The Innovator’s Dictionary: 555 Methods and Instruments for More Creativity and Innovation in Your Company 9783110677287, 9783110677218

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The Innovator’s Dictionary

The Innovator’s Dictionary  555 Methods and instruments for more creativity and innovation in your company Edited by Christian Buchholz and Benno van Aerssen In collaboration with the authors Prof. Dr. Nicolas Burkhardt Ariane Ernst Jörn Rings Sabine Rings Armin Schobloch Martin Spicker Kathy Wigge Dirk Wirth Daniel M. Ziegler

Despite careful production of our books, sometimes mistakes happen. We apologize for not having named the copyright notice of the German edition in the original publication. This has been corrected. First published in the German language entitled Das große Handbuch Innovation: 555 Methoden und Instrumente für mehr Kreativität und Innovation im Unternehmen © Verlag Franz Vahlen GmbH, Munich 2018

ISBN 978-3-11-067721-8 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-067728-7 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-067731-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2020934071 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: Jag_cz / iStock / Getty Images Plus Typesetting: bsix information exchange GmbH, Braunschweig Printing and Binding: Optimal media GmbH, Röbel/Müritz www.degruyter.com

Table of contents A big step  1 The online reference  2 The scope of this book outlined  3 Requirements for successful innovation  6 Innovation does not work without the ‘Big Picture’  6 Innovation does not work without management support  8 Innovation does not work without creative people  9 Innovation does not work without inspiration  11 Innovation does not work without the right mindset  13 Discover the full scope of this book with 10 search paths  15 The key index  15 The Design Thinking and innovation phases  16 Method types  19 Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases  20 Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects  36 Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra advantages  52 555 methods and tools  63 Bibliography  1131 About the editors  1142 About the authors  1144 About the illustrator  1150 About the verrocchio Institute  1151 Contribute to this book!  1152

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A big step This dictionary provides you with a comprehensive overview of 555 current innovation methods and tools. The 11 authors of this book have compiled this extensive overview directly from their practical work in recent years. It is enriched with real practical experience, which will help you – whether you are a beginner or a professional – in the fast, safe and unbiased selection of methods for innovation coaching. In addition, this manual is intended to provide you with direct access to the sources and inventors of the techniques. All authors are experienced consultants, innovation coaches and facilitators for small, medium-sized and large companies. Every author has been using a variety of these methods in their work for years. We recommend that you use this manual in the following situations: – Selection of suitable methods for the next creative workshop – Finding helpful methods for your own daily work with the characteristic ‘Individual work possible’. – Conception of the next Design Thinking workshop – Preparation of your innovation project – Comprehensive preparation of seminars on innovation topics – Quick search for further sources – Accurate enrichment of your next presentation about innovation topics – Development of innovation culture and innovative mindsets – Combination of your coaching know-how with innovation methods using obstacle effects – Efficient development of highly effective method chains through exact output/ input chaining – Effective time-saving in innovation workshops and projects – Strategic method change for the development of established workshops – Ad hoc method change for spontaneous workshop dysfunction An important preliminary remark at this point: THE INNOVATOR’S DICTIONARY should be beneficial and fun right from the start! Do not be deterred by the multitude of possibilities and search paths. Get to know this fantastic book in an enjoyable way. Lean back and simply browse through parts ‘at random’. Make a random discovery with an unknown method or look at the alphabetical table of key index. Do you like the title of a certain technique? Or have you always wanted to know what alternatives there are to Brainstorming? Get off to a flying start and make friends with THE INNOVATOR’S DICTIONARY and the book will be your faithful companion in your innovation career. You can use it as a gold mine and a reference work for new and old methods – but the highest added value comes when you gradually familiarize yourself with the search methods below – it is ultimately your own application of the tools described here that make THE INNOVATOR’S DICTIONARY unique.

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The online reference The Innovator’s Dictionary is more than a printed book. It also has a free and extensive online method search with additional search options. The online search offers a quick way to explore all 555 methods via text search or by selecting the respective search path. All methods and their descriptions are displayed. Please use the book for additional data after you have used the online search filter. To use the online method search, proceed as follows: Step 1: Go to the login page. The URL is: www.search.innovatorsdictionary.com. Step 2: Create a user account on your first visit. This is free of charge. Select the link ‘Create your user account here’. Now please fill in all fields of the form and enter the following sequence into the field ‘product code’: 3764-G4M5-UT28-BV19 Step 3: After successful registration you will immediately receive an e-mail with the login link. Log in and start the method search.

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The scope of this book outlined The tables and matrices below are intended to give you an initial overview of the scope of this book. The great variety already evident here is intended to whet your appetite for an exciting voyage of discovery in THE INNOVATOR’S DICTIONARY. Methods by type

Number of methods

Activation method Feedback method Creativity technique

50 29 193

Macro method

38

Micro method

442

Reflection tool

86

Pure Knowledge Nugget

43

Strategy method

62

Technique for opening

35

Methods according to innovation/Design Thinking phases

Number of methods

P1 Understanding (Identifying innovation search fields – finding problems)

141

P2 Analysis (Of problems – the environment – people – products)

165

P3 Observe (Of people – the environment – the use of products)

92

P4 Synthesize (Create leading questions – derive point of view)

91

P5 Idea Finding (Idea generation – creative phase – incubation)

246

P6 Idea enrichment (Idea combination – idea integration)

118

P7 Idea selection (Idea evaluation – filtering – deciding)

109

P8 Early Prototyping (Testing directly at the user

47

P9 Fighting for ideas (Building commitment – generating funding)

40

P10 Move (Implementation – execution of ideas)

31

Methods by tool cluster Applicable in the ‘Business Model Generation’ tool cluster

Number of methods 121

Applicable in the ‘Change Management’ tool cluster

77

Applicable in the ‘Co-Creation – Open Innovation tool cluster

55

Applicable in the ‘Creative Problem Solving’ tool cluster

252

Applicable in the ‘Cross-Industry Innovation’ tool cluster

118

Applicable in the ‘Design Thinking’ tool cluster

251

Applicable in the ‘Idealog’ tool cluster Applicable in the ‘Lateral Thinking tool cluster

33 106

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The scope of this book outlined Methods by tool cluster Applicable in the ‘Lean Entrepreneurship – Lean Startup Innovation’ tool cluster

186

Applicable in the ‘TRIZ’ tool cluster

31

Applicable in the ‘Ten Types of Innovation’ tool cluster

48

Applicable in the ‘Transformation of a Whole Organization tool cluster

68

Methods by output

Number of methods

Better project efficiency, better team performance

12

Generates lists of opportunities and risks

33

Generates forecasts and derivations

49

Generates ideas for new markets and new business models

31

Generates ideas plus initial funding and feasibility studies

6

Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

225

Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration

94

Creates key questions for idea generation

26

Generates ideas for customer benefits and needs

27

Generates plans and prioritizations

43

Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher-level integrated solutions

76

Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration

83

Creates collaborative solutions and ideas

19

Creates new knowledge and experience

77

Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements

20

Creates implemented ideas

5

Creates defined target corridors

4

Creates a vision or future scenario Creates early prototypes Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more innovative organizations

7 19 145 13

Creates more agility in the team

5

Creates more know-how growth

66

Produces more motivated and innovative participants

92

Creates segmented, categorized data

44

Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

117

Identifies existing weaknesses

95

Identifies existing strengths

89

Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible

73

Methods according to innovation effectiveness

Number of methods

Effective for highly complex challenges

251

Effective for medium complexity challenges

460

Effective for low complexity challenges

365

Effective for design innovations Effective for marketing innovations

4

Number of methods

41 36

Effective for product innovations

124

Effective for process innovations

38

The scope of this book outlined Methods according to innovation effectiveness

Number of methods

Effective for service innovations

118

Effective for social innovations

11

Effective for technology innovations Effective for all innovation types

48 446

Effective for disruptive innovations

233

Effective for incremental innovations and improvements

466

Effective for new business models Effective for radical innovations

59 414

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Requirements for successful innovation Innovation does not work without the ‘Big Picture’ The best methods alone do not help to generate innovation success – people who want to develop innovations also need an overview or basic knowledge of the universe of innovation! Unfortunately, the word ‘innovation’ is often used in an inflated and generic way. Everything and everyone is innovative, or has to be innovative. This leads not only to a lot of less-than-successful pseudo-innovations in companies, but also causes enormous friction losses when innovating. Some time ago Benno van Aerssen painted a picture (2.25 × 1.20 m) with the title ‘Universe of Innovation’ with which he gives other people an initial overview of the sub-topics contained in the innovation area. ‘There’s a lot more to the topic of innovation than I thought’ is the viewer’s most frequent statement after a short time. Innovation is about much more than just Brainstorming.

Everyone who wants to innovate should be familiar with these sub-topics Building commitments

Implementation

Business Model Generation

Incremental innovations

Change vs. Innovation

Innovation coaching

Creative Problem Solving

Innovation controlling

Creative Inspiring Workplaces

Culture of innovation

Design Thinking

Innovation management

Disruptive innovations

Innovation strategy

Fighting for ideas

Inspiration on the job

Obstacles and barriers

Creative spaces

Idea enrichment

Creative mindset

Idea filtering and evaluation

Creativity techniques

Brainstorming

Lateral thinking

Lean Startup

Value proposition design

Open Innovation

Understanding and problem solving

People mix and diversity

Visualization

Early Prototyping

Perception and observation

Trends

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Requirements for successful innovation

‘Universe of Innovation’, Benno van Aerssen, 2.25 m × 1.20 m

There are many helpful discoveries to make within every large sub-topic of innovation. In order to gain greater clarity, you should ask yourself initial questions on each topic, such as: – What do we know about this subject? – What do we not know about this subject? – What don’t we know about the subject we know? – How does it relate to other issues? – What do best practices on and experiences of this topic look like? – What are the challenges and pitfalls for this topic? – What relevance does this topic have for us? If the people in a company are aware of the sub-topics of innovation, then they have a common innovation vocabulary to discuss the challenge of ‘innovation’ more efficiently and purposefully. They are also able to create more authentic and convincing mandates for innovation initiatives.

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Requirements for successful innovation

Innovation does not work without management support The best methods alone do not help to generate innovation success – the managers of a company also have a decisive influence on the success of innovations and the emergence of an innovation culture! However, it is not (only) strategic innovation planning that is important, even more is the daily behavior and attitude of a manager. Both can either accelerate innovation or slow it down in such a way that employees’ ideas have no chance. We have seen many companies in which idea generation takes place in a mainly topdown direction. In this way, ideas are developed exclusively by the manager; the team’s task is to then put them into practice. We have observed this frequently, especially in medium-sized companies. What happens, though, if there is a change in leadership or ideas do not flow? This results in high risk, which can even endanger the entire company. Other managers, especially in traditional companies, say to themselves: ‘What do I have to do with innovation? That’s more a matter for the R&D Department (Research & Development) or maybe another topic for colleagues in Marketing.’ In this case, the term ‘innovation’ is probably used to refer primarily to classic product innovations – ideas such as a smartphone, a more powerful machine or a new service for the customer. However, this is only a small part of what an innovation culture can achieve. The far greater potential lies in so-called process and organizational innovations – the way employees work together, communicate with each other or exchange information with other departments. What, then, should innovative managers do? The following main factors are important: 1. Identify innovation drivers Innovation drivers are employees who are characterized by skills such as openness, curiosity and network thinking. Finding and developing these individuals within a team is an important task for a manager. 2. Create free space Ideas cannot be produced on command, but often only arise when pressure and information overload subside. An innovative manager must actively offer these freedoms to employees and integrate them into everyday life. 3. Active problem search Problem solving is the indispensable basis for the development of new ideas and solutions. Therefore, managers should regularly ask the question: ‘Why do we actually do things the way we do them? Couldn’t we do them differently?’ 4. In most companies Ideas are primarily random discoveries made by individual employees. Targeted Brainstorming in a group takes place sporadically at most in the form of irregular Brainstorming. There are really good tools for systematizing idea generation, such as the ‘Innovation Digging’ method. Ways of thinking and acting to promote innovation and a culture of innovation – – – – 8

Treat innovation as an import–export business. Constantly bring ideas from the outside into the organization and tell the outside world about your ideas. Set up meeting points where people can share their ideas. Go there yourself and talk to people you don’t know and whose ideas you don’t know. Be interested in ideas that are crazy, that seem useless and that you don’t like. Learn to listen and watch. Say ‘I don’t know’ regularly and as a matter of course.

Requirements for successful innovation – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Have the courage to act only on the basis of your knowledge and question your beliefs and actions. Reward successes and intelligent errors – punish inactivity. Make taking risks safer for people by developing a culture of forgiving and remembering. Encourage people to learn from the mistakes of others – this is faster and usually less painful. Only hire people who change you and challenge you. Make fighting for ideas safer for people when they are right and listen to them when they are wrong. Encourage people to be joyful warriors! Sometimes the best management is no management. Learn when it’s better to step out of the way. Throw away a lot of ideas – that also includes a lot of good ideas. Always be aware: Innovation includes not only finding ideas but also implementing them. Always act in accordance with the prerequisites for innovation: willingness to change + knowledge + opportunity for change. Understand and reflect the customer’s point of view. Increase team creativity. Encourage people to jump into the unknown, but always lead by example! Show ppenness to new things. Try something out! Always take the last hurdle and think of Edison and his 10,000 light bulb trials. Be positively dissatisfied with your own results.

Innovation does not work without creative people The best methods alone do not help to generate innovation success – it also needs people who are creative, open and feel that way! Until a few years ago, creativity was certainly not a competence that was focused on in professional development. Times have changed, however. More and more frequently, we find ourselves in everyday situations where routines are no longer sufficient and we need new solutions: A sales representative, for example, notices that the tried and tested, valued sales techniques no longer work for new, young customers. The engineer realizes that the speed of the production process cannot be further increased due to physical limitations. People often react with the following behavior: – they think hard and fail to come up with a solution, – they don’t think the problem can be solved and they concentrate on other things, – they delegate the problem to colleagues and evade their responsibility to find a solution themselves, – the problem bothers them, and they get sick. In all these cases, however, people need to come up with creative solutions that make their work easier and provide new ways of thinking. However, is creativity at all learnable or rather a basic personality trait? Some people claim that they cannot be creative, while others find it very easy to come up with new ideas on a regular basis and to produce a suitable idea even under the greatest stress. So what makes these people different?

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Requirements for successful innovation

Seven characteristics of creative personalities There are many scientific studies on the characteristics of creative personalities. One of the bestknown experts in this field is the psychology professor Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, who became known mainly for his discovery of the ‘flow experience’, which describes the state of happiness experienced through complete immersion and total concentration during an activity. The following characteristics, distilled from scientific results, describe creative thinking: Problem awareness: The ability to challenge routine processes and identify problems (including future ones) Creative people regularly scrutinize their work processes and activities (‘What other way could I go to work?’ or ‘What improvements would this bring?’) and challenge business (‘What will we do if there is no demand for our most important product?’). Self-motivation: having fun at work and solving problems Unexpected problems are not a problem for creative people. The thought of an exciting solution motivates them to invest further energy. Flexible thinking: the ability to use different ways of thinking and combine ideas Problems differ – so do solutions. While some problems can only be cracked with radical Lateral Thinking, other situations require a structured analytical approach. Successful creative personalities recognize when they have to think differently and which techniques fit the moment. Stubbornness: High energy to solve even complex problems and not to be satisfied with quick solutions. Complex problems cannot be solved in a short time; the solution requires a lot of endurance and energy. An engineer who worked for a large German mechanical engineering company was finally able to finish a component that he had been working on for over eight years. Expertise: Enough know-how to penetrate the problem even at a high level of detail You don’t necessarily have to be an expert to come up with creative ideas. Specialists are often too deeply caught up in their task and therefore have difficulties with Lateral Thinking. However, a basic knowledge of the product, sector-specific experience and relevant know-how should be available, especially for complex problems. Judgment: The ability to identify good solutions and use positive approaches for further development. At some point a decision for or against the implementation of an idea must be made. Even if it is difficult, good ideas have to give way to better ones. Perhaps only part of an idea will be implemented in order to develop a new solution. Take a look at the characteristics above and consider which of them apply to you and which skills are particularly important to you. Tip: Why don’t you let a friend assess you? Train your creativity: Creativity in a professional context has little to do with the ability to achieve artistic excellence. Rather, it is about solving specific, everyday problems – and this ability can be taught. You will find a range of tools for the development of your creative skills on our website: www. verrocchio-institute.com.

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Requirements for successful innovation

Innovation does not work without inspiration The best methods alone do not help to generate innovation success – in addition, inspiration is always needed for people who want to develop new ideas! At this point, we need we need to pay attention to the topic of inspiration. Companies are slowly learning: Innovation without inspiration is difficult. The best innovation processes and methods are of no use if the people who are to generate the new ideas do not know what inspiration is and don’t include it in their innovation processes. Just recently, during a discussion with a seasoned product developer, they said: ‘Inspiration is for artists – it’s like happiness, it’s not business-compatible.’ We experience this attitude again and again – the word ‘inspiration’ has not yet really arrived in business as a tool for innovation. Yet today we already know a great deal about inspiration. In fact, there are many exercises available to train inspiration. You will find some ideas on our website, www.verrocchio-institute.com. Let’s prove wrong the sentence ‘Inspiration is only for artists’ by using the following causal chain: 1. There are many very successful artists with a million-Euro business. 2. All these artists always state that they have been inspired. 3. So there is no successful work without inspiration. 4. Without successful work there is no successful multi-million-dollar business. 5. Ergo: Without inspiration there is no successful business.

Inspiration can definitely be coached and learned. Perception, sensitization of all senses and mindfulness play a decisive role in this training. Seven exercises for more inspiration sensitivity We have put together some exercises for you here – they are a small selection for immediate use. THE INNOVATOR’S DICTIONARY contains some methods which name and describe even more such exercises: see, for example, ‘Mind Pumping’, ‘Hall of Fame’, ‘Creative Whack Pack’, ‘Chilling Out’, ‘Dreamscape’ or ‘Clever Trevor’. Do something unusual and have fun Do something new every day of this week, something you’ve never done before. For example, take the train to work instead of the car. Or bring home fresh pizza instead of baking one from the freezer. Or put your hair in a plait instead of blow-drying it as usual. Whatever you can think of. It should be something completely new. Strolling instead of always walking fast Change your pace. First, determine how fast or slow you normally walk and then change it, slow down if you’re more likely to run, speed up if you’re more likely to saunter. Most people walk very fast, almost run. Are you one of them? Then you will get to know the benefits of strolling. In former times this was called pleasure walking – go with pleasure, try it. Change old habits and go new ways Do you always drive the same way to work? Do you always park in the same parking lot? Do you always shop at the same supermarket? Yes, well … change a habit in just one place today. If you choose another route, ask your neighbor for her favorite baker and shop there. Do one thing today that is different to the usual routine. It has been proven that such changes – however small they may appear – form the basis for major changes. Start small. Think of your goals, always and everywhere Hang up positive pictures/postcards, on the fridge or mirror in the bathroom. Have you long wished for a happy, fulfilled life? Or a sports car, a partner and two well-behaved children, a house in the country, a brilliant job, etc.? Yes? Then draw your heart’s desire on a sheet of paper today, make a collage or

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Requirements for successful innovation cut out a corresponding photo – that’s your future! Hang this picture in the kitchen, in the hall, next to the PC – then you will always know what your future will look like. Experience the simple Today, let go of everything superfluous, reduce your actions only to the things that really need to be done now and to those that you enjoy. You will probably find that you have gained time. Time to enjoy – the sun on your face, the birds’ twittering in the morning, the wind that wafts through the leaves in the evening. Laugh for no reason It doesn’t matter to our brain whether we laugh for joy or for no reason at all! Laughter for no reason is healthy and lifts the spirits. Try it out. In the shower, for example, take the shower head as a microphone and smash out your favorite song, then laugh! It relaxes you and puts you in a good mood. Googling inspiration It is also exciting to simply go on the Internet and Google ‘inspiration’. You will see how big, colorful and exciting this topic is. You will also find interesting quotes about inspiration: – Inspiration is never real if you feel it as such. True inspiration comes unnoticed and is only recognized in its full meaning after some time. Samuel Butler the Elder (1612–1680) – The deeper the silence, the higher the inspiration. Anonymous – Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Various attributions, possibly Thomas Edison – Return to inspiration. Inspiration, pure instinct, the poet’s only motivation. Logical poetry is unbearable to me. – Federico Garcia Lorca (1898–1936), Spanish stage poet, poet and dramatist – All great people imagine themselves to be more or less inspired. Joseph Joubert (1754–1824), French moralist – Inspiration! Hahaha! It’s an old romantic idea without sense or reason. Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), French sculptor; he received his strongest artistic inspiration from the works of Michelangelo. – The soul breathes through the spirit, the spirit breathes through inspiration, and that is the breath of the deity. Bettina von Arnim (1785–1859), German writer, actually Anna Elisabeth von Arnim, sister of the philosopher Clemens Brentano – Inspiration begins when we know enough to understand nothing. Billy (b. 1932), actually Walter Fürst, Swiss aphorist – Solitary contact with nature is the first source of inspiration. You can hear the sounds of sweetness and horror there, as you never encounter them in a library. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), US clergyman, teacher, philosopher and essayist Book recommendation: In Inspiration On The Job, Benno van Aerssen has compiled 60 exercises for effective inspiration, which also pay special attention to innovations and business models.

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Requirements for successful innovation

Innovation does not work without the right mindset The best methods alone do not help to generate innovation success – in addition, the right mindset is an essential ingredient. Benno van Aerssen has used the ancient story of the shoemaker for more than 10 years in his workshops. After reading it the meaning of an innovative mindset will become clear.

A story with meaning: ‘The King and the Shoemaker’ Once upon a time, there was a wise and just king who lived in the capital of his country. From time to time, he used to disguise himself and walk – unrecognized – through the streets of the town to find out how his people lived. One evening, he walked through the old gates and out of the town until he came to a little hut. Through one of the windows he saw a light shining and a man sitting at his table having dinner by himself and praising the Lord for the meal. When the man had finished his prayers, the king knocked on the door: “May I enter and be your guest?” “Of course,” the man said, “come in and eat with me, there is enough for both of us.” While they were eating, they spoke about this and that. The king – still unrecognized – asked: “What do you do for a living?” “I am a shoemaker,” the man answered. “Every morning, I take my toolbox, walk through the streets of the town and let the people bring their shoes out so I can repair them.” The king asked: “And what about tomorrow? What will you do if you don’t get any work?” “Tomorrow?” the shoemaker sounded bewildered, “Tomorrow? God shall be praised day by day!” The next morning, when the shoemaker came to town, there were placards everywhere saying, “By order of the king: This week, any shoemaker’s work is forbidden in the streets of my town!” “How strange,” the shoemaker thought. “Those kings come up with strange ideas. Well, then, I shall be a watercarrier today. Water is something people need every day.” In the evening, the man had earned so much money that he had enough for a meal for the two of them. The king, who had come for dinner again, said: “When I read the king’s order, I was worried about you. How did you manage to earn so much money, again?” The shoemaker told him about his idea to carry and bring water for anyone who was willing to pay him. The king asked: “And what about tomorrow? What will you do if you don’t get any work?” “Tomorrow? God shall be praised day by day!” The next day, when the shoemaker went to town to carry water, there were heralds shouting: “By order of the king: Only those who have the king’s special permission are allowed to carry water!” “How strange,” the shoemaker thought. “Those kings come up with strange ideas. Well, then, I shall chop wood and deliver it to the houses.” So he took his axe and in the evening he had earned so much money that he could prepare a meal for himself and his guest. And again, the king asked: “And what about tomorrow? What will you do if you don’t get any work?” “Tomorrow? God shall be praised day by day!” The next morning, when the shoemaker went to town, he met a troop of soldiers. The captain of the guard stated: “You carry an axe. You must guard the king’s palace today. Here, take this sword and leave your axe at home.” So the shoemaker had to stand guard the whole day and was not able to earn a penny. In the evening, the shoemaker went to his usual shopkeeper and said: “Today I couldn’t make any money. But I have a guest tonight. Please accept this sword as a pledge” – he pulled it out of the scabbard – “and give me what I need for a meal.” When he came home, he went straight to his workshop and made a wooden sword, which fitted exactly into the scabbard. The king was surprised that even tonight dinner was ready when he arrived. The shoemaker mischievously told him the full story and showed the king the wooden sword. “And what about tomorrow? What will you do if the captain of the guard inspects all the swords?” “Tomorrow? God shall be praised day by day!” The next morning, when the shoemaker entered the palace courtyard, the captain of the guard came towards him. With him he brought a prisoner in chains. “This is a murderer. You will execute him!” “I cannot do that,” the shoemaker yelled, full of horror. “I cannot kill a man!” “Well, you’ll have to, by order of the king!” In the meantime many onlookers, who were eager to see the execution of a murderer, had filled the palace courtyard. The shoemaker looked into the prisoner’s eyes. Was he really a murderer? The

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Requirements for successful innovation shoemaker fell to his knees and with such a loud voice that anybody could hear him, he prayed: “Dear God, Lord of heaven and earth, if this man is a murderer and I execute him, then let my iron sword flash in the sun. But if this man is not a murderer, then please let my sword be made out of wood.” All the people were watching him with bated breath. The shoemaker draw his sword, lifted it high into the air so that everybody could see – it was made out of wood. Then all the people started cheering madly. At that very moment, the king came down the outside staircase of his palace, went straight to the shoemaker and revealed himself. He hugged the shoemaker and said: “From now on, you shall be my counselor.” [From the the ballad “The Shah and the Peddler” (1917) by the Hovhannes Tumanyan (Armenian writer). New translation from the German version for training and coaching purposes by Lucy Kayes, 2015.]

