This past May, we covered a variety of great topics here on Conspire: why crowd science drives innovation, how to make your strategies as customer-focused as possible, theories about communications curfews, how mind mapping works for publishing, engaging you sales organization, and more.
Below are some of our favorites; check them out and let us know what you think in the comments!
5 Ways to Make Your Innovation Strategy More Customer-Focused
“Once the intention is set and the data has been collected, you can crowdsource for the next big innovation. Crowdsourcing is a great way to uncover new talent, especially people who may not be as outspoken as others. It beats referrals and online sourcing, and with a little planning and effort, you could end up with a great new hire or product idea. First, make it easy for interested people to volunteer for a project. Spell out what your requirements are and who is eligible to apply. Then create an efficient way to be contacted, or to have them contact you. You’ll also want to measure the metrics. Keep an eye on how the project is developing, when there are spikes in activity, which ideas are getting more attention than others, and when overall interest takes a dive. Incentives: You need to recognize the efforts of your customers and volunteers with rewards and social currency that is of value to them. Doritos did this with their Crash The Super Bowl contest, where fans and customers could create their own ads, with the best one airing during the game.”
Mind Mapping for eBook Publishing: Becoming a Writer, Mapper, and Synthesizer
“Julia Cameron notes that good writers are scavengers, always scrounging for material based on memory, imagination, and fact. A mind map is a useful way to store experiences, thoughts, reference materials, and stories. Screenwriter Robert McKee put it this way: to find harmony, the writer must study the elements of a story as if they were instruments of an orchestra — first separately, then in concert. There’s no doubt that mind maps allow you to visualize both the forest and the trees. McKee believes the biggest reason people write is the thrill of getting the sudden flash of insight when they see how everything connects, to put things together in a way that no one has ever dreamed before. If you’ve ever felt the rush when you’ve linked a pair of boxes on a mind map, in order to complete a thought and put a puzzle piece into place, you’re likely to agree.”
Engaging Your Sales Organization in Collaborative Innovation
“As a practice leader at Mindjet, I get to see the many creative, thoughtful ways in which clients apply their practice of collaborative innovation with their stakeholders.
Here, I share with you a compelling scenario on which I engaged a client. You may find their approach useful as a way to extend your own practice to new stakeholders within your organization: the sales team.”
INFOGRAPHIC: How Crowd Science Drives Innovation
“As savvy business leaders continue to strive for the best ways to catalyze innovation and stay ahead of the competition, identifying the best ideas from a diverse and expansive organization is an absolute must. And, with such a robust selection of approaches to take and methodologies to use, this can be relatively difficult, costly, and time-consuming.
However, it’s clear that there’s a significant need for companies to implement innovation strategies that are based on data, algorithms, and behavioral patterns. The solution is to leverage the collective thinking of your company’s greatest asset — your people. Harvesting ideas and sparks of genius can and will lead to new solutions to core business problems and challenges, as well as provide market insight. This not only allows for the mechanization of the innovation process, but helps build a foundation for predictive analysis and learning. This is why so many top-tier companies are turning to crowdsourcing, collective ideation, and more importantly, crowd science.”
Mindjet Dashboard Series: Simple 3-Step Idea Tracker
“We live in an age of information overload; every day, we’re faced with a tsunami of incoming information. Good, usable ideas are coming at us from all directions.
We need a practical way to identify, organize, and access good ideas when they’re needed for use at a later date.
The ideal Idea Tracker has to offer more than just storage; silos filled with tons of unfiltered ideas just add to the problem. We need a simple, practical, and visual way to track ideas for future use.”
Communication Curfew: Would it Work for Us?
“Make no bones about it — working hours in the UK are longer than ever. The unstable local and global economy means that everyone is trying to do more with less. And in the age of BYOD and telecommuting, it’s almost too easy to stay connected to work, even in the evenings and over weekends, in order to get everything done. I’m sure there are many of you reading this who can remember recently heading home on a Friday night, only to flip open your laptop on the kitchen table over the weekend so you could meet that urgent Monday morning deadline. At times like these, imposing a post-workday communications curfew can seem like good way to ring-fence that all important work/ life balance.”
Innovation: What’s the Point?
“Today’s companies simply won’t wait to succeed or fail; no longer concerned with five and ten year plans, they expect results immediately. But even strategic innovation isn’t always a quick solution. Entrepreneurial initiatives used to require quite a bit of time and investment, but the internet and a now highly global economy have forever changed the speed of business. Now all it takes is a free wifi connection to kick off your new business online using free platforms, cheap resources, and friends and family ready to invest. As a result, the threat to established companies is clear — find a way to innovate consistently, to adjust alongside fluctuating markets, or acknowledge that your days might be numbered.”