5 Tools for Developing Innovation
In today's society, to stop means to go out of step. This translates into an urgent need for Constantly innovate, and it is applicable to both large companies As to projects of entrepreneurship and startups. But innovating, and also doing it in an agile way so that your competition doesn't overtake you on the right, is not an easy task. That's why today we bring you 5 tools for developing innovation:
- Design Thinking
When we innovate we tend to think about our company, what can we do differently? How can we do better? ... This methodology completely breaks with that way of thinking and places the user in the center per empathize with him and discover his needs. This 180º turn in our way of thinking will make us detect opportunities where before we only saw problems, found innovative solutions and allowing us to improve our products and offer new ones. This methodology is divided into 5 stages:
- Empathize
- Define
- Ideate
- Prototyping
- Evaluate
It is an ideal tool for working as a team, because throughout the process it connects different specialists who provide their different points of view.
- The blue ocean
Destructive actions are often carried out between competing companies. W. Chan Kim in his book “The Blue Ocean Strategy” formulate the need to put aside these battles and focus on creating value through innovation. Los Blue oceans represent business ideas that are still unknown, and are based on:
- The discovery of territories that have no competition In the market
- See the proficiency like irrelevant
- Attract new customer niches
- Understand that It's not enough to be the cheapest
- Focus on all efforts to achieve differentiation
While the red oceans represent the current competitive markets that are accepted as they are. However, it is true that most blue oceans are born from red oceans when existing businesses expand.
- Lean Startup
The methodology Lean Startup reduces the risk involved in launching an innovative product. This technique of creating companies allows us to check different aspects of our future business at a low cost in the real market:
- if Is there a problem Real that needs resolution
- If the The proposed solution generates interest in our target audience
- If our customers really are willing to pay For this reason
- If the sales They are going to be generated recurrently
In short, it is a methodology that allows us to carry out a trial-error system without incurring high costs.
- Business Model Canvas
We can't talk about strategic innovation not to mention this methodology. If what we need is to capture our business model on a single sheet and understanding the company as a whole, this methodology is the right one. The 9 blocks that compose it are:
- Customer segments
- The value proposition
- The channel
- The relationship
- Revenue flows
- The key resources
- The key activities
- Alliances
- The cost structure
But using this tool is not just about drawing on the canvas, but it will help us to think strategically and to understand how the different blocks that compose it are interrelated. Therefore, the benefits it brings us are important, because It will increase our observation capacity, at the same time it will provide us varied approaches.
- The Keys to Thought
All the models we have seen are very useful, but to carry them out you first need to have ideas, which can be a difficult task. Tony Ryan raises How to create effective thinking routines with the help of 20 keys that “open” thinking to creativity. Keys are a metaphor for strategies that are followed to carry out a critical and creative thinking.
These 20 keys are:
- The question
- The inverse
- Brainstorming
- The different uses
- The constructions
- The inventions
- Forced relationships
- The disadvantages
- The alternatives
- The combination
- The alphabet
- The image
- Ridiculous
- The what happens yes?
- The M.A.C.
- The interpretations
- The common
- The brick wall
- The prediction
- The variations
What other methods and tools do you use to promote your team's innovation and your own?
