6M Positives and Negatives

The 6M is a template and a blueprint to think ideas through. It can be used with every tool and helps teams to separate the positive from the negative. Each of the six key elements of a business can be analysed, identifying the feelings of all stakeholders. For example, invite all employees to write on post-it slips what the pluses and the minuses in the company are as per the table given below 6M Positive (+) Negative (–) Men Materials Machines Methods Markets Money Do not be afraid to ask questions even if it makes you look ignorant—nobody is expected to know everything. John Adams wrote about the greatest “quantity” of human happiness. The special challenge will be to give people innovative thinking tools to create communities.

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.

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.

INNOVATION - THE PATH TO SUCCESS

The World’s most successful companies have made innovation their mantra. A record of sorts was created when IBM listed 9th on the Fortune 500 list mentioned Innovation 45 times in its annual report. Hyundai had an annual theme - Innovation for Humanity. “Endless in Innovation” is their goal. Transformation is what happens to a drop of water when touched by the magic of sunlight. It becomes 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 takes interesting ideas and transforms them into usable solutions to business problems. The Goldman Sachs latest report on India describes India as a potentially “bigger growth story than China over the long run”. CIA’s report on the year 2020 confirms that two countries will lead the nations of the world – The Indian elephant and the Chinese dragon. Most successful Indian companies believe that creativity and innovation provide the competitive edge required for growth and profitability. However , very few have clear policies and initiatives to make it happen. Understanding and harnessing innovation can be a challenge. This blog seeks to validate the strong link between certain innovative practices and bottom-line profit performance, product quality and employee satisfaction. It also seeks to identify the factors that differentiate a highly innovative company from others.

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.

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.

Brainwriting Technique

The distinction in brainwriting is the generation of ideas individually and recording them on a piece of paper. Brainwriting ensures that all participants have equal opportunity to share their ideas. The other advantage comes from the rotation of ideas among participants with each person expanding and improving the idea. By the time the process is completed, everyone has ownership in the idea.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. Reflections and actions  Workout a new source of revenue fro ma just introduced activity. See how you can turn a cost centre into a profit centre.  Put your clothes cupboard at home in order.  Buy a healthful powder to add to milk for a quick to burst of energy a

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 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.

Leadership

Continuous innovation in a large successful company is uniquely difficult because at the heart of innovation lies the paradox of destruction. Leaders who foster a culture of innovation have 3 key attributes :- 1) The first attribute is the willingness to destroy what exists. It is important to show some insensitivity to your past in order to show proper respect for the future. 2) The second attribute of great leaders of innovation is a powerful sense of purpose. Corporate renewal through innovation is a long cycle process. It cannot flourish in a 'Flavour of the Month' environment. Consistency of direction and purpose is important. 3) The third attribute of great leaders of innovation is personal involvement in sustaining a stretching but supportive innovation culture. High performance innovation companies continuously enhance their gene pool. They suck in ideas and reach out for help wherever they can. 'Not invented here' is the enemy of innovation. Only the ignorant believe they have the right answer. The best companies look outside for help - at customers, suppliers and specialist 'Hot Shop' start ups.

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.

Creativity And Creation

Creation is defined in the dictionary as 'to bring into being or form out of nothing'. Plato focused on the mystery of creativity when he said "A poet is holy and never able to compose, until he has become inspired and is beside himself, and reason is no longer in him....for not by art does he alter these but by power divine". Arthen Koestler goes into the realm of logic when he speaks of the 'bisociation of matrices'. "We cannot wait for great visions from great people, for they are in short supply...It is up to us to light our own small fires in the darkness". Each person in an organization has ideas. Depending on the nature of the climate or field in the company, the ideas flourish and bloom or fade and die. Without the oxygen of support and applause, ideas frequently die early. Creativity is a context specific subjective judgement of the novelty and value of an outcome of individuals or collective behaviour.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.  Make time for love, compassion, courage, laughter, wonder and peace  Include one green vegetable and one yellow vegetable in every meal.

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.

Key Elements in an Innovation Initiative

The key elements in an Innovation Initiative a. Stimulating • Identifying people to be included in innovation initiative. • Help in selecting projects for creative problem solving. • Making available teams to work on projects. • Top management approval and support. • Development of game plan with time, cost and staffing parameters b. Nurturing • Officially recognize the teams and scope of activity Schedule presentation to top management. • Provide a budget Organize Innovation Symposiums. • Provide space and time for innovation spirals to meet. • Mentors to help solve organizational hassles. • Provide common facilities center c. Sustaining • Start a MINDSPOWER club to meet once a month. Give innovation awards. • Celebrate good ideas. Prepare reports and publish success stories. • Use the innovation club for self development. • Have a 52 -week program on innovation. • Persuade all to use Innovation Tools. d. Reinstating • Communicate results of Innovation Initiative. • Have annual awards for Best Teams. • Name Master Innovators. • Have a series of tests that can lead to learning sets of thinking tools. • Create an office for development of Innovation, with representation on the Board.

