Terri Lonier

The Craft of Innovation

Articles

By Terri Lonier

Innovation’s Secret: A Peek Inside a Critique

students reviewing work during a critique

Innovation professionals are often curious about the world of the artist or designer. Where do creative ideas come from? How do they assess their work in progress? 

Today let’s peek inside one of the most powerful processes of creativity and innovation: the critique. 

Critiques play a central role in the development of artists and design professionals. These hands-on review sessions gather experts and peers to allow a review of recent work for assessment and guidance. As an art professor and later Dean at one of the country’s leading art schools, I’ve led a lot of critiques. I’ve also witnessed them in a work environment. While conducted in different settings, the process is remarkably similar — and powerful.

Critiques begin with the creator selecting one or more a pieces to share. For those new to the practice, it’s not unusual for hands to be shaking as they pin their work to the walls or set up their display on a tabletop or desk. Mouths become dry as they get ready to speak about their work.

The critique continues with a few moments of silence, as all participants focus on the work being shared and take in the creative expression. Ground rules are established. Participants are expected to fully see, not just look at, the work. Comments must be thoughtful — cheap shots or glib comments are outlawed. The critique moderator plays an important role by keeping comments focused on the work and not the individual. Then the creator is asked a few questions:

  • What were you trying to achieve with this work?
  • Who was your intended audience?
  • Do you believe you were successful?

The conversation is free-wheeling after that, filled with both kudos and suggestions for improvement. Critiques are not intended to dwell on failures or be harshly critical — although many youthful tears are often shed. Rather, the goal is to open up one’s creative output to responses, and to undertake an honest assessment of what has been accomplished, what needs refinement, and which avenues to pursue next.

Most of all, a critique demonstrate that creativity is a professional process, always ongoing. Perfect results are rarely found — and that’s OK. What’s more important is to recognize what is working, and what is not. The dialog leads to clarity of next steps and future possibilities.

If generating innovative results is your life’s focus, the critique process can be an important guide. Understand that opening your work to others for comment may bring temporary discomfort but often leads to better outcomes. Asking — and answering — the three key critique questions brings clarity to what you’ve achieved and what to explore.

My challenge for you: In the coming week, explore how a critique mindset could benefit your work. And if you have critique sessions in your workplace, please zip me an email. I’d like to hear about them.

Make something happen,

Terri

By Terri Lonier

4 Innovation Megatrends for 2019

Innovation will happen across many industries and disciplines in 2019. Whether you’re championing a new company initiative or navigating your career, here are 4 innovation megatrends that will impact leaders across all industries. Use them to frame your innovation strategy for the coming year.

1. Global Economic Volatility
Economic factors will play a role in innovation initiatives in 2019 as companies take a closer look at where to place their innovation investments. As the US stock market continues its gyrations, companies are looking to a volatile first half of 2019 with a likely slowing of the economy beginning late spring or early summer. 

As a result, innovation initiatives will come under greater scrutiny. The days of embarking on innovation projects in hopes they turn out the next big thing are over. Innovation in 2019 must be smart and targeted, with solid strategic focus.

2. China
The second innovation megatrend is the role of Asia’s largest economic force. China continues to demonstrate its expanding leadership in many areas, from e-commerce (Alibaba selling in one day what Amazon does in a quarter) to space exploration (being first to land a craft on the dark side of the moon) to impacting the United States’ largest company. Whether it’s as a market, a competitor who values IP rights in a different way, or as a supplier, China must be a part of every company’s strategic landscape as they plan 2019 innovation initiatives.

3. 5G
For those of us who recall the staticky hiss of dialup modems, today’s broadband speeds are something we appreciate but mostly take for granted. This year brings the rollout of 5G, the fifth generation of cellular networks, and wireless connection rates will shift into an even higher gear. These new speeds will unlock many nascent technologies that have been waiting to strut their stuff, especially augmented and virtual reality. An increase in bandwidth and decrease in latency means that more data can cross digital pipes faster, cheaper, and connect people (and devices) in new ways. Yes, 5G will be over-hyped. However, this megatrend opens up innovation potential in whole new industries.