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Discover the full scope of this book with 10 search paths You need to know three things in order to quickly and accurately find the methods that can help you with your challenge: The 10 search paths: Search path 1

Methods alphabetically with innovation phases and key index (Book)

Search path 2

Methods according to Design Thinking phases (online)

Search path 3

Methods by tool cluster (online)

Search path 4

Methods according to application characteristics (online)

Search path 5

Methods according to required input (online)

Search path 6

Methods according to generated output (online)

Search path 7

Methods after obstacle effects (book & online)

Search path 8

Methods for extra benefits (book & online)

Search path 9

Methods according to innovation effectiveness (online)

Search path 10

Methods by method type (online)

The key index Each method in this book can be clearly identified by a number in the upper left corner of each page. All 10 search paths, whether in the book or in our online reference at www.innovatorsdictionary.com, use this key index to lead you to the assigned methods. 15

Discover the full scope of this book with 10 search paths

The Design Thinking phases or innovation phases Many design thinkers are looking for suitable micro methods for the individual work phases, just like the users of the methods Creative Problem Solving, TRIZ or the Lean Startup principle. In order to do justice to all the different approaches, we have selected the innovation phases that they are as compatible as possible with all other definitions of innovation phases.

Brief overview of the referenced Design Thinking phases: P1 Understand P2 Analyze P3 Observe P4 Synthesize P5 Ideation P6 Enrichment P7 Evaluation P8 Early prototyping P9 Fighting for ideas P10 Implementation

Identify innovation search fields, problem solving problems, the environment, people, products people, the environment, product use, etc. Creating guiding questions, deriving a position, drawing conclusions, etc. Idea generation, creative phase, incubation, etc. Development of ideas, combination of ideas, integration of ideas, etc. Idea evaluation, filtering of ideas, deciding on ideas, etc. Testing of the idea, product, service directly on the end user Present ideas, building commitments, generate funding, etc. Implementation of the idea, execution of the idea

P1 Understand Identify innovation search fields, problem solving, discover attractive problems, understand developments and trends Understanding the challenge. In the work phase of understanding we set out to discover appealing innovation search fields and challenges with great potential. Startup teams that have not yet been defined and organizations with highly-developed innovation cultures that can imagine any form of value creation, in particular, are engaged in intensive basic understanding. It is about identifying innovation search areas in which we have the chance to solve our customers’ problemsthat they themselves have not yet recognized. Working with mega, macro and micro trends as well as futurology also plays a major role in understanding.

P2 Analyze problems, the environment, people, products, services, processes In the analysis phase, it is important to understand the problem or challenge at hand and also to analyze the people, products and services involved. The core of the analysis is to see whether the given problem still conceals a deeper or underlying problem

16

Discover the full scope of this book with 10 search paths

that actually needs to be solved. Especially in a rather complex business environment, only good analysis leads to good ideas and solutions.

P3 Observe people, the environment, product use, service use, process use After understanding and analyzing, in this phase we check the environment of our customers by observing. In the observing phase we should go to the people and places that are relevant to our challenge. Here we compare our own knowledge with the reality of the outside world and try to gain further important insights through targeted observation or to realize that assumptions from previous work phases are false.

P4 Synthesize Establishing guiding questions, deriving a position, drawing conclusions In the synthesizing phase we draw our conclusions from the phases of understanding, analyzing and observing. We define our point of view and now derive guiding questions for the idea generation phase. During synthesis, the ever-important detail level for idea generation is finally determined. Here we align and take our position for the idea generation phase. This work phase is intellectually challenging, especially with complex tasks. Without supporting tools, teams are often stressed or take the wrong direction and the valuable work of understanding and analysis is destroyed.

P5 Ideation Generation of ideas, creative phase, incubation, generation of preliminary ideas, generation of solutions, generation of offers, thinking in possibilities and not in solutions In this phase, initial ideas and solutions are generated and considered. All creativity techniques have their place here. Multidisciplinary teams in inspiring working environments and iterative macro methods support the idea finding process. Typically, the thinking here is not in solutions, but in new opportunities and new possibilities. It is a matter of first generating initial solutions and ‘preliminary ideas’, some of which are later enriched.

P6 Enrichment Further develop ideas, solutions, offers in more detail, combine ideas, integrate ideas In our complex world, successful innovations are usually large ‘idea clusters’ consisting of many individual ideas. Idea enrichment is about creatively expanding and elaborating the preliminary ideas generated in more detail. Only teams and organizations that are just as good at idea enrichment as they are at idea generation can celebrate innovation successes.

17

Discover the full scope of this book with 10 search paths P7 Evaluation Idea evaluation, filtering of ideas, deciding on ideas If innovation is not successful, this does not necessarily have to be due to a lack of creativity and a lack of imagination. In many cases the selection of ideas does not work efficiently. We also often experience endlessly long and tiring idea selection processes. Too many teams discuss far too early the implementation of immature ideas. Visual assessment tools are a great help here and make it possible to decide on the right decisions in a short time. In particular, large organizations with traditional and rather conservative corporate cultures benefit from this phase.

P8 Early prototyping Testing of ideas, test directly on the user, test directly on the customer, with early prototypes Not least because of the success of the macro methods Design Thinking and Lean StartUp, the early prototyping and testing of ideas has become the focus of innovation work. Early testing of ideas with early prototypes directly with the customer and user brings valuable insights and it allows us to make mistakes early and thus cost-effectively. ‘Make failures early’, ‘Fail early, fail often and learn quickly’ – these are important principles of innovation. Early prototypes are really to be understood as incomplete – often they are only sketches or scenarios made of paper or other materials.

P9 Fighting for ideas Present ideas, inspire colleagues, build commitment, generate funding, convince decision-makers, generate critical mass, lobbying Although this is not one of the classic innovation phases, it is a very important topic or activity, which is particularly important and relevant in large organizations throughout the entire innovation process. Only ideas that have been fought for with the right means will be implemented in large organizations – and especially if the ideas are radically different or even disruptive. The really good ideas always activate the organization’s immune system. This is how german author Gunter Dueck described the situation in his book The New and Its Enemies. In addition, there are many very introverted, highly creative inventors who should be supported in the fight for their ideas, otherwise their innovations will never see the light of day.

P10 Implementation Implementation, execution of the idea The implementation phase is the most visible part of the life of an idea. This is where implementation and project management starts to turn the idea into reality. With this phase we also leave the focus of this book. There are hundreds of other publications

18

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and methods for implementing and managing projects and establishing changes. Find some of thesesources in this dictionary.

Method types Within our search paths you will also come into contact with the different types of methods. The method type basically characterizes a method according to its focus in the innovation process. The following brief overview shows you which method types appear in our manual and how they are defined.

Brief overview of the different methods and types: – – – – – – – – –

Activation: Activation methods dynamize a team. Feedback: Methods that help to ask for and reflect on feedback. Creativity: Creativity techniques support idea generation and idea enrichment. Macro method: Macro methods consist of several bigger phases or work segments packages. Micro method: Micro methods are used separately or during the macro method phases. Reflection: Methods that help you to reflect on ideas and situations. Strategy: Methods that help with development of or work on strategies. Opening: Methods that open people to topics and situations. Tool: Tools, principles, worksheets, team games, etc.

19

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

P8 Early prototyping

3-12-3 Brainstorming

Micro method/Creativity technique

3-2-1 Method

Activation method/Micro method/Opening technique

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

4

360 Degree Innovation

Reflection tool/Tool

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

5

5 Meter Look

Reflection tool/Micro method

X

X

X

5 Why Method

Activation method/Micro method/Reflection tool X

X

X

6 Thinking Hats Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

Micro method/Creativity technique Micro method

X

X

9 Levels Value System

Reflection tool/Tool

X

X

A Kick in the Seat of the Pants

Macro method/Creativity technique Micro method Creativity technique/Tool

ABC Analysis

Micro method

ABC Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

AEIOU Technique

Reflection tool/Micro method

AIDA Formula

Strategy method/Micro method

ALPEN Method

Reflection tool/Micro method

Micro method/Creativity technique

Action Painting

Opening technique/Creativity technique

Action Plan

Micro method

Action-based Learning

Micro method

Advocatus Diaboli

Micro method

After Action Review

Micro method/Feedback method

Analogy Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

X X

6 X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

20

Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro method

8

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

166 13

X X X

X

15

X X

16

X

17 X

X

18 X

X

11 12

X X

X

X

20 21

X

22 23 X

X

X

320 25

X X

24 14

X

27

Analytic Hierarchy Process Micro method And-also Method

9

10

X X

3

7

X

APC – Alternatives, Possi- Micro method/Creativity technique bilities and Choices ARIZ

2

X

6-W Method

A Whack on the Side of the Head

1 X

6-3-5 Method

A Kid wants to know

P7 Evaluation

X

P5 Ideation

X

Reflection tool/Micro method

P4 Synthesize

Reflection tool/Micro method

2×2 Matrix

P3 Observe

10-Minute Time-jump

Name

P2 Analyze

Type

P1 Understand

P6 Enrichment

This search path shows you all methods in alphabetical order listed in this dictionary. In addition, you will find the method type and the innovation phases in which the methods are typically used. You will also find the key index number of the method in each line of the overview to quickly locate it in The Innovator’s Dictionary.

X X

X

28 29

Anonymous Voting

Feedback method/Micro method/Reflection tool

Anti-change Checkup

Micro method/Reflection tool/Thesis

Anticipating Defect Detection

Micro method

Appreciative Inquiry

Reflection tool/Macro method Opening technique/Activation method

X

Atomizing

Micro method

X

Attribute Listing

Micro method/Creativity technique Micro method/Creativity technique

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

36 37

X X

X

X

X

Bazaar of Ideas

Strategy method

Benchmarking

Micro method

Creativity technique/Macro method/Strategy method

P8 Early prototyping

X

X

Activation method/Micro method/Opening technique

Bionics

P7 Evaluation

34

X

Strategy method

Reflection tool/Micro method

33

X

Bang Effect

Opening technique/Activation method

32

35

Balanced Scorecard

Bingo

30

X

Back-of-the-Napkin Model Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro method/Reflection tool

Best Failed Idea Award

31

X

Micro method

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

Asymmetric Clustering Matrix

BBB Method

X

X X

Assembly

Axiomatic Design

P6 Enrichment

Anonymous Brainstorming Creativity technique/Micro method/Opening technique

P5 Ideation

P4 Synthesize

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

38 X

41

X

44

X

45

X

274

46

X X

X

X

X

X

X

47 50 51

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Bisociation

Micro method/Creativity technique

Blue Ocean Strategy

Strategy method/Macro method

X

Blue Roses

Creativity technique/Micro method/Reflection tool

Bodystorming

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Book Exchange Club

Micro method

X

Boundary Shifting

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

59 60

X

61

X

62

X

63

X

X

64

X

65

77 X

Brain Integration Exercise Opening technique/Tool

X

X

BrainCharting

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

213

BrainRace

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

67

BrainShaping

Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro method/Opening technique

X

68

66

BrainStation

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Brainfloating

Creativity technique/Knowledge nugget/Opening technique

X

69

Brainstorming

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

71

Brainstorming 2.0

Creativity technique/Macro method/Micro method

X

43

X

70

21

Brainwalking

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Brainwriting Pool

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Brainwriting

Micro method/Creativity technique

Micro method

Buridan’s Donkey

Micro method

Business Model Canvas

Micro method/Reflection tool/Strategy method

X

76 X

X

275

X

48 X

78

X X

X

Key index number 330

X X X

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

P7 Evaluation

P8 Early prototyping

73

X

Micro method/Creativity technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

75

Buckle-Monster Technique Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro method

Bull’s Eye Evaluation

74

X

Bringing hour – Show and Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro Tell method/Opening technique

Building a World

72 X

X

Brand Innovation Checkup Strategy method/Micro method

Brutethink

P6 Enrichment

P5 Ideation

P4 Synthesize

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

X

79 X

X

80

Business Model Stress Test Micro method

X

Business Wargaming

X

X

X

X

C&S – Consequences and Opening technique/Micro method Sequels

X

X

184

CAF

Micro method

X

X

42

CATWOE

Micro method

X

X

COCD-Box

Micro method/Feedback method

CPPT

Micro method

X

Café to Go

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Macro method/Strategy method/Tool

Button Brainwriting

Micro method/Creativity technique

Buzz Report

Micro method

214 X

X X

X

83 X

Micro method

Card Technique

Micro method

X

X

Case Based Reasoning

Micro method

X

X

Catalogue Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

Change Perspectives

Micro method

Change Model

Thesis

Channel Innovation Checkup

Strategy method/Micro method

Checklist Technique

Micro method/Feedback method Micro method/Creativity technique

Circle of Opportunity

Micro method/Creativity technique

Clear View

Micro method

Clever Trevor

Creativity technique/Micro method/Reflection tool

22

X

84 265

X

Activation method/Micro method/Opening technique

Micro method/Reflection tool/Tool

276 82

Campfire

Cherry Split

81

X

Camera Study

Chilling Out

X

X

X

85

X

267 X

X

X

298 269 86

X

270

X

X

X

364 88

X

X

89 X

X X

90

X

91

X

92

X

93 X

X

160 94

Cluster Method

Micro method

Collaborative Sketching

Micro method/Creativity technique

Collective Notebook

Micro method/Creativity technique

Communities of Practice

Strategy method/Macro method

Competence Fair

Tool

Competencies Plan

Micro method

X

X

Concept Extraction

Micro method/Creativity technique

Concept Fan

Micro method/Creativity technique

Concept Grouping Matrix

Micro method

X

X

Key index number

P10 Implementation

96 X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

95 97 277

X

X

X

X

X

Micro method

538

98 279

Competitors–Compleman- Strategy method/Micro method tors Map

Micro method

P9 Fight for ideas

X

X

Concept Evaluation

273

X

Competitive Product Survey Micro method

Component Analysis

P8 Early prototyping

Micro method

X

P7 Evaluation

Micro method/Feedback method

Cluster Analysis

X

P6 Enrichment

Cloud Technique

X

P5 Ideation

Activation method/Micro method/Opening technique

P4 Synthesize

Click Path

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

X X

99 100

X

101

X

280 X X

X

X

X

284

X

285 X

Concept Generating Matrix Micro method/Creativity technique

103

X

Concept Linking Map

Micro method

Confluence Dynagram

Micro method

X

X

Conjoint Analysis

Micro method

X

Consumer Clinic

Reflection tool/Micro method

X

Context Plan

Reflection tool/Micro method

X

Contextual Research Plan

Micro method

X

X

X

Continuous Improvement Process

Strategy method/Macro method

X

X

X

X

Convergence Map

Micro method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

102

104 X

105

X

X

106

X

107 108 282 109

X

X

X

X

X

283 110

Creative Block

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Creative Break

Creativity technique

X

Creative Casting

Micro method/Creativity technique

Creative Challenge

Micro method/Creativity technique

Creative Collaboration Technique

X

288 432

X

X

111

X

X

112

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

113

Creative Collages

Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro method

X

Creative Problem Solving

Macro method

Creative Process after Graham Wallas

Macro method

Creative Roulette

Micro method/Creativity technique

Creative Team Checkup

Tool

Creative Whack Pack

Activation method/Tool

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

114

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

290

X X

X

X

X

115

291

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

292 116

23

Strategy method/Micro method

Cross Industry Innovation Knowledge nugget

P10 Implementation X

289 X

X

Key index number

P9 Fight for ideas

P8 Early prototyping

X

X

Critical Reading Checklist Micro method/Feedback method Cross Impact Method

P7 Evaluation

P6 Enrichment

P5 Ideation

Micro method/Creativity technique

P4 Synthesize

Creativity Slider

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

X

117 119

X

X

118

X

293

Crossword Puzzle Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

Crowd Sourcing

Tool

Customer Benefit Matrix

Micro method

Customer Engagement Checkup

Strategy method/Micro method

Customer, Employee and Shareholder

Micro method

X

X

DNA Analysis Method

Strategy method/Reflection tool

X

X

DRIVE

Micro method

X

X

Da Vinci’s Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

124

Dali’s Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

125

Data File Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Debriefing

Micro method/Feedback method

Decision Cake

Micro method/Feedback method

X X

X

X

120

X

X

296

X

X

121 295 122

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

123

133 134 X

175

Decision Model (after Micro method Krogerus and Tschäppeler)

X

173

Decision Tree

Micro method

X

174

Delphi Method

Micro method

Design Impulses

Creativity technique/Micro method/Opening technique

X

X

X

135

X

215

Design Innovation Process Macro method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Design Thinking

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Macro method/Creativity technique

Design Thinking CheckUp Reflection tool/Tool Design the Box

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Destructive–constructive Brainstorming

Micro method/Creativity technique

Dice Method

Micro method

Didactic Brainstorming

Micro method/Creativity technique

Dilemmagram

Micro method

Discussion 66

Micro method/Creativity technique

Disruptability

Strategy method/Micro method

Dot-mocrazy

Micro method

Double Head

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

Dreamscape

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

X

X

141

X

142

X

143

X

176 144

X X X

541

X

145 X

151

X

152

X

EBS – “Explore Both Sides” Micro method

X

153

X

155 154 156

X

ERAF Systems Diagram

Micro method

X

X

X

Edison’s Principle

Strategy method/Macro method

X

X

X

24

X

161 162

X

X

X

X

164

165 X

169 X

X

X

X

Micro method

Equipment Bag

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Eras Map

Micro method

X

Escape Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

Escape Training

Activation method

Ethos, Logos, Pathos

Reflection tool/Micro method

170

X

171

X

Entities Position Map

X

52

X

172 X

X

517

X

177 X

X

X

195

X

180 X

Evaluate–Discuss–Evaluate Micro method Evaluation Matrix

Reflection tool/Micro method

X

Exchanging Words

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Experience Simulation

Micro method

X

X

Extreme User Interview

Micro method

X

X

FRIES

Macro method

X

X

Factfinding

Micro method

X

Fake Sale

Micro method

X

False Faces – Masks

Micro method/Creativity technique

Fast Finish

Micro method/Creativity technique

Feedback Capture Grid

Feedback method/Micro method/Reflection tool

Field Notes

Micro method

Five Human Factors

Micro method

Five-finger Check

Micro method

Five-minute Thinking

Creativity technique

181 X

54

X

55

X

540

X

182 X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

183 X

187 188 X

X X

X

X

X

X

189 190

X

191

X X

185 186

X X

X

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

Reflection tool/Micro method

Employee Suggestion Sys- Strategy method/Macro method tem

P8 Early prototyping

Empathy Map

P7 Evaluation

Micro method

P6 Enrichment

Elevator Pitch

P5 Ideation

X

Micro method/Creativity technique

P4 Synthesize

Strategy method/Macro method

Elementary Transformations

P3 Observe

Effectuation

Name

P2 Analyze

Type

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

192 X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

207 209

FlowBoard

Macro method/Tool

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

193

FlowTeam Method

Macro method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

194

Force Field Analysis

Strategy method/Micro method

Force-Fit Game

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

Forced Analogy

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Forced-Relationship

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

197

Foresight Scenario

Creativity technique/Micro method/Strategy method

X

X

198

Form Formation

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

Four-Phase Model

Macro method

X

X

Framework Visualization

Micro method

Framing and Re-Framing

Reflection tool/Creativity technique

X

From … To Exploration

Micro method

X

X

X

X

X

X

287 196 553

199 X

521

X

200

X

201

X

X

202

25

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

X

P8 Early prototyping

P6 Enrichment

X

P7 Evaluation

P5 Ideation

P4 Synthesize

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

Function Structure

Micro method/Creativity technique

Funeral

Feedback method/Micro method/Reflection tool

Future Fruit

Strategy method/Micro method

X

Future Quickies

Opening technique/Micro method

X

X

Future Workshop

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

Gallery Walk

Micro method/Creativity technique

Gamification

Activation method/Knowledge nugget/Strategy method

X

X

X

Give-and-Take Table

Reflection tool/Micro method

X

X

X

Goldfish Bowl

Reflection tool/Micro method

X

Graphic Recording

Micro method

X

Guess Map

Strategy method/Micro method

X

HIT Matrix

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Hall Of Fame

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

220

Headstand Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

286

Heart, Hand, Head

Micro method

X

Hit List

Micro method

X

How-How Diagram

Micro method

Hype-Cycle Checkup

Micro method/Reflection tool/Strategy method

Micro method

Idea Cluster

Micro method

Idea Competition

Micro method

Idea Culture

Knowledge nugget

Idea Grid

Micro method/Creativity technique

Idea Profile

Tool

Idea Quartet

Micro method/Creativity technique

Ideal Solution

Micro method/Creativity technique

Idealog Process

Macro method

49

X

205 206

X

X

552

X

X

210

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

211

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

212

X

X

216 X

217

X

218 X

X

219

X

221

X

222 X

X

X

X

I like, I wish, how would it Feedback method/Micro method/Reflection tool be if … Idea Blueprint

203 X

X

X

536 223

X X

X

225

X

235

X

236

X

240 237

X

X

X

226

X

X

X

X

X

239

X

231

X X

X

X

X

X

227 X

Ideas and Mindset Propa- Strategy method/Micro method ganda Center

X X

X

228 230

Ideas-Tennis

Micro method/Creativity technique

IdeasSedCard

Tool

Ideatoons – Idea Icons

Reflection tool/Micro method

X

Identification Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Image Sorting

Micro method

Image-ination

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

243

Imaginary Brainstorming

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

244

Immediate Idea Help

Macro method/Creativity technique

X

232

Impossible Bars

Activation method/Reflection tool/Tool

X

513

26

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

234 229

X X

X

233 X

241 X

242

Stimulus Image Packages Tool from Benno van Aerssen Stimulus Image Technique Micro method/Creativity technique Industry Diagnostics

Micro method

Initial Opportunity Map

Strategy method/Micro method

X

Innovation Boutiques

Strategy method/Knowledge nugget

X

Innovation Coaching

Strategy method

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

P8 Early prototyping

P7 Evaluation

P6 Enrichment

P5 Ideation

P4 Synthesize

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

X

411

X

412

X

X

246

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

254

247

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

255

Innovation Culture Checkup Tool

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

256

Innovation Evolution Map

Strategy method/Micro method

X

X

Innovation Landscape

Strategy method/Micro method

X

X

Innovation Matrix

Micro method

248 249 X

250

Innovation Model – “Incre- Knowledge nugget mental vs. Disruptive”

