This gives me more time to talks, sessions and consulting work, but since the lead-time for summer engagements is short, I want to give you an incentive if you want to engage me as an external source of inspiration for your innovation efforts. You get half price on my engagements in June and July!

So let me know if you need an inspirational talk or a workshop in your company or if you need an assesment of the strenghts, weaknesses and opportunities in your open innovation and/or social media for innovation initiatives.

Things can happen fast and since time is a scarce resource, this offer is subject to availability and only valid for June and July.

Get in touch if you want to discuss this : – )

“We have no choice”, he said and continued: “Our customers simply demand to be part of the development of our products and service and our employees tell us they can do more if we open up our innovation efforts. So in our view, we have no choice but to open up.”

Let’s take a look at another compay, Psion. A few years ago, they were in deep trouble and the new CEO John Conoley quickly concluded that they needed to change their innovation methods in order to right the company.

They decided to embrace open innovation and during an interview with them I asked John Conoley why they wanted to do this.

He said something that has stuck with me ever since.

“We want to be competitively unpredictable”

I just like the taste of this. Which company would not want to become competitively unpredictable? As the interview continued, I asked him how he would do this and then he surprised me again by saying something a CEO rarely does:

He said: “I have no idea! – but it is my job as the CEO to create the right framework and conditions for this to happen.” Open innovation is very much about changing the processes within a company. You need executive support to make this happen just like what Conoley gave then.

It would be great if you can share other examples on why companies embrace open innovation.

Here is the first question I ask:

How many important innovation partners do you have within your corporate umbrella (across your business units)?

This typically ranges from 10 – 300 with the latter being huge international companies. Then I ask a few other questions:

What would happen if these partners were able to interact with each other? Could this bring value to your company?

The thing is that most companies only maintain one-to-one relationships with these partners. This is how it has been for ages and many companies don’t see any reason to change this because they only focus on their own situation. However, as more and more innovation happens in communities and ecosystems, you need to begin looking beyond your own nosetip and find ways to connect your partners with each other. If this is done right, everyone will benefit. One benefit being that you create a better framework for disruptive innovation as I discussed in this post: Social Media and Disruptive Innovation

Next question: How can you make this happen?

Most people immediately start thinking about physical networks and properties here. Face-to-face interactions are important, but they need to understand that the virtual offerings (communities, virtual collaboration tools, social media, idea generation and management software) are getting more and more advanced. They need to develop a new mindset and new skills within their organization in order to tap into this potential.

We are still at the very early stages of using social media for innovation efforts, but I believe the visionaries – those who dare to look 2 years out trying to understand what could happen happen on the intersection of social media and open innovation – will have a good change of being the future innovation winners.

The reason for creating a networking culture is obvious once you look at the current and future direction of innovation. Let’s start by disposing of the myth of the lone genius – the Thomas Edisons and the Alexander Graham Bells of yesteryear – arriving at a breakthrough innovation on his/her own.

This model wasn’t true then, and even if it were, it simply does not hold true in today’s complex business organizations. Technology and the challenges that must be solved have become so complex that many – perhaps even most – companies can no longer rely solely on their own internal innovation geniuses, no matter how brilliant those people may be.

Innovation is increasingly about having groups of people come together to leverage their diverse talents and expertise to solve multifaceted challenges that cross multiple disciplines. To make this happen within your organization – and beyond as you move toward open innovation – requires a networking culture that is designed, supported, and modeled by your company’s leaders.

Another key motivation for setting up networking initiatives is based on the simple fact that the knowledge of any company is inside the heads of the employees. Discovering and distributing this knowledge has always been a challenge, and now, more than ever, the ability to leverage a company’s collective knowledge and experience is critical to innovation. Furthermore, establishing the ability to bring knowledge and potential new innovation insights in from external sources demands a strong networking culture supported and modeled from the top.

What a Networking Culture Looks Like

So what does a good networking culture looks like? It’s such a new concept that there aren’t a lot of examples available to illustrate it, but here are some key components of a good networking culture:

• Top executives have outlined clear strategic reasons why employees need to develop and nurture internal and external relationships. This includes making clear how your company’s networking culture links with and supports your innovation strategy.

• Among the things to consider when developing your networking culture strategy is what types of networks you hope to build to support your innovation efforts. If your organization is moving toward open innovation, possibilities would include peer-to-peer networks for people working with open innovation in different companies, value- and supply-chain networks, feeder networks, and events and forums connecting problem solvers and innovators with your company.

• Leaders show a genuine and highly visible commitment to networking.

• Leaders must walk the walk, not just talk the talk. By making themselves available at networking events and by being visible users of virtual networking tools, they model the desired behavior and motivate others to participate. After all, who doesn’t want a chance to exchange ideas with the top brass?

