Journey to Kinderland - Setting the Creative and Innovative Mindset

There were challenges running the MINDEF Innovation Game between 2002 to 2006. One of these was the organisation of workshops for large groups (more than 50 participants). With the configuration of 2 facilitators to every 5 players, I had to muster 10 facilitators to run an event for 50 players in the early days when the game was introduced into the organisation.

Subsequently, one of the players was made to helm the role of the 2nd facilitator but this arrangement affected that player's learning cycle. In the later years, I had the players trained in the mechanisms of the game so that they run the game with me and in their sub-units but there were reservations about their effectiveness in debriefing their participants.

Having facilitators at the table continued to be problematic (The mechanisms of the game could have been changed since I left MINDEF in Feb 2007 and these historical legacies may no longer impact it.)

From the lessons learnt from those few years of helming the game for more than 1,000 participants from MINDEF and many other public sector organisations, like MOE and MinLaw, it dawn on me that creating another game with simlar characteristics may not be viable for the private sector. I found another approach, in June 2007, that gets me out of this constraint of balancing learning effectiveness and organising efficiency.

Takeaways from Journey to KinderlandTM

Journey to KinderlandTM is a game, which consists of a series of 9 activities (to be expanded to 20 in the future), that provides players a new way of exploring their own personal and interpersonal barriers, in an experiential way, to creativity and innovation . The activities open a window into their subconscious mind and see how it operates. The game provides a language that helps them distinct and catches the triggers that control their thinking and behaviours that have prevented them from fully realising their personal potentials.

I had used 4 of the 9 activities with LTA (2007 & 2008), NACLI (2007) and recently with MICA (2008). The outcomes have been very encouraging. The mechanisms of these activities have proven to work. Besides their abilities to consistantly evoke the same behaviours sets, deem necessary as opportunities for the debrief after the game, they also generate the same category of deep learning amongst the players. Because each activity is self contained, players enjoyed the activity without the intervention from the facilitator until during the debrief period. As learning is modularised, the introduction and acquisition of the language is specific and faster although the debriefs have to be conducted by a skilled and experience faciltiator. Still. this is a breakthrough from the confines of the original innovation game.

The Happy Family Game

One of these activities is the Happy Family Game, which is a card-based exercise where participants learn about how we deal with the known and unknown.

2 x 2 Grid of Knowns and Unknowns

Throught the card-based exercise, participants learn that:

We Pretend We Know It All But Really We Don't

We often see the Future seen as a continuation from the Past. From this perspective, many of us attempt to deal with the future by strategising and planning as if we already know how the Future will unfold.

However, all known futures are actually hindsights. Those futures that we know before their occurrence are just predictions. Honestly, we are clueless most of the time. The reality is that all events in the world could be grouped into 4 different categories and the future is unknown to us. It requires a set of strategies and behaviors, which is different from those we are using now, to deal with it effectively.

Understanding these can give us the freedom to create the breakthroughs in our ideas and actions……

Another exercise conducted at the workshop is the Old Macdonald Sing-along. Participants learn that there is:

Meaning Making Machines

More than a Conversation in a Conversation

Unaware to us, as we speak to someone, we are in more than a conversation. In fact, there are five other conversations taking place at the same time. Conversations that we are not even consciously aware of.

What we are present to in any conversation are those things we can hear and see. However, there is also this conversation that only we can hear. Sometimes, we even verbalise and act out some part of it. This is the world of the internal conversation. This is the conversation of 'yes' or 'no', 'should' or 'shouldn't,', 'right' or 'wrong', 'whys', 'cannot be?!' and many more. This is a conversation of evaluation and decision making. This is the conversation where meaning are being made. This conversation is capable of stoping us from doing something.

The scary part of this conversation is that it is the loudest.

This acticle was 1st written on 6 Nov 2007 and updated on 14 May & 23 Oct 2008.

Copyright 2008. Anthony Mok. All Rights Reserved.

The Facilitation Star & Facilitation Competency Wheel

Towards the middle of 2005, I decided that we need a vibrant community of facilitators to sustain the culture of innovation in my previous organisation.

The timing for its formation was good as there was a urge in the organisation to move away from the efficient way of reaching agreements to that of the effective way of consensus building. Also, there was a growing recognition that the wisdom in the organisation is in the crowd and the efficient way of doing things has gotten in the way.

We attracted only 14 people at the 1st MINDEF Facilitators' Forum (MFF) on 16 September 2005. As the concept of facilitation was very new at that time, it became apparent to me that to grow the community I need to invest in the education, training and development of facilitators. Subsequently, this led to the introduction of the MFF Developmental Framework at the 30th of November 2005's MFF Gathering.

The years I spent leading the movement has provided me invaluable insights into how the art and science of facilitation could be imparted. The 5 points of The Facilitation StarTM represents the body of knowledge I have accumulated from MINDEF on developing facilitators.



The star is a structured process that could helps current and aspiring facilitators gain mastery over their trade. The star helps them to:

• Understand the characteristics of a facilitator and the nature of facilitation, and to differentiate this role from those of teachers, trainers, coaches, advisors, and consultants.
  
• Uncover the needs of the client who initiated the facilitated session and the needs of those participating in the session.
  