257

Innovation Performance Radar

Reflection tool/Strategy method/Tool

X

Innovation Sourcebook

Micro method

X

Innovation Digging

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

Micro method

X

253

X

258

X

Interest Groups Discussion Micro method

259

X X

251 252

Inspiration from the Future Opening technique/Activation method Intent Statement

X

X

X

260

Intrinsic Motivation

Knowledge nugget

Ishikawa Diagram

Micro method

X

Job Scoping

Micro method/Creativity technique

John Whitmore CheckUp

Micro method

X

KJ Method

Micro method

X

Kano Model

Micro method

Key Facts

Micro method

X

X

271

Keyword Bibliometrics

Micro method

X

X

272

KommuniKARTio

Reflection tool/Tool

Reflection tool/Tool

X

LEGO Serious Play

Creativity technique/Strategy method/Tool

Lateral Map

X

Creativity technique/Tool

Leading Question Synthe- Reflection tool/Micro method sis Lean Startup

Strategy method/Macro method

Letter to Grandma

Micro method

Lexicon Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

X

266 268

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

281

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X X

297 300 301

X

X

294

X

303 X

304

X X

X

X

X X

278

X

X

X

261

263

X

Lateral Thinking – Thinking Creativity technique/Knowledge nugget Outside the box

Micro method

X

X

X

KultuRalley

Micro method

X

264

X

X

Lead-user Method

X

262 X

Kondratieff-Cycle Checkup Micro method/Reflection tool/Thesis

LavaLamping

X

X

306 X

X

X

X

X

X

305

X

307 308

27

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

P8 Early prototyping

P7 Evaluation

P6 Enrichment

P5 Ideation

P4 Synthesize

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

Lightless Creativity

Micro method/Tool

Long-term Forecasting

Micro method/Creativity technique

Loosening of the Search Field

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

476

Lottery Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

311

Lotus Blossom

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

312

Low-tech Social Network

Activation method/Micro method/Opening technique

X

X

Lunge Step Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

MSI – Multisensory Idea Development

Creativity technique

X

X

Magic Nails

Tool

X

X

Making, Redoing and Undoing

Micro method/Creativity technique

Manual Thinking

Tool

Marathon of Ideas

Micro method/Creativity technique

Marketplace

Strategy method/Micro method

Hypothesis Matrix

Micro method

Meta-Plan

Micro method

Methuselah Checkup

Tool

Milestone Plan

Micro method

Mind Pumping

Macro method

Mindmapping

Micro method/Creativity technique

Mission Impossible

Creativity technique/Micro method/Opening technique

Momentum-Matrix

Reflection tool/Micro method

Moodboard

Micro method

Morphological Box

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

334

Morphological Matrix

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

333

X

X

X

X

Motorboat

Reflection tool/Micro method

Multiple Perspectives

Creativity technique/Micro method/Opening technique

Multitasking Dilemma

Reflection tool/Tool

Murder Board

Micro method/Feedback method

NABC Pitch

Micro method/Feedback method

Negativ Conferenz

Micro method/Creativity technique

NetScouting

Micro method

X

X

X

X

Micro method

Newspaper Articles from the Future

Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro method/Opening technique

Nine Windows

Micro method

28

X

X

X

X

X

309

X

299

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

314 X

X

X

X

X

318 238 X

319

X

224 X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

324 X X

X

X

325 X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

335 336

X

X

331 332

X

X

X

327 328

X X

321 326

X

X

316 315

X X

313 40

X

Network Innovator CheckupStrategy method/Micro method Network of Abstraction

X

X

X

X

X

337

X

338

X

339 340

X

X

341

X

X

342

X

X

343

X

549 X

344

X

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

P8 Early prototyping

P7 Evaluation

P6 Enrichment

P5 Ideation

P4 Synthesize

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

Not Kansas

Micro method/Creativity technique

OMIPC

Micro method

345

OPV – Other People’s Views

Micro method/Creativity technique

Object Brainstorming

Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro method

Objectivity Checkup

Reflection tool/Tool

X

X

X

348

Offering Activity Culture Map

Micro method

X

X

X

349

X

346 X

X

X

19

X

347

Omnipotence

Activation method/Creativity technique

X

X

26

Onomatopoeia

Creativity technique

X

X

302

Open Hardware

Micro method

Open Innovation

Macro method

Open Space

Micro method

Opinion Flash

Micro method/Feedback method

Opportunity Response Model

Strategy method/Micro method

X X

Feedback method/Micro method/Reflection tool

Osborn Checklist

Micro method/Creativity technique

PESTEL

Strategy method/Macro method

PMI

Feedback method/Micro method/Reflection tool

X

X

X

X

X

X

350 X

X

X

351 352

X

322

X

Opportunity/Risk-Analysis Micro method Opus Method

X

X

353

X

87 X X

354

X

355

X

356 X

357

POEMS

Micro method

PPCO

Micro method

X

359

Paired Comparison Analysis

Micro method

X

360

Paper Prototyping

Micro method

Paper Prototyping Templates

Tool

Pecha Kucha

Micro method/Activation method

Perspective Diagram

Micro method

X

X

Phoenix Question Checklist Micro method

X

X

X

X

Photoshop Prototype

Micro method/Feedback method

Picture Storming

Micro method/Activation method

Picture-Text-Potentiation

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

358

X

X

361

X

362

X

X

363 365

X

X

X

366 X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

367 X

X

58 56

Pictures Instead of Words Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

57

Pie Chart Agenda

Micro method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

499

Pivoting

Strategy method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

368

Platform Plan

Strategy method/Macro method

X

369

Plus or Delta

Feedback method/Micro method/Reflection tool

Point of view – Stakeholder Analysis

Reflection tool/Micro method

X X X

X

370 371

29

X

X

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

P8 Early prototyping

Micro method

P7 Evaluation

Popular Media Scan

P6 Enrichment

Micro method/Creativity technique

P5 Ideation

Micro method/Feedback method

Reverse Polarity

P4 Synthesize

Planning Poker

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

372

X

511

X

373

Porter’s Five Forces Model Strategy method/Micro method

X

208

Post-it

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Poster Session

Micro method/Creativity technique

Power of Ten

Micro method/Creativity technique

Praise Cards

Tool

Pre-mortem

Micro method

Prescriptive Value Web

Reflection tool/Micro method

Pretotyping

Micro method

Preventive Abduction

Micro method

Principle of Disruptive Inno-Knowledge nugget vation

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Micro method

X

Problem Tackler

Tool

Process Innovation Checkup

Strategy method/Micro method

376 X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Profit Model Checkup

Strategy method/Micro method

X

Progressive Abstraction

Micro method/Creativity technique

Promoter Model

Strategy method

Proof of Evidence

Micro method/Creativity technique

Prototyping

Micro method

310 377

X

X

378 379

X

X

395

X

380

X

381 384

X

383 382

X

386 389

X X

374 375

X

Product System Innovation Strategy method/Micro method Checkup

387

X X

X

388

X

390 X

391 X

392

X

53 X

Provocation

Micro method/Creativity technique

Publication Research

Micro method

Pugh Matrix

Creativity technique/Micro method/Reflection tool

Purposes

Creativity technique/Micro method/Opening technique

X

Pyre Method

Micro method

X

30

X

X

X X

Strategy method/Micro method

Quickcheck – “Pseudo-In- Reflection tool/Knowledge nugget novations”

X

X

Reflection tool/Micro method

Feedback method/Micro method/Reflection tool

X

X

Problem Solving Tree

Reflection tool/Micro method

X

X

Problem Quality

Questions of Employees

X

X X

X

Quickcheck – ‘Are we already Problem Finders?’

X

X

Micro method

Product Performance Checkup

X

X

Pros & Cons

Product Market Matrix (af- Strategy method ter Ansoff)

X

X

393

X X

394

X

396 X

397 519

X

X

430

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

329 399

X

X

X

X

X

X

398

P4 Synthesize

P5 Ideation

P6 Enrichment

P7 Evaluation

P8 Early prototyping

P9 Fight for ideas

P10 Implementation

Key index number

Quickcheck – ‘What Makes Knowledge nugget/Reflection tool/Tool Us Creative?’

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

400

Quickcheck – ‘What To Do Knowledge nugget/Reflection tool/Tool If We Can’t Think Of Anything?’

X

X

402

Quickcheck – ‘What To Do Knowledge nugget/Reflection tool/Tool If We Only Produce Useless Ideas?’

X

X

401

Random Input Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Random Stimulus

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Random Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

Range of Opinions

Opening technique/Activation method

404 X

403

X

551

X

323

Rapid Product Development Micro method

X

405

Rattlesnakes and Roses

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Reduce To The Max

Reflection tool/Knowledge nugget

X

Reframing Matrix

Micro method

X

Relevance Tree Anlaysis

Micro method

X

Research Participant Map Micro method

X

X

416

Research Planning Survey Micro method

X

X

417

Resistance Principle

Knowledge nugget

Rhizome Model

Micro method/Tool

X

Role-playing Games

Micro method

X

SCAMPER

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

X

409 X

X

418

X

Micro method

SIPOC Map

Strategy method/Macro method

SMART

Micro method

SMS Method

Micro method/Feedback method

SQUID

Micro method

X

X

X

SWOT-Analysis

Strategy method/Micro method

X

X

X

Sand Tray

Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro method Micro method

535

X

Micro method/Creativity technique

Strategy method

415

X X

SWOT Analysis Grid

Scales Technique

408

X

SIL Method

Scenario Technique

406

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

419 420

X

421 422 X

X

423 424

X

425

X

426 427

X X

429 X

443

X

X

481

Scoring Model

Micro method

Sculpture Technique

Activation method/Micro method/Reflection tool X

X

X

Searching for the Key

Knowledge nugget/Opening technique/Quote

X

X

Semantic Intuition

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

434

Separation Principles

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

435

Septine

Micro method

X

436

Sequential Morphology

Micro method/Creativity technique

Service Blueprinting

Micro method

X

X

433 447

X

150

X X

X

X

X

437 X

438

31

Service Innovation Checkup Strategy method/Micro method Shadowing

Micro method

Show me your values

Reflection tool/Activation method

X

X

Silent Writing Conversation Creativity technique/Feedback method/Micro method

X

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

P8 Early prototyping

P7 Evaluation

P6 Enrichment

P5 Ideation

P4 Synthesize

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

X

439

X

440

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

547 474

Simple Focus

Micro method/Creativity technique

Simulation

Micro method/Knowledge nugget

Simultaneous Action

Micro method/Creativity technique

Sketch Drawing

Micro method

Sketch Mail

Micro method/Activation method

Sketch the problem

Activation method/Micro method/Opening technique

Sketches and Scribbles

Micro method

Slice And Dice

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

448

Solo Brainstorming

Creativity technique

X

449

Solution Enactment

Micro method

Solution Roadmap

Micro method

Sounds Like Innovation

Macro method/Creativity technique

Spaghetti Tower

Reflection tool/Activation method

Specific Focus

Micro method

X

X

X

Speech Stones

Micro method

X

X

X

Speed Feedback

Micro method/Feedback method

Spider Meeting

Micro method/Creativity technique

St. Gallen Business Model Macro method/Strategy method/Tool Navigator Stage-Gate® Model

X

X X

X

X

167

X X

X

X X

441

X

442

X

446 X

445

X

317 X

X

X

X

X

444

X

450 X

X

X

X

X

X

454 456

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

453

X X

X

451

X

X

X

407 455

X

457

X

458

Macro method

X

X

X

X

459

Stakeholder Matrix

Micro method

Start Moving

Micro method/Activation method

X

X

460

Startup Job Exchange

Micro method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

461

Startup Skype Radio

Micro method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

462

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

245

Stepping Stone Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

Stick Figure

Opening technique/Activation method

Stimulus Feel Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Stimulus Word Bandit

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

413

Stimulus Word Technique Micro method/Creativity technique

X

414

Stone Soup

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

464

Stop Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

Story Cubes

Activation method/Creativity technique/Tool

X

Storyboarding

Micro method/Creativity technique

Stratale

Micro method/Creativity technique

Strategy Roadmap

Strategy method/Micro method

32

X

X

507 471 410

465 X

466

X

467 X

468 X

469

Micro method

Success Paths

Micro method/Creativity technique

Success Zones

Micro method

470 472

X

X

X X

X

463

X

475 X

178

X

179

Swarm Intelligence Model Tool/Knowledge nugget Sweet Spot

473 X

X

X

Micro method/Creativity technique

Key index number

Subject Matter Experts Interview

X

P10 Implementation

Micro method/Feedback method

X

P9 Fight for ideas

Stumbling Blocks Technique

X

P8 Early prototyping

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

P7 Evaluation

Structured Abstraction

X

P6 Enrichment

Strategy method/Micro method

P5 Ideation

Micro method/Creativity technique

Structure Innovation Checkup

P4 Synthesize

Stretch Goals

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

X

X

431

X

477

Synectics

Micro method/Creativity technique

Syntegration

Micro method/Creativity technique

Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT)

Macro method

X

480

TEC Framework

Micro method

X

546

TILMAG

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

482

TOP 10 Method

Micro method

TRIZ Method

Macro method/Creativity technique

Talk Streaming

Micro method

Task Cards

Activation method/Creativity technique/Micro method/Opening technique

Team Management System Reflection tool/Tool (TMS)

X X

X

X

X

X

478 X

479

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

483

X

484

X

485

X

39

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

487

Team in time

Creativity technique/Micro method/Opening technique

486

Team Thermometer

Micro method/Activation method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

488

Ten Types Of Innovation

Strategy method/Macro method

X

X

489

X

146

X

129

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

The “£ 1.000 in 24 hours” Activation method/Micro method/Reflection tool X Challenge

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

The “Ability to Innovate” Triangle of Forces

Knowledge nugget/Reflection tool/Tool

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

The “Specificator”

Micro method

X

X

X

The 100 Dollar Test

Micro method

The 7-Ps Framework

Micro method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

126

The Ambidextrous Organization

Knowledge nugget

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

147

The Antiproblem

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

The Blind Spot

Reflection tool/Micro method

X

X

The Book Of The Dead

Micro method/Creativity technique

The Crucial Point

Micro method

X

X

The Eyes of the Expert

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

136 X

X

137

127 140

X X

X

490 139

X

148

33

The Great Transpacific Air- Micro method/Reflection tool/Strategy method line And Storm Door Company

X

The Grid Principle

Strategy method/Macro method

X

The Imaginary Friend

Micro method

The Orange View

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

The Penguin Story

Activation method/Opening technique/Reflection tool

X

The Pinocchio Product

Creativity technique

X

X

X

X

X

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas

P8 Early prototyping

P7 Evaluation

P6 Enrichment

P5 Ideation

P4 Synthesize

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

491

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

128 138

X

492 149

X

The Sales Talk

Micro method

The Shadow

Micro method/Creativity technique

The Simplest Way Out

Micro method

The Stravinsky Effect

Micro method/Creativity technique

The Team Tape

Opening technique/Tool

The Three Bs

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

The perfect prefix

Creativity technique/Micro method/Tool

X

Three Good Ones – Three Bad Ones

Micro method/Feedback method

Tick-Tock

Micro method/Opening technique/Reflection tool

Timeline

Activation method/Micro method/Reflection tool X

132

X

X

X

X

131

X

493

X

X

168

X

494 130 495

X

496 X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

158 X 497

X

X

X

X

X

X

548

Title Story

Micro method/Activation method

X

Tour d’Idée

Macro method/Creativity technique

X

Trading Card Method

Activation method

X

Trend Prediction

Strategy method/Macro method

X

Trendbook

Tool

X

Trends Expert Interview

Micro method

X

Trends Matrix

Micro method

X

X

Trendscouting

Strategy method/Micro method

X

X

Triad

Opening technique/Creativity technique

X

X

159

Trigger Technique

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

506

True And False

Micro method/Creativity technique

Tug-Of-War – Force Field Analysis

Micro method

498

X

X

500 X

X

X

428 501

X

X

502 503 504

X

505

508

X X

X

X

X

X

509

Tuning Questions for Ideas Tool

X

X

510

Turn it around!

Micro method

X

X

157

UDI – “Unity, Disunity, Irrelevance”

Reflection tool/Micro method

Unique Competing Space

Strategy method/Micro method

Unorthodox Bible Study

Micro method/Creativity technique

X X

X

Usability Testing

Micro method

X

Micro method

X

34

512 X

User Research Plan

X

163

514 515 516

Video Ethnography

Micro method

Visual Agenda

Micro method/Activation method

Visual Quick Assessment

Micro method/Tool

Visual Synectics

Micro method/Creativity technique

Wall Memories

Tool

Walt Disney Method

Micro method/Creativity technique

Waltons Principle

Macro method

Warm-up Races

Activation method

Weather Map

Micro method/Feedback method

Welcome to My World

Micro method/Activation method

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

522 523

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

527 525

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

526

532 X

X

X

X

X

WhoDoes

Micro method

X

X

Wide-angle Principle

Creativity technique

Wireframing

Micro method

World Café

Micro method/Creativity technique

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

533 534

X

X

531 385

X

537 539

X

452

X

X

X

530 529

X

X

Worries-and-Joys Scheme Micro method

542 X

543

X

544

You Are Not a Field of Grass Reflection tool/Activation method Micro method/Creativity technique

524

528

X

Zoom In

Key index number

P10 Implementation

P9 Fight for ideas X X

X

Tool

Micro method

P8 Early prototyping

520

X

WhiteBlock

Yogi-Berra Principle

P7 Evaluation

X

518

X

X

Activation method/Opening technique/Reflection tool/Tool

P6 Enrichment

X

204

X

X

Yes But – Yes And

X

X

X

Wheelspin Checkup – Knowledge nugget/Reflection tool/Tool Innovation Friction Losses

Tool

X

X

What is Yellow and Edible? Activation method/Opening technique/Reflection tool

XXL Connection

X X

X X

P5 Ideation

Macro method

Value Proposition Canvas Micro method

P4 Synthesize

Value Analysis

P3 Observe

Type

P2 Analyze

Name

P1 Understand

Search path 1 – Methods sorted alphabetically with innovation phases

545 X

iLounge

Tool

X

innovationCube

Activation method/Tool

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

550 X

X

X

X

X

554 555

35

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects There are many things that can be an obstacle in a workshop or a project to the generation of the best result. These can be dysfunctional group dynamics or misinterpretations or wrong expectations, and so on. The most common obstacle effects encountered by the authors over many years are listed here, together with methods that help to prevent or mitigate such obstacles. You might want to check the list first to see if you can find obstacle effects that occur more frequently in your working environment and then look at the methods referenced.

Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Prevents misinterpretations

Methods with this property prevent misinterpretation of results and situations. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 6, 41, 46, 81, 107, 110, 119, 135, 143, 165, 166, 171, 179, 182, 183, 191, 217, 242, 249, 266, 271, 281, 306, 318, 341, 348, 366, 475, 481, 491, 502, 509, 518, 544 P2 Analyze: 6, 9, 14, 32, 37, 46, 50, 81, 96, 107, 110, 112, 119, 135, 143, 166, 171, 177, 182, 183, 187, 191, 217, 222, 224, 249, 266, 271, 280, 306, 317, 318, 323, 329, 341, 348, 366, 382, 383, 384, 396, 415, 421, 446, 475, 481, 502, 509, 513, 518, 525 P3 Observe: 6, 32, 50, 110, 143, 166, 171, 177, 182, 187, 191, 192, 242, 278, 281, 341, 396, 440, 475, 518, 520, 544 P4 Synthesize: 6, 9, 81, 110, 143, 166, 172, 177, 191, 217, 224, 259, 266, 287, 306, 348, 366, 383, 415, 446, 475, 491, 502, 509, 513, 518 P5 Ideation: 9, 22, 41, 94, 112, 135, 143, 154, 157, 183, 217, 222, 288, 318, 484, 497, 513, 518, 525 P6 Idea enrichment: 41, 112, 143, 154, 157, 166, 190, 234, 242, 278, 288, 318, 367, 450, 497 P7 Evaluation: 9, 15, 18, 28, 33, 54, 78, 81, 143, 151, 175, 187, 190, 234, 242, 250, 281, 329, 338, 354, 357, 367, 370, 421, 450, 509, 522, 525, 538 P8 Prototyping: 81, 107, 143, 183, 187, 234, 339, 362, 367, 379, 405, 450 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 278, 307, 338, 339, 450, 497, 522 P10 Implementation: 143 Works in every innovation phase: 95, 115, 123, 207, 228, 256, 398, 489

36

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Prevents blind spots/ operational blindness

Blind spots and operational blindness often cause large inefficiencies and bad investments. These methods help to avoid this. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 6, 7, 10, 17, 42, 46, 64, 81, 82, 83, 88, 98, 100, 101, 106, 107, 110, 111, 119, 122, 135, 139, 141, 142, 150, 162, 166, 171, 183, 191, 201, 202, 205, 214, 217, 218, 226, 247, 252, 266, 267, 271, 272, 281, 296, 304, 306, 318, 332, 341, 348, 349, 366, 373, 390, 408, 409, 418, 419, 427, 438, 458, 475, 479, 481, 491, 501, 502, 504, 512, 518, 540, 544, 549 P2 Analyze: 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 17, 36, 37, 42, 46, 50, 64, 81, 82, 83, 87, 96, 98, 101, 107, 108, 110, 112, 119, 121, 122, 131, 135, 139, 141, 142, 150, 162, 166, 171, 177, 183, 186, 191, 201, 217, 221, 262, 265, 266, 268, 271, 272, 296, 306, 318, 325, 326, 329, 341, 342, 348, 349, 366, 371, 377, 381, 390, 408, 409, 416, 418, 427, 438, 452, 475, 477, 479, 481, 502, 504, 518, 525, 539, 549 P3 Observe: 1, 6, 7, 17, 50, 64, 65, 75, 82, 83, 98, 100, 106, 108, 110, 121, 139, 141, 142, 150, 166, 171, 177, 191, 201, 226, 246, 258, 267, 268, 281, 296, 304, 325, 326, 332, 341, 342, 358, 364, 387, 390, 408, 416, 419, 438, 440, 475, 479, 515, 518, 520, 544 P4 Synthesize: 6, 9, 17, 19, 36, 64, 81, 101, 106, 108, 110, 139, 141, 142, 150, 162, 166, 177, 191, 201, 202, 217, 218, 246, 266, 267, 306, 325, 348, 349, 353, 356, 366, 371, 418, 419, 427, 438, 458, 470, 475, 477, 479, 491, 502, 512, 515, 518, 540, 549 P5 Ideation: 9, 19, 38, 64, 94, 111, 112, 135, 141, 142, 145, 148, 154, 159, 167, 183, 188, 199, 202, 205, 215, 217, 226, 240, 241, 258, 301, 302, 304, 318, 324, 325, 326, 332, 333, 340, 345, 352, 385, 406, 448, 470, 477, 479, 484, 507, 511, 518, 525, 539 P6 Idea enrichment: 19, 111, 112, 141, 142, 145, 154, 159, 166, 167, 181, 199, 221, 241, 302, 318, 333, 340, 369, 377, 385, 419, 450, 479, 539 P7 Evaluation: 9, 28, 33, 81, 102, 117, 131, 141, 142, 221, 239, 281, 329, 335, 338, 344, 378, 381, 419, 431, 450, 525 P8 Prototyping: 64, 65, 81, 98, 106, 107, 141, 142, 183, 304, 325, 332, 339, 364, 408, 419, 438, 450 P9 Fighting for ideas: 117, 142, 335, 338, 339, 378, 450 P10 Implementation: 98, 99, 102, 117, 141, 142, 320, 335, 369, 378, 395, 469 Works in every innovation phase: 11, 128, 142, 228, 283, 351, 489, 527, 554

