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| Process of Innovation |
Innovation is defined as a new object or a new method. The really interesting question is how do we humans mange to create these new new methods and objects and how often do we do it.
Its likely that the majority of things that you do, touch or think about are the result of an innovation, whether recent or back in the distant past.
In developed countries most peoples lives are entirely consumed what are or were innovations.
How Do We Make Innovations?
Our diagram shows one way of thinking about this process. The genesis may a problem needing a solution, sometimes its a random thought that occurs for no apparent reason. Somewhere in this early messy murky period a creative act occurs in which an idea or concept is born.
The next step is usually some form of development where the idea is translated into a working solution. This can be an arduous process, one that suggests that companies wanting to develop innovative products should think seriously about if they want to go down that path.
By way of example note that the sustainable incandescent light bulb took 110 years to develop.
However, before we begin we need the act of creation to bring a new idea or concept into existence.
We All Know that Creativity Is an Act of a Genius
This is a popular myth that perhaps gives us an excuse to not focus on creative solutions and just accpet the status quo. We can see plenty of evidence that a whole range of ideas make can lead to very effective innovations.
Where Small Ideas Matter - The Worlds Biggest Automobile Company
One of the popular myths about creativity is that it is some blinding insight that produces a major revolution in the world, something like deducing that E=mc2. By contrast think about Toyota. Until they became a slave to growth they were heading towards being the worlds number one car company by making relatively boring but very reliable cars. How did they create these reliable automobiles? First and foremost by applying the quality practices pioneered by Messrs Deming and Juran. These practices often surfaced problems with designs or processes that the company then set about improving. In the last 40 years thanks to these quality practices and advances in technology (another form of innovation) Toyota moved from being a manufacturer with a reputation for unreliable products to a company that has a major share of the three major segments:
- Low Priced Cars - Scion Brand
- Mid Priced Cars - Toyota Brand
- Luxury Cars - Lexus Brand
The point here is that small creative acts are important and the notion that only the likes of Einstein can create new ideas is a myth. In his book
Creativity: Beyond the Myth of Genius (Series of Books in Psychology)
Robert Weisberg makes the argument that creativity is a process of normal thinking and that there is no evidence that there is any special thought process in the creative act.
Summary
- Creativity is a normal thought process and doesn't appear as a result of blinding flashes of inspiration, although many times ideas do appear unexpectedly and without warning.
- Creativity is not about big ideas. All sorts of ideas, big and small can make a great contribution to innovation.
Its perhaps self evident but important to note that as humans we do not possess the ability to look at a problem and immediately see a solution. Admittedly there a plenty of occasions when we look at a problem and see we do a solution but we cannot guarantee that we will always be able to produce a solution. This is especially true when a problem is mired in politics and there are many differing views to take into account.
Pressure Helps
The almost paradoxical fact is that sometimes pressure will result in creative solutions appearing from nowhere. Force people into a situation where there is too little time, too few resources and too much to do and its amazing what solutions may appear, or may not as the case may be. Still solutions do not appear on demand.