• Apply the above information to design effective group processes that could effectively to Manage the dynamics of goup in conversation, Facilitate the conversations, and Guide the group towards consensus.
  
• Use the skills of facilitation to create a sustainable environment for participation during the conversation.
  
• Deliver the design of the session to the group to enable its participants to create the intended outcome. Please click on this icon for the sample of the design template and the click on this icon for the Programme Run-sheet.

After two years of effort (and literally, of sweat), the membership of the community grew from a mere 14 to 200, and I have hosted 70 participants at some of the gatherings.

I am also very happy that some large departments have adopted the framework as their own, which shows the recognition of facilitators as champions of innovation in organisations.

The Facilitation Competency WheelTM

To begin cultivating and growing our facilitation capability and capacity, it is always good to know our current competency in facilitation.

The Facilitation Competency WheelTM is a self-assessment tool where facilitators and potential facilitators score 14 different statements against a 4-point scale onto the wheel below to determine his/her facilitation competency.

Understanding the Wheel

Facilitation is divided into the science and art of facilitation. In the science of facilitation, the focus is in the processes, methodologies and tools used in facilitating engagements. For the art of facilitation, the key concern is keeping the negative aspects of group dynamics out from the conversations at the engagements.

The wheel provides three important sets of information on the competency level of the facilitator:

Balance - It shows whether the facilitator is strong in the art or in the science of facilitation, and therefore suggests the broad areas he/she should next develop.

Focus – It provides information on the specific strengths to leverage on and weaknesses to avoid, which allows the facilitator to accurately pin-point his/her training needs and identify the most appropriate training programmes that could address these needs.

Competence – Finally, the Wheel also informs of the facilitator’s competency level. The lower the current competency is the greater the opportunity for growth in that area for the facilitator.

Both the Star and Wheel has been used in several organisations since 2007. These include Ministry of Education's Teacher Network and Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies.

This article was first written in June 2007 and subsequently updated in April, September & December 2008.

Copyright 2007 and 2008. Anthony Mok. All Rights Reserved.

The Big Splash – Diving into the Realms of Entrepreneurship

There have been calls for me to develop an approach to help organisation produce entrepreneurs. I decided to create The Big SplashTM. It has five components that touches, moves and inspires individuals to:

• Adopt positive mindsets for being creative, innovative and enterprising
• Acquire the competency and capacity to do well as an entrepreneur
• Apply their knowledge and skills around creative ideas and innovations
• Accept the responsibility of the entrepreneur by bringing the benefits of the innovation to the public

The Big SplashTM is designed to allow participants:

• Learn the skills by doing their projects
• Gain the competency for creating other innovations
• Acquire the capacity to deal with the unexpected

The process of The Big SplashTM is described in the following ways:

While I did not have the opportunity to introduce Big SplashTM in my previous organisation, but I was lucky to bring some expects of the process into the organisation. These include ThinkInnovate, Entrepeneur Dive, and Innovation Jam between 2004 to 2006.

Copyright 2007. Anthony Mok. All Rights Reserved.

Enhanced Open Space (eOS)

I was introduced to the Open Space Technology (OST) in 2003 when the newly formed Facilitators Network Singapore (FNS) brought this to the country as part of their effort to introduce facilitation to the nation. Subsequently, I attended a three-day workshop, where I was ‘certified’ to conduct OST both as an organiser and facilitator.

Embedded in the OST process, are its capabilities of inviting, self-organising, and hosting large audience participation. However, it has limitations. Three are identified:

+ The breakout team lacks a group based process that could effectively ‘pull’ the wisdom out of the participants, organise the wisdom and record the knowledge systematically, and democratically reach a conclusion in the conversation.

+ The participants in the team do not possess the tools necessary to identify their wisdom, critically challenge them, and using the insights to generate new knowledge.

+ The Law of Two Feet, while empowers the participants with the freedom to join and exit the breakout groups, also weakens the groups’ capacity to unstuck and move the conversation forward, and thereby, reaching breakthroughs.

Understanding these weaknesses, I had the opportunity to create the Enhanced Open Space (eOSTM), which brought together three technologies.

These are:

Traditional Open Space Technology (OST)

Open Space Technology is a way to invite and convene different stakeholders to a large scale gathering where participants generate their own agendas, allocate their own time and duration, enthuse participation in the breakouts, and encourage group level conversations. Usually, the gathering is facilitated, and there are principles and rules that participants have to comply with to encourage the democracy in participation, commitment, and contribution at the event.

Rules of OST:

• Whoever comes are the right people
• Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
• Whenever it starts is the right time
• When it's over, it's over
• Where the Law of Two Feet should apply, will apply

Innovation ThinkTM

Innovation ThinkTM was first conceptualised in 2003, developed, tested and implemented in the Ministry of Defence by me from 2004 as a way to help teams focus their creative capacity, use their wisdom, combine knowledge, and generate ideas. Its birth came from my awareness and understanding in the limitations of traditional brainstorming methods where difficulties are in contextualising, screening, and organising large amount of ideas arising from the using these methods.