Protects against overly generic ideas and statements

Working too generically in all phases of innovation projects is a real problem and often success killer No.1. Participants who are not 100 % motivated, in particular, tend to work generically, because it is much easier and is not tiring. To a large extent these methods protect against overly generic ideas or statements. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 25, 57, 77, 83, 100, 106, 122, 135, 139, 141, 142, 162, 164, 182, 202, 205, 247, 255, 266, 296, 306, 332, 341, 349, 366, 373, 426, 456, 479, 493, 542, 544, 549, 550 P2 Analyze: 80, 83, 85, 108, 112, 122, 135, 139, 141, 142, 162, 164, 182, 221, 222, 224, 255, 265, 266, 280, 290, 296, 297, 305, 306, 315, 341, 349, 366, 383, 426, 441, 456, 479, 549 P3 Observe: 1, 80, 83, 100, 106, 108, 139, 141, 142, 182, 192, 246, 255, 260, 296, 305, 332, 341, 358, 387, 456, 479, 544 P4 Synthesize: 19, 45, 80, 106, 108, 136, 139, 141, 142, 162, 164, 202, 224, 246, 255, 266, 287, 305, 306, 343, 349, 356, 366, 383, 426, 441, 479, 493, 542, 549, 550 P5 Ideation: 19, 22, 25, 38, 45, 57, 85, 94, 104, 112, 133, 135, 136, 141, 142, 145, 148, 154, 164, 167, 169, 202, 205, 215, 222, 235, 238, 241, 255, 270, 275, 284, 288, 290, 302, 305, 315, 332, 340, 352, 441, 456, 476, 479, 484, 493, 497, 508, 511, 529, 542, 550 P6 Idea enrichment: 19, 112, 133, 136, 141, 142, 145, 154, 164, 167, 190, 221, 235, 236, 241, 255, 270, 275, 284, 288, 290, 302, 340, 361, 367, 426, 476, 479, 497, 542 P7 Evaluation: 24, 47, 85, 141, 142, 190, 221, 255, 290, 297, 305, 338, 367, 455 P8 Prototyping: 47, 80, 106, 141, 142, 164, 255, 275, 297, 305, 332, 361, 362, 367, 379, 441, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 47, 80, 142, 255, 297, 305, 338, 455, 497 P10 Implementation: 141, 142, 164, 255 Works in every innovation phase: 123, 128, 142, 193, 228, 533

37

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Involves quite introverted team members

In many workshop situations, quite introverted participants often do not get the same amount of airtime as more extroverted colleagues. These methods integrate the rather introverted employees very well. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 48, 127, 146, 245, 253, 274, 349, 453, 479, 500 P2 Analyze: 16, 48, 80, 146, 180, 245, 274, 317, 323, 326, 349, 377, 474, 479 P3 Observe: 80, 146, 278, 326, 479 P4 Synthesize: 80, 93, 146, 225, 349, 479, 500 P5 Ideation: 8, 13, 16, 31, 48, 63, 73, 74, 93, 114, 124, 125, 127, 146, 156, 180, 229, 231, 253, 274, 275, 277, 286, 300, 309, 312, 324, 326, 334, 336, 345, 347, 410, 411, 429, 432, 445, 453, 466, 474, 479, 486, 490, 500, 506, 519 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 13, 31, 74, 146, 156, 225, 231, 253, 275, 277, 278, 312, 334, 336, 350, 375, 377, 410, 444, 466, 479, 486, 500, 506 P7 Evaluation: 13, 30, 73, 90, 146, 231, 319, 370, 372, 375, 425, 453, 474, 522 P8 Prototyping: 80, 146, 275, 350, 444 P9 Fighting for ideas: 13, 80, 278, 319, 372, 375, 453, 522 P10 Implementation: 146 Works in every innovation phase: 5, 59, 193, 212, 310, 327, 374, 400, 407, 488, 554

Tames a disturbing group clown

The disturbing group clown has a very dysfunctional effect on many workshop situations. They waste valuable time with their performances and force colleagues out of the flow. These methods help to tame the disturbing group clown. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 447, 453 P2 Analyze: 180, 447, 474 P3 Observe: 447 P5 Ideation: 74, 180, 309, 453, 474, 486 P6 Idea enrichment: 74, 486 P7 Evaluation: 370, 453, 474, 522 P9 Fighting for ideas: 453, 522 Works in every innovation phase: 407

Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams

Not all teams are equally dynamic. These methods help to increase the dynamics in less agile teams because this almost always produces better results in innovation workshops. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 39, 48, 77, 146, 216, 245, 255, 274, 453, 498, 500, 534, 542, 555 P2 Analyze: 39, 48, 146, 180, 245, 255, 265, 269, 274, 297, 305, 317, 381, 424, 446, 513, 517, 525, 534, 539 P3 Observe: 146, 255, 278, 305 P4 Synthesize: 146, 255, 305, 446, 454, 500, 513, 542 P5 Ideation: 39, 43, 48, 69, 114, 146, 148, 152, 180, 196, 199, 210, 232, 233, 238, 244, 255, 269, 274, 275, 276, 286, 291, 293, 301, 302, 305, 308, 309, 311, 328, 330, 336, 347, 352, 404, 410, 411, 413, 429, 445, 453, 466, 485, 486, 500, 506, 511, 513, 517, 519, 525, 534, 539, 542, 553, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 146, 196, 199, 210, 233, 236, 255, 275, 278, 302, 308, 311, 336, 361, 410, 450, 466, 486, 500, 506, 539, 542 P7 Evaluation: 47, 78, 146, 255, 269, 297, 305, 319, 363, 381, 450, 453, 525, 534 P8 Prototyping: 47, 146, 255, 275, 297, 305, 361, 450, 454, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 47, 230, 255, 278, 297, 298, 305, 319, 363, 450, 453 P10 Implementation: 146, 255, 331 Works in every innovation phase: 5, 58, 128, 194, 211, 213, 261, 292, 310, 313, 316, 374, 428, 471, 488, 524

38

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Encourages inhibited team members

Multicultural teams, agile methods, radical thinking outside the box and many other things can overwhelm people, so that they cannot achieve their optimal performance in the workshop. These methods help to encourage especially inhibited team members. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 66, 127, 253, 255, 274, 409, 419, 447, 453, 500 P2 Analyze: 16, 66, 180, 255, 274, 297, 305, 317, 377, 384, 409, 447, 467, 474, 539 P3 Observe: 255, 278, 305, 419, 447 P4 Synthesize: 66, 93, 225, 255, 305, 419, 454, 467, 500 P5 Ideation: 8, 16, 31, 44, 61, 66, 67, 68, 72, 73, 93, 97, 114, 116, 124, 125, 127, 156, 157, 180, 196, 199, 210, 229, 231, 232, 253, 255, 274, 275, 277, 286, 305, 309, 312, 324, 336, 347, 394, 404, 411, 422, 429, 432, 436, 453, 466, 474, 486, 490, 494, 500, 519, 539 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 31, 61, 97, 116, 156, 157, 196, 199, 210, 225, 231, 253, 255, 275, 277, 278, 312, 336, 375, 377, 419, 422, 466, 486, 500, 539 P7 Evaluation: 30, 73, 78, 90, 116, 231, 255, 297, 305, 319, 363, 370, 372, 375, 419, 425, 453, 455, 474, 494, 522, 532 P8 Prototyping: 255, 275, 297, 305, 339, 419, 454 P9 Fighting for ideas: 116, 255, 278, 297, 305, 319, 339, 363, 372, 375, 453, 455, 522 P10 Implementation: 255 Works in every innovation phase: 4, 59, 193, 211, 310, 313, 327, 407, 428, 554

Promotes appreciation

These methods help when necessary and important values are missing in a team or project. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 52, 77, 216 P2 Analyze: 85 P3 Observe: 52 P5 Ideation: 52, 85, 430, 486, 543 P6 Idea enrichment: 486, 543 P7 Evaluation: 49, 85, 359, 430, 455 P9 Fighting for ideas: 392, 455, 543 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 211, 261, 310, 313, 407, 488, 530

Integrates a dysfunctional silent articipant

The dysfunctional silencer is not just introverted and quiet. In their behavior they are perceived by other people as frustrated, defiant and ‘blocking’. These methods can help to integrate such a character into the group in such a way that no dysfunctional disorders are perceived. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 66, 77, 111, 332, 366, 500, 542, 549 P2 Analyze: 16, 66, 297, 366, 474, 549 P3 Observe: 278, 332 P4 Synthesize: 66, 93, 225, 366, 500, 542, 549 P5 Ideation: 8, 16, 66, 93, 111, 114, 116, 124, 125, 229, 231, 238, 277, 300, 309, 332, 334, 429, 466, 474, 486, 490, 494, 500, 519, 542 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 111, 116, 190, 225, 231, 277, 278, 334, 466, 486, 500, 542 P7 Evaluation: 30, 116, 190, 231, 297, 370, 372, 425, 455, 474, 494, 522 P8 Prototyping: 297, 332 P9 Fighting for ideas: 116, 278, 297, 372, 455, 522 Works in every innovation phase: 193, 211, 212, 313, 327, 407, 554

39

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Creates the necessary references to reality for success

Imaginative innovation without leaving behind existing limiting factors and realities is a great challenge. These methods help to establish the necessary references to reality. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 10, 17, 46, 64, 66, 82, 88, 107, 122, 139, 142, 162, 171, 182, 184, 191, 201, 205, 206, 223, 248, 251, 267, 271, 272, 304, 341, 348, 349, 365, 366, 373, 386, 390, 408, 418, 419, 427, 438, 458, 472, 501, 503, 505, 509, 544 P2 Analyze: 10, 14, 17, 32, 34, 46, 64, 66, 82, 89, 107, 108, 122, 131, 132, 139, 142, 162, 171, 182, 184, 186, 191, 201, 206, 221, 222, 223, 248, 251, 265, 271, 272, 282, 325, 341, 348, 349, 365, 366, 371, 377, 381, 386, 390, 408, 418, 427, 438, 472, 477, 505, 509 P3 Observe: 17, 32, 64, 82, 89, 108, 139, 142, 171, 182, 191, 192, 201, 223, 251, 260, 267, 304, 325, 341, 358, 386, 390, 408, 419, 438, 472, 505, 515, 516, 544 P4 Synthesize: 17, 45, 64, 66, 108, 139, 142, 162, 191, 201, 223, 251, 267, 287, 325, 343, 348, 349, 366, 371, 418, 419, 427, 438, 454, 458, 477, 509, 515 P5 Ideation: 45, 64, 66, 132, 142, 205, 222, 241, 251, 304, 325, 430, 477, 497, 529 P6 Idea enrichment: 142, 181, 221, 241, 251, 350, 361, 367, 377, 393, 419, 450, 497 P7 Evaluation: 15, 33, 117, 131, 142, 173, 221, 251, 335, 338, 359, 367, 378, 381, 419, 430, 431, 450, 509 P8 Prototyping: 64, 107, 142, 251, 304, 325, 350, 361, 367, 379, 393, 408, 419, 438, 450, 454, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 117, 142, 251, 307, 335, 338, 378, 450, 460, 497, 536 P10 Implementation: 117, 142, 251, 331, 335, 378, 395, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 5, 123, 128, 142, 193, 489, 554

Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Particularly where new topics and areas of expertise are being encountered in innovation initiatives, rapidly gaining clarity and new insights is a major success factor. These methods help to quickly impart clarity and new insights. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 6, 25, 39, 48, 57, 64, 66, 77, 81, 82, 83, 100, 101, 106, 107, 110, 122, 135, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 146, 153, 162, 165, 166, 171, 179, 182, 183, 191, 201, 202, 217, 223, 242, 245, 247, 248, 249, 253, 255, 266, 267, 271, 272, 273, 295, 296, 304, 306, 318, 332, 341, 349, 365, 366, 373, 388, 389, 408, 409, 419, 426, 427, 438, 456, 458, 472, 475, 479, 491, 493, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 512, 518, 542, 544, 552, 555 P2 Analyze: 6, 14, 32, 34, 37, 39, 48, 50, 64, 66, 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 87, 89, 96, 101, 107, 108, 110, 122, 131, 132, 135, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 146, 162, 166, 171, 177, 182, 183, 186, 187, 191, 201, 204, 217, 221, 223, 224, 245, 248, 249, 255, 262, 265, 266, 268, 269, 271, 272, 273, 280, 295, 296, 306, 315, 317, 318, 323, 326, 341, 349, 365, 366, 371, 377, 381, 383, 408, 409, 415, 416, 417, 426, 427, 438, 443, 446, 452, 456, 467, 472, 475, 479, 502, 504, 505, 513, 517, 518, 552 P3 Observe: 6, 32, 50, 64, 80, 82, 83, 89, 100, 106, 108, 110, 139, 141, 142, 143, 146, 166, 171, 177, 182, 187, 191, 192, 201, 223, 242, 246, 255, 260, 267, 268, 273, 278, 296, 304, 326, 332, 341, 358, 364, 387, 388, 408, 416, 417, 419, 438, 440, 456, 472, 475, 479, 505, 515, 518, 520, 544, 552 P4 Synthesize: 6, 64, 66, 80, 81, 93, 101, 106, 108, 110, 139, 141, 142, 143, 146, 162, 166, 172, 177, 191, 200, 201, 202, 217, 223, 224, 246, 255, 259, 266, 267, 287, 306, 349, 353, 366, 371, 383, 415, 419, 426, 427, 438, 446, 454, 458, 467, 475, 479, 491, 493, 502, 512, 513, 515, 518, 542 P5 Ideation: 25, 39, 48, 57, 64, 66, 86, 93, 94, 132, 135, 141, 142, 143, 146, 157, 183, 202, 204, 217, 235, 253, 255, 269, 284, 302, 304, 315, 318, 324, 326, 332, 352, 456, 479, 493, 513, 517, 518, 542, 552, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 55, 141, 142, 143, 146, 157, 166, 190, 204, 221, 234, 235, 242, 253, 255, 278, 284, 302, 318, 350, 361, 367, 369, 375, 377, 388, 393, 419, 426, 444, 450, 479, 542 P7 Evaluation: 15, 28, 33, 47, 55, 81, 90, 102, 117, 131, 141, 142, 143, 146, 151, 153, 158, 163, 175, 187, 190, 204, 221, 234, 239, 242, 255, 269, 319, 335, 338, 344, 354, 359, 367, 372, 375, 381, 419, 425, 443, 450, 455, 522, 532, 538 P8 Prototyping: 47, 64, 80, 81, 106, 107, 141, 142, 143, 146, 183, 187, 234, 255, 304, 332, 339, 350, 361, 362, 364, 367, 379, 393, 408, 419, 438, 444, 450, 454, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 47, 80, 117, 142, 170, 255, 278, 319, 335, 338, 339, 372, 375, 450, 455, 522 P10 Implementation: 99, 102, 117, 141, 142, 143, 146, 255, 320, 335, 369, 395, 451, 469 Works in every innovation phase: 11, 95, 115, 126, 128, 129, 142, 194, 228, 256, 398, 461, 487, 489, 499, 533, 547

40

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Many people do not deal well with criticism and rejection. There can be many different reasons for this. These methods weaken these fears and anxieties. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 48, 453, 555 P2 Analyze: 9, 48, 297, 474, 539 P3 Observe: 12 P4 Synthesize: 9, 225 P5 Ideation: 8, 9, 12, 48, 72, 116, 210, 238, 275, 394, 453, 474, 486, 497, 539, 543, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 116, 190, 210, 225, 275, 486, 497, 539, 543 P7 Evaluation: 9, 12, 24, 30, 54, 116, 158, 190, 297, 359, 370, 453, 455, 474, 522 P8 Prototyping: 275, 297 P9 Fighting for ideas: 12, 116, 297, 453, 455, 497, 522, 543 Works in every innovation phase: 5, 128, 211, 261, 283

Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

The fear of new things (cainophobia) is actually quite widespread. It manifests itself in very different ways among the people concerned. We often speak of them as ‘remainers’ or ‘sceptics’. These methods counteract this fear to a large extent. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 77, 142, 146, 206, 214, 453, 498 P2 Analyze: 32, 142, 146, 206, 305, 326 P3 Observe: 32, 142, 146, 305, 326 P4 Synthesize: 142, 146, 305 P5 Ideation: 13, 27, 116, 125, 142, 146, 156, 210, 277, 300, 305, 326, 328, 453, 486, 497 P6 Idea enrichment: 13, 116, 142, 146, 156, 210, 277, 393, 486, 497 P7 Evaluation: 13, 116, 142, 146, 305, 453 P8 Prototyping: 142, 146, 305, 379, 393, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 13, 116, 142, 305, 453, 460, 497 P10 Implementation: 142, 146 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 142, 228, 261, 351, 400, 487, 548

Weak evaluation during idea generation

Any form of evaluation (be it verbal or through gestures) is strictly forbidden during the ideation process, as it immediately kills creativity and stops the valuable flow of the participants’ ideas. These methods prevent evaluation from mixing with ideation. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 92, 141, 255, 453 P2 Analyze: 9, 141, 255 P3 Observe: 12, 141, 255 P4 Synthesize: 9, 141, 255 P5 Ideation: 8, 9, 12, 13, 26, 63, 71, 74, 92, 124, 141, 215, 255, 302, 340, 453, 486, 494, 511 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 13, 26, 74, 141, 255, 302, 340, 486 P7 Evaluation: 9, 12, 13, 141, 227, 255, 453, 494 P8 Prototyping: 141, 255 P9 Fighting for ideas: 12, 13, 255, 453 P10 Implementation: 141, 255 Works in every innovation phase: 115

Weakens competitive thinking and fear of the loss of power

Competitive thinking and fear of the loss of power often prevents innovation success. The difficult thing, however, is that these obstructive effects are often not recognized because they almost always operate very much in secret. These methods work against both issues. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 25, 77, 98, 253, 388, 453, 472, 500, 555 P2 Analyze: 9, 98, 180, 342, 472 P3 Observe: 98, 342, 388, 472 P4 Synthesize: 9, 500 P5 Ideation: 9, 25, 180, 210, 253, 275, 352, 453, 500, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 210, 253, 275, 388, 500 P7 Evaluation: 9, 54, 453, 522 P8 Prototyping: 98, 275 P9 Fighting for ideas: 230, 453, 522 P10 Implementation: 98, 469 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 283, 292, 461

41

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Weakness debating

The methods mentioned here help to weaken the tendency to discuss things endlessly. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 17, 46, 57, 66, 83, 92, 101, 106, 110, 139, 166, 171, 201, 216, 217, 247, 252, 253, 271, 272, 295, 318, 341, 366, 390, 409, 418, 427, 458, 493, 509, 512, 542 P2 Analyze: 9, 14, 17, 36, 46, 50, 66, 83, 87, 101, 108, 110, 112, 139, 166, 171, 201, 217, 262, 269, 271, 272, 295, 318, 323, 329, 341, 366, 381, 390, 409, 415, 418, 421, 427, 443, 463, 509, 525 P3 Observe: 17, 50, 83, 106, 108, 110, 139, 166, 171, 201, 246, 341, 390, 520 P4 Synthesize: 9, 17, 36, 66, 101, 106, 108, 110, 139, 166, 172, 201, 217, 225, 246, 259, 366, 415, 418, 427, 458, 493, 509, 512, 542 P5 Ideation: 3, 9, 57, 66, 92, 112, 124, 157, 217, 233, 253, 269, 318, 429, 448, 490, 493, 494, 525, 542, 543 P6 Idea enrichment: 103, 112, 157, 166, 190, 225, 233, 253, 318, 542, 543 P7 Evaluation: 9, 15, 28, 33, 54, 78, 84, 90, 117, 151, 160, 161, 163, 175, 190, 269, 319, 322, 329, 354, 357, 360, 363, 370, 372, 378, 381, 421, 425, 431, 443, 455, 463, 483, 494, 509, 522, 525, 532, 538 P8 Prototyping: 106, 339, 379 P9 Fighting for ideas: 117, 319, 339, 363, 372, 378, 455, 522, 536, 543 P10 Implementation: 99, 117, 320, 378, 451, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 95, 123, 128, 129, 194, 207, 212, 407, 487, 489, 499, 533

Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

In addition to the well-known strengths of multidisciplinary teams, they also often have weaknesses and efficiency problems, e. g. different beliefs. These methods help to reduce such efficiency problems. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 109, 142, 217, 245, 479, 552, 555 P2 Analyze: 109, 142, 217, 245, 297, 305, 323, 329, 382, 463, 474, 479, 552 P3 Observe: 109, 142, 278, 305, 479, 552 P4 Synthesize: 142, 217, 305, 343, 479 P5 Ideation: 142, 210, 217, 275, 291, 305, 352, 474, 479, 552, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 142, 210, 275, 278, 479 P7 Evaluation: 142, 297, 305, 322, 329, 335, 363, 463, 474 P8 Prototyping: 142, 275, 297, 305 P9 Fighting for ideas: 142, 278, 297, 305, 335, 363 P10 Implementation: 142, 331, 335 Works in every innovation phase: 59, 128, 142, 194, 212, 292, 294, 321, 327, 471, 488, 531

Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

In many workshops, meetings and projects we all know the situation when emotions suddenly boil up, in both negative speech and euphoric moods. In both cases strong emotions often lead to the result that goals are not reached. The following methods help to reduce excessive emotion in the innovation process. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 142, 191, 366, 399, 493, 509 P2 Analyze: 14, 142, 180, 191, 329, 366, 381, 399, 421, 463, 474, 509 P3 Observe: 142, 191, 399 P4 Synthesize: 142, 191, 366, 399, 493, 509 P5 Ideation: 142, 157, 180, 430, 474, 493, 497 P6 Idea enrichment: 142, 157, 190, 497 P7 Evaluation: 30, 49, 142, 160, 173, 190, 319, 329, 338, 381, 421, 430, 431, 463, 474, 509 P8 Prototyping: 142, 379 P9 Fighting for ideas: 142, 319, 338, 497 P10 Implementation: 142, 320 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 142, 283, 316

42

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

In truth, many people initially reject the ideas of other people. This can often be observed in organizations where people ‘exist in silos’ and there is little or no interdisciplinary cooperation. These methods help to overcome or mitigate ‘Not invented here’ syndrome. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 77, 98, 118, 142, 165, 255, 388, 500, 555 P2 Analyze: 98, 142, 222, 255, 342, 539 P3 Observe: 75, 98, 142, 255, 342, 388 P4 Synthesize: 142, 255, 500 P5 Ideation: 8, 43, 69, 73, 97, 118, 120, 142, 152, 210, 222, 238, 240, 255, 445, 494, 500, 539, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 97, 120, 142, 210, 234, 255, 388, 500, 539 P7 Evaluation: 30, 47, 73, 120, 142, 234, 255, 494 P8 Prototyping: 47, 98, 142, 234, 255 P9 Fighting for ideas: 47, 142, 230, 255 P10 Implementation: 98, 142, 255 Works in every innovation phase: 59, 128, 142, 193, 283, 316, 461, 547

Weakens living in the past

People or teams who live in the past (preservationists or cainophobes) inhibit innovation efforts with thousands of reasons why things will not work. The methods mentioned here weaken living and thinking in the past. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 6, 48, 77, 88, 100, 122, 142, 171, 205, 206, 214, 252, 255, 281, 295, 299, 304, 349, 366, 373, 386, 418, 419, 458, 472, 491, 498, 503, 505, 512, 549, 550 P2 Analyze: 6, 48, 122, 142, 171, 206, 255, 295, 305, 349, 366, 386, 417, 418, 467, 472, 474, 505, 549 P3 Observe: 6, 75, 100, 142, 171, 255, 258, 281, 304, 305, 386, 417, 419, 440, 472, 505 P4 Synthesize: 6, 45, 142, 255, 305, 349, 366, 418, 419, 458, 467, 491, 512, 549, 550 P5 Ideation: 27, 45, 48, 94, 142, 195, 205, 255, 258, 299, 304, 305, 352, 422, 474, 550 P6 Idea enrichment: 142, 195, 255, 419, 422 P7 Evaluation: 49, 142, 255, 281, 305, 419, 474 P8 Prototyping: 142, 255, 304, 305, 419 P9 Fighting for ideas: 142, 255, 305 P10 Implementation: 142, 255 Works in every innovation phase: 11, 142, 368, 400, 461, 487, 489, 554