• Leaders should also share examples of their networking experiences whenever possible. Spread the word about your own and others’ networking successes. Hearing you talk repeatedly about how networking is helping the organization in its innovation efforts will reinforce the message that this is important.

• Networking initiatives mesh closely with your corporate culture. This is not one-size-fits-all; each company’s networking efforts will differ. You can take bits and pieces, concepts and theories, knowledge and experience from others, but you still need to make it work for your own company.

• People are given the time and means to network. Frequent opportunities are provided to help individuals polish their personal networking skills. Not everyone is a natural networker. But almost everyone can become good at it with proper training and encouragement.

• Both virtual and face-to-face networking are encouraged and supported. Web 2.0 tools and facilitated networking events maximize the opportunities people have to initiate and build strong relationships.

Potential Roadblocks

In working with companies that are trying to build a networking culture, here are some reasons I’ve identified for why such efforts can fail or not reach the hoped-for degree of success:

• Lack of time: Many of us simply do not have the time to network and build relationships. It is necessary to develop a strategy and initiate projects, but you also need to give your people time to invest in initiating and maintaining both internal and external relationships.

• Lack of skills: Some people are natural-born networkers; many others are not. But the basics of effective networking can be learned, just like any other business skill. With appropriate instruction and motivation, wallflowers can learn to work a room. By providing your people with this type of training, you will give them a skill that will be invaluable throughout their careers.

• Lack of focus: A community or a network will only work if it connects people who share a common experience, passion, interest, affiliation, or goal. Your people need to have ways to find and join groups that are right for them and right for your company. In other words, you and your employees should only network when there is a good reason to do so. Random networking rarely results in anything but wasted time, which devalues networking in people’s minds and makes it harder to encourage them to try it again.

When I posed the deliberately provocative question on my blog of whether relationships and networking were overrated, Tim Kastelle, a member of the Technology & Innovation Management Centre in the School of Business at the university of Queensland, commented, “I view most things through a network lens, and the thing that I always remind people is that maintaining links in a network is costly.

So just blindly ‘networking’ to build up connections is likely to do more harm than good. Going down to no connections doesn’t work either though. You have to think about the kind and quality of connections that you want.” I fully agree with Tim and recommend using the mantra of “networking with a purpose.”

• Lack of commitment and structure: The networking-will-take-care-of-itself-and-you-do-not-need-to-work-at-it attitude is not the approach to take toward building what is increasingly a core innovation skill. Building a networking culture requires commitment and structure to support it.

It would be great to hear your comments and insights on this important topic.

Click here to view the embedded video.

How do we change people’s behaviour? Thefuntheory.com is a site that is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

The site has several fun and inspiring videos. This is one of my favourites.

Tom Fishbourne makes some great cartoons. I think this one shows that internal forces often are the worst enemies of innovation.

Drop a comment if you know of other fun and inspiring videos or cartoons that relate to innovation.

In order to qualify, I am asking you for a couple of things:

First, please read the below description of the session. Do you think there is a market for such a session in your city? We need a minimum of 10 paying participants in order to make it worthwhile our efforts. If so, let’s discuss this.

Next, please forward a few lines outlining how you can help spread the word about the session in your city.

If we go ahead with a session in your city and I believe your efforts can help attract participants, you have earned a free seat (only 5 per city) : – )

Let me know what you think of this. You can reach me on stefanlindegaard@me.com or @lindegaard.

————

Social Media for Corporate Innovators and Entrepreneurs
- Add Power to Your Innovation Efforts

How can my company use social media to bring out better innovation faster? How can social media benefit my career as a corporate innovator or entrepreneur?

Working on his next book, Social Media for Corporate Innovators and Entrepreneurs: Add Power to Your Innovation Efforts, Stefan Lindegaard has learned that these questions are being asked by many corporate innovators and entrepreneurs around the world.

Now, you can join his session to get some answers to these – and many other questions – on the intersection of social media and (open) innovation. This intersection is unchartered territory, yet full of interesting opportunities.

At the session, we get into into these issues:

• The State of Innovation: We look into the megatrends (global, open and social) that are changing how we innovate and we discuss how this impact your company and your career.

• Social Media for Innovation Efforts: What are the benefits of using social media for innovation efforts? What are the challenges? We look at examples from leading companies and discuss how this can be relevant for your company.

• Communication for Corporate Innovators and Entrepreneurs: We look into how you can use social media to position yourself as well as your team as good innovators. This is important as one of the key objectives of innovation today is to become the preferred partner of choice within an innovation ecosystem.

• Your issues: Forward your questions related to the above topics before the session and we will discuss them.

