Harnessing the power of innovation advocates

Harnessing the power of innovation advocates
May 13th 2014
Colin Nelson
Director of Strategic Consulting
colin.nelson@hype.de

Introduction – Colin Nelson
7 years in Online Innovation and Idea Management
• Primarily working in the US, Europe, and the Middle
East
Background includes:
• Market Research / Knowledge Management /
Information Management & New Product
Development
Focused on:
• Client advisory / training / coaching / program
strategy & health / innovation community
management
Read articles here:
• http://innovationmanagement.se
Director of Strategic Consulting at HYPE
2www.hypeinnovation.com

Topics for today
Sustainable enterprise innovation programs
Key challenges facing our clients
What is an ‘Innovation Advocate’?
Identifying & Training Innovation Advocates
Example advocate programs

THE COMPANY
• 11 years in business, 90+ employees
• 100% specialized in innovation management software
• Run by the founders, backed by institutional investors
• HYPE headquartered in Bonn
• North-America office in Boston
THE SOFTWARE
170+ active installations world wide
Grows with you:
• Comes off-the-shelf with best practices built-in that have been shaped by the
experience of many years
• Extremely configurable: If you want, the software can adapt to your company culture,
objectives, processes, languages
HYPE at a Glance

Our Clients

Our Offering
Innovation Management
Optimize idea portfolios across the enterprise
Process
Our scalable end-to-end
innovation process is based
upon our experiences of
working on over 170 innovation
programs worldwide
Our platform is designed to
most effectively support the
various needs of today’s
innovation initiatives across
different industries
Our consultants help you to
quick-start your first
campaign, to establish a
sustainable innovation
program and to open it up to
customers and partners.
Software Professional Services
www.hypeinnovation.com
6

Recognition
HYPE Innovation Cited as a Leader in the
market for Innovation Management Tools
in Q3 2013 Forrester Wave report.

Everyone can
help us to
innovate
One off
innovations
aren’t enough
Enterprise
scale requires
software
Enterprise scale
requires an
understanding of
how people behave
online

Some fundamental assumptions
Get people involved
Collective expertise is a powerful
asset
We need to make better use of
our people and knowledge
Using this resource we can
develop more innovation
Give them an ability to share
ideas and insights
Encourage extensive
collaboration
Tap into hidden pools of
knowledge
Retain all insights, ideas &
concepts

Topics for today

Colin Nelson | Hype Softwaretechnik
Engagement Innovation Value
11
We all want our programs to be sustainable

Key foundations for sustainable
programs
Communications
A broad focus
Grow your innovation
community
Use the data

Communications
A broad focus Use the data
Key foundations for sustainable
programs
Grow your innovation
community

14
We seek diversity of opinion, so
engagement from all corners is key
Sector
expertize
Marketing
Finance
New Product Development / R&D
IT
HR
Sales
Procurement

Topics for today

16
Most companies have ‘patchy’ engagement
Sector
expertize
Marketing
Finance
IT
HR
Sales
Procurement

17
Sector
expertize
Marketing
Finance
IT
HR
Sales
Procurement
We can’t get ‘this’ division engaged

18
Why won’t
‘this’ country
join in?

19
You didn’t
mean me?
…did you?

20
Is this really
what you were
looking for?

21
Navigating complex organizations…

22
This job is too big to be a ‘lone wolf’

23
Summary of the challenges for Innovation
Professionals
• Often a small team that’s not
connected to all those that can &
want to innovate
• People in many locations and
divisions
• Top down messaging only goes so far
in changing the way people work

Topics for today

25
Regular idea jams
• A series of innovation ‘Jams’ run in 2013
• 10,000 invitees focused on a range of
innovation needs & challenges
• Supported by 49 advocates available 24 x
7
• India, US, Fr, Swe, Jap, Brazil, China - all
provided advocates
• 111 ideas selected from over 600
submitted & 3000 comments
• (49 of which have patent relevance)

26
Sustainable innovation community
• Central innovation team supported by 10 divisional
champions 20 innovation ambassadors
• Builds the bridge between the core innovation team and
each locality.
• Ambassadors relay the message of innovation to their peer
groups
• Now developing F2F sessions to take the innovation
community to the next level
http://hypeinnovation.com/resources/case-studies/

27
Hand picked advocate community
• Network of US cancer hospitals
• Developing a new advocate community
based upon collaborative innovation
behaviors
• Training for all volunteer advocates
• Advocate community will meet monthly
online to share stories, ideas on
innovation, local challenges &
opportunities

Topics for today

29
They should have day jobs

30
They can help us as they work
Local eyes and ears
Advocate
Cheerleader

31
How can they help our programs?
Demonstrate good
behaviors:
• Participating
• High quality content
• Constructive comments
• Connecting people

32
Identify hot topics
• Focus areas for innovation
• New campaign sponsors
• New experts to help

33
Help others
• Encourage participation
• Explain the process and its
value
• Share success stories

Idea Campaigns Ideas Concepts Innovation Projects
Idea Generation Idea Evaluation Innovation Portfolio Management
Strategic
Innovation Areas
The Front End of Innovation The Back End of Innovation
Where do they fit to our innovation workflow?
Identify topics
/ needs
Promote
engagement
Find expertize
www.hypeinnovation.com 34

Topics for today

36
How can we identify good advocates?
Volunteers are ok, but its best to pick those that consistently
demonstrate good collaborative innovation behaviors

37
What behaviors are we looking for?
Sharing ideas and
insights when asked
I will share because I
trust the organization
& my colleagues
Helping to build upon
the ideas of others

38
How can we identify them?
Skeptical /
negative
Unaware
Cautious
Interested
Enthusiastic
• Aware of the program, but unlikely to participate unless
they see the benefits / value of doing so
• Bought in, will participate in almost all campaigns if they
can
• Bought in, will participate if the campaign is relevant
• Won’t participate unless made aware, will then fit into
one of the three categories above
• Blockers to them participating that will need to be
removed
http://goodies.hypeinnovation.com/case-study-swisslog

39
How can we identify them?
• Look at the participation data
• Those that participate regularly
• Comment as-well as share ideas
• Participate irrespective of the
theme or question
Skeptical /
negative
Unaware
Cautious
Interested
Enthusiastic

40
Can we train them?
• Explain how they’ve been
identified
• Would they like to
volunteer to help?
• Share the hard and soft
objectives of the program

41
What should we ask them to do?
• Talk about the project
• Encourage people to share
• Share success stories
• Forward ideas and insights to
colleagues

42
Build the community
• Have monthly f2f meetings
• Share experiences and
insights
• Highlight successes and
blockers

43
Leverage your advocate community
Sector
expertize
Marketing
Finance
IT
HR
Sales
Procurement

Summary
44
Innovation is too big a job to be a lone wolf
Advocates exist and they’re happy to help
Look for those that participate most regularly
Train them and build the advocate community by intoducing
them to each other

Questions?
Colin Nelson
Director of Strategic Consulting
colin.nelson@hype.de

Harnessing the power of innovation advocates

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