Weakens the inner censor

The ‘inner censor’ is the persona within us that watches over all our internalized values, rules and norms. For example, this unconscious mechanism in our mind keeps us from expressing overly radical ideas to prevent us from getting into embarrassing situations. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 77, 127, 141, 146, 226, 255, 273, 274, 453 P2 Analyze: 132, 141, 146, 255, 273, 274, 326, 525 P3 Observe: 141, 146, 226, 255, 273, 326 P4 Synthesize: 141, 146, 255 P5 Ideation: 61, 127, 132, 141, 146, 148, 152, 167, 197, 226, 232, 243, 255, 274, 286, 300, 301, 309, 326, 328, 355, 412, 434, 453, 486, 525, 551 P6 Idea enrichment: 61, 141, 146, 167, 197, 255, 355, 375, 393, 486 P7 Evaluation: 54, 141, 146, 158, 255, 354, 375, 453, 525 P8 Prototyping: 141, 146, 255, 393 P9 Fighting for ideas: 255, 375, 453 P10 Implementation: 141, 146, 255 Works in every innovation phase: 59, 400, 461, 471

43

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Weakens overly extroverted team members

Overly extroverted team members can ensure that rather introverted or inhibited people do not receive the same hearing in a workshop, or that only the ideas and opinions of the extroverts are followed. The methods mentioned here slow down the more extroverted people a little and have a balancing effect. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 366 P2 Analyze: 180, 366 P4 Synthesize: 366 P5 Ideation: 31, 74, 180, 309, 432 P6 Idea enrichment: 31, 74 P7 Evaluation: 30, 54, 338, 431, 522 P9 Fighting for ideas: 338, 522 Works in every innovation phase: 407

Sharpens common direction

A common clear orientation of all team members towards a vision, a goal or a strategy contributes a great deal to the success of any innovation initiative. These methods generally help to sharpen a common focus. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 48, 81, 106, 139, 206, 208, 216, 217, 245, 295, 299, 365, 408, 409, 427, 479, 491, 498, 501, 534, 549, 550, 552 P2 Analyze: 48, 81, 85, 139, 206, 217, 224, 245, 265, 295, 297, 305, 317, 323, 329, 365, 382, 383, 408, 409, 415, 421, 424, 427, 467, 479, 534, 549, 552 P3 Observe: 106, 139, 305, 408, 479, 515, 552 P4 Synthesize: 81, 106, 139, 217, 224, 305, 353, 383, 415, 427, 467, 479, 491, 515, 549, 550 P5 Ideation: 48, 85, 157, 217, 235, 238, 241, 299, 305, 324, 430, 479, 486, 534, 546, 550, 552 P6 Idea enrichment: 157, 235, 241, 479, 486 P7 Evaluation: 81, 85, 250, 297, 303, 305, 329, 335, 421, 430, 459, 534 P8 Prototyping: 81, 106, 297, 305, 408, 534 P9 Fighting for ideas: 297, 305, 335, 392, 459, 535, 536 P10 Implementation: 189, 331, 335, 459, 469, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 5, 194, 212, 256, 292, 368, 380, 461, 488, 531, 547, 548

Strengthens weak enrichment skills

The enrichment of initial ideas (preliminary ideas) is a key success factor in innovation. These methods help teams to enrich ideas. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 25, 39, 77, 81, 98, 118, 141, 166, 223, 253, 255, 299, 304, 349, 373, 388, 438, 458, 500, 518, 542, 552 P2 Analyze: 39, 81, 85, 89, 98, 112, 141, 166, 223, 224, 255, 297, 305, 325, 349, 376, 438, 439, 446, 474, 518, 525, 539, 552 P3 Observe: 89, 98, 141, 166, 223, 255, 304, 305, 325, 376, 388, 438, 439, 518, 552 P4 Synthesize: 81, 141, 166, 223, 224, 255, 305, 325, 349, 376, 438, 446, 454, 458, 470, 500, 518, 542 P5 Ideation: 25, 27, 39, 43, 72, 85, 91, 94, 105, 112, 116, 118, 141, 152, 167, 178, 231, 232, 235, 238, 240, 241, 244, 253, 255, 270, 275, 277, 299, 304, 305, 324, 325, 345, 376, 406, 422, 448, 457, 466, 470, 474, 484, 500, 518, 525, 539, 542, 543, 551, 552 P6 Idea enrichment: 105, 112, 116, 141, 166, 167, 231, 235, 236, 241, 253, 255, 270, 275, 277, 350, 369, 375, 376, 388, 422, 444, 457, 466, 500, 539, 542, 543 P7 Evaluation: 47, 81, 85, 116, 141, 231, 255, 297, 305, 335, 375, 457, 474, 483, 525 P8 Prototyping: 47, 81, 98, 141, 255, 275, 297, 304, 305, 325, 350, 438, 444, 454, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 47, 116, 230, 255, 297, 305, 335, 375, 543 P10 Implementation: 98, 141, 189, 255, 335, 369 Works in every innovation phase: 292, 351, 374, 487

44

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Strengthens confidence in the team

Trust in a team is a greater success factor than many people think, especially when pursuing radical or disruptive ideas. These methods help to strengthen team trust. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 81, 142, 318, 399, 409, 453, 498, 500, 549 P2 Analyze: 81, 85, 142, 297, 305, 318, 329, 346, 381, 384, 399, 409, 443, 463, 549 P3 Observe: 142, 305, 399 P4 Synthesize: 81, 142, 305, 399, 500, 549 P5 Ideation: 43, 85, 142, 210, 238, 275, 305, 318, 422, 430, 445, 453, 457, 466, 486, 500 P6 Idea enrichment: 103, 142, 210, 275, 318, 422, 444, 457, 466, 486, 500 P7 Evaluation: 81, 85, 142, 297, 305, 329, 359, 381, 430, 443, 453, 457, 463 P8 Prototyping: 81, 142, 275, 297, 305, 444 P9 Fighting for ideas: 142, 297, 298, 305, 453, 535 P10 Implementation: 142 Works in every innovation phase: 5, 59, 128, 142, 147, 211, 212, 292, 313, 316, 428, 471, 488, 530, 547, 548

Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base

One of the most frequent obstacles to success is the generation of ideas with too weak a knowledge base. This leads, for example, to ideas that already exist elsewhere, or ideas that end up being unprofitable. These methods work against this obstacle. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 6, 10, 17, 62, 66, 77, 83, 92, 100, 107, 135, 139, 140, 141, 142, 153, 162, 164, 171, 182, 191, 201, 205, 208, 218, 223, 245, 248, 252, 255, 266, 267, 281, 295, 296, 304, 349, 365, 366, 386, 389, 409, 418, 419, 426, 438, 472, 475, 502, 504, 518, 544, 552 P2 Analyze: 6, 10, 17, 62, 66, 83, 89, 107, 121, 135, 139, 140, 141, 142, 144, 162, 164, 171, 177, 182, 191, 201, 223, 245, 248, 255, 265, 266, 268, 295, 296, 323, 342, 349, 365, 366, 371, 383, 386, 396, 409, 417, 418, 426, 438, 439, 452, 467, 472, 475, 502, 504, 513, 518, 525, 552 P3 Observe: 6, 17, 62, 75, 83, 89, 100, 121, 139, 141, 142, 171, 177, 182, 191, 201, 223, 255, 267, 268, 281, 296, 304, 342, 386, 387, 396, 417, 419, 438, 439, 440, 472, 475, 515, 518, 520, 544, 552 P4 Synthesize: 6, 17, 62, 66, 139, 141, 142, 162, 164, 177, 191, 200, 201, 218, 223, 225, 255, 266, 267, 343, 349, 356, 366, 371, 383, 418, 419, 426, 438, 467, 475, 502, 513, 515, 518 P5 Ideation: 38, 56, 62, 66, 92, 94, 104, 120, 133, 135, 141, 142, 144, 154, 164, 169, 199, 205, 232, 240, 241, 255, 304, 334, 352, 420, 513, 518, 525, 546, 552 P6 Idea enrichment: 56, 120, 133, 141, 142, 154, 164, 199, 225, 241, 255, 334, 350, 361, 369, 419, 420, 426 P7 Evaluation: 120, 141, 142, 153, 255, 281, 303, 322, 335, 338, 419, 459, 525 P8 Prototyping: 107, 141, 142, 164, 255, 304, 350, 361, 362, 379, 405, 419, 438, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 142, 255, 335, 338, 459 P10 Implementation: 141, 142, 164, 255, 335, 369, 459 Works in every innovation phase: 115, 142, 228, 254, 292, 316, 487, 489

Prevents the bunker of ideas and secrecy

In some organizations, people sit on their ideas like clucking hens and don’t let anyone else touch them. The joint enrichment and further development of ideas is one of the major success factors for innovation. These methods work against the ideas bunker. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 52 P3 Observe: 52 P5 Ideation: 52, 73, 210, 238, 240, 422, 529 P6 Idea enrichment: 210, 393, 422 P7 Evaluation: 73 P8 Prototyping: 393 Works in every innovation phase: 128

45

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Prevents annoying killer phrases

These methods help to contain or prevent harmful killer phrases. Examples of killer phases are: Great idea, but not for us! This has proven itself, so why change it? This has never worked before! That is not within our area of competence! That’s not our strategy! Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 77, 127, 348, 399, 552 P2 Analyze: 348, 382, 399, 552 P3 Observe: 399, 552 P4 Synthesize: 348, 399 P5 Ideation: 26, 43, 63, 71, 72, 116, 125, 127, 188, 196, 199, 215, 286, 288, 394, 401, 490, 494, 497, 552 P6 Idea enrichment: 26, 116, 190, 196, 199, 288, 401, 497 P7 Evaluation: 30, 116, 190, 359, 370, 455, 494 P8 Prototyping: 379 P9 Fighting for ideas: 116, 230, 455, 497 Works in every innovation phase: 533, 554

Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression

Many teams get lost in details and generally stray from the topic. These methods help teams to retain the focus of their work. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 109 P2 Analyze: 9, 109, 439, 443, 463 P3 Observe: 109, 439 P4 Synthesize: 9, 45, 93 P5 Ideation: 9, 45, 91, 93, 291, 494 P7 Evaluation: 9, 24, 173, 370, 443, 463, 483, 494 P10 Implementation: 320 Works in every innovation phase: 212, 337, 527

Prevents blind actionism

Blind work actionism is often found in rather tense project situations. Theoretically, we are all aware that this way of working does not usually lead to real success. These methods help to prevent blind actionism. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 25, 82, 83, 88, 92, 109, 110, 139, 141, 150, 171, 205, 208, 253, 255, 271, 281, 296, 306, 341, 348, 366, 386, 390, 418, 472, 481, 491, 504 P2 Analyze: 9, 14, 34, 36, 37, 50, 80, 82, 83, 86, 87, 109, 110, 121, 132, 139, 141, 150, 171, 255, 265, 271, 296, 306, 341, 348, 366, 371, 377, 382, 386, 390, 418, 472, 477, 481, 504, 513 P3 Observe: 12, 50, 80, 82, 83, 109, 110, 121, 139, 141, 150, 171, 246, 255, 281, 296, 341, 386, 387, 390, 472 P4 Synthesize: 9, 36, 45, 80, 93, 110, 139, 141, 150, 246, 255, 259, 306, 343, 348, 353, 356, 366, 371, 418, 477, 491, 513 P5 Ideation: 9, 12, 22, 25, 45, 86, 92, 93, 94, 132, 141, 154, 205, 253, 255, 302, 477, 484, 511, 513, 543, 546 P6 Idea enrichment: 141, 154, 253, 255, 302, 377, 393, 543 P7 Evaluation: 9, 12, 33, 141, 255, 281, 303, 431, 522 P8 Prototyping: 80, 141, 255, 379, 393 P9 Fighting for ideas: 12, 80, 255, 460, 522, 543 P10 Implementation: 20, 141, 255, 395 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 193, 212, 228, 254, 321, 337, 527

46

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions

Decisions that are not made with a 360-degree view are often a hindrance to success, especially in rather complex business environments. These methods help to avoid one-sided decisions. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 2, 66, 88, 92, 107, 122, 139, 142, 179, 183, 205, 242, 249, 255, 272, 281, 296, 341, 348, 365, 366, 390, 418, 419, 426, 438, 481, 509, 544 P2 Analyze: 9, 36, 66, 107, 122, 131, 132, 139, 142, 149, 183, 221, 249, 255, 272, 296, 326, 341, 348, 365, 366, 390, 418, 421, 426, 438, 481, 509, 525 P3 Observe: 12, 75, 139, 142, 242, 255, 281, 296, 326, 341, 390, 419, 438, 515, 544 P4 Synthesize: 9, 36, 66, 139, 142, 225, 255, 348, 366, 418, 419, 426, 438, 509, 515 P5 Ideation: 9, 12, 13, 66, 92, 94, 132, 142, 154, 183, 205, 231, 255, 288, 326, 340, 486, 497, 525, 543 P6 Idea enrichment: 13, 55, 142, 154, 181, 190, 221, 225, 231, 234, 242, 255, 288, 340, 375, 393, 419, 426, 486, 497, 543 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 12, 13, 15, 18, 28, 30, 47, 54, 55, 78, 79, 84, 90, 102, 117, 131, 138, 142, 158, 160, 161, 163, 168, 174, 175, 190, 221, 227, 231, 234, 242, 250, 255, 281, 303, 319, 322, 344, 354, 357, 359, 360, 370, 372, 375, 419, 421, 431, 433, 437, 455, 509, 522, 525, 538, 541 P8 Prototyping: 47, 107, 142, 183, 234, 255, 339, 362, 379, 393, 405, 419, 438, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 12, 13, 18, 47, 117, 142, 230, 255, 319, 339, 372, 375, 455, 497, 522, 543 P10 Implementation: 102, 117, 142, 255 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 142, 487

Prevents wrong granularity

Working at the wrong level is a major obstacle to success for many innovation initiatives. More specifically, this means that the work is usually too generic (too high flight level). However, too small-scale approaches (too low flight level) can lead to efficiency problems in the project. These methods help to find the right level to focus on. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 6, 25, 57, 83, 106, 110, 119, 135, 139, 141, 142, 162, 165, 166, 182, 183, 202, 208, 214, 217, 218, 223, 248, 255, 266, 271, 296, 304, 341, 349, 366, 373, 386, 408, 409, 418, 426, 427, 438, 456, 491, 505, 509, 512, 544, 550 P2 Analyze: 6, 34, 37, 50, 83, 96, 110, 119, 135, 139, 141, 142, 162, 166, 182, 183, 204, 217, 222, 223, 248, 255, 262, 266, 271, 280, 296, 317, 341, 342, 349, 366, 383, 386, 396, 408, 409, 415, 418, 426, 427, 438, 452, 456, 467, 505, 509 P3 Observe: 1, 6, 50, 83, 106, 110, 139, 141, 142, 166, 182, 192, 223, 255, 296, 304, 341, 342, 358, 386, 396, 408, 438, 440, 456, 505, 544 P4 Synthesize: 6, 19, 106, 110, 136, 139, 141, 142, 162, 166, 200, 202, 217, 218, 223, 255, 259, 263, 266, 349, 356, 366, 383, 415, 418, 426, 427, 438, 467, 491, 509, 512, 550 P5 Ideation: 19, 22, 25, 57, 133, 135, 136, 141, 142, 154, 183, 199, 202, 203, 204, 215, 217, 222, 235, 240, 241, 255, 263, 304, 324, 340, 352, 385, 391, 448, 456, 484, 550 P6 Idea enrichment: 19, 133, 136, 141, 142, 154, 166, 199, 203, 204, 234, 235, 236, 241, 255, 340, 369, 385, 393, 426 P7 Evaluation: 28, 33, 78, 141, 142, 204, 234, 255, 338, 344, 359, 437, 509 P8 Prototyping: 106, 141, 142, 183, 234, 255, 304, 379, 393, 408, 438, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 142, 255, 338, 536 P10 Implementation: 141, 142, 255, 369, 469, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 95, 128, 129, 142, 228, 254, 292, 321, 368, 489

47

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Prevents unreflected action

Unreflected actions are a big mistake, especially in complex challenges and volatile markets, and lead to many wrong decisions and actions. These methods protect you from unreflected actions. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 2, 10, 17, 25, 46, 62, 77, 81, 82, 100, 101, 106, 109, 110, 122, 135, 139, 141, 142, 143, 146, 150, 165, 171, 183, 184, 185, 201, 202, 205, 208, 214, 216, 217, 242, 245, 248, 249, 251, 252, 253, 255, 266, 267, 271, 296, 299, 304, 318, 341, 348, 366, 386, 390, 399, 408, 409, 418, 419, 427, 438, 447, 472, 475, 491, 493, 501, 502, 504, 509, 512, 544, 552 P2 Analyze: 9, 10, 14, 17, 34, 36, 46, 50, 62, 80, 81, 82, 86, 87, 89, 96, 101, 108, 109, 110, 112, 121, 122, 132, 135, 139, 141, 142, 143, 146, 150, 171, 177, 180, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 201, 217, 221, 224, 245, 248, 249, 251, 255, 262, 265, 266, 268, 269, 271, 280, 290, 296, 318, 323, 325, 341, 346, 348, 366, 371, 377, 381, 382, 383, 384, 386, 390, 396, 399, 408, 409, 416, 417, 418, 427, 438, 439, 443, 446, 447, 452, 467, 472, 475, 502, 504, 509, 513, 552 P3 Observe: 17, 50, 62, 75, 80, 82, 89, 100, 106, 108, 109, 110, 121, 139, 141, 142, 143, 146, 150, 171, 177, 185, 187, 201, 242, 246, 251, 255, 260, 267, 268, 278, 296, 304, 325, 341, 358, 364, 386, 387, 390, 396, 399, 408, 416, 417, 419, 438, 439, 440, 447, 472, 475, 515, 516, 520, 544, 552 P4 Synthesize: 9, 17, 36, 45, 62, 80, 81, 93, 101, 106, 108, 110, 139, 141, 142, 143, 146, 150, 172, 177, 185, 201, 202, 217, 224, 225, 246, 251, 255, 259, 266, 267, 287, 325, 343, 348, 353, 356, 366, 371, 383, 399, 418, 419, 427, 438, 446, 467, 475, 491, 493, 502, 509, 512, 513, 515 P5 Ideation: 9, 22, 25, 45, 62, 86, 93, 94, 112, 132, 135, 141, 142, 143, 146, 154, 156, 180, 183, 185, 199, 202, 203, 205, 217, 238, 240, 251, 253, 255, 269, 288, 290, 299, 302, 304, 318, 324, 325, 352, 448, 493, 511, 513, 546, 552 P6 Idea enrichment: 103, 112, 141, 142, 143, 146, 154, 156, 185, 190, 199, 203, 221, 225, 242, 251, 253, 255, 278, 288, 290, 302, 318, 367, 377, 419, 450 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 15, 18, 28, 49, 54, 81, 90, 102, 117, 141, 142, 143, 146, 151, 161, 175, 185, 187, 190, 221, 239, 242, 250, 251, 255, 269, 290, 322, 338, 344, 354, 357, 360, 367, 370, 378, 381, 419, 431, 443, 450, 455, 459, 509, 522, 538 P8 Prototyping: 80, 81, 106, 141, 142, 143, 146, 183, 185, 187, 251, 255, 304, 325, 362, 364, 367, 379, 405, 408, 419, 438, 450, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 80, 117, 142, 251, 255, 278, 338, 378, 450, 455, 459, 460, 522, 536 P10 Implementation: 20, 99, 102, 117, 141, 142, 143, 146, 185, 251, 255, 320, 331, 378, 395, 459, 469, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 5, 95, 123, 128, 129, 142, 194, 212, 228, 256, 283, 292, 316, 321, 337, 398, 407, 487, 489, 533

Prevents hasty judgments about ideas

Premature judgement of ideas that are still immature is a very common obstacle on the road to innovation success. In particular, initial preliminary ideas need to mature like a good whisky or a good cheese. These methods prevent judging too quickly or too early. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 2, 25, 48, 81, 92, 122, 142, 183, 184, 216, 242, 272, 296, 341, 386, 390, 419, 426, 505, 509 P2 Analyze: 9, 32, 48, 81, 122, 131, 142, 183, 184, 187, 221, 224, 272, 296, 305, 326, 329, 341, 377, 381, 386, 390, 426, 505, 509 P3 Observe: 32, 142, 187, 242, 258, 296, 305, 326, 341, 386, 390, 419, 505, 515 P4 Synthesize: 9, 81, 93, 142, 224, 305, 419, 426, 509, 515 P5 Ideation: 9, 13, 25, 48, 63, 92, 93, 142, 145, 154, 183, 195, 235, 258, 288, 302, 305, 326, 486, 490, 497 P6 Idea enrichment: 13, 55, 103, 142, 145, 154, 195, 221, 234, 235, 236, 242, 288, 302, 361, 367, 369, 375, 377, 393, 419, 426, 450, 486, 497 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 13, 15, 18, 28, 30, 47, 54, 55, 81, 84, 102, 117, 131, 142, 155, 158, 160, 161, 163, 187, 221, 234, 239, 242, 250, 303, 305, 322, 329, 338, 344, 357, 360, 367, 372, 375, 381, 419, 450, 455, 509, 522 P8 Prototyping: 47, 81, 142, 183, 187, 234, 305, 361, 367, 379, 393, 405, 419, 450 P9 Fighting for ideas: 13, 18, 47, 117, 142, 170, 305, 338, 372, 375, 450, 455, 497, 522 P10 Implementation: 102, 117, 142, 369 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 142, 228, 292

48

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Shortens excessively long decision meetings

Many efficiency problems occur again and again in overlong decision meetings. These methods help you to make efficient and correct decisions. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 2, 179 P2 Analyze: 9, 329, 381, 421, 443 P4 Synthesize: 9, 172, 454 P5 Ideation: 9 P6 Idea enrichment: 103, 190, 234 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 15, 18, 30, 54, 78, 102, 137, 138, 155, 160, 161, 168, 173, 174, 175, 190, 227, 234, 250, 319, 322, 329, 357, 360, 363, 370, 372, 381, 421, 431, 433, 443, 455, 483, 522, 541 P8 Prototyping: 234, 454 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 319, 363, 372, 455, 522 P10 Implementation: 102

Shortens overly long meeting times

These methods also reliably help to shorten meeting times. This is a great advantage especially in cultures with too much discussion. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 2, 166 P2 Analyze: 9, 14, 36, 166, 269, 463 P3 Observe: 166 P4 Synthesize: 9, 36, 166, 454 P5 Ideation: 3, 9, 269, 270 P6 Idea enrichment: 103, 166, 270 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 30, 90, 151, 239, 269, 463, 522, 532, 538 P8 Prototyping: 454 P9 Fighting for ideas: 522 P10 Implementation: 99, 320, 331 Works in every innovation phase: 95, 126, 499

49

Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

The methods mentioned here reliably help to break through creative blocks and to advance to new ideas. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 7, 39, 41, 48, 57, 66, 77, 92, 111, 118, 127, 141, 142, 146, 164, 206, 217, 226, 252, 253, 255, 273, 274, 304, 318, 332, 349, 453, 491, 500, 502, 504, 518, 540, 549, 550 P2 Analyze: 7, 9, 16, 21, 39, 48, 66, 85, 132, 141, 142, 144, 146, 164, 206, 217, 255, 262, 269, 273, 274, 290, 297, 305, 315, 318, 325, 326, 349, 376, 377, 382, 474, 477, 492, 502, 504, 518, 521, 525, 539, 549 P3 Observe: 1, 7, 12, 65, 141, 142, 146, 226, 255, 258, 273, 304, 305, 325, 326, 332, 364, 376, 518, 520 P4 Synthesize: 9, 45, 66, 93, 141, 142, 146, 164, 198, 217, 255, 263, 305, 325, 349, 376, 454, 470, 477, 491, 500, 502, 518, 540, 549, 550 P5 Ideation: 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16, 21, 22, 26, 27, 29, 31, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 48, 53, 56, 57, 60, 61, 63, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 85, 91, 92, 93, 94, 97, 104, 111, 113, 114, 116, 118, 124, 125, 127, 132, 133, 141, 142, 144, 145, 146, 148, 152, 154, 159, 164, 167, 169, 178, 188, 196, 197, 198, 199, 203, 209, 210, 215, 217, 219, 220, 226, 229, 231, 232, 233, 238, 240, 241, 243, 244, 253, 255, 258, 263, 269, 270, 274, 275, 277, 284, 286, 288, 289, 290, 291, 293, 300, 301, 302, 304, 305, 308, 309, 311, 312, 314, 315, 318, 324, 325, 326, 330, 332, 333, 334, 336, 345, 347, 352, 355, 376, 391, 394, 401, 402, 403, 404, 406, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 420, 422, 429, 432, 434, 435, 436, 442, 445, 448, 449, 453, 457, 464, 465, 466, 468, 470, 473, 474, 476, 477, 478, 480, 482, 484, 485, 486, 490, 492, 494, 495, 496, 500, 506, 507, 508, 510, 511, 514, 518, 519, 521, 523, 525, 526, 539, 550, 551, 553 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 13, 26, 29, 31, 41, 56, 61, 70, 74, 97, 111, 113, 116, 133, 141, 142, 145, 146, 154, 159, 164, 167, 176, 196, 197, 198, 199, 203, 210, 219, 231, 233, 236, 241, 253, 255, 270, 275, 277, 284, 288, 290, 302, 308, 311, 312, 314, 318, 333, 334, 336, 355, 369, 375, 376, 377, 401, 402, 403, 410, 420, 422, 442, 444, 457, 466, 473, 476, 486, 496, 500, 506, 510, 521, 539 P7 Evaluation: 9, 12, 13, 21, 73, 85, 116, 141, 142, 146, 231, 255, 269, 290, 297, 305, 375, 453, 457, 474, 494, 525 P8 Prototyping: 65, 141, 142, 146, 164, 176, 255, 275, 297, 304, 305, 325, 332, 364, 444, 454, 521 P9 Fighting for ideas: 12, 13, 116, 142, 255, 297, 298, 305, 375, 453, 526 P10 Implementation: 141, 142, 146, 164, 189, 255, 369, 526 Works in every innovation phase: 58, 115, 142, 147, 292, 327, 351, 368, 374, 400, 428, 471, 554

