The Management Centre
yvette@managementcentre.co.uk
yvette@managementcentre.co.uk
Management guru, Peter Drucker, has written extensively on the value of innovation and the need to avoid ‘the temptation to feed yesterday and starve tomorrow’. Third sector, public sector and even social business often have a false sense of ‘playing safe’ by sticking to what has worked in the past. But, with ever-changing beneficiary and supporter needs, this is a risky strategy.
The IDEA Value Chain, developed by =mc from an original Harvard framework, helps you to embed innovation into your organisation’s systems and processes – ensuring it delivers results.
We’ve all had ideas about our work – how to improve things, make things easier, or even just try new approaches. Coming up with ideas is hardly ever the problem – moving them on and putting them into action is where the hard work starts, and where many organisations get stuck. Sitting in a circle, plastering blue sky notions onto a flip chart with post-its utterly useless. You need a system to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP – a ‘good enough’ version of the idea), and then improve it.
The IDEA Value Chain (IVC) is a model developed by =mc specifically to help organisations take a systematic approach to innovation. You might need to generate exciting new ideas on how to increase your income, or you might be full of big ideas but unsure how to choose between them. In today’s dramatically changing financial and social environment, your ability to evolve and adapt is crucial. The model will help you get your initiative out of your head, and help you find ways to ensure it is implemented.
The =mc model involves four stages and ten key points. The stages are:
| Stage | Actions | Questions to consider |
| Imagine | Inspiring: idea generation
You need lots of ideas to develop real momentum. Do we take care to share ideas in a joined-up way? If not, you may duplicate or stagnate. |
How effectively do we come up with new ideas? Do we have systematic processes to ensure knowledge sharing happens? Does the organisational culture support change? |
| Informing: external sourcing
You need to be able to respond well to emerging issues. If not, you may be ineffective in your approach. |
Do we consistently scan the environment for new approaches and ideas we can adapt? Do we monitor the effectiveness of other people’s ideas? | |
| Develop | Deciding: identifying good idea
With a systematic process you are choosing ideas that will deliver results. Do you preserve to overcome barriers and blockers to ideas? If not, you may have lots of ideas that don’t go anywhere, or only choose ones that fit with current thinking. |
Do we have a systematic process for identifying high potential ideas? Is this process rigorous and open? Do we spot barriers and find ways to questions or challenge these? |
| Developing: shaping ideas
Shaping ideas needs clear success criteria and a process for testing. Without these, if you don’t have a rigorous development process you may waste time and energy on low pay-offs. |
How are ideas refined and progressed? What metrics do we use to establish what has real potential, and what isn’t going to make it? Are we willing to take some risks and conduct experiments? | |
| Execute | Engaging: keeping up momentum
Change works best if others engage with your idea. If you don’t encourage a change culture, people return lose faith in the initiative and your idea will wither or be lost. |
Who needs to input into this change? What are their concerns? What will they add to the idea? How do we keep goals in sight when working through detail? |
| Enabling: clarifying results, tools & roles
You need to equip others to take ideas forward. Success criteria needs to be established, shared, agreed and measured. If you don’t have the right framework in place, your idea may never get taken up. |
How will we measure success? Do we have the tools, knowledge and skills needed? Do we have the resources, including investment? How well are ideas rolled out to different groups – senior managers, staff and users? | |
| Asses | Analysing: establishing success
Regardless of how successful your idea is, there is always added value from learning. If you don’t evaluate and review you may struggle to establish how to repeat success or you may make the same mistakes again. |
How effectively is learning captured and shared across the organisation? Do we have a process to capture what worked, what didn’t work and identify how to improve?
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| Appreciating: celebrating & moving on
People need to be recognised for their efforts. If you don’t celebrate success, or recognise failure that had potential, people may be discouraged and not be willing to try other ideas. |
How well are successes recognised? How well are ‘worth-a-try’ failures valued? Are there celebrations of success at an individual and team level? Is credit given for ideas?
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We offer training to help you improve in the key areas you need support in. =mc has a team of unrivalled learning & development and organisational consultants able to help you develop new ideas or build an innovation culture. Between us we share experience in arts and culture, disability and the environment – in the UK and internationally.
Contact us to start the conversation on 074 3690 3103 or email yvette@managementcentre.co.uk
Yvette specialises in leadership, personal effectiveness, change and innovation. Before joining =mc, she worked in HR for several years in both the private and charity sector as an HR...
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