Innovation ThinkTM (aka iThink) has four steps:

• Brainstorming - drawing what are already forgotten
• BrainConnectingTM - combining and recombine existing knowledge
• IdeaSmashingTM - breakthroughing old frames and heuristics
• AngleOfAttackTM - determining the key thrusts for the idea-solutioning

Tricks of InnovationTM

The Tricks of InnovationTM is a box of tools that challenges assumptions, articulates challenge statements, develops broad ideation approaches, and creates and refines new ideas. The tools enable the users to breakout from their usual framing contexts and thinking heuristics so that they could think freely without hindrance of the past.

Tools in Tricks of InnovationTM include:

+ The Eager Attack – Locating the centre of gravity
+ CSx – Clarifying and articulating the challenge of a problem
+ Reversal X – Finding answers by opposing what’s known
+ SD Cards – Finding answers by examining their attributes
+ Split – Finding answers by divide and conquer
+ iBox – Finding answers by looking at their parameters
+ aSCAMPERTM – Advance SCAMPER for re-finding the answers

When I was told that the Defence Management Group (DMG, Ministry of Defence, Singapore) wanted to enrich her culture with creativity and innovation, I jumped on the opportunity by proposing to Mr Lim Hup Seng (the Deputy Secretary for Administration at that time) the conduct of a large scale event called the DMG Innovation Jam (iJam) on 8 Oct 2003.

This was where I tested eOSTM, and the successful implementation of the process and the positive outcomes at iJam helped the MINDEF Innovation and Transformation Office (MITO) secured her nominated for the DMG Community Award (Team) for Kickstarting her culture for Innovation that year.

The key takeaways reported by the 200 plus participants who attended the whole day event were that participants:

• were introduced to an alternative but highly innovative and democratic approach that engages large audience in creativity and innovation.

• were able to experience an unique group based process that that truly generated new knowledge and breakthrough ideas that was very different from the traditional brainstorming methods.

• were using simple but powerful ideation tools that forced them to think laterally than linearly.


Copyright 2007. Anthony Mok. All Rights Reserved.

Segmentation of Problems - There Is No One Methodology for All Kinds of Problem

Organisations always have problems.

Taking a simplistic view, we can segment most problems along the lines of urgency and scarcity, which leaves us with a 2 x 2 matrix. The problems in each section of the matrix will require a unique approach in obtaining solutions for these problems.

So, no one methodology fit all kinds of problem.

Time based problems are a category of problems that are time sensitive but the teams have the funds to create and implement the solutions. Cycle of InnovationTM is a methodology best suited for identifying solutions for this type of problems because it taps on the diversity in the work group and concentrates the focus of the team on the problem to increase its propensity perform creatively and innovatively.

The roots of Cycle of InnovationTM can be trace to iDive, a process that has been used by the MINDEF Innovation and Transformation Office since 2004.

Cycle of InnovationTM is a 5-step process that that shortens the adverse effects of the forming and storming phases of the team’s development. It takes the team from the creation of an idea to turning it into actual working prototypes within a short span of 3 days, thereby strengthening the team’s capacity to deliver what they have created.

The members of the team will also address issues pertaining to marketing the solution, dealing with sceptics, managing resources, and negotiating between different interest groups. It is fast-paced and is used for refining existing products, and designing and introducing new ones.

These 5 steps are:
There are a number of tools used in the methodology. An example of a tool used in Cycle of InnovationTM is the Innovation Box.

Innovation Box - Combining Parameters into New Ideas

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: creativity innovation)

Please contact me (spaceman@pacific.net.sg) if you want to learn more about Cycle of InnovationTM or if you want to explore the approaches and investments for bringing the technology into your organisation.

Copyright 2007 & 2008. Anthony Mok. All rights reserved.

The Innovation Game - @ Verge of Disaster

A few years ago, I met Richard Mak, the inventor of a board game on entrepreneurship called Zeros to Heros, at an conference. He was exhibiting the game at the event when we chatted.

'How have things been since we met last year?' he asked me.

I replied: 'Busy. I see that you have successfully launched your game.'

'Yes. We were at the schools recently, and the acceptance of the game there was tremendous.' he updated me excitedly. He added: 'How about your game?'

'You mean the MINDEF Innovation Game? Yes. I introduced the game at the Civil Service College's Bluesky Festival on 10 July 2004. Over 200 officers from various ministries played it and the feedback has been great. We have started to receive calls asking us to run the game for their senior executives.' I said. (See side note below for coverage of the game on line)

'This is good. Like to collaborate?' he asked.

'Sorry. I can't do it with this innovation game because of IP issues, even though I develop it. Once I created another, I will reach you again.' I said, and we went on to talk about other things.
It has been some years since I made that promise. Nothing happened because I didn't have the time and energy to follow through. Now, I am please to say that I can finally keep my word. I am introducing the new Innovation Game called '@ Verge of Disaster'.

The game delivers three outcomes to the player. It:

• Creates for the player an access to his/her source of creativity.
  
• Provides the player the technology to overcome his/her barriers to innovate.
  
• Gives the player insights into his/her contributions to these barriers on others.

Side Note:

The MINDEF Innovation Game is a board game designed to help people understand what innovation is all about. The game is conducted as a workshop, in which participants will go through a journey of self-discovery, gaining insights into their own preconceived barriers to innovation, as well as realising the power of innovative, breakthrough thinking.