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.

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.

Principles of Emotional Well-being

•Listen to yourself. • Live in the present moment. Now. Every minute. • Discipline yourself—it will give you true freedom. • Do not pretend to be in total control. • Allow yourself to be vulnerable sometimes. • Ask for help. Network. • Reinvent and renew yourself periodically. • Explore the concept of acceptance of self. • Love yourself. Accept yourself, your body and mind, as you are. • In your quest for self-improvement, affirm and love yourself as you are today, here and now. • Accept your life, good and bad as it is now, as a divine gift. • Love another. A gift of yourself is the greatest gift you can give. • Keep the child in you alive. Cuddle, nurture and liberate the baby in you.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Suggestions for the facilitator

 Become familiar with what discourages creativity and speculation and what encourages it.  Listen to team members. Encourage, nurture and paint any picture they wish in their own words. Avoid making judgments, tuning out, listening to your own thoughts or not really understanding the speaker. Work on improving listening skills, especially the non-verbal ones.  Be vigilant, and deal with members who try to dominate with immediate and endless details. While they are brilliant, they can ruin a meeting so try to steer them away without alienation. Avoid the compulsive speaker’s eye during the discussion.  Keep the energy level high. Use your alertness, intensity and enthusiasm to improve the field. Your attitude is contagious. Your body language can stimulate the group to greater enthusiasm.  Use visuals, excursions and dynamic movement to avoid slothfulness. Changing the location renews the group especially when people are tired. It is often like an actual vacation from the problem and people return with fresh ideas.  Keep the pace fast, but not hurried.  Use humour, laughter breaks and laughter exercises.  Surprise the group. Have a plan to shake things up for post lunch sessions, or low energy times.  Make sure the problem owner is getting what he wants.  Let everyone learn the demanding role of the facilitator.  Keep an eye on the climate. Be gentle but firm. Be in charge of process. The facilitator is like the conductor of an orchestra. Minute to minute he is responsible for getting the best out of team members in a meeting.

Facilitator and Participants

The facilitator is responsible for managing the group process so that the problem owner gets what they need. The facilitator keeps this in mind and protects group mates while ensuring discipline. • Concerned with process only, never involved in the content • Sets positive climate by: i) accepting all ideas ii) writes down headlines of ideas, and solutions iii) gives everyone a chance to contribute • Elicits the ideas hidden behind a question • Manages the time and pace of the meeting • Ensures the owner’s best current thinking is shared with the group • Ensures that everybody takes notes of what is in their mind Participants are the heart of any meeting. All the skills of the facilitator and the constructive responses of the client are designed to help each participant make his unique contribution. To emphasize the true relationships in a meeting the leader is viewed as one who serves the group. The group is, of course, servant to the problem. The problem owner is the problem’s representative and except in matters of behaviour his opinions are honoured. Differences with him are welcome too. They are aired, written down and the decision of how to use them is left to the client.

Action Teams

The problem owner should identify the team members. This could be done by choosing those keenly interested and involved in solving the problem. It may be a good idea for all members to go on a retreat to understand the problem in detail and to get know each other better. The best teams are small commando teams, where everyone is critically important. Set up ‘3S’ teams – Swift, Small and Strategic.. Here there are no ‘outsiders’, no passengers. Everyone becomes engaged in a small team and becomes completely involved. Each becomes a participant, there are no spectators. ‘How to create a small company mind, in a big company body?’ asked Jack Welch, on the eve of his revolutionary project to make GE, swift and profitable. The best teams are commando teams with 5 – 7 people.’ Within a positive field, genuine team work and collaboration is possible. In commando innovation teams, each one cares about the other, as in a close knit family. They give credit to others who contributed. If Devarajan receives a compliment, he says ‘Thank you. Shivakumar gave me this idea.’ Someone is not available, but when an outsider calls, the person answering says ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Everyone has a helpful attitude, whether the problem is official or personal. There should be a constant flow of positive communications among team members. A great team shares many characteristics with the human circulatory system. All feelings of exhilaration, celebration and satisfaction are shared. When the mission is in trouble, ideas are shared and joint action mobilized. A genuine absence of rank in solving problems is required where every member of the team does not hesitate to cross over lines of responsibility and correct what is wrong. All are on the same journey.

Owning a Problem

Call for problem owners. It is essential for every problem to have a problem owner (PO). It is this problem owner who will choose the solution that suits his resources map (6Ms and time). The PO is critical because otherwise the teams will have not have the necessary momentum to reach the finish line and side step hurdles. A problem without an owner is a baby without a mother. The Problem Owner Owner • owns the issue • describes it • directs the content of the meeting by: contributing wishes and ideas, selecting the avenues to explore, paraphrasing ideas to check understanding before evaluating • evaluates constructively • decides when a solution has been reached • commits to next action The team is working with and for this person. The problem owner is responsible to get as much as possible from the team. How the problem owner interacts with team members and their ideas will have a profound impact on the productivity of the group, so it is important that interaction with the team members is designed to increase their involvement.

