is used to protect an impossible idea from immediate destruction. The tool used here to protect the idea is intermediate impossible. PO2 : Similar to Attribute Matching: PO2 is very similar to attribute matching. They help us put together a dissimilar idea and expect solutions from different fields. PO3 : Generating Alternatives: PO3 is a tool to generate alternativeness. When a system is working well, as a matter of routine, PO3 should be used to encourage one to think of 10 alternative ways of doing it better. This is an important and interesting tool to prevent stagnation.

Free Fall

Free fall is like bungee jumping. You let go without knowing definitely what will happen. Creative ideas are a kind of free fall. You generate ideas that have never been suggested / heard before. You risk the contempt of your peers; their jeers and laughter.

Beauty And Its Power To Expand The Mind

• Look into the purple heart of an amethyst. Register the colour in your heart and illumine every part of yourself with that colour. Beauty has the power to open the secret doors of human personality. You become relaxed, alert, comforted and nurtured. • Your mind becomes fluid and flowing. All that is harsh and dissonant melts away. Thoughts bloom like flowers on a tender branch. Immersing yourself in the grand silences of nature can help you to start the process of becoming more interestingly ‘YOU,’ the you God created. The ‘YOU’ who can become self actualized and peaceful.

Experiential Metaphor

• Experiencing an event is totally different from thinking about it. • Access dreams, visions, floating thoughts and synthesise them into your plans. For example, the best way to understand a tree is to become a tree in a storm. • Adapt to the environment, live each moment fully; never be a spectator.

UAE Dazzles

We can do anything with water except live without it. Imagine, the cities of the UAE, meet all their drinking water needs from desalinated water! Waste water is treated and reused for greenery. There are several sea water desalination plants in the UAE. In the model green city, Masdar, four smaller pilot desalination plants will use solar power! Using an old technology, ocean desalination, a plant in UAE, at Jebel Ali can produce 564 million gallons of water a day from the sea! Everyone pays for water by public meter, so they are more careful with its use. Water saving toilets and showerheads are mandatory. Over use of water is indicated on the bills in red. It is time we thought about the use of water more carefully, when it is still available. Treating water becomes more and more expensive as we deplete our supplies. In spite of their water issues, UAE is generously involved in efforts to provide foreign water aid, which include basic water supplies projects, digging wells, developing rivers basins, general hygiene, large scale water supply systems, large scale general hygiene systems and conservation of water resources in more than 61 countries, at a cost exceeding AED 1 billion. Top recipient countries of water projects includes: Afghanistan, Pakistan the only two Polio affected countries where impure water is key source of infection, Lebanon, Somalia and Sudan. In addition, UAE supports water projects in West African countries, such as Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Burundi. Water projects have contributed in improving the enrolment rates of the school students, and for girls and women joining rates to adult literacy classes. In rural areas around the world, children, especially girls and women, are engaging in a daily journey searching for water, and spending long hours that force them to miss opportunities of education and improving their livelihoods. Funded water projects helped in improving the personal hygiene, which reduced infections of hygiene related diseases. In addition, the availability of water resources saved some time for women to take care of their children and families, which led to improved maternal and child health. It also provides more time for the family to engage in income- generating activities. Also water availability helped in reducing the struggle over water. This helped in reducing conflicts, providing security and peace. For example, Merowe Dam in Sudan, which UAE has helped fund in providing energy of 1250 MW and irrigating 300,000 hectares of cultivated land. Unless we are careful, we will soon join the 1.2 billion people who live in places where it is tough to get water. It is estimated that climate change is moving more parts of the world into desertification. The world population is expected to cross 9 billion by 2050! Unless we start working on saving water, even on an individual level, most of them will be thirsty. Start rain harvesting today! Start conserving water!

Complete the Action Matrix

Study your Action Matrix and let every team state its goals clearly and understand that goal. The Innovation Champion can put together the whole matrix filled by different teams and circulate it. The innovation process is an enjoyable process. The teams have had a chance to design an implementation action plan. It is probably a course of action, which has the fingerprints of all participants. This naturally ensures the buy-in of the team. The most important part of this process is that it integrates the viewpoints of all stakeholders and turns spectators into participants. This is about win-win solutions. It is about collaboration compromise and co-operation. It takes into account how people think and feel and acknowledges their need for affirmation and nurturing. The action matrix is the map to be followed in implementation.

