Open Innovation Forum
Thoughts, Opinions on Open Innovation
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, last edited February 9, 2012 , tagged tips and techniquesAs companies prepare themselves to enter this new world of open innovation and bringing in the best ideas from the outside, they need to become proficient in several new skills (at the company level and the individual level). Let's start with individual skills, two of which I'll highlight here. The first is developing the ability to properly frame questions. Individuals need to remove all unnecessary jargon, acronyms, application(s) of the technology, in order to provide a diverse group of solution providers the ability to solve the problem. Many times I have seen people rush directly to problem-solving mode without pausing for a minute to think about what question they are trying to answer.
The second key skill set for individual contributors to develop is perhaps more difficult to achieve, and that is the shift from being a problem solver to a solution finder. We were trained and rewarded on the basis of our ability to solve problems. In the new open innovation paradigm, your value should be determined equally between your ability to solve a problem yourself and/or your ability to find the solution.
And, of course, the better you become at framing the question the easier it is to find the solution in an open innovation environment!
Two points I left out intentionally (which I will address in future posts): how can/should companies re-work their reward/recognition programs to encourage these new skills and how will these new skills help/hurt in managing confidentiality/IP? Both are very important issues worthy of their own conversation thread.
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cesar, i think you've hit on a good point, which is applicable even in the real world. we had a scientist who, depending on how you asked the question, would or wouldn't give you the answer. if you later went back to him and asked why he didn't give you the information, he would tell you that you didn't ask the right question. annoying, but actually great feedback.
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Thanks Han for your comments. I appreciate your real world example.
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Great points, Cesar. The success or failure of a challenge put to an outside open innovation intermediary, can be decided by the clarity of crafting the challenge brief, before any work has begun.
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Jim - agreed. Success is often determined by how the question is framed. One head of R&D once told me that in his opinion it makes up 70-80% of the work needed to get a good answer. Seems like a high %, but I think it also speaks to the importance of a well framed question.
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Very thought-provoking points! It's important to be as clear as possible when asking questions or answering questions, and finally... asking clarifying questions to another person's question whenever needed. It's important to know your audience and get to what he or she really wants to understand. To me, conversation is a two-way street so the effort to be clear should not only be the responsibility of the person asking the question, but also the person answering the question.
I also agree that employees can be rewarded for being experts at finding solutions, perhaps through the PMP process or at least through the Bravo recognition program.
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Rachel - recognition is key. Has Clorox formalized any recognition programs around open innovation? I think that developing some sort of recognition program to help employees embrace open innovation is absolutely critical. Thanks for your comments.
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Cesar - the only recognition programs for open innovation at Clorox that I'm aware of are the following:
1) Right here on Clorox Connects - people are informally recognized by the number of points they have based on the number of posts, comments, etc. they have submitted on the website. This is a new system.
2) Clorox R&D "Love the Lab" - A more formal recognition program where employees are rewarded based on innovation, creativity, etc. This is new as well.
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Rachel - Thanks for replying. I'm conducting some informal polling of my own to see how companies are motivating employees to adopt these new kinds of approaches to innovation. I hope to share some of the best ideas I come across (non-confidentially, of course).
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There's actually a lot of recognition within Clorox for Open Innovation. However, your question is best answered if it's super clear what you are asking - more proof for your initial post that started this discussion! Open Innovation means many things to most everybody. Two examples:
As a Company, we have formal programs culminating in "Win-Balancing", a holistic program to systematize our interactions with innovation partners (built around raw material suppliers with innovation capabilities) that we've been doing for 10 years. There are a range of ways we reward employee achievement and effectiveness in either stewarding this effort or bringing it alive within our business units. Surely a very real aspect of open innovation! Written up by the Corporate Executive Board and recognized by the industry as a best practise.
On the other end of the spectrum, we don't yet have formal "employee idea challenges" or similar things that sometimes one hears about at some companies. A cool idea, but one that has to be effectively executed or it does more harm than good. This is also considered by many an aspect of open innovation.
Hard to answer your question more definitively without knowing what you are asking... :)
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Andy - you're right! A good question always can withstand further clarification. Fortunately, your first paragraph which describes the "Win-balancing" program is the kind of example I was looking for. These kinds of examples are few and far between. I'm familiar with the CEB - I worked with them when I was at InnoCentive. Is there a way to get a copy of thier write-up?
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