Along with the speed in connections will come an increase in the pace of daily life. Even though it seems we are moving at rapid (some say relentless) speeds today, 5G will make us realize that we will never move this slowly again.

4. Talent Retention
2019 marks the year that those under the age of 40 begin their ascent to the majority of the US population. As both workers and consumers, they will have an outsize influence on the future of companies large and small. This impact will be felt most strongly in talent retention, as younger workers choose to explore nontraditional career paths, whether showing little company loyalty, exploring personal entrepreneurial journeys and the gig economy, or retiring early. To remain competitive in their respective markets as well as in talent, companies will need to innovate their hiring, retention, and general management practices.

Even though every year brings new changes and opportunities, 2019 is shaping up to be massively disruptive — which brings both risk and remarkable opportunity. How do these 4 innovation megatrends dovetail with your 2019 strategy? Are you poised to make the most of them, particularly in the first six months of the year?

If you’re ready to make rapid growth on a new initiative or primed to unlock projects that seem stuck inside your company’s walls, I welcome your call to explore how we might work together.

By Terri Lonier

Innovation Starts with Your Blank Canvas in 2019

Blank Canvas

As you embark on new innovation projects this year, set yourself up as a professional creative does. First, prepare the canvas. Get your ideas in order. Select the appropriate size and format that will express your ideas for an optimal result. Innovation starts here.

Then choose the best tools at hand. For artists, this may be paper, paint, clay, wood, fiber, or other material. Tools for your innovation project may include research and other data, organizational resources, and colleagues offering ideas and support.

Then, dive in. For artists, there is nothing quite so appealing as the joy of a blank canvas. Yes, it can be intimidating to face that wide open space. But the creative professional knows that what’s most important is to start. Mentally compose the idea, choose the appropriate tool, and put that pen, pencil, brush, stick, sponge, or fingertip to work.

Any shape can be altered, any line erased. But the “waiting to begin until I’m ready” cannot be overcome until action takes place. 

Creatives and innovation professionals both understand that projects are always works in progress, open to alterations and reconsiderations. We cannot get to the better version without going through the first rough drafts, beta tests, and pilot projects along the way.

Whatever you have in mind for this year, begin.

For me, I will be visiting Innovation Labs around the United States to bring back stories of how innovation is really happening in ways large and small. If you have an Innovation Lab you’d like to nominate for me to visit, please zip me an email.

Your challenge this week: Consider all the innovation projects you want to accomplish this year, and decide which one will likely generate the greatest positive impact. Then in some small way, begin.

By Terri Lonier

Zombie Innovation Projects

If you’re running an active innovation program, chances are high that you have some zombie projects haunting you. These projects rarely contribute any positive outcomes and have long seemed lifeless, yet they remain “undead.”

I’ve seen quite a few zombie projects while advising innovation efforts at both large corporations and smaller startups. Telltale signs include project leads who have lost interest and are now distracted by newer, shinier initiatives. Often, funding was neither increased nor cut, which keeps the project limping along. If an initiative was the brainchild of a powerful figure or had important stakeholders involved, it might linger for months or years.

Zombies Are Threats

While zombies may provide a delicious surge of adrenaline while watching a late-night movie, in a business setting these projects can be darkly threatening, particularly in three areas.

  1. They create doubt and distraction. Zombie projects are always in the wings, detracting from the focused efforts needed for new projects. They cast doubt on fresh initiatives, as participants wonder if this project also will end up as a zombie. If it’s an external activity, the project’s lifelessness and abandonment can also damage your brand.
  2. They claim time and mental energy. While zombie projects may not be fully active, they aren’t completely dead. They require at least a minimum amount of tending — attention that could be better deployed elsewhere.
  3. They tie up resources. Zombie projects likely receive some sort of staffing and financial support, even if modest. Freeing up these resources can fuel other, more valuable efforts.

Ending Zombies in a Positive Light

What’s the best way to deal with zombie projects? First, acknowledge them. Pull them out of the shadows and determine what elements, if any, are worth continuing. If there are none — as is often the case — be prepared to eliminate them permanently.

