Gregg Fraley

Brown Bag Innovation “Innovation is everybody’s job.” Gregg Fraley, keynote speech, circa 2006 “Innovation is everybody’s job, but you have to provide smart ways to contribute.” Gregg Fraley, keynote speech, 2019.  I’m excited to talk to you about a new offering, Brown Bag Innovation Training. It’s a lunch & learn workshop for those who are typically not involved in focused innovation efforts. It’s designed to help change cultures. But first, some background… Innovation is everybody’s job, but many employees think the opposite is true. When they hear a message like the first quote above they write it off as a meaningless slogan and ignore it. Why? Because we’ve trained people to ignore things outside their job description. Unless you’re actively involved

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What You Should Be Learning in Innovation Training But you probably are not! Eleven Innovation Bullets to Dodge, in no particular order. Lack of Managment support will effectively kill any innovation program no matter how well conceived. If you don’t have Talent, superior talent, you’ll fail. Design Thinking alone will not guarantee success (or any other framework, Agile, Lean, etc.). Very few organization’s are any good at all at Brainstorming/Idea Generation. If you don’t take calculated risks, and continue to take them, you will fail. Most organization’s don’t have the guts to actually reinvent. Innovation team leaders who avoid conflict are doomed to fail. B to B organization’s need to learn what qualitative research is all about. B to C

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Idea Generation Fails How to Hose Your Next Idea Generation Project* If you want to improve , get the training This post is a self-explanatory graphic for the most part. Those who regularly do Idea Generation don’t need my text below (but don’t be smug, even one of these fails can do you in).  I posted this graphic on LinkedIn a couple days ago it got so much attention I thought I’d do a bit of explaining. These fails — and solutions — are the result of 30+ years of research and hands-on innovation consulting work. And these fails are democratic — they will hose a session or project in any industry, in non-profits, associations, or in economic development. Start-ups

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80% Of Brainstorming Sessions Don’t Work Seven Idea Generation Fails Redefine Brainstorming and Get Better Results I might be getting to old to hold back on saying this about ideation, aka idea generation, aka brainstorming. My inner skeptic and snarky soul wants to scream it. Based on my experience, about 80% of idea generation doesn’t work. It might be worse than that. In spite of the efforts of many people to train others in how it ought to be done, it’s getting worse, not better. The Failure Rate is partly because the game’s changed, again. Also partly because the lessons of how it ought to be done have simply never been learned. As the drawing suggests, please, let’s redefine brainstorming.

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Are You Having Fun? Innovation Should Be Fun, Joyful, and About Playing With Concepts The One Question Innovation Culture Assessment A lot of fuss is made over innovation culture. I get it — it’s probably the most important fundamental to put in place if you actually want innovation to happen. Organizations spend a great deal of time and energy investing in training, speakers, communications, systems, frameworks, and assessments. All this is fine. And… I have a simple one question assessment leaders and managers can use to take the pulse of their innovation culture. Ready? “Are you having fun?” If the immediate answer isn’t “yes” — you’ve got a culture problem. If you were planning on doing an 80 question quantitative

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Do Purpose First, Select a Framework, Then Do Projects Without a Clear Purpose, Innovation Drifts Off Course It may seem obvious but unless you know who you are, and what your purpose is, as an organization you will flounder. Innovation Leaders sometimes get it backwards. This wastes Time and Money. In the innovation space there is endless discussion about frameworks. Which is best? Can I blend frameworks? If everyone else is jumping off the Design Thinking bridge shouldn’t we? Just kidding, Design Thinking can be a good choice, as can Agile, or Lean, or your own blended system. Using a structured innovation framework is a project success factor. There is also a lot of yakking about culture. Nothing wrong with

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Innovation Emergencies Happen Emergent See Innovation from GFi Available February, 2019 I advise pro-active, and continuous, innovation. It’s always easier to work with a challenge when you have time and the leisure to incubate, think, and in general work the clay of research insights, trends, prototypes, paper-based concepts, or a business model canvas. When you are always doing innovation, you have time to fail, time to create small wins, time to learn. Time is what you don’t have in an emergency. And Innovation Emergencies Happen. You’re caught off guard by a market shift, a new competitor, or a technical advancement. Unfortunately, many organizations don’t have a formal innovation program, and so, they wait until the proverbial poop hits the fan. It’s

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It’s fall and it’s time to go back to school. If you’re in the Chicago or Denver areas, check out these innovation training course offerings. Gregg Fraley Innovation (GFi) is offering three public courses in late October and early November. Click on the course title to register. Don’t wait to register, these are popular offerings.  Chicago Innovation Intensive, Beyond Design Thinking Friday October 26 at Catalyst Ranch, 8:30 to 4:00 pm CST REGISTER NOW This deep-dive immersive course in innovation could change the direction of your organization – or career. Do you seek sustained growth? A truly innovative culture? How do you get there? This essential training for leaders and project managers provides answers, and from an industry thought leader.

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Innovation is Learning For many years I kept the concepts of innovation and learning in separate boxes. I thought innovation was creating new things of value, and, learning was understanding new things. I always suspected there was a closer connection. I now believe that learning and innovation are joined at the hip. You can’t innovate without an exploratory learning process. It’s a two circle Venn diagram with a large intersection set. Deliberately embracing learning — as part of the innovation process — can lead to better ideas and improved innovation results. It may seem like an obvious connection, but when I made the “innovation is learning” statement at a recent presentation — thinking everyone would agree — I got a

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Training Accelerates Innovation 94% of managers are unsatisfied with their companies innovation performance. 70% of CEO’s see innovation as a key driver of growth. That’s what McKinsey says in this article. Why then is corporate America so woefully undertrained in innovation fundamentals? Energy is Not Enough, Get Training in Innovation  When I step into a room to facilitate a strategy, innovation, or idea generation session I usually find a great deal of energy. Almost always. People really want to do good work. What I also often find is inexperience that cripples their desires. Specifically: No fluidity in free-associative divergent thinking necessary to innovate — people do not know how to think like innovators! And yes, this can be trained. Inappropriate

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