Counteracts a lack of inspiration

Whenever inspiration seems to be missing in work situations, these methods offer an advantage. They provide inspiration or increase the participants’ sensitivity to inspiration. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 82, 106, 118, 127, 141, 146, 164, 206, 226, 245, 247, 252, 253, 266, 273, 274, 299, 304, 332, 389, 453, 498, 500, 518, 540, 549, 550 P2 Analyze: 82, 86, 121, 141, 144, 146, 164, 180, 206, 245, 266, 273, 274, 305, 325, 326, 439, 446, 477, 517, 518, 549 P3 Observe: 65, 82, 106, 121, 141, 146, 192, 226, 260, 273, 304, 305, 325, 326, 332, 439, 518 P4 Synthesize: 106, 141, 146, 164, 266, 305, 325, 446, 477, 500, 518, 540, 549, 550 P5 Ideation: 3, 43, 53, 61, 73, 76, 86, 113, 114, 118, 120, 127, 133, 141, 144, 146, 152, 164, 167, 169, 178, 180, 188, 197, 210, 219, 220, 226, 229, 231, 233, 238, 240, 243, 244, 253, 270, 274, 275, 284, 286, 289, 293, 299, 300, 301, 302, 304, 305, 308, 309, 311, 312, 314, 325, 326, 328, 330, 332, 333, 334, 336, 345, 347, 352, 394, 401, 402, 403, 404, 406, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 429, 434, 436, 445, 453, 457, 466, 468, 477, 480, 482, 486, 494, 496, 500, 506, 507, 510, 511, 514, 517, 518, 523, 550, 551, 553 P6 Idea enrichment: 61, 113, 120, 133, 141, 146, 164, 167, 176, 197, 210, 219, 231, 233, 253, 270, 275, 284, 302, 308, 311, 312, 314, 333, 334, 336, 350, 361, 375, 401, 402, 403, 410, 457, 466, 486, 496, 500, 506, 510 P7 Evaluation: 73, 120, 141, 146, 231, 305, 375, 453, 457, 494 P8 Prototyping: 65, 106, 141, 146, 164, 176, 275, 304, 305, 325, 332, 350, 361, 362, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 298, 305, 375, 453 P10 Implementation: 141, 146, 164 Works in every innovation phase: 58, 128, 211, 261, 374, 461, 524

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Search path 7 – Methods grouped by obstacle effects Obstacle effects

Key index numbers of the methods

Convinces permanent opponents

Particularly in traditional, conservative companies there is usually a noticeable number of permanent opponents to new ideas. These people usually let themselves be convinced by the methods mentioned here. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 2, 81, 165, 166, 179, 183, 206, 399, 418, 419 P2 Analyze: 81, 166, 183, 206, 383, 399, 418 P3 Observe: 1, 166, 399, 419 P4 Synthesize: 81, 166, 287, 383, 399, 418, 419 P5 Ideation: 183, 188, 203, 401, 430 P6 Idea enrichment: 166, 203, 393, 401, 419 P7 Evaluation: 2, 24, 30, 81, 158, 161, 354, 378, 419, 430, 522 P8 Prototyping: 81, 183, 393, 419 P9 Fighting for ideas: 378, 522, 535 P10 Implementation: 378 Works in every innovation phase: 123, 533, 554

Convinces rationalizers

Methods with this property very often convince even the self-confessed rationalizers in your team. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 41, 46, 171, 206, 253, 267, 389 P2 Analyze: 9, 46, 86, 87, 171, 206, 262, 280, 383, 396, 439, 452 P3 Observe: 1, 171, 267, 396, 439 P4 Synthesize: 9, 267, 383 P5 Ideation: 9, 41, 86, 253, 275, 430 P6 Idea enrichment: 41, 253, 275, 361 P7 Evaluation: 9, 28, 90, 430, 459 P8 Prototyping: 275, 361 P9 Fighting for ideas: 459, 536 P10 Implementation: 99, 320, 451, 459, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 123, 212

Convinces structure-loving team members

Structure-loving employees such as most engineers or employees from departments like finance or quality management in particular are addressed with these methods, as structures can often be identified in these techniques as well. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 2, 10, 17, 46, 106, 109, 141, 171, 185, 202, 208, 247, 248, 251, 253, 281, 318, 389, 409, 426, 458, 542 P2 Analyze: 9, 10, 17, 46, 86, 87, 108, 109, 141, 171, 185, 248, 251, 262, 268, 280, 290, 318, 382, 383, 396, 409, 426, 477 P3 Observe: 17, 106, 108, 109, 141, 171, 185, 192, 251, 268, 281, 358, 396, 516 P4 Synthesize: 9, 17, 106, 108, 141, 185, 202, 251, 287, 383, 426, 458, 477, 542 P5 Ideation: 8, 9, 22, 38, 86, 104, 113, 133, 141, 178, 185, 202, 219, 232, 235, 251, 253, 289, 290, 318, 334, 422, 477, 542 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 103, 113, 133, 141, 185, 190, 219, 235, 251, 253, 290, 318, 334, 422, 426, 542 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 18, 28, 30, 33, 90, 137, 141, 151, 173, 174, 185, 190, 250, 251, 281, 290, 459, 522 P8 Prototyping: 106, 141, 185, 251, 339 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 251, 339, 459, 522, 536 P10 Implementation: 20, 99, 141, 185, 251, 320, 451, 459, 469, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 95, 123, 126, 194, 212, 321, 531

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Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits There are many different basic conditions which create an advantage when using individual methods or tools. This Search Path shows you the situations that require an advantage that we have collected and the methods that can be used to provide these advantages. In detail, this can mean that methods used are much faster and more efficient, and that they are much more readily accepted by participants.

Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for teams in a comfort situation

If innovation is to be implemented in a situation that is too comfortable, and therefore participants are resistant to change. There are always individual characteristics for each situation. These methods generally pay off in this situation. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 25, 46, 48, 62, 98, 101, 106, 109, 110, 142, 146, 165, 171, 191, 205, 206, 214, 217, 247, 248, 249, 251, 253, 255, 266, 267, 299, 304, 341, 348, 349, 365, 373, 390, 409, 419, 438, 447, 453, 475, 481, 498, 502, 503, 504, 518, 534, 540 P2 Analyze: 34, 46, 48, 62, 80, 86, 96, 98, 101, 109, 110, 121, 131, 142, 146, 171, 180, 191, 206, 217, 248, 249, 251, 255, 266, 297, 305, 326, 341, 348, 349, 365, 390, 409, 417, 438, 447, 475, 481, 502, 504, 518, 525, 534 P3 Observe: 1, 12, 62, 75, 80, 98, 106, 109, 110, 121, 142, 146, 171, 191, 251, 255, 267, 304, 305, 326, 341, 390, 417, 419, 438, 447, 475, 515, 518, 520 P4 Synthesize: 62, 80, 101, 106, 110, 142, 146, 191, 198, 217, 251, 255, 259, 266, 267, 305, 348, 349, 419, 438, 454, 470, 475, 502, 515, 518, 540 P5 Ideation: 3, 12, 13, 25, 31, 44, 48, 62, 67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 86, 97, 114, 116, 124, 142, 146, 169, 180, 196, 198, 199, 205, 217, 219, 220, 231, 232, 238, 243, 251, 253, 255, 275, 277, 286, 299, 300, 301, 304, 305, 314, 326, 394, 401, 402, 406, 412, 429, 442, 453, 470, 478, 484, 485, 486, 496, 510, 518, 523, 525, 534, 551, 553 P6 Idea enrichment: 13, 31, 74, 97, 116, 142, 146, 176, 196, 198, 199, 219, 231, 234, 236, 251, 253, 255, 275, 277, 314, 350, 369, 401, 402, 419, 442, 444, 450, 486, 496, 510 P7 Evaluation: 12, 13, 18, 49, 73, 116, 131, 142, 146, 231, 234, 251, 255, 297, 305, 319, 338, 419, 431, 450, 453, 483, 522, 525, 534, 538 P8 Prototyping: 80, 98, 106, 142, 146, 176, 234, 251, 255, 275, 297, 304, 305, 339, 350, 362, 405, 419, 438, 444, 450, 454, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 12, 13, 18, 80, 116, 142, 230, 251, 255, 297, 298, 305, 319, 338, 339, 450, 453, 522 P10 Implementation: 98, 142, 146, 189, 251, 255, 369, 395, 451 Works in every innovation phase: 58, 142, 147, 207, 211, 256, 327, 374, 471, 487, 489, 527, 533

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Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for teams in a crisis situation

In a crisis situation there are always particular tensions, pressures and expectations. These methods offer general advantages here. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 52, 62, 77, 88, 92, 98, 101, 106, 109, 118, 140, 166, 171, 184, 214, 223, 251, 253, 255, 266, 271, 272, 281, 306, 341, 348, 349, 366, 386, 408, 409, 418, 453, 475, 502, 509, 518, 534, 540 P2 Analyze: 14, 34, 50, 62, 80, 98, 101, 109, 112, 140, 144, 166, 171, 184, 223, 224, 251, 255, 262, 266, 271, 272, 306, 315, 326, 329, 341, 342, 346, 348, 349, 366, 381, 382, 384, 386, 396, 408, 409, 415, 417, 418, 452, 463, 475, 477, 502, 509, 518, 525, 534 P3 Observe: 1, 50, 52, 62, 65, 75, 80, 98, 106, 109, 166, 171, 223, 246, 251, 255, 260, 281, 326, 341, 342, 386, 396, 408, 417, 475, 515, 518 P4 Synthesize: 62, 80, 93, 101, 106, 166, 172, 223, 224, 246, 251, 255, 259, 266, 306, 348, 349, 366, 415, 418, 475, 477, 502, 509, 515, 518, 540 P5 Ideation: 13, 31, 52, 62, 73, 74, 92, 93, 94, 112, 116, 118, 120, 125, 144, 157, 167, 195, 197, 219, 232, 233, 238, 244, 251, 253, 255, 270, 277, 286, 301, 309, 312, 314, 315, 326, 345, 402, 406, 412, 453, 477, 480, 490, 496, 497, 506, 510, 518, 525, 534 P6 Idea enrichment: 13, 31, 55, 74, 103, 112, 116, 120, 157, 166, 167, 195, 197, 219, 233, 234, 236, 251, 253, 255, 270, 277, 312, 314, 402, 444, 496, 497, 506, 510 P7 Evaluation: 13, 18, 28, 33, 55, 73, 90, 116, 120, 155, 158, 163, 168, 173, 174, 234, 250, 251, 255, 281, 303, 329, 335, 338, 354, 372, 381, 431, 453, 459, 463, 483, 509, 522, 525, 534, 538 P8 Prototyping: 65, 80, 98, 106, 234, 251, 255, 339, 408, 444, 534 P9 Fighting for ideas: 13, 18, 80, 116, 170, 230, 251, 255, 335, 338, 339, 372, 453, 459, 460, 497, 522, 536 P10 Implementation: 98, 189, 251, 255, 335, 395, 451, 459, 469, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 5, 123, 129, 147, 207, 211, 212, 316, 327, 337, 374, 471, 487, 488, 527, 533, 547, 548

Possible extra benefit for teams with a strong project mandate

Teams with a strong mandate can usually act more in a more agile, dynamic and progressive way than others. These teams are particularly supported by these methods. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 6, 25, 41, 46, 48, 52, 57, 62, 66, 81, 82, 98, 101, 107, 110, 118, 135, 141, 142, 143, 146, 153, 165, 171, 182, 185, 191, 205, 206, 214, 217, 218, 226, 247, 248, 249, 252, 253, 267, 272, 295, 299, 304, 306, 332, 348, 373, 386, 388, 389, 390, 408, 419, 427, 438, 447, 458, 475, 481, 491, 498, 501, 503, 512, 534, 550 P2 Analyze: 6, 46, 48, 62, 66, 81, 82, 85, 87, 89, 96, 98, 101, 107, 110, 121, 135, 141, 142, 143, 146, 171, 182, 185, 187, 191, 206, 217, 248, 249, 272, 295, 297, 305, 306, 326, 342, 348, 371, 386, 390, 408, 424, 427, 438, 439, 441, 447, 475, 481, 525, 534, 539 P3 Observe: 6, 52, 62, 75, 82, 89, 98, 110, 121, 141, 142, 143, 146, 171, 182, 185, 187, 191, 192, 226, 267, 304, 305, 326, 332, 342, 358, 386, 388, 390, 408, 419, 438, 439, 440, 447, 475, 515, 520 P4 Synthesize: 6, 62, 66, 81, 101, 110, 136, 141, 142, 143, 146, 185, 191, 217, 218, 267, 305, 306, 348, 356, 371, 419, 427, 438, 441, 458, 475, 491, 512, 515, 550 P5 Ideation: 25, 27, 41, 44, 48, 52, 56, 57, 60, 62, 66, 67, 68, 85, 97, 114, 118, 120, 135, 136, 141, 142, 143, 146, 152, 159, 185, 196, 199, 203, 205, 215, 217, 219, 220, 226, 240, 241, 243, 253, 275, 299, 300, 302, 304, 305, 326, 332, 352, 401, 402, 441, 478, 484, 486, 523, 525, 534, 539, 550, 551 P6 Idea enrichment: 41, 56, 97, 120, 136, 141, 142, 143, 146, 159, 185, 196, 199, 203, 219, 234, 241, 253, 275, 302, 350, 361, 369, 388, 393, 401, 402, 419, 444, 450, 486, 539 P7 Evaluation: 18, 33, 47, 81, 85, 120, 141, 142, 143, 146, 153, 185, 187, 234, 297, 305, 319, 344, 378, 419, 450, 483, 522, 525, 534 P8 Prototyping: 47, 81, 98, 107, 141, 142, 143, 146, 185, 187, 234, 275, 297, 304, 305, 332, 350, 361, 379, 393, 405, 408, 419, 438, 441, 444, 450, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 47, 142, 230, 297, 305, 319, 378, 392, 450, 460, 522 P10 Implementation: 98, 99, 141, 142, 143, 146, 185, 369, 378, 469 Works in every innovation phase: 129, 142, 147, 211, 283, 351, 368, 487, 489

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Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Teams from rather conservative, traditional corporate cultures are often found in large companies. People often strive for structures, facts and security at work. These teams benefit from these methods. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 100, 109, 166, 245, 296, 399, 426, 453, 456 P2 Analyze: 109, 144, 166, 224, 245, 268, 280, 296, 382, 399, 426, 443, 456, 474 P3 Observe: 100, 109, 166, 268, 278, 296, 399, 456 P4 Synthesize: 166, 224, 399, 426 P5 Ideation: 40, 43, 104, 133, 144, 167, 352, 429, 448, 453, 456, 474, 485, 519 P6 Idea enrichment: 55, 133, 166, 167, 278, 375, 426 P7 Evaluation: 30, 55, 137, 163, 303, 370, 375, 425, 443, 453, 459, 474 P9 Fighting for ideas: 278, 298, 375, 453, 459, 535, 536 P10 Implementation: 331, 459, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 5, 59, 147, 194, 211, 212, 261, 294, 316, 337, 398, 487, 488, 527, 530, 554

Possible extra benefits for teams with a weak team leader

Teams and projects with rather weak or insecure team leadership benefit especially from these methods. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 2, 83, 139, 179, 223, 253, 264, 296, 348, 366, 534, 549 P2 Analyze: 9, 14, 36, 50, 83, 112, 139, 144, 223, 224, 296, 346, 348, 366, 384, 396, 424, 463, 534, 549 P3 Observe: 50, 83, 139, 223, 296, 396, 516 P4 Synthesize: 9, 36, 139, 172, 223, 224, 225, 259, 348, 366, 549 P5 Ideation: 8, 9, 13, 31, 72, 74, 91, 94, 112, 125, 144, 253, 277, 309, 420, 448, 457, 486, 490, 497, 510, 534 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 13, 31, 55, 74, 112, 225, 234, 236, 253, 277, 420, 457, 486, 497, 510 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 13, 15, 24, 55, 78, 79, 90, 102, 137, 158, 161, 163, 173, 227, 234, 322, 354, 357, 360, 431, 433, 457, 463, 483, 522, 532, 534, 538 P8 Prototyping: 234, 534 P9 Fighting for ideas: 13, 497, 522 P10 Implementation: 99, 102, 320, 331 Works in every innovation phase: 123, 129, 194, 211, 212, 321, 548

Possible extra benefits for teams with a sovereign team leader

Teams with a sovereign team leader can usually act in more agile, dynamic and progressive ways than others. These teams are especially supported by these methods. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 46, 48, 66, 81, 82, 106, 107, 110, 111, 119, 141, 142, 146, 165, 171, 182, 205, 206, 217, 218, 226, 247, 249, 252, 253, 267, 285, 295, 306, 332, 373, 386, 388, 390, 419, 427, 438, 481, 491, 498, 534, 540, 550 P2 Analyze: 32, 46, 48, 66, 80, 81, 82, 89, 96, 107, 110, 119, 121, 141, 142, 146, 171, 177, 180, 182, 187, 204, 206, 217, 249, 295, 297, 305, 306, 326, 342, 386, 390, 421, 427, 438, 439, 481, 517, 525, 534 P3 Observe: 32, 80, 82, 89, 106, 110, 121, 141, 142, 146, 171, 177, 182, 187, 192, 226, 267, 305, 326, 332, 342, 358, 386, 387, 388, 390, 419, 438, 439, 440 P4 Synthesize: 66, 80, 81, 106, 110, 136, 141, 142, 146, 177, 217, 218, 267, 305, 306, 419, 427, 438, 491, 540, 550 P5 Ideation: 22, 27, 44, 48, 56, 60, 66, 67, 68, 97, 105, 111, 114, 120, 136, 141, 142, 146, 180, 196, 199, 203, 204, 205, 215, 217, 219, 220, 226, 229, 231, 238, 243, 244, 253, 275, 277, 285, 291, 300, 302, 305, 326, 332, 401, 402, 410, 422, 430, 442, 478, 484, 511, 517, 525, 534, 550, 551 P6 Idea enrichment: 56, 97, 105, 111, 120, 136, 141, 142, 146, 196, 199, 203, 204, 219, 231, 234, 253, 275, 277, 302, 361, 388, 393, 401, 402, 410, 419, 422, 442, 450 P7 Evaluation: 18, 33, 47, 49, 81, 84, 120, 141, 142, 146, 187, 204, 231, 234, 297, 305, 419, 421, 430, 450, 483, 522, 525, 534 P8 Prototyping: 47, 80, 81, 106, 107, 141, 142, 146, 187, 234, 275, 297, 305, 332, 361, 393, 405, 419, 438, 450, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 47, 80, 142, 297, 305, 450, 460, 522 P10 Implementation: 99, 141, 142, 146, 189, 469 Works in every innovation phase: 129, 142, 193, 211, 368, 400, 487

54

Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for teams with a weak management mandate

Teams with rather weak or wooly order mandates benefit from the methods listed here. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 139, 223, 251, 253, 271, 366, 534, 549 P2 Analyze: 14, 34, 112, 139, 144, 223, 251, 262, 271, 366, 534, 549 P3 Observe: 139, 223, 251, 516 P4 Synthesize: 139, 223, 251, 366, 549 P5 Ideation: 74, 94, 112, 144, 251, 253, 334, 490, 497, 534 P6 Idea enrichment: 74, 103, 112, 234, 251, 253, 334, 497 P7 Evaluation: 15, 78, 79, 102, 173, 227, 234, 251, 354, 483, 522, 534 P8 Prototyping: 234, 251, 534 P9 Fighting for ideas: 251, 497, 522 P10 Implementation: 102, 251 Works in every innovation phase: 211

Possible extra benefits for teams experienced in disruption

Innovation professionals with experience of working in a disruptive environment benefit especially from the methods listed here. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 57, 62, 66, 82, 83, 101, 106, 107, 110, 141, 153, 162, 183, 202, 205, 242, 247, 248, 253, 266, 267, 272, 304, 332, 341, 349, 390, 418, 438, 475, 502, 504, 509, 518, 534, 540, 550, 555 P2 Analyze: 36, 62, 66, 80, 82, 83, 101, 107, 110, 121, 141, 162, 183, 187, 248, 266, 272, 297, 325, 341, 342, 349, 390, 396, 417, 418, 438, 475, 502, 504, 509, 518, 525, 534 P3 Observe: 62, 80, 82, 83, 106, 110, 121, 141, 187, 242, 260, 267, 304, 325, 332, 341, 342, 387, 390, 396, 417, 438, 440, 475, 515, 518, 520 P4 Synthesize: 19, 36, 62, 66, 80, 101, 106, 110, 136, 141, 162, 172, 198, 202, 259, 266, 267, 325, 349, 418, 438, 475, 502, 509, 515, 518, 540, 550 P5 Ideation: 19, 57, 62, 66, 68, 73, 74, 76, 97, 105, 124, 136, 141, 159, 169, 183, 195, 198, 199, 202, 203, 205, 219, 238, 241, 244, 253, 270, 301, 304, 308, 314, 325, 332, 394, 406, 496, 508, 518, 525, 534, 550, 551, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 19, 74, 97, 105, 136, 141, 159, 195, 198, 199, 203, 219, 234, 236, 241, 242, 253, 270, 308, 314, 350, 361, 367, 393, 444, 450, 496 P7 Evaluation: 18, 73, 141, 153, 187, 234, 242, 297, 367, 450, 455, 483, 509, 525, 534 P8 Prototyping: 80, 106, 107, 141, 183, 187, 234, 297, 304, 325, 332, 339, 350, 361, 362, 367, 379, 393, 405, 438, 444, 450, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 80, 297, 339, 450, 455 P10 Implementation: 99, 141, 395, 451 Works in every innovation phase: 211, 327, 351, 374, 527, 554

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Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for teams inexperienced in disruption

