Taking a wow of an idea and making it work

By VICKI JAYNE

When you think "innovation", think verb - a doing word -rather than noun, suggests Ed Bernacki.

It helps to remove some of the mystique. I innovate, you innovate: it is just something we do.

"There's this overly sophisticated thing around innovation. People talk about paradigm shifts and such," says Bernacki, a consultant on innovation and creativity.

"What I want to do is just make it seem like common sense - here is something I can do tomorrow."

Which is why he penned what he describes as a toolkit for generating ideas and putting them into action.

Author of Wow! That's a Great Idea, Canadian-born Bernacki was Auckland-based for several years but now lives across the Ditch.

He was back in New Zealand this month telling people how they might harness good ideas from the NZ Human Resource Institute conference in Wellington.

His main method for doing that is a conference navigator guide.

It is a spiral-bound notebook outlining ways to get more out of conferences than some scribbled, quickly forgotten notes and a bunch of cards belonging to people you cannot remember.

It takes users through questions such as, "Why are you here?" and includes material on "internal resources" such as being active, listening, curiosity and persistence and "external resources" such as other active minds, expertise and note-taking.

"What we aimed to do with the navigator was create a more effective conference, so people don't just enjoy the experience but act on the ideas it generates," says Bernacki.

"And what tools do we usually give people to do that? Just blank notepads - that seems very amateurish, very uninspired."

The conference guide is a practical example of much that is in his book - and inspired its title.

"That's generally how people reacted when we were outlining the idea for the conference navigator," says Bernacki.

It is all to do with providing tools to bridge the gap between inspiration and execution.

He likens it to a fitness programme. You have no hope of running a decent half-marathon if you don't at least start taking half-hour walks every day.

"You can talk an awful lot about fitness but that doesn't make you fit.

"I see the same thing around innovation. There's a lot of talk about it but very little about how we become more innovative in our thinking - like what do we do on Thursdays at 4 pm that will make us more innovative."

Often companies want to be innovative but do not have a starting point or policy around ideas management.

Basic elements include time, direction and a culture that encourages creative thinking.

"If we're talking about something as important as creating new opportunities for the business, should it be happening as a byproduct, at night after drinks? It should be scheduled, preferably at 9 am," says Bernacki.

He suggests time be set aside for brainstorming at least every fortnight, preferably on a specific topic or area of company operation that needs beefing up. That is the starting point - the 30-minute walk.

"I think if companies want new ideas, they need to give direction on where to look. If it's just, 'Give us ideas', there'll be a lot of irrelevant ones."

That is not to say that the anywhere/anytime ideas are not useful. But if you are asking people for ideas, there should be some possibility that they can be used, says Bernacki.

He says the main attributes of a good idea are simplicity, vitality and utility.

You tend to recognise them straight away - the "wow" factor - by intuition rather than analysis. Then you have to flesh them out.

"I've had people say to me, 'We don't need any more ideas, we've got lots and don't have time to do anything with them'.

"Their understanding is that you have an idea then you act on it. I say no - that's how you launch mediocrity. You haven't finished the thinking around the idea."

He suggests a four-step approach that starts with insight.

Step two is answering some of the "why" and "how" questions.

Step three is creating the opportunity - teasing out the detail around how it will work.

The final step is defining the action needed to make the idea work.

It is a matter of fully exploring the concept, how to maximise options, what partnerships could you enter into, how to make it succeed and also how to avoid failure - both important perspectives, says Bernacki.

"Bridging the crucial gap between inspiration and execution is sometimes just damn hard work.

"But again, using the fitness analogy, once you've got fit, it's easier to stay that way."

You will know that you have achieved an innovative culture when people brainstorm ideas to solve problems or create opportunities without direction.

What you don't do is apply creativity killers such as: "We've tried that before and it didn't work" or Bernacki's favourite putdown: "If it was so good, somebody else would have thought of it by now."

There is, he says, nothing new about innovation. "A lot of people equate it with technology but that's a bit like investing in a new pair of running shoes.

"In itself, it doesn't make you fit. It's about applying common sense to ideas management. It's another skill.

"Companies spend a lot of time and effort managing their finances - ideas need to be managed in the same way."

Bernacki says there are no "paradigm shifts" in his book - it is for those who want to do innovation, not just analyse it.

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz