10 Ways to Soup-up Your Innovation Breakthrough Thinking

By Kate Tribe and Dr Ken Hudson

In any organisation, the hardest thing to do is to create a breakthrough result. The essence of any breakthrough is to be able to look at a situation in new and innovative ways. Consider how Nudie has been able to redefine the juice experience (considered a saturated market) or how the Apple iPod has revolutionised how people listen to music. These breakthroughs have one thing in common: they have reframed the way we have previously thought about a product, process, brand or business.

Here are ten ways to improve your breakthrough thinking. They will help you generate ideas, be creative and more innovative in your work life:

1. When you are thinking of a new idea, play a piece of music that moves you. Now start creating.
2. Reframe any problem statement using emotional language. Most problems are rational which leads to rational, incremental solutions. Try and use words like passion, energy, connection and engage when you reframe your problem.
3. Select an emotion from the following list (fun, joy, laughter, sorrow, jealousy) and use this to create a connection to the problem at hand. For example, how can you use fun to create new customers?
4. Break your category or industry's conventions, assumptions or rules of the game. Make these boundaries explicit, then select one at random and try and stretch it and/or break free of it. (eg: do garbage bags always have garbage in them?)
5. What are the hot new products or services outside of your category or industry? What can I learn, borrow or adapt from these?
6. Celebrate a breakthrough success. Ensure that the group recognises not only those people who created the idea, but those who championed it as well.
7. Reframe failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. One of the biggest barriers to a breakthrough result is the fear of failure. If you can reframe this then people are more willing to take risks.
8. List all your major responsibilities. From this list, highlight those which have been improved in the last 12 months and those which have given you a breakthrough result. Focus on the incremental improvement areas - how can I deliver a breakthrough leap in performance?
9. Regardless of the size of your business, benchmark against the world's leading breakthrough brands. Compare your brand or business against Apple, Pixar, and Google (for example).What can you learn and adapt from these businesses?
10. Commit to a new experience every week. It could be as simple as a new place to eat. Reflect on how this new experience might shape your mindset. What new experiences are you planning in the next year?

Measuring innovation and creativity

Tribe Research and The Idea Centre created the IB3 to provide a starting point for organisations both large and small to measure their current innovation capabilities across three areas: idea development, innovation culture and marketplace orientation in 17 statements. Go to www.triberesearch.com.au and click on the IB3 link.

Kate Tribe leads Tribe Research, a Sydney based quantitative research company. We manage health, education and social research projects and commercial market research for small and large business. Kate's research has been published widely in academic journals. Kate has presented at conferences in Australia and overseas.

Dr Ken Hudson is the founder of The Idea Centre and leader in breakthrough thinking and innovation. He combines over 16 years senior management experience with organisations like Citibank and American Express with a PhD: Designing a Continuously Creative Organisation at The University of Western Sydney. He is a part-time lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney where he teaches a post-grad subject that he designed called Marketing Creativity.