BlogBloghttp://inceodia.com/blog/2012-07-12T17:00:00ZSquarespaceDo Your Performance Management Practices Inspire Innovation?http://inceodia.com/blog/2012/7/12/do-your-performance-management-practices-inspire-innovation.htmlKristann Orton2012-07-12T16:34:29Z2012-07-12T16:34:29ZIf you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

 ~Antoine De Saint Exupery

Innovation takes creativity, and creative people need room to think and grow if businesses are going to engage the power of their creative thought.  As leaders, our focus needs to be on inspiring innovation in our employees and removing roadblocks so that they can do their best work.  Management is not equivalent to leadership yet why do leaders insist on “managing” their people, their teams?

]]>Tips for Selling Innovationhttp://inceodia.com/blog/2012/7/3/tips-for-selling-innovation.htmlKristann Orton2012-07-03T19:27:21Z2012-07-03T19:27:21ZOne of my favorite scenes from the sitcom, “Love and Marriage” was when Bud built an innovation in his basement while hearing a loud voice in his head booming, “if you build it they will come”.  He obsessively worked day and night on the solution and was surprised that when he was finished, no one came.  This is how many innovations are approached by businesses - their employees are so in love with the innovation they can’t imagine anyone being able to resist it.  The reality is that any new solution will need sales and marketing to present the innovation and differentiate it from the competitors.

]]>7 Steps to an Innovative Teamhttp://inceodia.com/blog/2012/6/27/7-steps-to-an-innovative-team.htmlKristann Orton2012-06-27T13:28:25Z2012-06-27T13:28:25ZRecruiters are searching for very specific technical knowledge rather than soft skills such as teamwork and collaboration that make for a good long-term employee.  A good technologist can pick up a new technical skill easily through formal or on-the-job training; it’s not so easy to teach the soft skills often requiring years of experience to develop.

Photo credit: Yug_and_her via Photo Pin

]]>Innovation Shouldn't Be Limited to Productshttp://inceodia.com/blog/2012/6/20/innovation-shouldnt-be-limited-to-products.htmlKristann Orton2012-06-20T23:49:28Z2012-06-20T23:49:28Z

Enter the 21st century, the age of the Internet and connected-ness, where everyone and everything is intertwined.  Now suddenly there are many ways to do business with more emerging each day.  And innovation has a new focus - business models and markets.

]]>How Safe is Your Business from Mid-Life Crisis?http://inceodia.com/blog/2012/6/13/how-safe-is-your-business-from-mid-life-crisis.htmlKristann Orton2012-06-13T20:08:19Z2012-06-13T20:08:19Z 

photo credit: tuppus via photo pinThere is hope, but it takes discipline – and perhaps some outside objective expertise - to navigate through this knothole.  Two recent articles highlight considerations for businesses making this transition. 

]]>Design for an Audience of Onehttp://inceodia.com/blog/2012/6/8/design-for-an-audience-of-one.htmlKristann Orton2012-06-08T17:16:44Z2012-06-08T17:16:44ZHowever I think there is a bigger problem that needs to be addressed – products and services that actually fulfill the purpose for which they are bought.  In a mass production commodity market, this will be impossible to achieve.  Enter 3D Printing and the ability to design for an audience of one.  Full disclosure: I am part owner of a 3D Printing business, LandPrint.com, so I have been drinking the coolaide of the potential for this technology for a while. 

]]>You Don't Have to be in the Technology Business to be Innovativehttp://inceodia.com/blog/2012/6/1/you-dont-have-to-be-in-the-technology-business-to-be-innovat.htmlKristann Orton2012-06-01T17:02:02Z2012-06-01T17:02:02ZHowever I do see some good coming out of the overuse of the word: innovation used to be reserved for companies creating new technologies leaving the rest to do business as usual, focusing instead on making profits above all else.  By encouraging every company to innovate we are requiring that they are transparent in the ways that they are doing better business.

photo credit: kevin dooley via photo pin

]]>The Zen of Partner Innovationhttp://inceodia.com/blog/2012/5/25/the-zen-of-partner-innovation.htmlKristann Orton2012-05-25T13:26:04Z2012-05-25T13:26:04ZThis is where social media technology can shine, moving a partnership from a handshake to shared action enabled by collaboration and connection.

]]>Turning a Business Socialhttp://inceodia.com/blog/2012/5/17/turning-a-business-social.htmlKristann Orton2012-05-17T17:51:19Z2012-05-17T17:51:19Zit is also the people who stand to benefit the most from social business efforts: engaged, empowered employees; customers delighted with co-created products that really fit their needs; trusted partnerships that thrive on personal bonds instead of fizzling in a muddle of miscommunication. 

]]>Building a Diverse Thought Leadership Culturehttp://inceodia.com/blog/2012/5/11/building-a-diverse-thought-leadership-culture.htmlKristann Orton2012-05-11T13:01:04Z2012-05-11T13:01:04Zwhy aren't we looking to change the corporate culture to embrace some of the nascent traits that women - and other diverse thought leaders - can bring to the table?  Otherwise, why do it?

Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.

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