Happiness Mantras

Happiness Mantra 1: Prana enhances the positive field and the vital life force flows freely through it. It creates a powerful positive field—a field of all possibilities where any seed of an idea will develop rapidly. Happiness Mantra 2: Meditation is the broom that sweeps out the negative emotions and pours in the honey of tranquility into the mind. There are many forms of meditation Happiness Mantra 3: Often our senses are scrambled and numbed by the hurry of life. Each of the senses provides us with new adventures and helps us to live more fully. Happiness Mantra 4: Enjoy the skill of the great architect of the universe. Happiness Mantra 5: In the silence, become aware of yourself. Be aware of your body as full of health and energy. Happiness Mantra 6: Be aware of your breathing, the beating of your heart. Once you are aware of your body in silence, in peace and tranquility, then you begin to notice immediately, the destructive effects of stress. Happiness Mantra 7: Be completely aware of the shift of feelings from moment to moment. Knowing exactly how you feel can help you make better emotional decisions. Happiness Mantra 8: The springboard is a tool that can help generate a positive field around you. When someone offers you an idea, first as a discipline, look for those things about the idea that please you. Happiness Mantra 9: A negative field is toxic with distrust. In the negative field, individuals are afraid to think differently; new ideas wither before they are formulated. Happiness Mantra 10: In the negative field, only the most obvious ideas, which appear practical and sensible will be shared. All but the most obvious ideas will be rejected. These ideas will be of little use because they are probably centuries old.

The Sixth Radiant Action For Social Bonding

No man is an island, but a part of the Main, wrote the pensive poet John Donne. Man is a social animal and needs to live in harmony with fellow human beings. Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to understand other people, to communicate effectively with them, to identify what motivates them, and to work cooperatively with them. Intrapersonal intelligence is the inward ability to understand and form an accurate model of one’s self and to operate that model effectively to live life. Professor Howard Gardner of the Harvard School of Psychology says that the two aspects of personal intelligence, interpersonal and intrapersonal, form the most important foundation for a happy, fulfilling life. For those who define success as happiness, these two elements are essential to learn and practice.

Happiness Mantras

Happiness Mantra 1: Each new day holds out a chance to create a whole new beginning, a sparkling new field of possibilities. Happiness Mantra 2: The ecology, the geography of your inner mindspace, is in your hands. Happiness Mantra 3: 'Swayambhu' is a word that describes happiness welling out of you, like an underground stream in the mountains. Happiness Mantra 4: Focus on Stress and unhappiness should be turned upside down. Instead of attacking unhappiness, we should plant a garden of happiness, by welcoming the positive emotions into our lives - love, compassion, wonder, courage, laughter and peace. Happiness Mantra 5: Focusing on our unhappiness by attacking it only helps to magnetize more power and attention to the negative person, event or object that causes it. Hence focus on cultivating happy people and avoid toxic people. Happiness Mantra 6: When the garden is clean and blooming and full of life, the snakes of anger have no place to hide; the thorns of greed get cleared away. When the clutter of old hatreds is replaced by order, the flowers of friendship bloom. The scorpions of revenge and jealousy slither away and the butterflies of laughter return to celebrate the flowers. Happiness Mantra 7: Too much television is ‘Tele-visham’ – (Tele poison). Too much stimulation, a mindspace crowded by fantasy people and events, distracts you from focusing on your own mindspace, your home, your backyard. Happiness Mantra 8: Some days we seem to live a fantasy life dominated by day dreams, while reality tugs at our heartstrings for attention, like a neglected child. Take care of what is yours and enjoy it. Happiness Mantra 9: Let the cells of your body be gently bathed in happiness, positive thoughts and healing energies. Happiness Mantra 10: ‘Physical fitness is the most important thing in life. The capacity to attain perfection of mind and soul depends on your physical health. Take care of yourself as no one else can do it for you.’ Happiness Mantra 11: All the ancients believed that no attempt should be made to cure the body without treating the soul.

An opportunity for Innovation in Indian business

India is poised to be the innovation capital of the world – the ideas supermarket. Far from being techno-coolies, Indians are giving innovative new solutions to the world in IT, life sciences, health and agriculture. e-choupal from ITC, is a synthesis from the fields of IT and agriculture – a mega vision that could link rural India to the world. Here are a few new trends in Indian business which could bring innovation center stage: * Entrepreneurship needs innovation. It is creativity that will fuel this emerging revolution. Over 18% of India’s workforce is engaged in entrepreneurship. Compare this with the 10.2% in US. Only Thailand ranks higher. India has moved from being a brand that stands for imitation, to a name in innovation. * India has filed 4,000 patents in 5 years. Over 100 top MNCs in India and Indian research laboratories are fueling the innovator’s dream. We need to overcome our innate dislike for selling knowledge, “Saraswathi”. We need to wake up. Multi-nationals have even tried to patent basmati rice and 2000 year old ayurvedic drugs while we dream of our glorious past tradition. * India’s 250 million people who live below the poverty line and 750 million who live on less than a dollar a day, need products and services that combine economy with utility. The CEO of Erickson asked a creative question, “Why do rural cell phones need a screen?” ITC and e-choupal in Madhya Pradesh has created an IT tool that can put poor soyabean farmers, in touch with the world. Poor fisherwomen in Kerala are being enabled to track the movement of shoals of fish, using satellite imaging with net linked PC. Arvind Eye hospital has created a cataract kit costing less than US$ 15. Poor Africans are grabbing it. Indians created the simputer in Bangalore. Innovation is required to turn India’s poor into consumers. If we succeed, the world’s 5 billion poor become our market, making the Goldman Sach’s report, that India will be world’s 3rd largest economy, come true. * India has the largest population of young people in the world. The marketplace is youthful and idealistic. We are “The world’s youngest nation”: 55% of Indians are now below 25 years age. 550 million Indians – the numbers are more than Latin America and the Caribbean put together. You can feel their vibrant energy in the media, on the street, in the upward streaking GNP. They want the world and they want it now! The ‘core competence of India’ is her brilliant young people. Our intellectual capital or mindspower is our Unique Selling Proposition (USP) provided we put it to good use. Planning Commission says, India will crack the population problem. With less children to care for, people will have more disposable incomes, resulting in higher saving for banks to collect and maybe higher consumption. India is shining with a growing literacy rate of 65%, 54% young people below 25, a 7 percent plus compounded growth rate. * The next item is a corollary to the previous one. In the words of Azim Premji, Chairman of WIPRO, on his success, says, “What made the difference, is people ……. Translating this experience into the language of economics, it has taught me that Labour is a far more important factor of growth than Capital”. We don’t need to read Amartya Sen to know that the key to economic leadership in India is education and health. If we can make our one billion people, fully, zestfully, human, instead of being half alive, the path to global leadership is open. How can we talk of equality or quality, when children in their mother’s womb, have their intelligence grossly retarded, because their mothers do not get even one full meal a day? * Personal excellence has become the only solution to escape being a victim of restructuring. Flexible, adaptable, innovative performers rise to the top, passengers are fired. Globalization and competitive scenarios leave no room for flab. Hierarchies are giving way to small, tight, commando teams. Departments dissolve into lean profit centres and strategic business units. Strict accountability is the rule. Entrepreneurship and intrepreneurship define all economic activity. Higher profit is the golden deer that corporations chase through 15 hour days and 7 day weeks. Corporate bonsais and techno-coolies who cannot call their body, mind or soul their own: Is this a Tofflerian nightmare or are we speeding towards this state of waning humanness in corporations? Health is the boat given to us to cross the ocean of life. We are responsible for keeping it seaworthy, is a corporate decision. * The dominance of services as the fastest growth sector of the world economy is an unprecedented Indian opportunity. We are not talking of ayahs to Asia and nurses to the Middle East. We are talking about doctors, hospitality and travel experts, teachers, customer service specialists (not just BPO bee-hives). Services: entertainment, hospitality, travel are on the roll. Indian call center employees are graduates (average age 23). They work for 1/7 of the salary of their European counterparts and earn about 8 times more than the average Indian. “The downside of aging economies, is India’s upside. The demand for services will make India the world’s back office.” * This is the age of knowledge. Bill Gates became the richest man in the world, At the speed of thought, leveraging knowledge and information. How are we, Indians dealing with the education of children? Are we training them to be innovative and creative leaders? Quality learning is as important as ensuring equal access to education. * Towards democracy and peace: India has been a democracy since 1947, which has managed a billion people without descending into anarchy. In the age of knowledge India has a population trained in handling dissent and fresh thinking. She should use this extraordinary resource. The Goleman Sachs report talks of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), of a far improved tomorrow in India, while the largest economies US and China face an aging population and shrinking number of workers and consumers. India’s productive human resources are growing rapidly. * Reversing the Brain Drain. The best brains have migrated to the West. Let India give them a way of coming home with honour. The reversal has started. Let government work to enable it instead of trying to regulate it. * India has the world’s most sophisticated technologies. The study of creativity and innovation as a science and a subject needs to be introduced in all educational institutions. When the scholar was on the Syndicate of Anna University, she could spearhead a move to include a 40 hour optional course on innovation in the undergraduate syllabus. To realize the mindspower of our people, creativity and innovation should be introduced into the core syllabus in schools and colleges. There is a need to establish Departments for Innovation and Creativity both at the Central and the State to create a million incubators for Indian thinkers. * Resurgence of Indian pride. This is a wonderful time to be Indian. Brand India has metamorphosed into a country perceived to be of brilliant people, rich in the ultimate software – the human mind. Today India’s young fuel the IT incubators of Silicon Valley, while swelling her foreign exchange reserves. Amitabh Bachhan in the BPL ad said, “Indians are the most creative people in the world – we use washing machines in Chandigarh to make excellent lassi”. Gandhiji’s “Be Indian Buy Indian”, has made a confident comeback. The world loves everything Indian: from the catwalks of Paris to the hallowed portals of Oxford, Aishwarya and Amartya have made us A1. Such confidence, faith and national pride will create the climate or positive field where innovation can thrive. Rekha Shetty (2004) Business Mandate