Anthony Mok facilitating the MINDEF Innovation Game

The MINDEF Innovation Game was created and developed by me, and it has attracted plenty of attention since its introduction in 2003. Here is a list of write-ups on the game:

• Corporate entrepreneurship: exploiting technologies for innovation discovery and breakthrough


• CAPAM - List of Submissions


• Challenge - Innovation takes pride of place in MINDEF


• Civil Service College - Course Details


• ::August Highlights:: - MINDEF Innovation Game Facilitator Workshop & MINDEF Innovation Game Workshop


• MINDEF Innovation & Transformation Office - Introducing the MINDEF Innovation Game to the civil service


• Challenge - 3rd Innovation Circle


• Riding on the crest - NDU's voyage towards organisational and operational excellence

Some feedback from participants:

“The MINDEF Innovation Game had very good learning lessons…I learnt that limits are often self imposed.”

“The MINDEF Innovation Game is not only fun but also very effective in imparting the importance of certain values and practices.”

“The MINDEF Innovation Game is more than an innovative tool. It also teaches some fundamental values (communication, leadership and etc). It can also be used to analyse individual’s behaviors, team dynamics…”

“The MINDEF Innovation Game was interesting helps people understand the concepts of risk taking.”

Copyright 2007, Anthony Mok. All rights reserved.

Measuring the Organisation's Propensity to Innovate

Recently, I was invited to one of the government ministries in Singapore to share what I could do for innovation for them. The host was interested in knowing how an organisation could be measured in terms of her innovativeness.

There are three challenges to her 'how to......?' question.

1st, we need to know what are the characteristics of innovative organisations to which her ministry could be benchmarked.

2nd, we need to know what the ministry has done in reaching and surpassing the benchmark.

3rd, we also need to know what is the impact of all these activities has on the staff in the ministry.

In fact, I have conceptualised, designed, created, developed, implemented and refined a technology in 2003 that addresses these challanges at my previous organisation. The technology is still in use after these past 4 years.

In line with this technology, I have create a newer and updated instrument called the Innovation Circumplex that:

• Uncovers what the people in the organisation have to say about the innovativeness of their organisation.
• Determines the effectiveness of the leadership's strategies for building an innovative organisation.
• Reveals how far the organisation is away from the benchmark of world class innovative organisations.

The knowledge gained from the instrument provides valuable inputs for deciding the kinds of risks to take, the levels of intervention to inject, and the types of resources to deploy in the organisation to bring her propensity to innovate higher.

Without the knowledge, management will be operating in the blind, and this endangers everyone.

Copyright 2007, Anthony Mok. All rights reserved.

Evaluating a Project for Innovation Funding in the Public Sector

It is important to determine whether an idea is worth the effort of projectisation. Ideas is the source of projects that ensures that the pipeline of solutions never dries up. Solutions that bring us the promised breakthroughs are innovative. The end result is the creation of new value that replaces or supplements the old. On the other hand, failures, while create opportunities for learning and growth, break the company.

Therefore, deciding whether an idea is worth working on, provided for, and protected against, is serious a business and cannot be taken lightly.

However, ideas are not innovations. In idea, the phases of trials and pilots have not been established and implemented. In fact, there is no known prototypes of the idea yet. Therefore, we cannot determine if there is a market for the adoption and diffusion of the innovation. So, the typical means of measuring projects using KPIs and ROIs cannot be applied. They kill ideas.

So, how do we determine if an idea is worth the risks, resources, and preferences of everyone?

Well, there are 3 determinants. These are:

• Degree of Innovativeness
  
• Depth of Creativity
  
• Propensity to Build

Let me define all these three and expand them progressively.

Degree of Innovativeness

Organisations are no longer finding it important to engage in protracted discourses on whether a concept is innovative or otherwise. They are now more interested to uncover if a design concept has the potential of upsetting the traditional structures that hold the market together. Therefore, they are looking for the market disruptions that the concept could potentially bring. The more future-oriented the concept is, the likelihood the concept will deviate from its evolutionary roots, and this is the source of new value for the organisations and their customers.
Currently, there is a debate on whether Apple’s iPhone is an industry disrupter.

According to Christensen, disruptive innovation is the mechanism by which industries get transformed and prior market leaders are toppled. Christensen described disruptive innovation as:

A disruptive innovation is a new product or service or a new business model that doesn't attack the core market by bringing a better product to established users in direct competition with the leaders in an industry, but rather it comes into the low end of the market, either through a business model that can compete at much lower costs, can compete profitably at lower costs, or it brings to the market a product or service that is so much more convenient and simple to use and affordable, that a whole new population of people who previously couldn't afford or didn't have the skill to own and use a product can now own one.

iPhone is a combination of four things: function, possession, emotion, and access. These are value dimensions that were not properly addressed together. Apple has created a value delivery model that so far no one else has successfully duplicated. This combination brings a totally different experiencing to the users and we should watch for its disruptive potential over time.

To determine if an idea could become a new-market disrupter, try this litmus test:

• Is there a large population of people who historically have not had the money, equipment or skills to do this thing for themselves, and as a result have gone without it altogether or have needed to pay someone with more expertise to do it for them?
• To use the product or service, do the customers need to go to an inconvenient, centralised location?