Innovation projects with disruptive goals have a very special character. These methods offer advantages for rather inexperienced teams. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 6, 10, 39, 48, 77, 82, 83, 101, 141, 142, 143, 146, 162, 183, 223, 242, 247, 248, 253, 255, 264, 266, 267, 271, 272, 274, 295, 341, 349, 390, 399, 418, 438, 453, 456, 475, 502, 504, 509, 518, 534, 540, 544, 550, 552, 555 P2 Analyze: 6, 9, 10, 36, 39, 48, 80, 82, 83, 101, 141, 142, 143, 146, 162, 180, 183, 187, 223, 248, 255, 266, 271, 272, 274, 295, 297, 305, 325, 326, 341, 342, 349, 390, 396, 399, 417, 418, 438, 456, 475, 477, 502, 504, 509, 513, 518, 525, 534, 552 P3 Observe: 1, 6, 65, 80, 82, 83, 141, 142, 143, 146, 187, 192, 223, 242, 255, 267, 305, 325, 326, 341, 342, 387, 390, 396, 399, 417, 438, 440, 456, 475, 518, 520, 544, 552 P4 Synthesize: 6, 9, 36, 80, 101, 136, 141, 142, 143, 146, 162, 172, 223, 255, 259, 266, 267, 305, 325, 349, 399, 418, 438, 475, 477, 502, 509, 513, 518, 540, 550 P5 Ideation: 9, 13, 31, 39, 48, 73, 74, 76, 125, 136, 141, 142, 143, 146, 169, 178, 180, 183, 219, 235, 238, 241, 244, 253, 255, 274, 277, 284, 286, 288, 289, 300, 301, 305, 309, 311, 312, 314, 325, 326, 330, 336, 345, 394, 401, 402, 406, 413, 429, 453, 456, 477, 494, 496, 510, 513, 518, 525, 534, 543, 550, 552, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 13, 31, 74, 103, 136, 141, 142, 143, 146, 219, 234, 235, 241, 242, 253, 255, 277, 284, 288, 311, 312, 314, 336, 361, 367, 393, 401, 402, 444, 450, 496, 510, 543 P7 Evaluation: 9, 13, 18, 73, 141, 142, 143, 146, 175, 187, 234, 242, 255, 297, 305, 367, 450, 453, 483, 494, 509, 522, 525, 534, 541 P8 Prototyping: 65, 80, 141, 142, 143, 146, 183, 187, 234, 255, 297, 305, 325, 339, 361, 362, 367, 393, 438, 444, 450, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 13, 18, 80, 142, 230, 255, 297, 305, 307, 339, 450, 453, 522, 543 P10 Implementation: 99, 141, 142, 143, 146, 255, 395, 451, 469 Works in every innovation phase: 95, 126, 129, 142, 211, 327, 374, 400, 461, 462, 487, 527, 533, 554

Possible extra benefits for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Experienced trainers and innovation coaches can use these methods to draw even more potential out of innovation teams. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 25, 41, 46, 48, 62, 66, 81, 98, 106, 111, 118, 140, 141, 142, 150, 153, 165, 171, 182, 183, 191, 202, 205, 208, 217, 218, 245, 247, 248, 251, 253, 267, 281, 285, 295, 299, 304, 332, 348, 373, 386, 408, 418, 419, 427, 438, 447, 453, 458, 479, 481, 491, 493, 498, 500, 501, 502, 504, 509, 512, 534, 542, 550 P2 Analyze: 32, 46, 48, 62, 66, 80, 81, 85, 87, 96, 98, 140, 141, 142, 150, 171, 177, 180, 182, 183, 187, 191, 217, 245, 248, 251, 282, 295, 297, 305, 315, 325, 326, 329, 348, 371, 381, 386, 408, 418, 427, 438, 441, 447, 467, 479, 481, 502, 504, 509, 525, 534, 539 P3 Observe: 32, 62, 65, 80, 98, 106, 141, 142, 150, 171, 177, 182, 187, 191, 251, 267, 281, 304, 305, 325, 326, 332, 386, 408, 419, 438, 440, 447, 479, 515 P4 Synthesize: 62, 66, 80, 81, 106, 141, 142, 150, 177, 191, 198, 200, 202, 217, 218, 251, 263, 267, 305, 325, 343, 348, 353, 356, 371, 418, 419, 427, 438, 441, 454, 458, 467, 479, 491, 493, 500, 502, 509, 512, 515, 542, 550 P5 Ideation: 22, 25, 27, 41, 48, 56, 61, 62, 66, 67, 69, 70, 76, 85, 105, 111, 118, 133, 141, 142, 145, 148, 152, 154, 156, 159, 169, 180, 183, 196, 198, 202, 205, 217, 220, 229, 238, 241, 243, 244, 251, 253, 263, 275, 285, 291, 299, 300, 301, 304, 305, 309, 314, 315, 325, 326, 332, 345, 385, 394, 402, 403, 422, 429, 430, 435, 436, 441, 442, 453, 468, 473, 478, 479, 480, 486, 493, 500, 506, 507, 511, 514, 525, 534, 539, 542, 550, 551 P6 Idea enrichment: 41, 56, 61, 70, 105, 111, 133, 141, 142, 145, 154, 156, 159, 196, 198, 234, 241, 251, 253, 275, 314, 350, 361, 367, 369, 385, 393, 402, 403, 419, 422, 442, 444, 450, 473, 479, 486, 500, 506, 539, 542 P7 Evaluation: 24, 33, 81, 85, 117, 141, 142, 151, 153, 187, 234, 251, 281, 297, 303, 305, 319, 329, 335, 363, 367, 381, 419, 430, 431, 437, 450, 453, 455, 459, 509, 525, 534 P8 Prototyping: 65, 80, 81, 98, 106, 141, 142, 183, 187, 234, 251, 275, 297, 304, 305, 325, 332, 339, 350, 361, 362, 367, 379, 393, 405, 408, 419, 438, 441, 444, 450, 454, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 80, 117, 142, 230, 251, 297, 305, 319, 335, 339, 363, 392, 450, 453, 455, 459 P10 Implementation: 98, 117, 141, 142, 251, 331, 335, 369, 459, 469 Works in every innovation phase: 11, 115, 142, 147, 193, 207, 211, 283, 351, 368, 487, 489, 524, 530, 547

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Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for teams experienced in innovation

These methods offer advantages for innovation professionals with a lot of experience, who have already been able to celebrate their first innovation successes. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 2, 25, 57, 62, 64, 66, 82, 83, 92, 98, 100, 101, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, 118, 119, 122, 140, 141, 153, 162, 165, 171, 182, 183, 191, 202, 205, 217, 226, 242, 245, 247, 248, 251, 253, 255, 266, 267, 272, 285, 299, 304, 318, 332, 341, 349, 373, 390, 409, 418, 419, 438, 447, 458, 475, 481, 491, 502, 503, 504, 509, 512, 518, 534, 542, 549, 550, 552, 555 P2 Analyze: 32, 34, 36, 62, 64, 66, 80, 82, 83, 86, 87, 89, 98, 101, 107, 109, 110, 119, 122, 140, 141, 162, 171, 177, 182, 183, 187, 191, 204, 217, 224, 245, 248, 251, 255, 262, 266, 272, 297, 305, 318, 325, 341, 342, 349, 371, 383, 390, 396, 409, 417, 418, 424, 438, 441, 443, 446, 447, 475, 481, 492, 502, 504, 509, 518, 525, 534, 539, 549, 552 P3 Observe: 32, 62, 64, 75, 80, 82, 83, 89, 98, 100, 106, 109, 110, 141, 171, 177, 182, 187, 191, 192, 226, 242, 251, 255, 258, 260, 267, 304, 305, 325, 332, 341, 342, 358, 387, 390, 396, 417, 419, 438, 440, 447, 475, 515, 518, 520, 552 P4 Synthesize: 19, 36, 62, 64, 66, 80, 101, 106, 110, 136, 141, 162, 172, 177, 191, 198, 200, 202, 217, 224, 225, 251, 255, 259, 266, 267, 305, 325, 349, 371, 383, 418, 419, 438, 441, 446, 458, 470, 475, 491, 502, 509, 512, 515, 518, 542, 549, 550 P5 Ideation: 19, 22, 25, 27, 31, 56, 57, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 76, 86, 92, 97, 105, 111, 114, 118, 120, 124, 136, 141, 154, 156, 159, 169, 183, 195, 196, 198, 199, 202, 203, 204, 205, 215, 217, 219, 226, 229, 233, 238, 240, 241, 243, 244, 251, 253, 255, 258, 270, 275, 277, 285, 299, 301, 302, 304, 305, 308, 309, 314, 318, 325, 328, 332, 345, 394, 406, 411, 412, 422, 430, 432, 435, 441, 442, 466, 468, 470, 473, 478, 482, 485, 490, 492, 495, 496, 507, 508, 510, 511, 514, 518, 523, 525, 534, 539, 542, 550, 551, 552, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 19, 31, 56, 61, 70, 74, 97, 105, 111, 120, 136, 141, 154, 156, 159, 181, 195, 196, 198, 199, 203, 204, 219, 225, 233, 234, 236, 241, 242, 251, 253, 255, 270, 275, 277, 302, 308, 314, 318, 350, 361, 367, 369, 375, 393, 419, 422, 442, 444, 450, 466, 473, 496, 510, 539, 542 P7 Evaluation: 2, 18, 47, 49, 73, 90, 117, 120, 141, 151, 153, 174, 187, 204, 234, 242, 250, 251, 255, 297, 305, 344, 363, 367, 375, 378, 419, 430, 431, 443, 450, 455, 483, 509, 522, 525, 534, 538 P8 Prototyping: 47, 64, 80, 98, 106, 107, 141, 183, 187, 234, 251, 255, 275, 297, 304, 305, 325, 332, 339, 350, 361, 362, 367, 379, 393, 419, 438, 441, 444, 450, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 47, 80, 117, 230, 251, 255, 297, 305, 339, 363, 375, 378, 450, 455, 522 P10 Implementation: 98, 99, 117, 141, 189, 251, 255, 331, 369, 378, 395, 451, 469 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 193, 207, 211, 313, 327, 351, 368, 374, 487, 527, 554

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Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for teams inexperienced in innovation

If you are dealing with an untrained innovationteam, you should take a closer look at these methods. With these techniques you can often start immediately without stressing participants. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 39, 42, 48, 52, 62, 66, 77, 82, 83, 100, 101, 109, 127, 139, 140, 141, 143, 146, 162, 164, 165, 166, 179, 183, 184, 185, 201, 202, 206, 216, 217, 223, 226, 242, 245, 247, 248, 249, 251, 253, 255, 264, 266, 267, 271, 272, 273, 274, 295, 296, 306, 318, 341, 348, 349, 366, 390, 399, 408, 409, 418, 426, 438, 453, 456, 475, 502, 504, 509, 518, 534, 540, 544, 549, 550, 552, 555 P2 Analyze: 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 21, 34, 36, 37, 39, 42, 48, 50, 62, 66, 80, 82, 83, 85, 87, 101, 108, 109, 132, 139, 140, 141, 143, 144, 146, 149, 162, 164, 166, 177, 180, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 201, 206, 217, 221, 222, 223, 224, 245, 248, 249, 251, 255, 262, 265, 266, 268, 269, 271, 272, 273, 274, 280, 290, 295, 296, 297, 306, 315, 317, 318, 323, 325, 326, 329, 341, 342, 346, 348, 349, 366, 376, 377, 381, 382, 383, 384, 390, 396, 399, 408, 409, 416, 417, 418, 421, 424, 426, 438, 443, 452, 456, 463, 467, 474, 475, 477, 492, 502, 504, 509, 513, 517, 518, 521, 525, 534, 539, 549, 552 P3 Observe: 1, 6, 7, 12, 50, 52, 62, 65, 75, 80, 82, 83, 100, 108, 109, 139, 141, 143, 146, 166, 177, 185, 187, 192, 201, 223, 226, 242, 246, 251, 255, 260, 267, 268, 273, 278, 296, 325, 326, 341, 342, 358, 364, 376, 387, 390, 396, 399, 408, 416, 417, 438, 456, 475, 518, 520, 544, 552 P4 Synthesize: 6, 9, 36, 45, 62, 66, 80, 93, 101, 108, 136, 139, 141, 143, 146, 162, 164, 166, 172, 177, 185, 198, 201, 202, 217, 223, 224, 225, 246, 251, 255, 259, 266, 267, 287, 306, 325, 343, 348, 349, 353, 366, 376, 383, 399, 418, 426, 438, 454, 467, 475, 477, 502, 509, 513, 518, 540, 549, 550 P5 Ideation: 3, 8, 9, 12, 21, 26, 29, 31, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 48, 52, 53, 61, 62, 63, 66, 69, 72, 73, 74, 76, 85, 93, 104, 113, 114, 127, 132, 133, 136, 141, 143, 144, 145, 146, 148, 157, 164, 167, 169, 178, 180, 183, 185, 188, 197, 198, 202, 209, 210, 217, 219, 222, 226, 229, 231, 232, 233, 235, 238, 241, 243, 244, 251, 253, 255, 269, 274, 276, 277, 284, 286, 288, 289, 290, 293, 300, 301, 309, 311, 312, 314, 315, 318, 324, 325, 326, 330, 333, 334, 336, 340, 345, 347, 355, 376, 391, 394, 401, 402, 403, 404, 406, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 420, 422, 429, 432, 434, 436, 442, 445, 448, 453, 456, 457, 464, 465, 466, 473, 474, 476, 477, 485, 486, 490, 492, 494, 496, 497, 506, 507, 510, 513, 517, 518, 519, 521, 525, 526, 529, 534, 539, 543, 546, 550, 552, 553, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 26, 29, 31, 55, 61, 74, 103, 113, 133, 136, 141, 143, 145, 146, 157, 164, 166, 167, 185, 197, 198, 210, 219, 221, 225, 231, 233, 234, 235, 236, 241, 242, 251, 253, 255, 277, 278, 284, 288, 290, 311, 312, 314, 318, 333, 334, 336, 340, 355, 361, 367, 375, 376, 377, 393, 401, 402, 403, 410, 420, 422, 426, 442, 444, 450, 457, 466, 473, 476, 486, 496, 497, 506, 510, 521, 539, 543 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 28, 33, 47, 49, 54, 55, 73, 78, 79, 84, 85, 90, 137, 141, 143, 146, 155, 158, 160, 161, 163, 168, 173, 174, 175, 185, 187, 221, 227, 231, 234, 239, 242, 250, 251, 255, 269, 290, 297, 322, 329, 335, 338, 344, 354, 357, 359, 360, 363, 367, 370, 372, 375, 378, 381, 421, 431, 433, 443, 450, 453, 457, 463, 474, 483, 494, 509, 522, 525, 532, 534, 538, 541 P8 Prototyping: 47, 65, 80, 141, 143, 146, 164, 183, 185, 187, 234, 251, 255, 297, 325, 361, 362, 364, 367, 393, 408, 438, 444, 450, 454, 521, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 12, 18, 47, 80, 170, 230, 251, 255, 278, 297, 298, 307, 335, 338, 363, 372, 375, 378, 450, 453, 497, 522, 526, 535, 536, 543 P10 Implementation: 99, 141, 143, 146, 164, 185, 189, 251, 255, 320, 331, 335, 378, 395, 451, 469, 526, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 4, 5, 59, 95, 115, 123, 126, 129, 147, 193, 194, 207, 211, 212, 213, 228, 256, 292, 294, 313, 316, 321, 327, 337, 374, 380, 398, 400, 407, 461, 462, 471, 487, 489, 499, 527, 531, 533, 547, 554

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Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for intercultural experienced teams

These methods offer advantages for teams with more intercultural experience. They have a positive effect on intercultural potential. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 57, 81, 83, 98, 109, 110, 141, 142, 153, 182, 217, 253, 255, 266, 304, 318, 341, 388, 419, 447, 509, 512, 540, 552, 555 P2 Analyze: 36, 81, 83, 89, 98, 109, 110, 121, 141, 142, 182, 217, 255, 266, 297, 305, 318, 341, 342, 383, 424, 439, 443, 447, 509, 525, 539, 552 P3 Observe: 75, 83, 89, 98, 109, 110, 121, 141, 142, 182, 255, 304, 305, 341, 342, 388, 419, 439, 440, 447, 552 P4 Synthesize: 36, 81, 110, 136, 141, 142, 217, 255, 266, 305, 383, 419, 509, 512, 540 P5 Ideation: 27, 57, 67, 68, 69, 73, 74, 97, 114, 136, 141, 142, 199, 217, 243, 253, 255, 291, 304, 305, 309, 314, 318, 411, 412, 510, 511, 514, 525, 539, 552, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 74, 97, 136, 141, 142, 199, 234, 253, 255, 314, 318, 369, 375, 388, 419, 444, 510, 539 P7 Evaluation: 18, 49, 73, 81, 141, 142, 153, 234, 255, 297, 305, 375, 419, 431, 443, 455, 483, 509, 522, 525 P8 Prototyping: 81, 98, 141, 142, 234, 255, 297, 304, 305, 379, 419, 444 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 142, 255, 297, 305, 375, 455, 522 P10 Implementation: 98, 99, 141, 142, 255, 369 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 142, 207, 211, 313, 327, 487, 530, 554

Possible extra benefits for Our world has become a village. Intercultural teams are part of the new working day in more and more intercultural inexperienced teams industries and also in quite smal companies. These methods offer advantages to interculturally inexperienced teams. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 6, 83, 109, 127, 141, 146, 166, 216, 217, 251, 253, 255, 264, 266, 274, 318, 341, 348, 509, 552, 555 P2 Analyze: 6, 9, 16, 36, 83, 109, 141, 146, 166, 180, 217, 251, 255, 265, 266, 269, 274, 318, 323, 329, 341, 348, 371, 381, 382, 383, 424, 443, 463, 474, 509, 539, 552 P3 Observe: 1, 6, 75, 83, 109, 141, 146, 166, 251, 255, 278, 341, 552 P4 Synthesize: 6, 9, 36, 136, 141, 146, 166, 217, 225, 251, 255, 266, 348, 371, 383, 509 P5 Ideation: 3, 8, 9, 16, 26, 38, 61, 69, 73, 74, 113, 114, 127, 136, 141, 146, 152, 157, 180, 210, 217, 231, 232, 251, 253, 255, 269, 274, 309, 314, 318, 324, 336, 347, 401, 411, 412, 429, 457, 474, 486, 494, 497, 510, 539, 552, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 26, 61, 74, 113, 136, 141, 146, 157, 166, 210, 225, 231, 234, 251, 253, 255, 278, 314, 318, 336, 401, 444, 457, 486, 497, 510, 539 P7 Evaluation: 9, 15, 18, 24, 30, 33, 47, 54, 73, 78, 102, 141, 146, 151, 155, 161, 163, 173, 175, 231, 234, 250, 251, 255, 269, 322, 329, 363, 372, 381, 431, 433, 443, 457, 463, 474, 483, 494, 509, 522, 532 P8 Prototyping: 47, 141, 146, 234, 251, 255, 339, 444 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 47, 230, 251, 255, 278, 339, 363, 372, 497, 522 P10 Implementation: 99, 102, 141, 146, 251, 255, 331 Works in every innovation phase: 4, 5, 59, 95, 123, 126, 194, 207, 211, 212, 292, 294, 313, 316, 327, 407, 428, 462, 487, 499, 531, 554

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Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for multidisciplinary experienced teams

These methods are beneficial for multidisciplinary experienced teams. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 2, 25, 41, 57, 81, 82, 83, 88, 107, 109, 110, 118, 119, 140, 141, 142, 153, 162, 165, 182, 217, 226, 245, 247, 248, 253, 255, 266, 267, 299, 304, 318, 332, 341, 386, 388, 409, 418, 419, 447, 502, 504, 512, 534, 540, 552, 555 P2 Analyze: 81, 82, 83, 86, 87, 89, 107, 109, 110, 119, 140, 141, 142, 162, 177, 182, 217, 224, 245, 248, 255, 262, 266, 297, 305, 318, 341, 342, 383, 386, 409, 418, 424, 439, 443, 447, 492, 502, 504, 525, 534, 552 P3 Observe: 75, 82, 83, 89, 109, 110, 141, 142, 177, 182, 226, 246, 255, 267, 304, 305, 332, 341, 342, 358, 386, 387, 388, 419, 439, 440, 447, 552 P4 Synthesize: 81, 110, 136, 141, 142, 162, 177, 217, 224, 225, 246, 255, 266, 267, 305, 383, 418, 419, 502, 512, 540 P5 Ideation: 22, 25, 27, 31, 41, 43, 57, 67, 68, 69, 73, 74, 76, 86, 97, 114, 118, 136, 141, 142, 195, 199, 217, 219, 226, 229, 233, 238, 240, 241, 243, 244, 253, 255, 270, 277, 291, 299, 301, 302, 304, 305, 308, 309, 314, 318, 332, 411, 412, 422, 430, 466, 478, 492, 510, 511, 525, 534, 551, 552, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 31, 41, 74, 97, 136, 141, 142, 195, 199, 219, 225, 233, 234, 236, 241, 253, 255, 270, 277, 302, 308, 314, 318, 350, 361, 367, 369, 375, 388, 419, 422, 444, 450, 466, 510 P7 Evaluation: 2, 18, 49, 73, 81, 90, 138, 141, 142, 153, 234, 250, 255, 297, 305, 367, 375, 419, 430, 443, 450, 455, 483, 522, 525, 534 P8 Prototyping: 81, 107, 141, 142, 234, 255, 297, 304, 305, 332, 339, 350, 361, 367, 379, 419, 444, 450, 534, 537 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 142, 255, 297, 305, 339, 375, 450, 455, 522 P10 Implementation: 99, 141, 142, 255, 369, 423 Works in every innovation phase: 128, 142, 207, 211, 313, 327, 351, 374, 487, 527, 554

Possible extra benefits for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

We know, not only from the worldwide success of Design Thinking, that multidisciplinary teams are highly appreciated in innovation. For inexperienced multidisciplinary teams, however, this poses great challenges. These methods offer effective help here. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 2, 7, 48, 77, 82, 83, 109, 127, 140, 141, 143, 164, 166, 179, 184, 185, 216, 217, 245, 247, 251, 253, 255, 264, 266, 271, 274, 318, 341, 348, 366, 409, 418, 453, 491, 502, 504, 534, 552, 555 P2 Analyze: 7, 9, 16, 36, 48, 82, 83, 108, 109, 140, 141, 143, 164, 166, 180, 184, 185, 217, 224, 245, 251, 255, 265, 266, 269, 271, 274, 318, 323, 329, 341, 346, 348, 366, 371, 381, 382, 383, 409, 418, 424, 443, 463, 467, 474, 477, 492, 502, 504, 513, 517, 521, 534, 552 P3 Observe: 1, 7, 82, 83, 108, 109, 141, 143, 166, 185, 251, 255, 278, 341, 364, 387, 552 P4 Synthesize: 9, 36, 108, 136, 141, 143, 164, 166, 185, 217, 224, 225, 251, 255, 266, 348, 366, 371, 383, 418, 467, 477, 491, 502, 513 P5 Ideation: 3, 8, 9, 16, 26, 29, 31, 38, 43, 48, 61, 69, 73, 74, 76, 104, 113, 114, 127, 133, 136, 141, 143, 152, 157, 164, 167, 180, 185, 210, 217, 219, 229, 231, 232, 233, 235, 238, 241, 244, 251, 253, 255, 269, 274, 277, 301, 309, 311, 312, 314, 318, 324, 336, 340, 347, 391, 401, 402, 411, 412, 429, 453, 457, 466, 474, 477, 486, 492, 494, 497, 506, 510, 513, 517, 521, 534, 552, 555 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 26, 29, 31, 55, 61, 74, 113, 133, 136, 141, 143, 157, 164, 166, 167, 185, 210, 219, 225, 231, 233, 234, 235, 241, 251, 253, 255, 277, 278, 311, 312, 314, 318, 336, 340, 361, 401, 402, 444, 457, 466, 486, 497, 506, 510, 521 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 15, 18, 24, 30, 33, 47, 49, 54, 55, 73, 78, 90, 102, 137, 141, 143, 151, 155, 158, 160, 161, 163, 173, 175, 185, 227, 231, 234, 250, 251, 255, 269, 322, 329, 335, 338, 344, 354, 357, 359, 360, 363, 372, 378, 381, 433, 443, 453, 457, 463, 474, 483, 494, 522, 532, 534 P8 Prototyping: 47, 141, 143, 164, 185, 234, 251, 255, 339, 361, 364, 444, 521, 534 P9 Fighting for ideas: 18, 47, 170, 230, 251, 255, 278, 307, 335, 338, 339, 363, 372, 378, 453, 497, 522 P10 Implementation: 99, 102, 141, 143, 164, 185, 189, 251, 255, 320, 331, 335, 378, 469 Works in every innovation phase: 4, 5, 59, 95, 115, 123, 126, 129, 194, 207, 211, 212, 256, 292, 294, 313, 316, 321, 327, 374, 407, 428, 461, 462, 487, 499, 527, 530, 531, 533, 547, 554

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Search path 8 – Methods grouped by possible extra benefits Possible benefits

Key index numbers of innovation methods

Possible extra benefits for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches

The methods listed here are especially recommended for rather inexperienced trainers and coaches. Methods referenced by innovation phases: P1 Understand: 1, 2, 101, 109, 127, 139, 140, 162, 166, 179, 251, 253, 264, 274, 318, 349, 366, 409, 426, 518, 534, 544 P2 Analyze: 9, 36, 37, 101, 109, 139, 140, 144, 162, 166, 186, 221, 222, 224, 251, 262, 265, 274, 280, 290, 317, 318, 323, 349, 366, 382, 383, 384, 409, 417, 421, 424, 426, 443, 452, 474, 477, 513, 517, 518, 534 P3 Observe: 1, 109, 139, 166, 251, 417, 516, 518, 544 P4 Synthesize: 9, 36, 101, 139, 162, 166, 172, 224, 225, 251, 287, 349, 366, 383, 426, 477, 513, 518 P5 Ideation: 3, 8, 9, 26, 31, 38, 43, 72, 73, 74, 91, 127, 144, 197, 209, 210, 220, 222, 232, 251, 253, 274, 277, 286, 288, 290, 318, 324, 333, 334, 336, 340, 347, 355, 410, 411, 412, 420, 434, 448, 457, 464, 466, 474, 477, 494, 496, 510, 513, 517, 518, 534, 546 P6 Idea enrichment: 8, 26, 31, 55, 74, 166, 190, 197, 210, 221, 225, 234, 236, 251, 253, 277, 288, 290, 318, 333, 334, 336, 340, 355, 410, 420, 426, 457, 466, 496, 510 P7 Evaluation: 2, 9, 15, 28, 49, 54, 55, 73, 102, 137, 158, 168, 174, 175, 190, 221, 234, 250, 251, 290, 322, 344, 354, 357, 359, 360, 370, 372, 421, 425, 443, 457, 474, 483, 494, 522, 532, 534, 538 P8 Prototyping: 234, 251, 534 P9 Fighting for ideas: 251, 307, 372, 522, 536 P10 Implementation: 102, 251, 451, 536 Works in every innovation phase: 4, 5, 59, 95, 123, 126, 194, 212, 228, 256, 313, 316, 327, 337, 374, 400, 407, 428, 471, 499, 527

61

1

10-Minute Time-jump –

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The 10-Minute Time-jump is an efficient questioning method that provides inspiration and insights around a challenge, object or process. Let’s say your challenge is to innovate the process a customer goes through at a supermarket checkout. In this situation it is generally is advised to first take care of “understanding” the situation. As already known from the Design Thinking approach, understanding brings, in the best case, insights and inspirations that lead directly to new ideas and solutions. With the 10-Minute Time-jump, we ask ourselves the general question of what happens up to 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after the checkout process at our customer’s premises. In doing so, we act like an ornithologist and researcher in love with detail – every detail should be recognized and perceived. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Handling Step 1: First of all, we create some guiding questions that help us, in which there must always be a timeline and an aspect from the challenge. For our supermarket checkout example, these could be the following questions: – What does our customer typically do in the last 10 minutes before they arrives at our checkout? – What is the penultimate action that our customer takes before collecting?