Then, take this important step to end your zombie projects with grace, so they don’t linger or return: Make a full review of what the project has contributed, and document this value. While not a roaring success, a zombie project may have taught you important lessons about focus, planning, or market needs. It could have connected you to new partners or resources. You may have increased capabilities or gained new perspectives. And at least you now know what doesn’t work, which is important and valuable information on its own.

The documentation of value also provides the basis for a positive response to future questions. When someone inevitably asks about the project, you can reply: “That project is closed. We gained a lot of information about __________ and are putting it to use.”

My challenge to you is to review the zombie projects you have hanging around the shadows of your company. Drag them into the light, assess their value, and be grateful for what they have contributed. Then end them, fully and permanently, knowing they’ve served their purpose.

By Terri Lonier

The Allure of More, More, More

For more than 12 years, my husband got up every morning to take our yellow Labrador Retriever, Nilla, to the local park. Starbucks in hand, he would sling sticks high in the air, sending Nilla bounding across fields to retrieve them.

Returning (with stick), Nilla invariably got distracted by additional stuff to pick up. You could almost see the thought bubble: Oh, what’s that? Another stick, yippee! Oh, and there’s a plastic bottle, they make a great crunchy sound. I’ll take that, too. And wait, there’s a tennis ball — I know I can bring that, too. She would come back proud, mouth bulging with her finds — frustrated when she stopped to pick up one more and unable to stretch her mouth quite enough. At times the choices became so numbered that she’d open her mouth and all her treasures would come spilling to the ground. She scrambled to stuff them all in again, and it was not uncommon for the first to be left behind in the shuffle.

One item of focus was never enough for Nilla. Have you discovered that it’s often never enough for innovation projects as well? The allure of “more, more, more” is strong. Let’s start this project to demonstrate ‘x,’ the innovation lead says. “And while we’re at it, we can also throw in ‘y,’ says a marketing manager. “And maybe ‘z’ as well,” someone else chimes in from operations. As things keep piling on, the objectives become muddled, the focus drifts and diffuses, and the metrics end up weakened by too many variables. Captured by the allure of more, a primary objective can be left behind — just like Nilla’s stick.

As any Labrador Retriever owner knows, the eternal puppyhood of this breed brings years of joy and laughter. However, such exuberance translates to a mass of frustration when found in an overburdened and unfocused innovation initiative.

Here’s a challenge for your week: Make a review list of your current innovation initiatives. Have too many things been piled on to your original focus? Has your original “stick” been left behind? It’s rarely too late to reclaim your focus.

By Terri Lonier

Considering an Innovation Lab? Here’s the Most Important Question to Ask.


Innovation Labs are proliferating and as Forbes has noted, that’s not all good news. Some are doing great things, adding to the operational and financial strength of their organizations. Others are floundering, having survived the initial enthusiasm of newness but struggling to remain sustainable and relevant.

As an advisor on creative projects and innovation initiatives at leading corporations over the past 20 years, I’ve seen projects soar, others crash and burn, and many launch with a flash only to quickly sputter into obscurity. Based on these experiences, I recognize that there is one question that, when answered, can make all the difference between success and failure to an Innovation Lab. Why is it so powerful? Because it brings an essential ingredient: Clarity. It distills the project’s purpose and aligns the many stakeholders.

There’s one key question, and it is not: “Should we do this?” Rather, it is essential to ask:

“What do we want this Innovation Lab to do for us?”

This question, while seemingly straightforward and simple at first, can be like a loose thread on your favorite sweater — pull on it and all of a sudden you’re in territory you didn’t know was so fraught. Yet unlike the often disastrous final result of tugging on that sweater sleeve, posing this one question can bring big benefits. It’s a question that often prompts conversations you never anticipated and unravels tangled thinking — which ultimately makes your project stronger.

I’ve often been in rooms where everyone assumed a united focus, only to discover radically different goals and objectives once this question was raised. Lively discussions follow about target constituencies, key activities, resources, metrics, and ongoing viability — which cascade into other discussions and decisions.

Most successful innovation labs are clear on this from the start. So if you’re getting ready to launch, ask this question. And if your lab is floundering or your focus is a bit muddled, return to this question. Clarity is powerful.

In the weeks ahead I’ll be writing more about crafting innovative ideas into business reality. Thanks for joining me on the journey.