This will be an interactive session in which Stefan Lindegaard shares his insights and starts conversations on the above topics. Your input and insights are highly appreciated in a session where we all learn from each other.

The program:

08.45 – 09.00: Registration and networking
09.00 – 09.15: Welcome and introductions
09.15 – 10.00: The State of Innovation
10.00 – 11.00: Social Media for Innovation Efforts
11.00 – 11.15: Break
11.15 – 12.00: Personal/Team Branding for Corporate Innovators and Entrepreneurs
12.00 – 12.45: Personal reflections and closing remarks

About Stefan Lindegaard:

Stefan Lindegaard is an author, speaker and strategic advisor. His focus on the topics of open innovation, social media tools and intrapreneurship has propelled him into being a trusted advisor to many large corporations. He believes open innovation requires a global perspective and he has given talks and worked with companies on open innovation in Europe, South America, the U.S. and Asia.

Stefan Lindegaard has written two books: Making Open Innovation Work (Oct 2011) and The Open Innovation Revolution (May 2010). His next book, Social Media for Corporate Innovators and Entrepreneurs: Add Power to Your Innovation Efforts, is due fall 2012. His blog is a globally recognized destination on open innovation. You can read further at www.15inno.com.

Price:

The session costs USD 300 per person.

They are about to release an interesting factbook based on 2757 respondents who shared how they use social media and new technolgies to create value within their companies and organizations.

I was given a sneak preview on the innovation part of the factbook and I found the results to be interesting as well as encouraging. Interesting to finally get some facts on this and encouraging because the findings show a strong interest for using social media for innovation. Unfortunately, the factbook is only in Danish, but I translated the below images to give you an idea of how companies see a potential in using social media for innovation efforts.

You can download the factbook (in Danish) on this link.

Using social media internally for innovation can help lay the groundwork for taking your initiative to an external audience. The platform of choice for doing this for many businesses is Yammer, a popular social media platform that sets up private, secure enterprise social networks that can be used to drive innovation, especially idea generation/development within their company.

I will be using Yammer as an example throughout this blog post due to it’s popularity and since the advice I put forth work equally well for other kinds of social media tools and services used internally.

It can be fairly easy to recruit people for the Yammer platform. It is, however, much more difficult to keep the users engaged over time. So what kind of engagement drivers work for innovation initiatives on Yammer? I have divided these drivers into three key elements: Awareness, Facilitated content and User-generated content.

1) Awareness: Short, focused bursts aimed to build awareness of the Yammer initiative, make existing users more active and recruit new ones. This could be a two- to three-week challenge in which you ask the users for their input on a specific issue. Issues that need to be considered include:

• How should this challenge be framed? You’ll need to make it specific beyond the very broad “innovate how we innovate” issue. One possibility to have the challenge revolve around identifying future challenges. In other words, ask employees to propose a great challenge for the company to undertake. Post this in positive terms so that people know you’re looking for ideas on new directions the company can take to improve its competitive position.

• Should you reward people for their engagement and, if so, what is the best way to reward them? Remember, people value both intrinsic and extrinsic awards. Being acknowledged by your CEO in a company newsletter or at an event created around the challenge program, for example, can be just as motivating as a prize or financial award.

• How will you create buzz around such a challenge as well as the Yammer initiative in general? Work with your communications department to leverage all the communications vehicles the company has to promote your Yammer network. Consider creating a kick-off event and by all means have a celebration event at the end of your first challenge.

Then the job becomes to keep people informed of progress that is being made on some of the ideas that were put forth that are going to be explored further. The obvious way to do this is to establish Yammer groups where people can provide input on how to move ideas forward.

2) Facilitated content: This is about delivering quality content on a frequent basis so users become accustomed to getting value from their time spent in the community. This could be weekly posts that give a “how to” perspective and offers further insights (links to relevant articles). Beyond sharing insights, another key element for such content should be that it drives discussions. Facilitated content could also be something as simple as inspiring quotes about innovation or fun cartoons. Both have a high viral potential.

A good facilitator is key for making this happen. Choose the person who is assigned to this task carefully. The position requires a good understanding of corporate innovation process and thus corporate needs/assets/weaknesses/strengths, good writing skills and a good understanding of social media. Make sure this person is given adequate resources in terms of time and training to succeed.

3) User-generated content: This is where the community begins to become self-sustainable. I would suggest that it is a good sign of success once your community goes above 50 percent when it comes to user-generated content compared to the action driven by awareness campaigns and facilitated content.

Here you need to be aware of the 100-10-1 rule which states that out of 100 people, only 10 will follow the discussions and only one will post or write themselves. This will most likely be better in smaller, focused settings as you have with corporate Yammer initiatives, but it does imply that a certain critical mass is needed.

