Beyond Creativity

Does anonymity improve ideas and suggestions?

So, how to design a Electronic Suggestion Management System ESMS (or an Innovation Management Information System) that supports BOTH creativity AND anononymity? I earlier wrote about the creativity requirements by Farooq, Carroll and Ganoe. One of their main recommendation was 'Leverage cognitive conflict by preserving and reflecting on minority dissent'. In plain English: 'Let those critical voices be heard and utilise this information when improving ideas'. But, but, how can you do this in an organisation where everything you suggest is linked to your role and position? Does anonymity help in motivating people to make suggestions and provide feedback?

Fairbank, Sprangler and Williams (2003) suggest that the building of an (ideal)  Suggestion Management System should be based on motivational theories. Their view is similar to Teresa Amabile.

Expectancy theory of motivation indicates that the motivational force for performing a task is greatest when the performer believes that :

(a) he or she is able to succesfully complete the task (i.e., high expectancy),

(b) completing the task will lead to certain outcomes ( i.e. high instrumentality),

(c) the outcomes for completing the task are attractive (i.e., high valence, or value).

Allowing anonymity in idea suggestions most likely improves (a) high expectancy.

When Nunamaker et al. (1991) inspected electronic meeting room systems (EMS) they found that anonymous EMS use generated more critical comments. No wonder, participants in EMS field studies reported that anonymity was important, particularly in cases where there were power and status differences in the group.

It would be great to hear your comments about anonymity. Does it improve the quality of ideas? Does it make the use of ESMS or EMS more pleasant or motivating?

What Drives Innovation - Heuristic Framework

I have been reading and enjoying the IdeaFlow blog by Renee Hopkins Callahan for some time. Renee is an excellent writer and she is truly an expert in the creativity and innovation area.

Lately, Renee Hopkins Callahan and her colleagues presented a heuristic framework in the article "What Drives Innovation". I would recommend that article as a check-list for every organisation that is / will be planning innovation strategy. The article is very easy to read, very concrete and it includes planning tools to spot weaknesses in the innovation process. The open innovation aspect is addressed as well: "Can we build it ourselves? Do we need to partner with some other company in order to produce it?"

Still, there is something I could add to that framework. First, the support of employees' (and customers') problem-finding is not very clearly targeted. I see that the 'Fuzzy Front-End' could be supported better. For a organisation it would be beneficial if its employees and workgroups would have better mental and technical tools to prepare their idea suggestions. Submitting idea in a form is not enough ;-) When the 'Fuzzy Front-End' is better supported, maybe employees have then better skills to recognise a good idea from bad ones? Jakob Rabinow sees this as one of the most important skills of an innovator. I tried to address this earlier in my (clumsy) Frontiers of eBusiness Research -paper and in my and Antti Syvänen's Mobile Learning 2006 IdeaPortfolio -paper.  Secondly, the innovation process should let those ideas live that do not immediately pass those evaluation gates. Andrew Hargadon and Robert (Bob) Sutton claim:

"Valuable solutions seldom arrive at the same time as the problems they solve, they seldom arrive at the same time as the problems they solve, they seldom arrive to the people working on those problems, and they seldom arrive in forms that are readily recognizable or easily adaptable.”  

What a challenge for all developers of Innovation Strategies and Innovation Management Information Systems !

P.S. Check also Renee's and Corante's Innovation Hub
 

Finland is absent every July - Innovation Sauna Heating Up!

(Updated 13th March 2008). I am back from holiday. With tens of hours spend in the sauna and in lakes with family, friends and colleagues. What? Spending precious time in a sauna? I am not kidding !

Okey, sauna is our fixation. There are several millions of saunas in Finland (almost every household has one + saunas at summer cottages  + public saunas).Some of our 150.000 lakes are even overpopulated by saunas ;-) 

Traditionally in July Finland is closed, at least in business terms. Foreign business partners are wondering, why it so difficult to reach a Finn in July. When you compare yearly work productivity hours, we are far away from Chinese and even behind many European countries. Still, our innovation (invention) rate per capita has been the 2nd highest. Why? I  would claim that is partly because of sauna. We have spend a lot of time in the idea-nurturing phase or as psychoanalyst Kubie calls it "preconcious state". I say "have spent" because the understanding of the importance of sauna in creative work processes has diminished in the current Finnish work life.  Just recently I got the chance to comment the 'Creativity Strategy of Finland' draft for the Ministry of Education. I emphasized the importance of sauna in our creativity culture and indicated some underused resources. OK, sauna is our competitive edge, but it is really difficult for other countries to 'copy' or 'imitate' sauna culture. What we Finns could do better, is to introduce immigrants and foreign visitors to sauna culture and let them enjoy it their way.

There is an expression , or a joke -- "as talkative as a Finn" -- meaning, of course, just the opposite :-) Yes, we don't always prefer chit chat or small talk. We Finns dislike formalities and get easily confused when somebody asks " How are you?" and we are not allowed to say how we really feel, " I am fine" is not enough (in that sense we are similar to Russians :-) We like solitude and space around us. But we do like to talk as well, especially after the the sauna when we are cooling up, sitting on a bench and looking at the lake ;-) It is great to let your mind wander...and talk. Business talks take traditionally place in  saunas in Finland. (Foreigners (especially Conan O'Brien ;-) do not need to worry about nudity any more, we have even adapted a swimming-suit-on policy in public saunas ;-)

Tampere Area has the densiest winter sauna (or winter swimming) concentration in the world (some examples here).  I am glad that my region has that kind of culture and resource. Great lake scenaries (picture), friendly people, fantastic feeling, pure awareness all year round :-) I have never met a sulking or angry people in the winter sauna. Maybe it is because those very stressed people do not visit winter saunas and do not make a splash in an ice hole?  BTW, the Wikipedia article about sauna does not mention at all winter swimming and health benefits. Therefore I updated the Wikipedia Ice swimming page ;-)

It would be great to integrate Creativity and Innovation Workshops with sports and (Winter) Sauna for foreigners. It is a long term plan.  (Summer is definitely time for crazy ideas and I am waiting for winter to make them true :-)