Webinar on Innovative Thinking

Madras Management Association and Mindspower have organized the inspiring talk series on Innovative Thinking. It is a wonderful opportunity to learn about Thinking Tools. Thinking tools helps to make decisions that will have a great impact on your quality of life. And if you want to ensure that you give your best for the most successful and happy life, to make conscious choices. That can be done with a simple thing by learning Thinking Tools. It is a 4 day online course in Innovative Thinking: 11th, 18th, 25th June and 2nd July 2021 at 10.00am to 1.00pm. For Registration, Mail us to mma@mmachennai.org with Your Name, Contact Number & E-Mail ID. Fee Details: MMA Member Fee: ₹2,360/- Including 18% GST Non - Member Fee: ₹3,360/- Including 18% GST (Please await our advice before making Payment) I am enclosing the brochure for your reference. Thanking you, Yours faithfully, Dr. Rekha Shetty Founder, Mindspower

Thinking Tools for Idea Generation

My first major encounter with the power of a creative thinking tool was when, as Vice President, Marketing, of the Apollo Hospitals group, I was faced with the challenge of marketing a hospital. There were no models in the Indian context. How does one market illness? The first hurdle encountered was what insurance people call the “immortality complex.” Stated in simple terms the immortality complex postulates that all humans believe that they are immortal. They will never die or fall ill. It is only friends and the neighbors who will fall prey to such misfortune. It was then that we decided to use a favorite tool of mine — Turn it Upside Down (T U D). The steps followed in T U D: 1. Normal belief: A hospital is a place for sick people. 2. T U D: A hospital is a place for people who are healthy. When we looked at a hospital as a place for people who are healthy, 1. Our base of customers increased to include a vast number of healthy people who come for positive health programs. The positive health theme included the “Well Woman” program, which involved a health and beauty focus: yoga experts, beauticians, and women’s health practitioners helped create a vastly successful heart check, the diabetic check and the child health check were part of the wellness check portfolio. 2. The relationship with customers, which traditionally started on a note of pain, anxiety, and death, began on a happy note. The focus was how to remain healthy and how to face problems. The lifetime relationship, which is the bedrock of direct marketing today, started on a happy, positive note, with wellness as the key.

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.

The Sixth Radiant Action For Social Bonding

No man is an island, but a part of the Main, wrote the pensive poet John Donne. Man is a social animal and needs to live in harmony with fellow human beings. Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to understand other people, to communicate effectively with them, to identify what motivates them, and to work cooperatively with them. Intrapersonal intelligence is the inward ability to understand and form an accurate model of one’s self and to operate that model effectively to live life. Professor Howard Gardner of the Harvard School of Psychology says that the two aspects of personal intelligence, interpersonal and intrapersonal, form the most important foundation for a happy, fulfilling life. For those who define success as happiness, these two elements are essential to learn and practice.

Mechanisms of Yoga

1. Yama: Our attitude towards our environment. 2. Niyama: Our attitude towards ourselves. 3. Asana: The practice of body exercises. 4. Pranayama: The practice of breathing exercises. 5. Pratyahara: The restraint of our senses. 6. Dharana: The ability to direct our minds. 7. Dhyana: The ability to develop interactions with what we seek to understand. 8. Samadhi: Complete integration with the object to be understood.

Rejuvenate the physical system

Yoga rejuvenates the physical system and restores mental equilibrium. The word ‘yoga’ is derived from the Sanskrit word yuj which means to ‘yoke’, ‘unite’ or ‘join’. It implies the joining or uniting of the individual consciousness with the universal consciousness. This chapter deals with the most popular element of yoga—asanas or body exercises. Yogasana is the science of the beauty of form. It combines effortless postures and definite stances in the projection of a healthy and striking personality. Asanas mould every part of the body to its ideal contours. Yogasanas, in conjunction with pranayama, bring harmony and balance to every part of the body, and are highly therapeutic for the body, mind and soul.

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.

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.

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.

Wishful Thinking Technique

Applied properly, this approach can free you from unnecessary but unrecognized assumptions that you are making about the scenario of concern.

Brainwriting Technique

The distinction in brainwriting is the generation of ideas individually and recording them on a piece of paper. Brainwriting ensures that all participants have equal opportunity to share their ideas. The other advantage comes from the rotation of ideas among participants with each person expanding and improving the idea. By the time the process is completed, everyone has ownership in the idea.

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.

Taking India to the World - Excerpts from the book Innovation Secrets of Indian CEOs

It all started thirteen years ago when Ms. Ranjani Manian met a young American mother with an active two year old baby, thrust into the heat and dust of Chennai. Joanne Grady Huskey, wife of a US diplomat, was happy and relieved with the help I could extend in a strange new place. I had been a foreign language instructor after a liberal education at Elphinston College, Mumbai and the University of Sorbonne, Paris. That is when I realized the need to help strangers to become friends in a new city. Global Adjustments was started with just two women helping eighty families in a giant automotive plant. Today it is a pan-Indian Company which makes the company a one stop shop for expatriate relocation needs in India. I love simplifying India’s rich and complex reality for the world. I really enjoyed writing ‘Doing Business in India for Dummies’. Now, with our portal globalindian.com, I love being part of the plan to help Indians do well on the global stage. I would like Global Adjustments to become a world leader in the field. ‘It’s been fun. Everything from teaching Americans to say “Namaste” to telling Indian professionals that frying an appalam in a US apartment may set off the fire alarm’. Our expansion into realty and magazine publishing has been very satisfying. ‘At a glance – understanding India’ is our cultural magazine for expatriates. Our teams of trainers and personal relocation experts have also been well accepted. Both my parents were General Managers of large companies. I am happy that I wandered into the world of entrepreneurship. There are no text books here, no trainers, and no manual of procedure. That’s why it’s been so great to blaze a pioneering trail that makes India proud.

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 Blog

In the creative thinking process, incubation is followed by ‘Analysis.’ During the process of analysis, apply left-brain thinking – logical, statistical and mathematical. Solutions have to be carefully discussed and the optimum one chosen. The solutions are analyzed against the parameters chosen by the problem owner. Some prevalent parameters are: a) Time b) Budget c) Convenience d) Human resources e) Goodwill and impact on staff motivation levels f) Aesthetics g) Saving lives h) Political capital

Creating Positive field

Learning to create a positive field is an important part of the climate of wellbeing. The positive field is created by tools and behaviours that may be verbal, tonal and non-verbal. Ø A common prayer or mantra. Ø A mental process which draws a magic circle around all those who are participating. Ø A common exercise, a common company song, common goals. Ø A handshake, a friendly look, an encouraging word. Ø Thinking, believing and acting in a positive manner. Ø Laughter, commonly shared jokes. Ø Meditation, practiced regularly, helps develop the capacity to be analytical, positive and disciplined, and eliminate negative fields. Ø Affirmations, the most important constituent of the positive field. It is a verbal, tonal or non-verbal act of appreciation. The energy field around a person is most affected by positive, soul-level motives or ‘sankalpa’. If the gut-level motives are positive, the mere lack of skill in verbal, tonal and non–verbal transmissions can be overcome.

Innovation Blog

The ‘reality test’ should now be ruthlessly applied. Once implementation starts, every move costs money. This is the last step in the thinking process and all ideas should be carefully studied. Implementing creative ideas and turning them into innovations is a special challenge. It is a process that requires a clear road map and the organizational will to stick to the path. This is where many organizations fail. An ounce of action is worth tonnes of e-mail, paper and speeches. Implementation is the key to innovation.

Apply Logical Analysis

During the process of analysis, logical, statistical and mathematical solutions have to be carefully discussed and the optimum one chosen. Some prevalent parameters are: a) Time b) Budget c) Convenience d) Human resources e) Goodwill and impact on staff motivation levels f) Aesthetics g) Saving lives h) Political capital During the process of analysis, apply left-brain thinking – logical, statistical and mathematical. Solutions have to be carefully discussed and the optimum one chosen. The solutions are analyzed against the parameters chosen by the problem owner.

Stock Your Ideas

Idea generation is a powerful tool that can be leveraged to drive innovation. In order to be successful, the idea generation program must be clear and consistent, reaching down to all levels of the organization. However, not following through on an idea generation program dooms it to failure, as can be seen in suggestion boxes that are never opened and exit interviews that are not analyzed. Successful idea generation programs are long-term and transparent. Good ideas are immediately and publicly rewarded. These programs have a greater chance of success when creativity tools are taught in advance.

