Idea Time Innovation with Dr. Jo North

Innovation Strategy for Your Business

I believe innovation is all about coming up with great, new ideas and using them to make a positive difference in the world. 

 

Of course, innovation has always been with us. Everything we use or enjoy today is the result of an innovation from someone, somewhere. 

 

But it feels like we have never needed innovation as much as we need it now: emerging from the pandemic, tackling climate change, building a fairer, safer society and more.

 

Businesses of all sizes collectively play a major role in driving innovation. They also need to innovate. 

 

And the most successful businesses are those that are purpose-driven. 

 

Research by Deloitte in 2020 shows that purpose-driven companies experience higher market share gains, grow on average x3 faster than their competitors, and achieve higher employee and customer satisfaction.

 

Creating and implementing an intelligent, agile, dynamic and purpose-led innovation strategy makes a significant difference to business performance, resilience and sustainability.

 

In this episode, I’ll cover:

 

…What an innovation strategy is, and how an innovation strategy can accelerate purpose-driven business growth

 

…When an innovation strategy might be useful for an organisation, and when not

 

…How to get started with creating an innovation strategy that’s right for your business

 

…Some common pitfalls and critical success factors

 

It will be great to hear your experiences of shaping and implementing innovation strategy, and what works or doesn’t work from your perspective.

 

As always, let’s see what insights and ideas we can co-create in the moment.

 

Looking forward to collaborating with you.

#innovation #cocreation #innovationleadership #intrapreneurship #facilitation

How do Innovation Sprints Work?

How do innovation sprints, also known as design sprints, actually work? 

If you’ve not experienced one before, an innovation or design sprint is a short, focused, purposeful event designed to achieve solutions to a specific challenge or opportunity.

Together your delegates from inside and often outside your organisation will collaborate to collectively define what success looks like for your challenge or opportunity. 

They’ll generate and develop ideas to achieve that success, and create early prototypes and action plans.

Innovation sprints can be online, in-person or hybrid events.

I love designing and running sprints and have been facilitating them for years.

In the last few months alone, at the Big Bang we have facilitated sprints for our clients on themes such as:

• New product development
• Customer experience
• Digital technology solutions
• Business growth acceleration
• Employee engagement 
• Long-term environmental strategy
• Climate change 

… and more.

But to be successful – which means achieving the target outcomes at the same time as creating a positive experience for delegates – a fantastic sprint needs to be expertly designed and facilitated. 

 

In this episode, I’ll cover:

…How innovation sprints work, and what makes them successful

…When an innovation sprint might be useful for an organisation, and when it’s not

…How to organise an innovation sprint for your business, avoiding some of the common pitfalls that can compromise success

 

It would be great to hear your experiences of running or participating in innovation sprints and what works or doesn’t work from your perspective.

As always, let’s see what insights and ideas we can co-create in the moment.

Looking forward to collaborating with you.

 

#innovation #cocreation #innovationleadership #intrapreneurship #facilitation

Thought-leadership and Innovation. Creativity and Critical Thinking

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if …

 

…everyone in business felt inspired, confident and unapologetic enough to think independently, create more and regurgitate less?

…people trusted in themselves and listened to their own intuition?

…they consulted others, took on board different perspectives, and then came to their own conclusions, thinking creatively AND critically?

 

Never before have we had so much access to such a huge diversity of opinion, data, information, and so many opportunities to connect with and follow people from around the world.

In some ways, we are in a wonderful golden age of shared thought and enlightenment because of all the online conversation and connections.

But is all that volume creating a reduction in the impact for us as innovators and consumers of content?

There’s a lot of noise out there, a lot of copying, as well as a myriad of insights and wisdom.

How might we find strategies to cut through the noise and find the gems that help us, as innovators, to create, communicate and consume for more meaningful outcomes?

 

I’d love you to join me for this show where I’ll be exploring the theme of thought-leadership and innovation.

Let me know what you think.

Contribute to the debate.

Let’s see what insights and ideas we can co-create in the moment.

 

Looking forward to collaborating with you.

How to Facilitate Group Dynamics in Workshops & Sprints

People behave differently in groups than when they are on their own or one-to-one.

 

This episode is a deep-dive into group dynamics for workshop facilitators. I’ll share some fascinating and useful insights into group dynamics that are invaluable for remote and in-person facilitation.

 

Themes include:

• How our human need for social connection influences our behaviors in a group setting
• Insights into group psychology
• Creativity and the group norms
• How to structure your workshops, sprints and meetings to support collaboration, innovation and achieve results

 

Group dynamics are a key element that we work with every single day as facilitators. I can’t wait to see your comments and questions. As always, it’s great to hear from you.

 

You’ll also enjoy my article here on how to facilitate group dynamics and creative tension:

https://bigbangpartnership.co.uk/do-people-behave-differently-when-they-are-in-groups-insights-into-group-dynamics-for-facilitators/

 

For free facilitation and team building resources, go to https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/resources/ and fill your boots with lots of great stuff!

 

To find out more about my virtual facilitation, have a look at https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/virtual-facilitation/

 

I’d love to hear from you and answer any questions you have. Please do let me know what you think in the comments.

Strengths-focused Innovation, with Andy Jenkins

Join me and my special guest, Andy Jenkins of MyLeadership Strengths, for this episode on strengths-focused innovation.

Leading innovation in organisations brings great responsibility as well as opportunity.