Here are some questions to help you decide whether an idea has the potential for a low-end disruption:

• Are there customers at the low end of the market who would be happy to purchase a product or service with less, but good enough, performance if they could get it at a lower price?
• Can we create a business model that enables us to earn attractive profit at the discounted prices required to win the business of these over-served customers at the low end?
• Is the innovation disruptive to all of the significant incumbent firms in the industry? If it appears to be sustaining to one or more significant players in the industry, then the odd will be stacked on these players, and the new entrant introducing the new product or service is unlikely to win.

(Christensen, C. M. & Raynor, M. E. (2003) The Innovator’s Solution, Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth, HBS Press, Boston, Mass. pp 49-50)

Depth of Creativity

In the long run, all competitive firms will only acquire normal profits. This means a firm will enjoy a short period of substantial profits and growth up to the point its competitors enter the market. Therefore, the duration for supernormal profit is determined by how long the firm could defend its market. So, we should not measure the uniqueness of the design concept but how that uniqueness helps the firm sustain its market position. The higher the defensive potential the concept could offer, the greater it is differentiated from the rest and longer the time the firm draws supernormal profits.

In 1985, Time magazine declared Post-it Notes as one of the best products of the previous twenty-five years. But what would have happened if Post-it Notes had been introduced in, say, 1940, or even 1960? They probably would have still been a hit, but they wouldn’t have been so indispensable, so perfectly timed, so culturally apt. “The digital age generates so many documents, and they all look the same,” said Art Fry. “How do you organize all that material?”

Indeed, as workers tried to keep pace with all the new technologies invading offices in the early 1980s, the quickest to master them is to menace their colleagues with a punishing blizzard of reports, memos, spreadsheets, newsletters, proposals, presentations, and white papers. Functionally, Post-it Notes were a useful tool to manage such information overload. Not only could you highlight the material that was most important, you could also document, via a quick little note to yourself, why you thought it was worth highlighting.

Nearly two decades later, in 2004, the product is still earning raves and remains highly profitable for 3M. New York’s Museum of Modern Art featured it alongside the white T-shirt, the incandescent light bulb, and 121 other icons of beautiful everyday design in its “Humble Masterpieces” exhibit.

When looking for indication of defensive power, we may want to use the following questions to guide us:

• Are there similar products or services similar to yours currently in the market?
• Are there companies, which are serving in other markets, capable of adapting or extending their products or services into your market?
• Are there companies, which have the capabilities and capacities to create a similar product or service offering like yours?
• Is the concept easily copied and manufactured at a cost lower than yours?
• How early is the first competitor going to enter your market?
• How long you think the rate of production will exceed the rate of demand?
• Do you have an improved version ready for launch in the next 6 months?

Propensity to Build

Most innovative solutions have no known precedents. This means there is little hindsight and past experience to inform on the success of the solution in the market. Investment in this kind of innovation is fully based on faith. Not blind faith though. We can measure the conversion power of an idea and prototype into a workable innovative solution that generates true value to the stakeholders by looking at the quality of the team and the resources available to it. The more quality they reveal, the higher is its conversion power, and its propensity for good returns in the investment.

When looking for indication of conversion power, we may want to use the following questions to guide us:

• How complete is the plan to prototype the idea and test it?
• What is the experience of each team member in translating ideas into commercially viable innovations?
• Does the collective capability of the team provide it the wisdom to see the project through?
• Is the team in an environment of space capacity?
• Is the team widely connected to networks of resources and what is the quality of these networks?
• Does the team have a mentor or coach and what is the quality of this mentor or coach?

News Network (CNN) was the world's first twenty-four-hour cable television news channel when it was established in 1980. CNN was founded by Georgia businessman Ted Turner. In the 1970s Turner took advantage of the increasing availability of communications satellites to begin broadcasting his independent UHF station, Atlanta’s Channel 17, which he had acquired in 1970.

From its home in Atlanta, CNN has extended its reach around the world, becoming a dominant force in national and international journalism. Along with its subsidiary channels and the competitors it helped inspire, the network has changed the way information flows throughout an increasingly connected world.

However, the idea almost did not take off. When Ted Turner started talking about establishing a network that only ran news, a channel which he believed would become a democratising force around the world, people thought he was mad. Everyone from the network union ridiculed CNN and they used to just call it ‘Chicken noodle news’.

Because Ted Turner was unorthodox and visionary, he attracted investors and partners who believed in him and helped him bring CNN to the market.

This article was 1st written on 30 April 2007, and subsequently updated on 22 Sep 2008 and 14 Jan 2009.

Copyright 2007, 2008 & 2009. Anthony Mok. All rights reserved.

Study of Innovation and Innovative Organisations

My study of innovation and innovative organisations has began as early as in the year of 2000. One of the organisation that I have researched on is IDEO. These studies culminated in a visit to the United States of America in 2002This visit took place in about 2 months after I founded the MINDEF Innovation and Transformation Office (MITO) on 16 August 2001.

That year, the Center for Business Innovation (CBI) hosted us to a series of seminars and on-site visits to learn how key governmental departments, leading universities, and global companies create, innovate, and enterprise in the States.



The trip, which took about 3 weeks, brought the 6 of us from the east coast to the west coast of the country, and gave us the opportunity to meet, talk and network with individuals who are leading thinkers of innovation in their respective organisations. They continue to be influential even today.