A winning model

Deccan Airlines created a disruption in the Airlines market. They created flights to smaller destinations not previously served like Vijayawada. The customer received low fares and at the same time lost: Free food and drinks Tolerance for more baggage Premium seats Convenient timing of flights The Winning Model was a result of: Fewer aircrafts, faster turnaround times, arriving early mornings and late nights when airports were less utilized by the premium airlines. It became profitable for the airlines and cheaper for the customers

Action plan to create Innovative culture

* Look at several alternatives, a hundred futures, before deciding on the best one for the moment. Remember the market place will be the best place for complete refinement of your product. * Start small. Keep over heads low. Be lean and learn. Don’t spend money on swanky offices, first- class travel, hotels and the Mercedes Benz. * Pursue areas with high entry level barriers, which competitors avoid like the plague. Test market in a small way. Experience the results; look into the customer’s eyes. Don’t just keep talking and making presentations. Review, tweak and go back to the market. Course correct, move. Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. There is no guarantee of success. * Nothing is an instant success. Every successful product is the result of a hundred corrections in response to customer reactions, changing aspirations. There is no time, when you can rest on your laurels because you are so perfect. * Let your solutions be bold, what no one has done before. Don’t take shelter in incrementalism.

Nurture the culture of Innovation

Companywide innovation is not about nurturing solitary genius in sterile laboratories but requires the bubbling enthusiasm of innovation spirals. The Innovation champion and all problem owners must consistently ensure the use of the tools and track the Innovation spiral meetings. To internalize innovation tools, use them. Teach them to others. The new IT is Innovation Tools. Install them in every members mind’s computer. Present the tools with examples. Encourage questions. Teach the tools to your friends and your family. This is the best way to make it a part of your everyday life. While the process is now in place, providing daily stimulus is the problem owner’s job. This can be done by asking the team a provocative question everyday. The questions could be • What are the non-value adding activities in your daily work? • How can we help to eliminate this? • How can we do this faster? • How to improve the productivity of this team?

Consistent Innovation

Be sure that you have put in place a sustainable model for consistent Innovation. Once the returns from innovation start to pour in, the organization should focus on maximizing the returns through routine implementation. Harvesting is a mechanical and essential process. Use an Innovation Center to provide the foundation for a long-term initiative. Large, tradition bound, successful organizations, tend to prefer the stability that formalized procedures provide. Even though most companies accept the idea of innovation being important for success, most are not committed enough to practice it on a long-term basis. This book provides the underlying processes required to make it work on a sustainable consistent basis and demystifies the process for use across the organization. Management is bottom-line driven. Usually extremely result oriented in the short term and often losing faith in concepts very quickly. Innovation is a concept that requires a long-term buy-in and takes time to be fully ingrained in the organizational culture. Consistent, long-term commitment and long-term implementation is key to making the climate of innovation a way of life. The benefits of an innovation intervention in very early phases are intangible. Long term top management participation and commitment is key to success. A critical mass of participants in a company practicing Innovation Tools (IT) is essential to demonstrate financial and process quality impact. Innovation practices, besides leading to continuous improvement, also result in quantum shifts in the business, leading to unprecedented profits. But patience and the Bhagavad-Gita principle of ‘Do your work without expecting results,’ are required. Organizational variables like quality of work life, teamwork, tolerance for new and disruptive ideas and unimpeded communication are required to make innovation initiatives work. Deploying the time, budgets and people required to make these initiatives work, requires management buy-in. Innovation champions are critical to carry through long-term initiatives.

Innovation Mela

Innovation Melas celebrate the spirit of innovation. The most innovative new ideas are studied and applauded. In short it is a day to enjoy, inspire and celebrate corporate innovation and honour the imagination. It is a great way to provide a holistic view of events, while celebrating innovation publicly. Inviting a customer to provide his point of view could create a special wave of excitement. It is a banquet for the imagination: well loved, proven ideas rub shoulders with exotic new imports. Half completed projects call for volunteers. Implemented ideas are paraded and honoured. Case studies in the market are presented, competitions and quizzes stimulate participation. Problem owners call for consultants to tame their problem projects. Everyone rolls up their sleeves to tame wild ideas. Top management provides recognition rewards and support. The most interesting wild new idea, which does not, at the moment, seem implementable, is chosen for taming. This is a mega event which involves the whole company. It is a chance to showcase the best ideas, while reviewing and revisiting all the thinking tools. The innovation Oscars and the Innovation Hall of Fame can flow out of this event. Let your people look at this note and reflect on the ideas presented.