 In Andy’s decades of work developing leaders, he’s seen a common response to that responsibility: leaders strive to be good at everything. Research, and his experience, show that the ‘perfect’ leader does not exist. In fact, evidence shows great leaders:

• Have a strong understanding of their own unique strengths and capitalise on them
• Address their most important individual weaknesses
• Understand and tap into the strengths of others

In my conversation with Andy, we explore:

• How strengths-based leadership is an essential ingredient for high-performing innovation teams, and successful innovation outcomes
• How you can identify your own innovation leadership strengths, and how to put them into action to get the best results
• Ways in which you can spot and leverage the strengths of the people around you to harness the collective capability of your full team
• Tips and techniques for strengths-focused facilitation

To get in touch with Andy:

hello@myleadershipstrengths.com

Links to Andy’s information and resources: 

https://myleadershipstrengths.com/resources/

About Andy:

Andy is Co-Founder of My Leadership Strengths, who enable busy managers to prioritise their own development and make learning happen at work. Combining business design with organisational psychology expertise, Andy has built leadership capability in SME’s, not for profit, public and private sectors in the UK and Australia. He is at his best working with individuals and organisations setting up for growth, navigating unfamiliar organisational challenges, and public sector transformation. Andy is a Chartered Member of the CIPD, a qualified strengths practitioner and coach. People who have worked with Andy describe him as curious, insightful, practical, intelligent, fun and open

For free innovation leadership resources, go to https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/resources/ and fill your boots with lots of great stuff!

 To find out more about my virtual facilitation, have a look at https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/virtual-facilitation/

Guide to Psychological Safety and Teamwork for Innovators, Facilitators and Change Makers.

Psychological safety is the key ingredient of high performing teams. It is defined as "a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes” (Professor Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School).

 

This episode is a great guide to psychological safety for innovators, facilitators and change makers. I share:

• A definition of and deep-dive into psychological safety, plus why it is important for team working, specifically including innovation, business growth, design sprints and learning environments.
• Spotting the signs of psychological danger and psychological safety in teams.
• How to nurture a climate of psychological safety in remote, hybrid and co-located teams and in virtual and in-person workshops and innovation sprints.

For free facilitation and team building resources, go to https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/resources/ and fill your boots with lots of great stuff!

 

To find out more about my virtual facilitation, have a look at https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/virtual-facilitation/

 

To explore more content on how to get ideas flowing in online meetings, you might enjoy this article, too https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/how-to-get-ideas-flowing-in-online-meetings/

 

I’d love to hear from you and answer any questions you have. Please do let me know what you think in the comments.

 

Facilitating a Business Strategy Workshop

In this episode, I share all the essential information you need to know to do a brilliant job of facilitating a business strategy workshop, either for the company you work for or for your clients.

The tools, tips and techniques I share can be flexed for virtual / online, in-person and hybrid or blended meetings.

I’ll help you to think through:

• The purpose and objectives of the session
• Planning, preparation and delegate pre-work
• On-the-day facilitation

I’ll go through a suggested strategy workshop agenda, and detail each of the activities I recommend that you consider for your delegates.

For free facilitation and team building resources, go to https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/resources/ and fill your boots with lots of great stuff!

To find out more about my virtual facilitation, have a look at https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/virtual-facilitation/

To explore more content on how to get ideas flowing in online meetings, you might enjoy this article, too https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/how-to-get-ideas-flowing-in-online-meetings/

I’d love to hear from you and answer any questions you have. Please do let me know what you think in the comments.

 

A Guide to Hybrid Working

Hybrid working, which is sometimes called “blended working”, is a form of flexible working that allows employees to split their time between attending the workplace and working remotely (usually from home).

In the current climate, more and more teams are considering or doing hybrid working.

This week’s episode is a guide to hybrid working – the upsides, potential downsides and how to make it work for you and your team.

When some team members work remotely for some of their working week or carry out other forms of flexible working, performance can be harder to observe and collaboration more challenging to achieve.  Effective team leadership of hybrid-working colleagues therefore requires a different approach, although many of the fundamentals of good performance management (objectives, feedback and timely conversations) remain the same.  The tips I share can support you in managing hybrid teams effectively.

For free facilitation and team building resources, go to https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/resources/ and fill your boots with lots of great stuff!

To find out more about my virtual facilitation, have a look at https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/virtual-facilitation/

To explore more content on how to get ideas flowing in online meetings, you might enjoy this article, too https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/how-to-get-ideas-flowing-in-online-meetings/

I’d love to hear from you and answer any questions you have. Please do let me know what you think in the comments.

How to Be a Great Facilitator

In this week’s episode, I share some of my facilitation techniques, skills and tips to help you take your facilitation skills to the next level.

Facilitating a workshop or meeting can be challenging at times, and that’s why I’m here to share my experience of facilitating thousands of people in different sectors in countries all over the world.

For more free innovation and facilitation resources, go to https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/resources/ and fill your boots with lots of great stuff!

To find out more about my virtual facilitation, have a look at https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/virtual-facilitation/

To explore more content on how to get ideas flowing in online meetings, you might enjoy this article, too https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/how-to-get-ideas-flowing-in-online-meetings/

I’d love to hear from you and answer any questions you have. Please do let me know what you think in the comments.

How to Write an Innovation Business Case

You’ve got a great business idea…

How do you know if it stacks up financially? What about the other, non-financial risks and benefits?

How do you decide if it’s a go-er or not, and how do you influence the people you need to support you and maybe even invest in your innovation?

These are the questions that I’ll help you to answer in this week’s show.

I’ll walk through how to create a realistic, credible business case for your innovation that not only gives you confidence in your decision-making but also helps you to engage and influence your key stakeholders.

For more free innovation and facilitation resources, go to https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/resources/ and fill your boots with lots of great stuff!

To find out more about my virtual facilitation, have a look at https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/virtual-facilitation/

To explore more content on how to get ideas flowing in online meetings, you might enjoy this article, too https://www.bigbangpartnership.co.uk/how-to-get-ideas-flowing-in-online-meetings/

I’d love to hear from you and answer any questions you have. Please do let me know what you think in the comments.