The end result was my conceptualisation of the MINDEF Innovation Framework, which is known as RACE, and the creation of the intervention strategy called the MINDEF Innovation Programme, known as MIP. Between 2001 to 2007, I led a team that was instrumental in putting the programme in place and delivering the transformation in the SAF units and MINDEF departments.

My study and research on innovation and innovative organisations continues even after I left the Ministry in Jan 2007. Recently, I have encapulated a key part of my knowledge on innovation by publishing writings on the 'Characteristics of Innovative Organisations' on my blog.

I am very happy with the outcomes from these write-ups and I like to continue sharing these with anyone.

This article was 1st written in April 2007 and updated in Mar 2009.

Copyright 2007. Anthony Mok. All Rights Reserved.

10 Critical Factors of Innovative Organisations

The first time I learnt of IDEO was in 2001 when my former employer included The Nightline video into the programme for an event that celebrated the efforts it had made in continuous improvement.

Here is a segment of this video that I have used to impart knowledge about creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.

I was totally impressed. I told myself that I would like to work in such a company or transform my organisation to resemble what IDEO has to offer...........

Inspired by what I have seen, I have researched and written extensively on what are the key success factors of innovative organisations.

Here are the ten factors of innovative organisations:

1. Purpose Driven Organisation

2. Understanding the Demonic Nature of Vision

3. Risks of Playing No Games & Being Off the Board

4. Fearless Organisation Environment

5. Openness is in the Eradication of Fantasies

6. System of Authentic Sharing

7. Human Resource Investment Is Not About Spending But Creating Opportunities for Learning

8. Stun-gunning Your Organisation into Inventiveness

9. Focus on the True Purpose of Celebrating Success and Contribution

10. Fully Appreciating the True Meaning of an Innovative Team

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011.

Anthony Mok. All Rights Reserved.

Fearless Organisation

Critical Factors of Innovative Organisations No. 4

Recently, I have gotten myself into a debate with Jason on whether innovation is a natural thing.

I believe we are naturally innovative. History holds the proofs. However, I am not at all too sure that innovativeness is so predisposed and predestined when the collective noun of ‘we’ is replaced with ‘you’, ‘I’, ‘she’ or ‘he’ (and maybe ‘it’). Our ability to innovate is influenced by cultural differences. The space each of us chooses to be in will determine our propensity to convert ideas into innovations, innovations into breakthroughs, and innovations into value.

There is no fear for being creative. It is very personal, natural, and it happens daily. The outcome of creativity are ideas. Often, these ideas just have a fleeting moment and they are gone into the cabinets at the back of our brains. They are totally forgotten but easily recalled and made readily available for consideration when the circumstances and opportunities arises. Outwardly, we commit nothing to them and invest nothing on them. So there is no social pressure to perform.

Fear becomes real when we want to act on an idea and make it tangible; to turn an idea into an innovation and cause it to breakthrough a problem. We, as individuals, fear looking foolish when everyone else is against the idea. We fear being compared to those successful ‘Hall of Fame’ individuals. We fear overworking and missing our family. We fear the sanctions of lower bonuses and salary increments due to poor delivery. We fear the stigma of failure imposed by our peers. We fear the pressure for coming up with the next big thing, since we have upped the competition. We fear someone else is going to share or steal our glory and pushes us behind the limelight. Finally, after considering all these fears, status quo wins and the idea joins the vast alumni of ideas in those mental cabinets of each us.

‘But are these real?’ I asked Jason, after hearing all his fears.

‘Yes! Of course!’ he said.

I repeated the question once more and I received the same answer.

I asked, ‘So, what happened to the idea about the new product now?’

He replied, ‘Forget about it. The situation in the company is just not right for my idea. I don’t want to 'die' unnaturally here.’

I laughed and repeated the question again, ‘But are your fears real? I mean, have they happened?’

His replied, ‘Yes. I seen it happened before. The idea was timely but management was not receptive to it and everyone else played dumb. The person who risked speaking up left the company; disappointed.’

‘But have these happened to you?’ I continued with my line of questioning.

‘No. Not yet. But it will. Look at what happened to George. He proposed the reorganisation of the sales force but the targets for the past 4 months continued to fall and he was booted out after a pay cut. I don’t want that to happen to me. I have kids to feed, a car, and house loans to service,’ He retorted.

‘But have these happened to you?’ I was relentless.

‘No! But……,’ was his reply.

‘Stop!’ I almost shouted and I asked again, ‘Have these happened to you?’

‘No…..,’ Jason trailing off. This time there were no examples and justifications following his reply.

There are two kinds of fear – the real one and the false one. You are fearful of drowning because you are in the pool now and you are drinking water, or fearful of being bitten by a dog because it is growling at you now. These are real fears because these incidents are happening to you now. However, not everything happens in this sequence.

Let me explain. Jason, who is new in the dating game, is interested in Julie for a very long time but he is too scared to ask her out.

I asked, ‘Why don’t you ask her out?’

‘Because I heard she only dates with good looking guys and I am not. I don’t want to be rejected,’ he said.

‘But you have not asked and she has not rejected you yet! Don’t you at least want to try?’ I implored.

‘No. I don’t want to look foolish,’ which was Jason’s reply.

I said, ‘You fear of the rejection even before she says no,’ and I explained what false fear is about.

