Category Archives: Innovation

Examples of small wins innovation.

What are small wins?

The concept of small wins was first coined by Organizational theorist Karl Weick. He made the point that many social problems seem so big (e.g. world hunger) that they feel overwhelming resulting in inaction and feelings of helplessness. I quote from his seminal 1984 article on small wins -Redefining the scale of social problems: “The massive scale on which social problems are conceived often precludes innovative action because the limits of bounded rationality are ... Read more

What are the small frustrations customers have with your product or service?

This is one of my favourite (and I believe) insightful questions I ask leaders and marketing or sales managers. What are the small frustrations that customers, clients or consumers have with your product or service? Notice the word frustration. It’s an emotive word. These are what I call small losses. In most cases it’s a surprisingly long list. For example; – waiting in line to be served – fine print on an advertisement – or in the case in the photo, packaging ... Read more

What is the ultimate consumer response?

Thank you! The ultimate consumer, user or client response is thank you. Just in this example in a supermarket where a ball was placed right near the cat food. This is a great idea and saves the shopper needless time searching for something for the cat to play with. It’s a small idea with a big pay-off. It could be a thank-you for your: – thoughtfulness or - attention to detail or - beautiful design or - use of my data in a proactive way or - friendliness or - a new idea or - ... Read more

9 ways leaders can celebrate small wins

One of the features of the small wins approach is the emphasis on celebrating at the end of a project. In fact, part of the reason I like small wins is because the projects are small and frequent, there are there are many more opportunities to celebrate. Remember the win could be the attainment of a goal and/or a new insight or piece of learning. But many leaders don’t know how to celebrate with their group or team. Part of the reason according to BJ Fogg, PhD, Director, Persuasive ... Read more

This small innovative behavior will make a big difference

Creativity and innovation is more than thinking in a different way. It’s also about adopting more innovative behaviors. One of the easiest and simplest behaviors that can have a dramatic impact on your creative and innovative performance is this: Capture Ideas –immediately. It could be your ideas or someone else’s. It doesn’t matter — just capture them. You can write them down, take a photo on your phone or tear them out. The important point is to capture them. ... Read more

Six ways leaders can reduce the risks of innovation

Innovation involves trial and error, risks and failure. We all know this. But there is a problem. Most leaders and managers don’t enjoy the emotion of this. Who would? Why take a risk they feel when the returns are uncertain? So lets deal with the emotions of this because innovation is vital. So here are a few suggestions to address how leaders feel about risk: 1. Start small. The entire basis of small wins innovation is getting more leaders to innovate, more often by going small. ... Read more

As a leader what are you and your team testing in the next 30 days?

In much of the literature around innovation there is a strategy which talks about moving into adjacent markets. I have never really liked this description but the idea is a good one. Serving a market that is close to what you are doing at the moment makes a great deal of sense. In this example, SUBWAY is offering a range of products to the catering market (I found this outlet in the city near the business sector). In this case it builds on the strengths of SUBWAY and offers a potential new ... Read more

Where do big ideas come from?

Small ideas. That’s right. Almost every big idea or big success started as a small one. An entrepreneur or small group or team in a large organisation has a small idea they think might work. They test it, measure, learn and share what happens. This is exactly the process I suggest in small wins innovation (i.e. create, test, measure, learn & share). Then they iterate. Again and again. Over time a small idea can transform into a bigger one. The implications? You can never tell in ... Read more

What is the starting point for innovative thinking?

Innovation nearly always starts with a question. For example: It could be a ‘why’ type question: Why do we keep producing this report? Why don’t customers buy from us? Why are people always late for our meetings? Or asking ‘what’ type questions: What are the problems with our customer service? What are customers really looking for in a new product? Or ‘how’ type questions: How can we reduce our customer’s waiting time by 10%? How can we ... Read more

What is an effective innovation KPI for leaders?

We all know KPI’s are important. In theory they are a guide to what you and your team believe to be important and serve as a form of evaluation (i.e. to what extend did you achieve your KPI’s). One of the problems leaders have wrestled with is what is an appropriate and effective KPI for innovation? If it is for the people responsible for innovation then there are a number of measures. For example: – time to market – sales of products less that 3 years old – ... Read more