Happy Street

I am happy to inform you that my eleventh book, “Happy Street” published by Penguin Books will be released in June 2016. My new book is about how to create happy communities, street by street. I believe that this book can revolutionize the scientific implementation of the Swacch Bharat program as well as create a happy India street by street. This book emphasizes the economic impact of kindness. The business world today is more about taking, grabbing, competing and forcing. This book presents a refreshing, new way, which focuses on giving, sharing and caring. How cool it would be to spend your time thinking of lovely new ways to inspire more joy and happiness in the people around you. Here are some interesting facts about my book. You can create a Happy Street! The Happy Street by the bestselling author and innovation guru Dr. Rekha Shetty, is about how each one of us has a chance to adopt a street and make it a happy street. The principles of building a happy community are woven around. It is a simple love story of how Rohan a conservative young man from Chennai, meets fiery Bengali girl, Ammu and how they both work together to create a happy street. Through a series of letters from Rags a wise hi-tech coach, with a spiritual bent, points the way. Happy Street shows you how to create a community full of well-being and joy. The four pillars of the Happy Street are (1) Environmental Sustainability, (2) Cultural Vitality (3) Economic Development and (4)Good Governance. Use this book to create your own happy street!

Course Correction

` No innovative idea can be perfect when it is conceived. It has to be refined and perfected on the run. The only certainty in this endeavour is uncertainty. More than 80% of germinal, out of the box, ventures start off by following the wrong strategy. Like a kite adjusting to gusty winds, adjustments have to be made, based on customer feedback. Some companies spend so much time working on the ‘perfect’ product in their laboratories that all their funding runs out. Others find that the ‘perfect’ moment for the launch never comes. e-bay started with almost nothing. As Mag Whitman, CEO, e-bay put it: ‘Its better to put something out there, and see the reaction and fix it on the fly…….we are better off spending six days in the lab, putting it out there, getting feedback and then evolving it…….’ Ideas shaped in the market, in response to changing customer aspirations and fashions are very difficult to copy because of their dynamic changing character. The best time to do this is of course when everything is going really well. Organizational energy is high and innovation is like a kite we fly just because we are in high spirits and want to know if we can be even better than the best.

Feedback Systems

Make sure that a log book is maintained by every innovation spiral. Weekly meeting minutes can ensure a smooth flow of information. Regular reports from each spiral ensure that the activities planned are moving smoothly. Monthly reviews can help in providing valuable feedback and opportunities for expanding participation. They also ensure top managements’ attention to projects. Formal feedback should be provided to problem owners, who bear the brunt of implementation in unfamiliar territory. Rewards should be an integral part of the system. Innovation should be part of the individual’s measurable job description, not just something he does if he feels like it. * Have a talk on innovation by a Company CEO who has practiced it.

Complete the Action Matrix

Study your Action Matrix and let every team state its goals clearly and understand that goal. The Innovation Champion can put together the whole matrix filled by different teams and circulate it. The innovation process is an enjoyable process. The teams have had a chance to design an implementation action plan. It is probably a course of action, which has the fingerprints of all participants. This naturally ensures the buy-in of the team. The most important part of this process is that it integrates the viewpoints of all stakeholders and turns spectators into participants. This is about win-win solutions. It is about collaboration compromise and co-operation. It takes into account how people think and feel and acknowledges their need for affirmation and nurturing. The action matrix is the map to be followed in implementation.

Execute, communicate and train

Implement like an Innovation Star. This is the day to make a final presentation to all the teams in the presence of top management. Get feedback from all stakeholders and respond to concerns. It is a good idea to leave the plan to be studied by all participants. Each can peacefully reflect on it, internalize it. This is the time to get the resource budget cleared. All participants and stakeholders must now receive a clear communication on what to expect. Here it is important to note the process-- communication has to be long term, continuous and consistent. Human resources professionals and problem owners must ensure that the necessary training modules are implemented and their efficacy measured. Management systems implementation should now kick in. The management information system to ensure clear measurement of action should be available to all players. The website and other internet support systems should be properly administered by a webmaster to ensure the seamless flow of information where possible. A regularly produced e-bulletin would help. Knowledge, information and wisdom are important. ‘Know How’ is essential, but ‘do how’ is just as important. Teams by now have dived into the messy business of how to implement what they have chosen as solutions. They have created plans and strategies and worked co-operatively and negotiated the best route to take. Action now becomes the priority.