In a false fear situation, fear comes before the incident, and we are perceptible and receptible to any information that confirms that the incident will happen. Jason reads Julie and has a hunch that she will turn him down. To avoid looking foolish, he has not asked Julie out. He continues to justify his inaction base on the hunch, and creates an endless loop of self-deception.

Now, let’s look at the earlier conversation about the idea for the new product. Does it look similar to the ‘dating Julie’ example? Many of us operate in the space of ‘self-deceptive fears’ and delude ourselves into not doing any good and great things because of them.

The way business is organised today often perpetuates these 'self-deceptive fears' amongst it workforce, and in doing so, deprive it the energy and vitality to innovate. These call for a relook at and rework of the organisation’s purpose, values, rules, processes, systems and structures so that its people could bravely innovate for their organisations.

This is what a fearless organisation is about. Watch this video - A Vision of Fearless Organisation:

Here are the links for the other critical factors of innovative organisations:

• No 1. Purpose Driven Organisation

• No 2. Understanding the Demonic Nature of Vision

• No 3. Risks of Playing No Games & Being Off the Board

• No 5. Openness is in the Eradication of Fantasies

• No 6. System of Authentic Sharing

• No 7. Human Resource Investment Is Not About Spending But Creating Opportunities for Learning

• No 8. Stun-gunning Your Organisation into Inventiveness

• No 9. Focus on the True Purpose of Celebrating Success and Contribution

• No 10. Fully Appreciating the True Meaning of an Innovative Team

This article was 1st written on 26 April 2007 and updated on 22 April 2010.

Copyright 2007 and 2010. Anthony Mok. All rights reserved.

The Challenges of Innovation

Introduction

It is easy to get a piece of Mar bar from the vending machine. Just drop the right change into the coin slot, press the button, and wait for a few seconds for the mechanisms inside push the bar out to the dispenser, and we have a bar of chocolate to satisfy our craving.

But, is it that simple? As we stood there waiting for the chocolate to be dispensed, many things are happening inside the machine. For one, it checks if we are honest about buying from the machine by counting the coins we deposited into the slot. Then, it decides if it has stocks to dispense from, and recommends to us something else if it does not. Finally, it pushes the bar out for us.

Do we see these operations? No. It appears to us as a box with a pretty façade. The company wants us to focus your energy and attention in enjoying that bar of chocolate or cup of fresh orange juice, and wish us back and buy from it again.

We can also press a button to dispense innovations. However, things are more complicated and complex with innovation because they don’t drop out from vending machines, and when it happens that we are not the customers, we need to know what’s inside the box.

The Innovation Pipeline

The box that manufactures innovations is the Innovation Pipeline. It is made up of individuals who come together with ideas to be delivered as innovations.


It is best to visual the pipeline as been made up of different strands of fibre optics wires bundled together.

Looking at one end, we see all the ideas, which come out from the other end as innovations. Slice it along the bundle; we see strands of varying lengths, representing the different progress of ideas moving towards becoming innovations. Slice it across; we see pulsating lights of energy moving through the strands.

Building Blocks of Innovation Pipeline

Microsoft has many upcoming innovations because they are able to sustain their pipeline with the essential building blocks that enable the company to replicate she success.

The Challenges of Innovating

However, the innovation pipeline does not exist in organisations. It is a way to metaphorically describe what goes on inside the vending machine. Yet, it does not work mechanically like vending machines.

Innovations are products of social interactions, discourses, and comparisons, and not just methods, processes, and systems alone. We can install a fish tank and create a perfect living environment but without the fishes, we hardly could call it an aquarium.

Since it is so organic, it poses social challenges, and seven of these are uncovered, which three of these are shared here:

2. Projectisation Challenges

Many ideas with breakthrough potentials are given up because the individuals are unwilling to stick their heads out and draw value out of these. This unwillingness to come forth has little to do with the lack of management support and attention, or the difficulties in getting to the resources. It has to do with the context of how we as individual look at the world and operate.

5. Challenges of Scarcity

The availability and access to resources can make or break projects, and influence the dynamics of the teams. Often, teams are frustrated and individuals jaded because of the lack of such support. Jaded individuals create long term impact to the organisation, whether they stay or leave the organisation.

7. Challenge of Withholding Value

In a knowledge based society, creativity & innovation is not constraint by time & space. Individuals and teams can choose to withhold the value they can bring to the table and there is very little the organisation can do.

Conclusion

From these, we can conclude that the management of innovation is not just the management of innovations themselves or the management of the pipeline but also the management of the people in the innovation pipeline.

Copyright 2007, 2008 & 2009, Anthony Mok. All rights reserved

The Tricks of Innovation - Let's SCAMPER!

Once, I did a workshop on creativity and in that workshop I presented a deck of cards to help the participants come up with creative ideas. I distributed 52 cards that morning and towards the evening only 51 cards came back to me.

I shared this with a classmate of mine later in the week and that conversation made me realise that there was a possibility that I could have left the classroom with only 40 cards instead.

I am not saying that the participants were dishonest. I am saying that there is a need. This has led me to create 'The Tricks of Innovation'.

I showed these to my classmate and she said: 'Don't they look familiar?'

'Yes, they do but the techniques for using them are different, and this is just one of a set of five different card sets', I quipped. 'Let me show you', and I pulled a card from the 'Put to Other Use' pile of the deck.

