Innovation is a popular but nebulous buzzword. Many business leaders believe they need to innovate, but they don’t know exactly what that means. Traditionally, innovation is linked with product design or R&D, but this definition is too limiting. Instead, we can think about Innovation as a problem-solving approach that, if managed correctly, results in organic growth for the business. As such, systematic innovation is the process of uncovering problems for which customers need solutions, and then developing products, services, processes and business models that solve these problems. For example:

• A Chinese appliance manufacturer designs a hybrid washing machine after discovering that customers want to use the same machine for cleaning clothes and vegetables.

• A financial services provider offers Diner’s Card, essentially the first credit card, which makes it more convenient for restaurant patrons to pay for meals.

• A healthcare organization develops an innovative new hospital design after carefully studying the various needs of patients, visitors and staff.

What is Systematic Innovation?

Innovation is not about simply improving your existing offerings, nor is it about coming up with clever new offerings. Innovation is about fulfilling customer needs. Ask yourself, why do customers purchase my product or service? If you manufacture automobiles, for example, you may think that customers buy your models because of certain features, colors or price points. But what is the “job” that a car fulfills? Getting the customer from place to place safely, conveniently and cost-effectively. If you do this job better than the competition, you will win customers.

Systematic Innovation builds on this concept, but provides a combination of tools and techniques to help you fulfill the customer “job” once you’ve identified it. The specific techniques may vary, but typically involve a mix of creativity and ideation techniques combined with Lean and Six Sigma tools. This approach enables you to identify the job, or customer need, brainstorm innovative ways to fulfill the need, design the best solution (be it a new product, service offering, or both), and test the solution before bringing it to market.

Systematic Innovation also teaches companies how to define their organic growth strategy (which, after all, is the reason you’re innovating in the first place). It also advocates the use of a balanced Innovation portfolio, one that tempers breakthrough Innovation with less risky projects.

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Benefits of Systematic Innovation

• Enables the business to reinvent itself or its offerings to ensure continued success.
• Results in organic growth of the business as an alternative to, or in addition to, growth from Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A).
• Improves the organization’s value proposition to current and potential customers.
• Expands existing market share and enables the organization to enter new markets.
• Focuses R&D spending on projects with a high probability of commercial success.
• Leverages the creative problem solving abilities of all employees, not just a select few.

History of Innovation

From the invention of fire to the moon landing, the human race has always used innovative thinking to solve problems. So why is it that business Innovation has become the realm of a chosen few (the research and development department, the design team, the creative consultants)? The truth is that everyone is capable of producing innovative solutions to problems; it’s just that most people are not trained to think creatively.

To this end, we can thank people like Edward de Bono, a proponent of structured creativity, whose work spawned many of the Innovation tools used by businesses today, including Six Thinking Hats, Provocation and Movement and Concept Abstractions and Alternatives. Other creative visionaries include Dr. Helmut Schlicksupp, who developed the TILMAG technique and many other tools that stretch the boundaries of creative problem solving.

Of special note is Genrich Altshuller, a Russian patent clerk who developed the well-known Innovation methodology TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving). Altshuller had access to detailed information on a large number of inventions, and he eventually came to the conclusion that all inventions have inherent contradictions that the designers overcame. Altshuller also noted that the methods used to resolve the contradictions could be distilled into 40 “inventive principles” – generic solutions that can be applied to solve any design problem. Today, many companies use TRIZ to help them refine existing offerings and design innovative new products and services.

As one might expect, Innovation itself continues to evolve. Systematic Innovation is a culmination of insights from business Innovation thought leaders, such as Clayton Christensen and Robert Tucker, combined with creative problem solving techniques, TRIZ algorithms and Lean Six Sigma tools. Altogether they form a methodology for predictable and sustainable Innovation.

A successful innovation strategy can be the key to survival in a tough economy. For more information about leveraging Systematic Innovation in your organization, contact us.

Additional Reading

The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth - Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor

Driving Growth Through Innovation: How Leading Firms Are Transforming Their Futures - Robert B. Tucker

Design for Lean Six Sigma: A Holistic Approach to Design and Innovation - Rajesh Jugulum and Philip Samuel