Innovation for Success

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. Today is the age of knowledge. Innovation can take companies forward at the speed of thought. The list below outlines the process: • Identifying and Creating a Problem Bank • Idea Generation • Analysis : the gateway to solutions • Implementation: The Final Stage of the Process

Entrepreneurship needs innovatio

* Entrepreneurship needs innovation. It is creativity that will fuel this emerging revolution. Over 18% of India’s workforce is into entrepreneurship. Compare this with the 10.2% in USA. India has moved from being a brand that stands for imitation to a name in innovation. * India has filed 4,000 patents in five years. Over 100 top MNCs in India and Indian research labs are fuelling the innovator’s dream. Multinationals have even tried to patent basmati rice and 2000 year old ayurvedic drugs, while we keep dreaming of our glorious tradition. We need to wake up. * India’s youth want the world and they want it now! 54% of India’s population is now under 25. The ‘core competence of India’ is her brilliant young people. Our intellectual capital or MindsPower is our Unique Selling Proposition (USP), provided we put it to productive use. * Labor is a far more important factor of growth than Capital.

Empowerment is the result of wholehearted participation

If you learn the secret of positive fields or mindspace, you can improve your Happiness Quotient. You can also get the best out of others. Making members of your team wholehearted participants rather than indifferent spectators, is the key to organizational success. Wholeheartedness is a state of full presence. This state involves complete enjoyment of a task. Participation, with full commitment of body and mind, is irresistible. I become wholehearted when I give all of myself to an interaction or task. These interactions create a field, which allows me to be wholeheartedly present in the moment, without defensiveness. The most fundamental characteristics of a positive field are that it quells anxiety and produces feelings of acceptance and a feeling of being affirmed. It is like walking into a room full of people who love and accept you, unconditionally. It is a feeling of being meaningful and safe – this frees up energy for connecting.

Work is Divine

Elevate everyday experiences to the level of sacredness. I first met Reg when he was in his late seventies in Pondicherry. He was running the ‘Good Guest House’. Hidden behind high walls, it is a lovely guest house surrounded by a green garden. It is astonishing to step in from the dusty, noisy street, behind high walls, through a wooden door, into that perfect place. The floors gleamed sparklingly clean, paintings hung on the walls and all was silent inside. Reg used to be a French chef. He met the Mother at the Pondicherry Ashram and stayed behind to look after the Good Guest House for her! ‘Who keeps it so clean?’ I asked. ‘I do’, he said. ‘I love to keep it gleaming, because when I clean the floor, I feel I am wiping the Mother’s feet.’ When work is done with such love, it fills the body and mind with bliss and transforms any place into a sacred space. As Kalil Gibran writes in The Prophet, ‘What is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth from the strings of your heart, as though your Beloved were to wear it.’ This reverence or shraddha is due to all, because of the divine spark that dwells in all men—whether he is a legend or a leper. Sometimes it is obvious. The Divine spark is the silent flame of consciousness that reaches out to you from a flowering creeper or a healthy pet. Sometimes this life force has lost its vitality and is dimmed by dirt, lethargy and lack of care. Clean the glass of your lamp. Make the light shine through. Decide to approach all events, people, and things with affection, shraddha.

Do Things with Sraddha

Decide to approach all events, all people, and all things with affection, reverence and ‘Sraddha.’ This reverence is due to all, because of the divine spark that dwells in everyone whether he is a legend or a failure. Sometimes it is obvious. It is the silent flame of consciousness that reaches out to you from a flowering creeper or a healthy pet. Sometimes this life force has lost its vitality and is dimmed by dirt, lethargy and lack of care. Clean the glass of your Life’s lamp. Make the light shine through. When you consider yourself sacred, you will treat yourself well. You will wear clean, fresh clothes, ironed and starched, mended if torn, but clean and fresh. You will smile at yourself, encourage yourself. Just as you put on clean fresh clothes, you will also clean up the mental space or field around you. Sweep out all ill-will, anger, fear and anxiety. Let there be the fragrance of incense, divinity of prayer and mantra, the smiles of loved ones, laughter and joy, the smell and taste of good, nutritious food. It is as important to clean the field around you, as it is to have a bath. Sweep out the sad baggage of the past. Take into that field only what is bright and elevating, fine and happy.

Enhance Your SelfTalk

Validation by the self and others, particularly ‘significant’ others, is essential for the creation of a positive field. Everyone needs to be validated. People who retire from busy lives, feel the lack of validation strongly in their now empty lives, which they had not planned for. A plan that provides validation for one’s existence is critical to wholeness. My relationship with myself is critical. How do I talk to myself? Holding, sustaining environments, nurturing and supporting fields, foster happiness. Building competence with coaching is an option. However, when one converts one’s management style from self-punisher and merciless critic to a loving coach, one creates an ever-present holding environment that nurtures one’s continuing movement towards growth and creativity.

Emotions that Enhances

Emotions and the way you deal with them, create the positive field. The Mind is a field, which is filled with positive and negative emotions. The nava rasas can be your guide to understanding the nine emotions. The nava rasas are a 2000 year old Indian concept on emotions. The nine emotions have been built into a system of dance called Natya Shastra by Sage Bharata. Rasa means rapture or relish and 37 chapters of the Natya Shastra are devoted to eight of them, as Bharatha does not consider ‘Shantha’ or peace a major rasa. Bharata’s Natya Shastra even described each rasa with a different color. The positive emotions create a positive field, which fills your blood with the chemicals of happiness and well-being, which are conducive to the building or rebuilding of a healthy body and mind. The negative emotions create a negative field, which fills your blood with the chemicals of unrest and unhappiness. It is important to have a closer look at the nine rasas.

