Innovation Culture E-Book

Christian Buchholz

• Herausgeber: GABAL Verlag
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: 30 Minuten
• Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Innovation promises future, prosperity and growth. In order to survive on the market in the long term, companies must constantly come up with new services and products. But how can a functioning culture of innovation be established in your own company? Learn in this guide: - why people deal differently with innovations - what challenges are encountered in the company - where the dangers and potentials lie

Leseprobe

Rainer KrummChristian Buchholz

30 Minutes

Innovation Culture

Bibliographic information from the German National LibraryThe German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography. Detailed bibliographic information can be found online at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

©2022 Christian Buchholz, Rainer Krumm

ISBN book edition: 978-3-96739-084-1

ISBN epub: 978-3-96740-236-0

Cover design: die imprimatur, Hainburg

Cover concept: Martin Zech Design, Bremen

Editing: Happenstance Type-O-Rama, Oakland, USA

Graphics: 9 Levels Institute for Value Systems GmbH & Co KG

Author photos: Petra Rückert

Set: Zerosoft, Timisoara (Romania)

Printing and processing: Print-on-demand

© 2021 Christian Buchholz, Rainer Krumm

All rights reserved. Reproduction, including in part, is only permitted with the written permission of the publisher.

First published under the title “30 Minuten Innovationskultur” in 2020 by GABAL Verlag, Germany

Hint:

The book has been carefully prepared. Nevertheless all information is provided without guarantee. Neither the authors nor the publisher can accept liability for any disadvantages or damages resulting from the information given in the book.

www.9levels.com

You’ll know more in 30 minutes!

This book is designed to enable you to absorb concise and sound information in a short time. With the help of a guidance system, you will be led through the book. This will allow you to grasp the essentials within your personal time allotment (from 10 to 30 minutes).

Short reading time

You can read the whole book in 30 minutes. If you have less time, read only those passages that contain important information.

All important information is printed in grey.

Numerous summaries within the chapters allow for skimming.

The “Fast Reader” at the end of the book summarizes all important information.

Contents

Preface

1. Innovation culture

Conditions for a culture of innovation

What is innovation?

The current situation in the companies

There is no patent remedy

2. The stages of the innovation culture

Purple: Innovation sovereignty of the owner

Red: Success-driven idea development

Blue: Ideas flow through systems

Orange: Financial incentives for ideas

Green: Finding ideas with a sense of unity

Yellow: The innovation level par excellence

Turquoise: Value-oriented idea development

3. Dealing with resistance

Resistors and their origin

Resistance to value systems

Examples from everyday life

4. Innovation culture in practice

Appropriate innovation methods

The role of leadership

What can go wrong

Innovation and the 9 levels

Fast Reader

The authors

Further Reading

Preface

Innovation is today not only a factor in a company’s image but simply vital for survival. Being innovative is also a must if companies want to to be in the lead tomorrow.

Much is being done to promote innovation. Creativity techniques, innovation processes, design thinking, and innovation labs—the list of approaches is long, and new ones are added regularly. But often what works well in other companies remains completely ineffective in one’s own organization or leads to sometimes very strong resistance in implementation.

In such cases, something crucial was often overlooked: innovation initiatives must take into account the existing corporate culture. Not everything that is possible makes sense. Rather, only the steps and methods appropriate to the respective company are the true success drivers. This guide, 30 Minutes on Innovation Culture, will clearly demonstrate that innovation is feasible for every company—if you consider the corporate culture. In this book, individual corporate cultures are broken down with the help of the so-called 9 Levels of Value Systems, a model for differentiating between value systems. You can better understand your own company, can get to know helpful tools, are introduced to concrete ideas on how to create a culture of innovation in your company, and can learn which techniques fit your corporate culture. Practical examples ensure that the possibilities for implementation in everyday corporate life become tangible.

We wish you every success in establishing a culture of innovation in your company.