Review the outcome

During implementation review the outcome. Be aware of the end before you take the first step. Unify your teams by hitching them to the ultimate goal. Top management should inspire and empower the teams to action. A team bonding exercise getting everyone to see a bird’s eye view of the exercise is critical. Review the Resource for every team. Consolidate the reviews if the resources being used are adequate. Study the impact on the expected outcome. Ensure that the process is moving towards the final outcome: reducing costs, increasing revenues, improving customer satisfaction and ensuring greater employee participation.

Think before you leap

Identify and forecast the various consequences of an action. You could identify the impact of building a holiday resort in a forest. This could be Improving the bottom line of the company Damaging the environment Harming the health of the employees The impact could also be studied in various time periods: the next month, 6 months, 1 year and 5 years. Sometimes the immediate impact on the company, may be great, resulting in short term profits. However, the long term impact could be disastrous, creating many dissatisfied customers.

Change the way of Thinking

Not all innovations can grow out of even the best existing systems. When you try to grow a revolutionary new idea, within a system, stock holders and vested interests move in to close ranks to protect their own power bases. A Star Trek Enterprise expedition is a good analogy to develop this disruptive innovation. Imagine that the old company, planet earth is about to disintegrate. You put your best warriors and key elements of your culture into a ship which takes off into space to put down roots on a ‘safe planet’. When an existing company is in the declining phase of its product life cycle, sustaining innovation may cut losses, but a fresh new area may be the key to sustained profits. The discovery of Christopher Columbus was the result of such an expedition, far away from the home base. A new company speeding in as a garage start up, could be in the right place to replace the ailing white elephant. So when the company is doing well, why not set up a few garage start-ups, starships, a few gambles and experiments? These should be small and multiple. They should have support from the top, perhaps a direct reporting relationship with the CEO.

Change is the only thing that is Permanent

This is the first of the Laws of Innovation: Everything changes - people, products, companies; Men, Materials, Machines, Methods, Markets and Money (6M). The decision to change is in your hands but there are challenges to growth. Innovation is about transformation. Imagine a block of ice. It is cold, solid, and transparent. But it is not a block of ice forever. It melts and flows across boundaries. Water follows its own logic which is very different from the logic of ice. Water goes to many places, has many adventures, but always comes back to its own nature – cool, beautiful and still. If you heat it, it boils; keep heating, it gets airborne by becoming steam, steam that knows the freedom of the skies, steam that cannot be held captive. Add pressure and it can rotate turbines to generate power. Transformation is what happens to a drop of water when it is touched by the magic of sunlight. It becomes a rainbow. It is what happens to a seed when it starts the journey to become a mighty banyan tree. The banyan tree is not an improved seed, just as a butterfly is not an improved caterpillar or a rainbow an improved drop of water. By definition, innovation is taking interesting ideas and transforming them into usable solutions for solving business problems.

Be a Warrior

Turning ordinary men into matchless warriors full of the enthusiasm to win, can definitely improve performance. Gandhiji did just that using his magic mantras to infuse courage into the freedom struggle : Do or Die, Quit India, Vande Matharam. Among the nava rasas, chivalry is key to the life of a warrior: a corporate warrior is no different and needs real courage. Wonder is developed from courage. The rapture of courage is produced by means of energy, perseverance, optimism, presence of mind and kindness. Courage and bravery are definitely feel-good emotions. Courage is represented on the stage by firmness, patience, heroism, pride, zeal, valor and wit. Bravery fills you with enthusiasm, energy and spontaneity. Bravery is not just bravery in war. It is the small, everyday acts of courage that each of us is called upon to manifest in the face of obstacles. The ability to sacrifice, which is the core of emotional intelligence, is a part of the Veera Rasa. The ability to persist in the face of difficulties is a part of this. To meet the jealousy and pettiness of the world with gentleness, humor and fearlessness, is part of it. Brilliance and elegance belong to the true warrior who aligns himself with the powerful forces of goodness. ‘Josh,’ wakefulness, energy and boundless enthusiasm are an expression of this energy.