Empower the Team

 The individuals in the team have a fixed amount of potential energy.  Each individual uses as much of his energy as is necessary to ensure his emotional survival.  He tries hard to avoid getting hurt and to lick his wounds or takes revenge if he is hurt.  Only the balance of energy is available to devote to the task.  Energy available to the group dramatically improves as the team climate improves.  More energy is put into achieving goals.  Less is spent on safeguarding emotional well-being.  You achieve a team atmosphere where colleagues are a pleasure to work with, the boss is a good guy, there is excitement in the air and laughter too; and success is within hand’s reach.  The positive field is the foundation of highly productive and innovative teams.

Supportive Space for Wild Ideas

For the lush growth of creative ideas, it is necessary to create a space which is very supportive of wild ideas. Let us build a sanctuary for wild ideas. Just as a game sanctuary protects wild animals, let us place wild ideas in a protected area where they can wander around in peace. The group is not to stop till they have 100 ideas. No one is allowed to shoot down any idea however irrelevant; only building is allowed. Ping-Pong and springboards are allowed. Impossible ideas in a sanctuary are allowed to grow unmolested. No one is allowed to attack them, only grow and develop them. As C.K. Prahlad put it, every company has before it a 100 alternative futures. Every person has before him a 100 alternative futures; creativity enables you to explore these alternatives in your mind. These explorations cost nothing. They could save you millions.

Key to Creativity

To be open and vulnerable even to ideas that seem threatening is the key to creativity. Convert yourself into a total listening self; your determination to support another’s idea will create a field that can yield richly creative ideas. No part of your self should be involved in finding fault, creating obstacles, or developing reasons why the idea will not work. Your mind should flow with the others, lend your heartfelt imagination and support the other’s idea. Use verbal cues to create a positive, listening, supportive field: avoid words that can poison the field and turn it negative; words that prevent the bubbling up of new ideas are strictly prohibited.

The mind is the greatest resource needed for innovation

The ideal householder leads on earth a consecrated life, not unmindful of any duty to the living, or to the departed. His wife, the glory of his house, is modest and frugal, adores her husband, guards herself, and is the guardian of his house’s fame. His children are his choicest treasures; their babbling voices are his music; he feasts with the Gods when he eats the rice their tiny fingers have played with; and his one aim is to make them worthier than himself. Affection is the very life of his soul, of all his virtues the first and greatest. The sum and source of them all is love. His house is open to every guest, whom he welcomes with a smiling face and a pleasant word, and with whom he shares his meal, courteous in speech grateful for every kindness, just in all his dealings, master of himself in perfect self-control, strict in the performance of every assigned duty, pure, patient and forbearing with a heart free from envy, moderate in desires, speaking no evil of others, refraining from unprofitable words, dreading the touch of evil diligent in the discharge of all the duties of his position, and liberal in his benefaction, he is one whom all unite to praise.

Critical Success Factors for Stars

o Improving efficiency o Training programs o Rewarding individual and team creativity o Pathbreaking activities o Reporting on what is happening

Tips to Assess family welfare

Here are some questions which helps you to understand your family welfare. 1. Is your family important to you? 2. Do you spend quality time with members of your family? 3. Would you like to increase the amount of quality time you spend with your family? 4. Does your family include those outside the nuclear family? 5. Is your family linked together through the internet, letters or phone calls? 6. Is respect from your family important to you? 7. Do you show appreciation for things your family has done for you? 8. Do you seek to make your family life different from what it is today? 9. Do you do things to bring about a happier marriage and family life? 10. Do you seek out books and classes that would help you to be a successful parent? 11. Do alcohol and tobacco play a part in your life? Is it a problem? 12. Do you speak up too much or too little in your family? 13. Is there too much fighting in your family? 14. Do you have a bad temper? 15. Does your family do fun things together? 16. Are you considerate in handling of misunderstandings between family members? 17. Do you come from a broken or divorced family? 18. Given the present situation, is there anything you could do to strengthen family ties? 19. Could you possibly use outside help such as counsellors and friends, to assist you in attaining a solid family now or in the future? a. Good: More than 10 Yeses b. Adequate: More than 6 Yeses c. Poor: Less than 5 Yeses

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

Impact of Innovation on the bottom line

The profits of Stars grew faster than the profits of Aspirants and Non-starters. Stars also reported higher levels of employee satisfaction, lower levels of employee turnover. Additionally, employees of Stars had great faith in the quality of their products. Innovation Stars are on a positive cycle in which increasing profits and high employee morale reinforce each other.

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.

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

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.

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