Hurdles and goal-setting

When it comes to implementation hurdles of Yammer initiatives, two in particular stand out. 1) a general lack of understanding of social media and 2) lack of commitment and engagement from top and middle management. Experimentation and the “small wins” approach is key to overcoming these hurdles.

When it comes to goal setting for Yammer initiatives, this might give you some inspiration:

• Short term: Create experiences to allow your company to develop social media competences relevant for innovation
• Mid term: Engage people on social media services and tools for innovation efforts
• Long term: Have social media as an important element in external innovation networks

IBM’s internal social network, called Beehive, is another example of how companies are using social media internally to support innovation. Employees use Beehive to get other people interested in their ideas and projects. The internal network also helps people build closer relationships with co-workers and to identify new people within the company that they want to bring into their personal network. They also are able to access expertise within the company more easily. All of these uses can be strong supporters of innovation.

Here’s how IBM describes just one function of Beehive that supports innovation:

“Users can create top-five lists, called ‘hive fives,’ to share their thoughts on any topic they are passionate about. For example, they can add a ‘hive five’ list that outlines their ideas about their project, and then invite their team members to ‘reuse’ the list and voice their opinions. Hive fives cover a lot of territory, from clearly work-related subjects to the kinds of personal exchanges that might only happen among collocated team members at the water cooler. Hive fives are a light-weight way to share ideas and a great way to keep in touch with remote team members.”

Innovation Excellence:

Innovation Excellence is the place to go to if you are looking for a collection of innovation insights and inspiration. Great content! Great job by Braden Kelley, Rowan Gibson and the rest of their team!

Scott D. Anthony:

My favourite guy right now is Scott D. Anthony, the Managing Director of Innosight Asia-Pacific. He realized that the future of innovation to a large extent will be driven out of Asia so what does a serious guy do? Scott moved to Singapore where I have really enjoyed meeting him just as I have enjoyed reading his great blog posts and books.

Check out Scott’s blog posts on Harvard Business Review and his page on Amazon.com. His latests book is The Little Black Book of Innovation: How It Works, How to Do It

Lego Cuusoo:

Lego Cuusoo is a great example on companies working together in an open innovation-like setup (the partnership between Lego and Cusoo) while having customer co-creation (the relationship with idea-submitters) and using crowdsourcing to make things happen (get 10,000 supporters).

The key to success on innovation hinges on a company’s ability to merge external and internal resources. Lego is doing a great job on this and they are just getting started.

The Front End of Innovation:

Unfortunately, I am not going this year, but the Front End of Innovation conference is usually a great conference if you are looking for new insights and inspiration. This year it happens on May 15-17 in Orlando, USA.

Twitter – as a tool for insights and inspiration:

It just continues to be my primary source of inspiration. Download Tweetdeck if you don’t already have it. Then you set up a search for “open innovation” and you will get a great overview of what is happening on this front.

You can also create a list in order to follow these people who write and/or tweet great stuff frequently: @digitaltonto @timkastelle @ralph_ohr @nicobry @conversationage @ariegoldshlager @paul4innovating @nilofer @ovoinnovation @philmckinney @danielpink @chuckfrey – just some of the people on my innovation list!

It started out with the globalization wave in which international companies rushed to developing countries in order to reap the benefits of cheap manufacturing. Over time, they learned that it was not enough to just manufacture products on the cheap. They also had to utilize local minds as they often had to adapt their offerings to the local markets.

In turn, this gave us 24-7 innovation as innovation now happens everywhere rather than just at the corporate headquarters. We even got a new term, reversed innovation, as products and services intended for developing markets now find their way to developed markets.

Then, we got the open innovation movement which really started to pick up speed about 10 years ago when Procter & Gamble began working on their Connect + Develop initiative and Chesbrough shared his thoughts on open innovation. Today, this is the big buzz on innovation as many companies try to find their way to increase the external input to their innovation processes.

The next phase, which I believe has just started is how social media will add power to the innovation efforts. The whole world has become one big community and there are lots of benefits for the companies that figure out how to use social media tools and services to bring better innovation to market faster. A key thing is to enable partners – and potential ones – to connect with each other not just in the real world, but also virtually.

The open and social media phases that we are currently experiencing still have a long way to go. It will probably take 5-10 years before these new ways of approaching innovation have been universally accepted across continents and industries. This will bring lots of challenges and opportunities to companies, service providers and consultants.

So we went throught the global phase and we are still very busy with the open and social media phases. Thus it might be a bit pre-mature, but I really wonder what will be the next mega-trend that will change how we innovate.

What do you think?