Using Checklists to Develop Ideas

Checklists help to generate ideas in a systematic way. Once a problem is identified, teams can use checklists to explore all areas and issues that are associated with the problem. They help the team think and are often in the form of questions. Many of the mapping tools, like 6 M, are just like check-lists encouraging you to be systematic in your approach. The simplest tools include checklists like Kipling’s famous ‘5 good serving men’ - the questions which, why, where, when, how and who. Thinkers from Plato onwards have developed hundreds of thinking tools which are as easy to learn as the three Rs (reading, writing, arithmetic).

Sanctuary 3

Sanctuary 3 is a tool to generate alternativeness. When a system is working well, as a matter of routine this can be used to encourage you to think of alternative ways of doing it better. This is an important and interesting tool to prevent stagnation. Imagine a Company caught by high cost during a downturn. Now develop five ways to reduce costs. For example: 1. Ask people to work for three days a week. 2. Encourage people to take an unpaid subbatical. 3. Encourage working from home or telecommunicating. 4. Get customers to sell to other customers for a small fee. 5. Get vendors to deliver materials and parts on the assembly line.

Sanctuary 2

Sanctuary 2 is very similar to attribute matching by putting together dissimilar ideas and expert solutions from different fields. Example: Look at the attributes of say a motor car to get some fresh ideas on education. This allows for a whole group of new creative ideas. The attributes of a motor car and how it could apply to education are: • It moves – The Syllabus could move with changing times (say every 5 years) • It should be regularly filled with petrol – Teachers could receive regular training inputs every year at a retreat. • Different energy sources are now available i.e. petrol and electricity – Arrange for regular inputs from alternative sources, maybe ideas from people in government or agriculture, or nuclear physics. • It can carry people – Parents alumni and public could be involved in an advisory capacity. • Enclosed space -- Put different types of people together in close proximity and enable them to share ideas in a time bubble away from others. • It provides a good view of the country - Teachers and Parents must have a good view of the latest techniques in other countries. Eg. Tie-up with a school from UK. • It has four wheels – Inputs could be regularly collected and activities should be planned for the 4 stake holders : parents, teachers, old students and existing students.

Sanctuary 1

Sanctuary 1 is used to protect an impossible idea from immediate destruction. The plan is to protect the idea. For example: Problem: Parking on a busy road is a problem due to overcrowding and lack of adequate parking space. Wild Idea: Drivers with license plates ending with odd and even numbers should be encouraged to drive only on alternate days. This can lead to the idea that each car would receive special facilities only on certain days of the week. This would encourage pooling and a shift of leisure time activities to times when the congestion is less. By placing a fence around an idea and allowing it to develop without immediate attack, even though it might seem an impossible solution at first, it allows everyone to think around the subject and discover ways to make it work.

Create a Sanctuary for ideas

Once a new product idea germinates, it needs time and space for participants to grow and develop that idea. The immediate reaction is to remove all elements that make the product new and different. Most groups will rush to protect familiar aspects of the product. If it is wild idea, there will be a concerted rush to domesticate it and retain its age old and familiar attributes. Fiercely protect the wildness of the idea by enclosing it in a sanctuary. Allow it to roam free in the sanctuary for a few days. Don’t touch it. Remember if everyone loves an idea, it is probably an old one. The Sanctuary is a tool that can be used to protect all germinal ideas. It involves inventing or shaping the future together in a protected environment. It is a radical new approach.

Sub-problem statements

Each problem can then be broken up into sub problems. A problem is like a Jig saw puzzle, made up of many pieces which are the sub problems. This can help you create small teams around each sub problem. Allow each team to work using thinking tools. Create problem statements and sub-problem statements around each of the problems Actions  Team-work drives innovation.  Always encourage, do not discourage.  Ask for advice, do not be afraid to admit mistakes  Cut out all deep-fried foods from your diet.

Revisit the problem bank

Consider the following types of problems in addition to the obvious ones. • Problems that might arise in future in each of the 6M areas. • Problems that can be avoided if identified. • Problems which can be prevented with condition monitoring. • Problems which may arise when there is a change in any of the 6M areas. Create problem banks around the initial problem statements you identify. A good company maintains a problem bank on its intranet to solicit comments from its workforce. As problems keep getting solved, they can be replaced with new unsolved problems. Reflections and actions  The lack of collaboration between departments stifles innovation  Have a well-decorated office.  Throw out negative emotions like you do thorns in the flesh  Go on a ‘juice diet’ for a day. Start with vegetable juice, and sip fruit for lunch and dinner.