Innovation's the Topic at 2011 SHRM Conference
Martin Training's CEO, Cathy Cassidy, spoke at the recent 2011 SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas, NV on the topic of Innovation. During the conference, Ms. Cassidy was also interviwed by The Adecco Group:
Bringing Innovation to the Entire Organization
An invention without adoption is simply a really good idea that doesn't generate revenue or improve effectiveness or efficiency for an organization. An organization’s ability to remain competitive and be sustainable is dependent on it’s capability to develop business innovators at an enterprise level.
What is Business Innovation?
Business Innovation is a creative invention, re-invention or improvement that is adopted and used by an end customer. The goal of any innovation is to address an organizational need with a solution that goes beyond just solving problems. It (the solution) moves the organization forward towards executing its strategy.
The Creativity/Adoption equation
The Martin Training Associates Innovation process brings together two critical components of innovation: creativity and adoption. Organizations today focus on developing the capability to solve problems creatively and idea generation which is a great step in the innovation process, but is not innovation in total. In order for any idea to be considered an innovation the critical step of adoption must occur. To often though our current processes for innovating wait too late to focus on adoption and thus fail at implementation.
The Martin Training Associates Innovation process addresses the need to begin focusing on adoption out of the gate and continually throughout the entire process.
A Collaborative Based Innovation Process
Martin Training Associates brings organizations an easy to use structured-collaborative process that innovation leaders can utilize to lead a team to identify the most innovative solution to address a problem or realizes an opportunity to move the organization forward.
Innovation leaders are taught how to focus on creativity and adoption during the first two phases of the Innovation Process and then maintain a creative eye while driving home and finalizing the adoption of the selected solution.
The Martin Training Innovation
The MTA Innovation Process is a four phase iterative process for defining solutions that are creative and adoptable. It is a collaborative team-based process that changes how innovation leaders and customers work together to innovate solutions that are in the best interest of the organization. The four phases outlined in the graphic are explained below:
Solution Definition – During this phase teams work with customers and stakeholders to understand the need that is driving the innovation and gain an understanding of any potential causes if driven from a problem and build understanding about the current and future system. The information gathered is used to identify the best solution a customer can adopt. The tools used help teams creatively combine information and ideas to generate potential solutions for consideration.
Solution Design & Development – During this phase the team creates the selected solution and focuses on the adoption of that solution.
Launch – During this phase the team launches the solution and completes the acceptance of the innovation.
Innovation Skills are Teachable
Innovation leaders are not born they are developed through the implementation and availability of structured tools and training that build the capability to lead teams to collaborate while they innovate.
If you’re looking for best place to start for most organization is with project leader and business analyst. These two groups of employees are already driving your business strategy so why not proviTransforming Project Leaders to Innovation Leaders while creating a culture of innovation throughout the entire organization!
Martin Training Associates has developed a new and cutting edge approach for innovating business solutions. This new approach focuses on the “Project before the Development Project.” In the current innovation approach, project teams work on solutions that have already been assigned to them. Therefore, their focus becomes on project execution – scope definition, development and launch. Customers are often not a part of the project team and adoption only receives focus during the launch phase. The ineffectiveness of the current innovation approach is reflected in the statistic which states that 90% of organizations fail at executing strategy. This approach in today’s competitive economic world will not position an organization to grow competitively. Clients and organizations are now seeking Project Leaders that can drive innovation.
Martin Training Associates’ new approach to Innovating Business Solutions emphasizes the importance of the collaborative effort between the team, stakeholder and customer in order to identify a solution that will meet the customer’s needs. Adoption, which is the key to a solution’s success, is formalized and addressed throughout the process.