Rainer Krumm & Christian Buchholz

Become an innovation culture ninja!

This book is designed to give you an overview of the topic of innovation culture in 30 minutes.

But of course there is so much more to learn about it. The authors have prepared a website that provides even more inspiration and knowledge, as well as practical tools for developing a culture of innovation in your organization:

www.innovationculture.ninja

See you there!

1.Innovation culture

“How do I manage to be innovative with my company?” This is a question that those at companies of all sizes ask themselves, because today only those who stand out from the crowd with a service or product will be able to survive in the market in the long term.

Many methods and approaches support the companies willing to change, but often the development of an innovation culture gets stuck and does not make progress. The reason often lies in the selection of the wrong instruments or the wrong application of these methods.

A better understanding of the mechanisms of value orientation and innovation culture helps companies to take the right steps and drive the change process forward.

1.1Conditions for a culture of innovation

Reducing costs and improving products are usually the first measures that companies take to remain competitive. Although it has long since ceased to be an insider tip that innovation culture is also an important success factor, companies are often overburdened with the task of selecting the right instruments, leadership principles, and management systems for a high-performance innovation culture. Companies often look for a patent remedy. Some have launched initiatives such as research and development activities or innovation departments, or even created their own incubators for start-ups. All this should have produced good results, one would think. But for many, the output is still unsatisfactory.

Examples of radical changes

Those who not only develop their business model and product portfolio but are also able to radically change it if the market makes it possible are successful in the long term. Here are some examples:

Google

Google is not only established in web applications but has now also extended its reach in the direction of the automotive industry with self-driving cars (Waymo), the production of fiber optic networks (Fiber), and biotechnology and genetic engineering (Calico).

Ford

With its new business unit Ford Smart Mobility headquartered in Silicon Valley, the car manufacturer Ford has set up a business unit that deals with models for car sharing and the development of apps for finding parking spaces.

Lego

With its new business model, the toy manufacturer Lego is involving its customers in the development of new products and in the innovation processes of design and market research. In the meantime, kits created by customers have become bestsellers.

Many companies, especially in medium-sized businesses, see innovation from the perspective of their existing products. They focus on making an existing product even better. Companies that supply the retail trade, for example, view the retailer as a customer and overlook the end consumer and his needs. For this reason, it is not enough to offer an additional sales channel simply by setting up an online shop, for example. Something unprecedented is needed. Old ideas must be scrapped and partially replaced by completely new (digital) business models.

Flat hierarchies

Researchers in the field of Motivation agree that employees are much more satisfied if they can act in a self-determined manner. But those who are literally trapped in a hierarchy usually do not have much freedom of choice. The consequences of this are also generally known, as they are reflected in high sickness rates and internal dismissal. These are all terms that have been on the minds of the media, but also of managers, for years.

However, flat hierarchies do not only produce happier employees; in addition to a lower sickness rate, companies also benefit from the fact that their employees are more innovative.

A current study by the management consultancy company Kienbaum in cooperation with job placement agency StepStone shows that 61 percent of companies with fewer hierarchical levels are more innovative, and in particular their employees produce significantly more ideas. Of the employees of strongly hierarchically structured companies, only a third perceive their employer as innovative. If employees have the freedom to organize themselves, they not only are more satisfied but also feel more closely connected to the company. They become more self-motivated and less slowed down and are therefore more likely to give free rein to their creativity and develop new things. This freedom has two positive side effects that have a direct impact on the profitability of companies:

1.Greater employee satisfaction automatically reduces the cost of staff absences due to illness.

2.Companies whose employees are satisfied are more innovative.

In this context, we can further substantiate the statement made above: “Innovation is often misunderstood in medium-sized businesses,” Stephan Wegerer, former head of Innovation Management at the Adidas Group, told WirtschaftsWoche Online. Although companies are well aware that the end consumer is the actual customer, on whom it is better to focus, unfortunately this insight is still not being put into practice.