In 'Put to Other Use', there a card asking if 'there is other use for the product or service if modified?

Actually, some shops have been selling this bag clip that looks awefully like an ordinary paper clip.

'So, there is no point taking a card?', she quizzed.

'No, participants should take the whole box', I replied.

She pushed: 'But isn't that very obvious?'

'That's the whole point. Once the tricks are demystified, why not buy one box?' I said.

'Okay. Give me a box', she requested.

'I can't. You have to know how to use the cards to get what you want. You use them wrongly, you get devastating results. I can't be irresponsible. But you can follow the slides below to get a feel of what basic SCAMPER is all about', I informed.

Think innovation issue 4 share - scamper

View more presentations from Xiaohao .

I looked at her and added: 'Come join us at 'The Tricks of Innovation' Workshop tomorrow and get an appreciation of what the Let's SCAMPERTM cards can do for you, and for their correct and advanced application'.

'I see you tomorrow', she called out as we left the cafe.

This article was first written on 18 April 2007 and subsequently updated on 22 September 2008 and 29 September 2011.

Copyright 2007, 2008 & 2011. Anthony Mok. All rights reserved.

Is Innovation Taken Seriously in Singapore?

Recently, a friend of mine expressed his doubts about Singapore taking innovation seriously.

Looking at the amount of reported innovations from the Singapore R&D efforts, it is difficult for me to share his views. However, 'innovation' can be perceived as a value chain:* Innovating (verb) - this refers to the creation machinery. Metaphorically, it is the womb.

* Innovation (noun) - this refers to the output (not necessary the oucome or result). Following from the above metaphor, this is the baby.

The frustration maybe caused by the Government’s interest only in the baby, and since we are the builders of the creation machinery, their context prevents our thoughts, ideas, and views.

Is the business of helping others build wombs a viable business? Yes, it is, but not in the same packages we saw in 2001. Those were the days of seeking awareness, exploring and experimenting. Now, they mean business. They don’t care if it’s the womb linings or nutrient cords they purchased, they just want the baby.

How to overcome this performance based innovation mentality?

* Education - Change agents for innovation need to bring the concept of Innovation Value Chain to their management's attention. Organisations must acquire the competence of replicating their success, which is about sustainability, instead of milking them long and hard alone.

* Reposition - Interventions for innovation have to go beyond delivering awareness, methods and tools to delivering performance, given the developments in the market today.

Copyright 2007, Anthony Mok. All rights reserved

The True Nature of Innovation

We all want innovation, and we ask 'How do we get these innovations?' However, without understand the context of innovation, the answers to this question will lead us to our demise.

Context for Innovation

The affairs of the world can be seen as those that 'I knew about or I don't' , and as those that are 'known at large or unknown'. Putting these two dimensions together, we can divide our world affairs into four categories:


* I know what is known out there,
* I don't know what is known out there,
* I know what is unknown out there, and
* I don't know what is unknown out there.

Each of these categories has its own set of problems that demands its own set of solutions - Innovations that give us our breakthroughs, generated by methods that are most efficient in that category.

Thus, the first thing to ask is never the question of 'How do we get these innovations?' but 'Which part of the world we are operating in?'.


The Frustrations of Not Getting there

Let me share with you a story.

Some years back, while having tea, a friend of mine lamented: 'Anthony, I wished I had the skills and tools of Merlin!'

Surprised by outburst, I asked: 'Why do you say that?'

'Well, you know that whatever we do now, we do it for the future. However, 9 months into the programme, something just had to happen that caused us so many adjustments and alterations that many stuffs went into the scrap pile. This happened so often, and it pains me to see great ideas died and people leave,' he replied.

'So, what are you going to do about it?' I looked at him with interest.

'I am going to set up a small office and hire the best to create the best scenerios about the future. I can't afford to lose. What you think?' He forced all these out in one single breathe.

'I am not sure. Let's try this. Instead of asking 'How could I see the future better?', you may want to consider 'What kind of world am I operating in, and what kind of world am I dealing with?'

I went on the explained how the affairs of the world can be divided up, and suddenly he shouted: 'I got it! I know why I am frustrated time and again!'

'Tell me!', I said encouragingly.

'I am using methods from the world of 'I know what is known out there' to create solutions that are meant for a world that 'I don't know what is unknown out there'. Of course I was frustrated! It is like walking through the forest in he night using my eyes. My eyes are useless because the world has changed,' which was his came back line.

I added: 'Your fustrations began the moment you use the methodologies and tools from the known world to create strategies, tactics and instructions for worlds that are less known. You have already set yourself up for failure even before the programme began.'

The True Nature of Innovation

'So, are you saying that I am not creating innovations that led to my company's breakthroughs?', he retorted.

I explained: 'No. Indeed, you are creating innovations. These are deemed innovative in your current world - the world of 'I know what is known out there', but they can't give you your breakthroughs in the world you are dealing with. This is the distinction.

He looked at me and said: 'I see. My goodness. Isn't this very scary?'

'Yes, This is the true nature of Innovation,' I replied.

He asked: 'What should I do?'

'I am conducting the 'The True Nature of Innovation' Workshop next week. Come and be a participant. You know you will get some answers to that question,' I concluded, and went on to apply butter on my favourite scorn.

Copyright 2007, Anthony Mok. All rights reserved