We held the second installment of our round table yesterday. Some could make it again, others were new to what we try to accomplish. As before, a very diverse group of people. This time we wanted to test our progress from social networking, to innovation through collaborative networks and have fun at the same time.
Mathijs started by welcoming everyone to our own collaborative network and explained what is happening in our businesses and why innovation is desperately needed. He discussed the reality of business not sticking to their ‘allotted’ function in the value chain. Your competitor today, may be your supplier tomorrow and your customer may become your competitor. He skipped through the global equilibrium shift and resulting Asian threat to our welfare, since we are bombarded with that on a daily basis and went on explaining the ‘efficiency trap’ we in the western world are in. A double bind where cost cutting and efficiency to the point of anorexia are rewarded by shareholders and driven by fear of loosing what we have. Combined with the ‘Red queen syndrome’, a slow but sure path to an early grave and almost impossible to escape without changing your value system and thereby who you are, as a company and as a manager/employee. Kudo’s to IBM!
Most where engaged by the picture that Mathijs was painting, but I saw some people starting to wonder: “What did I get myself into here?” First, it’s no fun when your value system is brought into question like this. Second, our cups are brimming with concepts and ways to improve things that we see as going in the wrong direction. Yesterday that cup spilled a little and I am really thankful to our network for sticking with us and instead of mentally leaving the room giving us new insights through asking the questions that needed to be asked. Mathijs finished of by stating that the only way we could counter the processes he described was by re-inventing ourselves and innovate.
Valeri Souchkov took over at this point and with a skill honed by years of experience started to explain his concept of structured innovation. Building on TRIZ – a Russian acronym for A Theory of Solving Inventive Problems – he trains engineers and business people in using a structured approach to innovation and solve contradictions. TRIZ is the result of 40 years of research of more than 300 people (and still evolving). His version of Systematic Innovation further expands TRIZ by adding new tools (e.g. root cause analyses) and organizes the process of innovation. Providing a path to follow and have a fun experience exploring new knowledge, be creative and get results. Since TRIZ has been brought outside of the ex-USSR in 1990, it is today recognized by several world-leading organizations such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Mitsubishi as the best practice of innovation. Check his site for more details.
We ended the session by taking a challenge from the audience and pull it through the initial TRIZ stage of problem solving. First we defined the problem in the form of a contradiction; the positive effect we are looking for and the negative effect we get as a result. We then used a matrix where we could look up the inventive principles that have always been used to come up with an ideal solution. These we had to translate to the context of the challenge at hand and see which one came up with a satisfactory direction for solving the issue. We didn’t have enough time to really finish the process, but it did give the owner of the challenge some fun new insights into what he is facing.
During drinks and diner some very lively discussions where going on. On topic, but also about other things that touch our lives. We ended the day with high spirits and I sincerely believe we have the opportunity to create value together as a network of multidisciplinary people.
Thanks everybody for providing an enjoyable afternoon!
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