Business in the 21st century is adopting new business logic, to cater for a more benefits based society. There is radical shift from the traditional value in goods to an ideal of value in the service of goods, and society is moving towards a more socially complex network that is intensely interlinked. Consequently, there is a greater emphasis in society on intangibles such as ideas, information and relationships.

Innovation is the result of creativity and focus. This is the process of creating something new that has significant value to an individual, a group, an organisation, an industry or society. Deliberate innovation impacts on shareholder value, as it benefits future cash flow.

There are many ways in which an organisation can inspire innovation. Some of the key ideas are:

a. Experiment and encourage radical ideas
b. Let go of your ideas
c. Merge patience and passion
d. Eliminate ego from the management team
e. Mix people in teams
f. Don't just innovate, but solve problems
g. Hire outsiders
h. Abandon the crowd
i. Ask what if?
j. Fight negativity

Developing an innovative mindset in the organisation involves the following:

a. Encourage creative conflict - with strong leadership
b. Big ideas from small teams
c. Learning happens away from the desk
d. Understand the user
e. Live in the future
f. Destigmatise failure
g. Join prototyping to brainstorming
h. Teams need leaders and mentors
i. Encourage and teach people to be curious
j. Have FUN

Vitally important in creating an innovative culture is the development of a listening attitude to the customer. Treat the customer as partner. This may be set up based on the following five stage process:

a. Plan outcome based interviews with customers
b. Capture the desired outcomes
c. Organise the outcomes in a logical sequence
d. Rate the outcomes in terms of importance and satisfaction
e. Use the outcomes to jumpstart innovation

The CEO's role in an innovative organisation is as follows:

a. To act as interpreter NOT innovator
b. To act as analyst and judge of the economic relevance of innovative ideas
c. Set goals and objectives e.g. number of ideas/month/person etc
d. Create a culture of implementation e.g. Dana autoparts - Can the idea be implemented for less than US$50 - YES: Then do it and document it - NO: Submit idea to supervisor and get a written response within 48hr.

A failure tolerant leader is needed to encourage innovative cultures. Leaders are required that do not get consumed by losses and do not get overwhelmed by success.

The process for ideas creation can be as follows:

CSFs for an IDEAS programme:

a. Structure the idea generation process to encourage more ideas
b. Set goals in terms of numbers of ideas expected, implementation and participation rate
c. Communicate process
d. Focus on bottlenecks
e. Respond quickly to new ideas
f. Keep internal awareness high
g. Share best practice ideas

The problem needs to be explored from many different perspectives including that of the end user. Defining the problem also implies determining your limitations and boundaries. Another important aspect of problem definition is researching what has already been done in the past.

Leave all doors open for new ideas. Encourage all team members to generate ideas through brainstorming. Explore the unthinkable. Sources of ideas may be:

- Unexpected occurences
- Good understanding of process needs
- Industry and market changes
- Demographic changes
- Changes in perception
- New knowledge

Get your team to break down the project into more easily manageable and logical parts.

Use computer or mathematical simulations to model and test the ideas brought forward.

Select the final idea, ensuring there is no emotional attachment. Take a commercial perspective. Four key questions have to be answered:

• What are the benefits of the idea?
• What problems need to be managed for successful implementation?
• What data is needed to support evaluation?
• How do people feel about the new idea?

Believe in the IDEA.