What is the last thing our customer does before they cash in? – What does our customer typically do in the next 10 minutes after being at our checkout? – Who will meet our customer in the next 2 minutes after the checkout process? Step 2: We answer now question by question and write down all found answers per question in a list or on the pinboard. Step 3: Optionally we ask other colleagues or persons to answer these questions as well. Here, too, maximum diversity is an effective lever for success. Step 4: For each entry on our answer lists we now ask ourselves questions like: – How can we translate this observation into an idea that makes the customer’s experience at the checkout more enjoyable for the customer? – What problem, which already exists but has not yet been recognized by the customer, could be behind this detail and how can we solve it innovatively? – What does this detail have to do with our challenge? – What would change if that detail wasn’t there? By answering these questions, we are fluently entering the creative phase of our innovation project. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces rationalizers – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: mainly low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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10-Minute Time-jump – – – – – –

Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: usable for a single person Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Impact for more innovative ability Supports better perception

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Experiences – It’s the details that matter It is important to get the participants to really go into a detailed observation. As so often, the greatest potential lies in the many small details. So down with the altitude, please don’t be generic. – Visualization helps As with so many methods, the visualization also helps here, among other things, by the timeline and the insertion of the respective questions. The answers can also be written down, and a small process suddenly results in a large picture of the actions, questions and answers.

Identified sources of the method Organization – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organization – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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2x2 Matrix Afterwards you have a comparison of the ideas and can now decide together in the team which ideas should be pursued further.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The 2x2 Matrix is a method for idea evaluation, which can be used for a first preselection, especially for large idea sets. Thanks to the visual design, the tool provides a good overview of the quality or potential of the ideas developed. The scales for evaluation (parameters of the axes) are freely selected by the user. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Visualize a Matrix consisting of four fields on a flipchart or brownpaper. Step 2: Determine a criterion for the y-axis and x-axis, respectively, on the basis of which you want to analyze your idea pool. The criterion should be formulated as a clear question. Example: “Would the customer pay a higher price for this feature?” on one axis and the question: “Is the product easy to copy from the competitor?” on the other axis. Step 3: Each question or criterion has two different characteristics. One is “low” and the other “high”. Before the evaluation, please discuss with the team when the value is “high” or “low” to ensure a common understanding. Step 4: Start the evaluation by checking each idea against the criteria and locating it in the appropriate field. Pin the idea (possibly with a moderation card or a post-it) visibly into the corresponding field.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens excessively long decision meetings – Shortens overly long meeting times

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: Post-its Moderation: pens

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2x2 Matrix

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Also good for single use The 2x2 Matrix is also very good in stand-alone use, to get to grips with ideas or other things very quickly. It is drawn super fast and plays out its strengths as a visual tool also in a college block.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – The Power of the 2x2 Matrix: Using 2x2 Thinking to Solve Business Problem and Make Better Decisions, A. Lowy, P. Hood (Jossey-Bass 2004)

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3-12-3 Brainstorming

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description 3-12-3 is a variant of Brainstorming that is performed in a particularly short time. It can be used well to warm up before a longer task, or also as a single activity. The method is suitable for generating new ideas as well as for enriching and improving existing ideas. It was developed by James Macanufo and is used in particular when speed is required. The numbers 3-12-3 refer to the time in minutes that has been set for each step (three in all). The method works best with up to ten participants, with larger groups also small subgroups are possible. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling At the beginning of the 3-12-3 Brainstorming, a topic must be chosen that consists of as few words as possible (example: “energy efficiency” or “television of tomorrow”). At this point, no complete task description or question should be formulated, as the participants should first define the topic. In preparation, the participants receive moderation cards and pens. The procedure is now as follows: 3 minutes: Collect properties In the first 3 minutes, the aim is to write as many properties of the topic as possible on the cards. It should not be filtered, everything should be written on the cards. The described cards are collected in the middle. 12 minutes: develop concepts The group is divided into teams of two, each team drawing any three cards from the collection. The teams now

have 12 minutes each to develop a concept based on the cards, which the teams then present throughout the round. The concepts can consist of sketches or prototypes, or the teams can choose a different form of presentation. 3 minutes: Present results During the presentation in front of the large group, the teams show which cards they have drawn and how they have influenced their concept. After the presentations of the teams, the plenum will discuss the findings that have come out of them. It is important that the times for all parts are strictly adhered to. After the presentations, teams can go deeper into a particular concept or create a ranking of the concepts they want to spend more time on. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens overly long meeting times – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: especially suitable for large groups ( > 50 participants) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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3-12-3 Brainstorming

Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: post-its Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Time is important! In 3-12-3 Brainstorming it is very important to keep to the times. This is easier if a large clock is used on which all participants can see the current status.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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3-2-1 Method Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description This method allows an entertaining introduction to a seminar or creative workshop, in which the participants’ characters and concrete expectations become visible. In the 3-2-1 Method, the moderator asks for 3 things that the participants like, 2 things they don’t like, and 1 specific question or expectation about the event. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The moderator hangs or puts up a poster with three easyto-read questions. Each participant will be asked to answer them in the round. Recommended questions: 3 tasks that I like 2 tasks I don’t like 1 question I brought with me or 3 things I enjoy 2 things I want to get rid of 1 Wish to this event In principle, care should be taken to ensure that the topics lead to a variety of answers. The best way to achieve this is to ask questions about very personal things and feelings. The question of one’s own successes, bizarre events or experiences can also lead to entertaining answers. In the end, there is always the question that makes an arch to the event.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: poster Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Humor helps Ask questions to which there may well be funny answers. It adds to the mood. For example: “Which three things are the most fun for me shortly before the end of work?” – Ideal activation method The many subjective stories provoked by the different questions provide a broad basis for a better understanding of the group at an early stage.

Identified sources of the method Book – Seminare, Trainings und Workshops lebendig gestalten, A. Lienhart (Haufe Lexware 2015)

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360 Degree Innovation Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description 360 Degree Innovation is a simple, fast and visual selfanalysis or self-reflection for teams to get clarity about unused innovation potentials. In addition, the method gives all people in a company a common visual language in order to always ensure a positive development of their innovative ability on their own. 360 Degree Innovation was developed in 2015 by Benno van Aerssen and Christian Buchholz and can be used both for self-reflection and for discovering innovation potentials in teams. The core of the method is the Innovation Compass, a tool for developing a common language on the subject of innovation. The method works with so-called innovation potential points (IPoP). An innovation potential point describes an area or a topic that still offers potential for the further development of innovation capability. The studies by Benno van Aerssen and Christian Buchholz have shown that challenges in introducing a culture of innovation always consist of three parts: – The people involved and their relationship or interface with each other. – The focused innovation dimension – the phase or area of the innovation process that is affected. – The visible effective dimension, which describes where a perceived weakness can still be transformed into a strength. These were named by the authors IPoPs, Innovation Potentials – to emphasize that any innovation problem can become a potential for the development of innovation culture through a targeted approach.

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Handling Basic application: The current innovation problem or obstacle is set on your own compass. If there are several possible settings, it should be reflected on what really prevents or restricts the procedure. If the attitude is right, another reflection question helps: “What if the person is no longer there?” If the answer is: “Then the problem no longer exists”, then the setting is selected correctly. If the answer is: “The problem still exists”, then the attitude was not right and we are approaching the real problem. Group variant: In the group, the Innovation Compass can be used in two different ways: 1. Each person sets theirown view of the innovation challenges, after which the (possibly different) assessments are discussed in the group. 2. One person from the group describes their obstacle to innovation. All others set the obstacle on their Innovation Compass. The participants then compare whether they speak the same language or view the problem completely differently. A detailed reflection afterwards helps to identify different points of view and to significantly improve the communication culture in the innovation process.

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360 Degree Innovation

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents unreflected action – Sharpens common alignment – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Detects obstacles to innovation at an early stage The holistic approach forces the participants to communicate their problems and obstacles during the implementation of the innovations transparently and to put them on the table.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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5 Why Method Step 4: You use the last answer as a new initial thesis and derive new insights and then start possible new idea discoveries. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens living in the past – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description Everyone probably quickly recognizes the 5 Why or 5 W Method from typical “Why?” questions of children. Children very often ask “Why?” in order to better understand the world and to be able to classify their experiences. Exactly this method helps all teams in the starting phase of projects to understand problems more exactly and draw appropriate deductions. In principle, therefore, it is a systematic investigation of fundamental causes of problems. The goal is to find out exactly: “What really is our problem?” Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling Step 1: Write the entry task or thesis for all to see, for example, on a whiteboard or flipchart. Step 2: As a team, question the starting point five times with a why question. (So always question the answer you found to the previous question again with “Why?”.) step Step 3: Always keep the questions and answers on the whiteboard/flipchart as complete and understandable sentences.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location

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5 Why Method

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception Experiences – Avoid trivial answers

Try to avoid trivial and “closed” answers. In those instances reformulate the question and practice with the method.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine BuchBuch – August 2015) Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013)

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5 Meter Look

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The 5 Meter Look is a questioning method that provides inspiration and insight around a problem, object or process. Let’s say your challenge is to innovate the process a customer goes through at a supermarket checkout. In this situation, it is generally advisable to focus initially on “understanding” the situation. As is already known from the Design Thinking approach, understanding brings, in the best-case scenario, insights and inspirations that lead directly to new ideas. With the 5 Meter Look, we ask ourselves the general question of what is going on in the five-meter radius around the checkout. In doing so, we act like an ornithologist and researcher in love with detail – every detail should be recognized and understood. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Handling Step 1: First, create some helpful guidelines, which must always include the 5-meter radius and an aspect of the problem. For our supermarket checkout example, these could be the following questions: – Which objects can we typically find in the 5-meter radius around the checkout/cash register? – What actions of different people take place within a 5-meter radius around the cash desk?

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– What sounds can we hear within a 5-meter radius? – What smells can we detect within a 5-meter radius? Step 2: Now answer each question and write down all given answers per question in a list or on the pinboard. Step 3: Alternatively, ask colleagues or others to answer these questions as well. Here, too, maximum diversity is an effective lever for success. Step 4: For each answer on the list ask questions like: – How can we translate this observation into an idea that makes our checkout experience more enjoyable for the customer? – What problem, which already exists but has not yet been recognized by the customer, could be behind this detail and how could we solve it innovatively? – What does this detail have to do with our challenge? – What would change if that detail wasn’t there? By answering these questions, we move smoothly into the creative phase. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes

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5 Meter Look

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Experiences – It’s the details that matter It is important to get the participants really involved in detailed observation. As so often, the greatest potential lies in the many small details. So, down with the altitude and please don’t get generic.

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8

6-3-5 Method

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The 6-3-5 Method was developed in 1968 by Professor Bernd Rohbach. It works quite spontaneously, with little preparation. It also offers a guarantee of success with untrained participants. As a problem-solving method, this technique particularly promotes the generation of new, unusual ideas or solutions in a group of people. Within a short period of time, a maximum of 108 ideas are generated with 6-3-5. The title resulted from the optimal way 6 participants, who each produce 3 initial ideas and then each develop 5 times 3 initial or derived ideas (6 participants, 3 ideas each, times 5).

Handling Step 1: Each participant receives a prepared worksheetcontaining the question in the header with the fields for the ideas below. The worksheet consists of a table with 6 rows with 3 columns each. Step 2: Depending on the level of difficulty of the question, the moderator determines a time span for passing on the worksheets (e. g. 3 to 5 minutes). Step 3: Each of the 6 participants writes 3 ideas and enters them in the fields of the first line. Step 4: At the end of the time, the worksheets are passed clockwise to their neighbour. Step 5: Each participant should now try to take up, supplement or further develop the ideas already mentioned. They enter their 3 ideas developed from this in the next free line. Step 6: The transfer cycle is repeated up to the last row of the worksheet. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)– Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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6-3-5 Method

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: wall surfaces Tool: specific worksheets People: moderator/trainer People: diverse mix of individuals

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – A3 worksheets

It has been shown that worksheets in “DIN A3 landscape” format are an ideal size. This format allows longer sentences per idea to be entered in the boxes. This size is also convenient for creating a gallery of ideas on a wall with the completed worksheets. – Wooden handling The somewhat wooden handling and the quite rigid sequence mechanism can also interfere with creativity under certain circumstances. Sometimes misleading ideas are generated. – Advantage equals disadvantage An advantage of the 6-3-5 is that you generated 108 ideas in 30 minutes. However, 108 ideas have now been generated! These are distributed on six pieces of paper in relatively small boxes. Having to evaluate these will be a challenge for some participants. The

best approach is to briefly read out all ideas in the group and then identify repeated, good or combination possibilities. This process takes longer than the generation of solutions, but people start talking and often come up with more ideas. – Very direct feedback There is a very direct feedback and many ideas in a relatively short time. The ideas are not talked about early on and even quieter participants get a good chance to contribute. – Six participants Six participants are ideal, but more are possible. – 30 to 50 minutes expected time An application period of 30 to 50 minutes is quite common. – Fewer ideas are enough, too It is not mandatory to contribute 3 more ideas each. If a participant can’t think of anything else, they can’t think of anything. Period. This will then be accepted by all other participants. In contrast to brainstorming, 6-3-5 Method can also be used for more complex problems that would fail due to the spontaneity and unsystematic approach of a group discussion.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Innovationsmanagement für technische Produkte, W. Eversheim, E. Baessler (Springer – November 2002) Book – Innovationsmanagement, J. Hauschildt, S. Salomo (Vahlen – März 2007) Book – Kreativ nach Regeln – Methode 635, eine neue Technik zum Lösen von Problemen, B. Rohrbach (Absatzwirtschaft 12 (1969) 73-76, Heft 19, 1. Oktober 1969. (Erstveröffentlichung des Erfinders)) Book – Organisation, D. Vahs (Schäffer Poeschel 2015) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser FachBook 2001) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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6 Thinking Hats Method

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The method was developed by Edward de Bono in 1986 as Six Thinking Hats by De Bono. This creativity technique is a big favorite of mine. It is a kind of group discussion or, you could also say, role play. With the right people and in a relaxed round, this technique offers very great potential and, especially, a fun factor. The participants take on different roles which are symbolized by hats in different colors. Each hat corresponds to a particular characteristic way of thinking or perspective, which allows for efficient discussion or exchange about an idea or challenge and at the same time does not dismiss any viewpoint. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The participants will be given a hat (or bracelet, place card or similar) in the appropriate color according to the type or role in which they are to think and contribute. Before the discussion, it is important to adjust to the assigned color with the required properties and to use the to stay in “the color” discussion. The moderator plays an extremely important role in the presentation of the technique. In addition to the formal explanation, the start of the process and the involvement of the participants is

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particularly important. Ideally, the moderator is also able to present the individual roles as a stage manager. Start the meeting by having everyone put on different hats one after the other and then each person saying what they have to say about the target problem from under their hats. The comments should be collected in writing – preferably on pin boards visible to everyone. It can be helpful to ensure individual statements are not overheard by the other “actors” in order to avoid undue influence on others’ observations. Individual roles and/or hats: White hat – Analytical thinking – Concentration on facts – Objective attitude The white hat stands for gathering information without evaluation. If you put on your white hat, you look very much like a computer: only the bare facts and figures count. Try to consistently free yourself from all emotions or prejudices – don’t worry, you don’t have to push your feelings away forever, because with another hat you can let them all out! The wearer of the white hat gets an objective overview of all available data and information – completely independent of personal opinion. The white hat is usually worn at the beginning of a discussion or process in order to gain an initial, neutral overview. Red hat – Emotional thinking and feeling – Concentration on feelings and opinions – Subjective attitude In stark contrast to the white hat, the red hat now stands for emotions. Let out all feelings you have. This refers to both positive and negative feelings, for example, fears, joy, doubts, hopes, frustration or whatever. In addition, more “general” approaches, such as intuition, are also at issue here. Always let your gut speak with the red hat, not your head. As a wearer of the red hat you can express everything you currently feel inside yourself, no matter how clearly you can formulate it or whether the others in the group can do something with it or not. Anything lacking clarity, anything sentimental can be done with the red hat on your head without you having to justify yourself. Black hat – Critical thinking – Describe risk assessment, problems, skepticism, criticism and fears – Objective attitude

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6 Thinking Hats Method

The black hat is about finding the objectively negative aspects of the target. These include concerns, doubts, risks and the like – i. e. all factual arguments that may speak against a project or a decision or which reject a question. Whoever puts on the black hat strives to objectively (!) put forward all negative aspects of a topic, for example: “Factors against this project are …”, “The objectively recognizable …”, “The dangers of our plan are ….” Special note: please only raise objective concerns here, and not your personal negative feelings – these are expressed with the red hat. Yellow hat – Optimistic thinking – What is the best-case scenario? – Speculative attitude The yellow hat stands for the opposite of the black hat, it is about discovering the positive. Whoever puts on the yellow hat has the task of finding chances or plus points, in addition to formulating realistic hopes and desirable goals. Here, too, it is about examining the positive aspects from as objective a perspective as possible and not from a personal mood or feeling (e. g. euphoria is part is part of the red hat). This is also not about developing ideas (green hat), but about recognizing all aspects that are in fovor of a target. Green hat – Creative, associative thinking – New ideas, creativity – Constructive attitude This hat stands for creativity, growth and new ideas. Whoever wears this hat is looking for all possible alternatives. The green hat enables you to think beyond what is already being done or planned. With the green hat you can use creativity techniques or, for example, use Provocation to incite others to contradiction. Green hat wearers may formulate anything that leads to new ideas and approaches, regardless of how crazy or unrealistic the ideas are. Special note: with the green hat on your head, critical remarks are not acceptable, they are forbidden (that’s what the black hat stands for).

Blue hat – Orderly, moderating thinking – Overview of the processes – Big Picture position The blue hat stands for control and for the organization of the entire thinking process. Those who wear the blue hat go to the so-called meta-level, i. e. they look over the entire process from a superior position and thus obtain an overview. The tasks of the wearer of the blue hat, for example, consist of summarizing the results or of making decisions about which hats to use furthermore in the process. The blue hat is usually put on at the end of a session. Special note: alternatively, it is also possible to have a person wearing the blue hat and thus acting as moderator in the meeting, discussion or problem-solving exercise. Advantages Since all participants play only one role, more open discussions are possible than when each participant is “themself”. Drawbacks The gain in openness is partly bought about by participants entering into the acting, since the roles are often presented in exaggerated form. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces rationalizers – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Shortens overly long meeting times – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens debating – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person– Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Tool: 6 hats Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Experienced moderator is worth their weight in gold With the 6 Thinking Hats especially, having an experienced moderator who has also read more detailed information about the method is a guarantee for success. Care must be taken to ensure that the respective roles are observed. You can quickly digress or even drift into the ridiculous. – An “old” method The 6 Thinking Hats Method is one of the most reliable techniques ever used, with many application scenarios. Very often, however, teams believe that the method is old and therefore no longer use it. The age of a method is never an indication of its relevance.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Kreative Geister wecken, Z. M. Klein (managerSeminare Verlag 2006) Book – Manual Thinking, L. Huber, G. J. Veldmann (GABAL Verlag – August 2016) Book – PraxisHandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreativitätstechniken (April 2017)

6-W Method

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description “Who did what, when, where, how, why?” This classic question of all questions also helps as an efficient technique when we want to analyze and explore challenges. If these classic questions are dealt with very consciously and successively, as within this method, you have even greater efficiency potential. The method becomes particularly productive when you appeal to your very own childlike curiosity. The spirit of this method also becomes clear in the refrain from the cult song of the well-known Sesame Street: “Why, why, why – who doesn’t ask, remains stupid!” This method is particularly helpful in individual work. With the 6-W questions – “Who? What? When did you say that? Where? How’s that? Why?” – you can break down your challenges, ideas and information into their respective parts, recognize their essential components, make and understand connections, process new knowledge, and also learn and remember better. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Get an overview (Activate previous knowledge). Take a close look at your challenge and its subject matter. What’s the point? What exactly are you supposed to work out? Get yourself and your team in the right mood: where else have you heard of this subject (maybe at the movies or in sports)? How dare you? In this way you pre-

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pare “anchors” with which you can link the new knowledge. Everything you experience now will no longer be completely alien to you, and it will therefore be easier for you to understand it. Step 2: Now ask a lot of questions with the 6-W Method (recognize connections). Work out your topic in detail with the 6-W Method. Take the 6-W questions and address the questions to your challenge: “Who (has) what, when, where, how, why (done)?” You could also broaden your perspective, however, and ask: “Who was involved?” Or: “Who should use it? Where does the idea find its practical application? Why was the idea so successful in the other industry right from the start?” In this way you can take apart the challenge and the new idea piece by piece and better recognise details and establish connections. Your challenge is no longer an abstract size, but broken down into many small pieces of information whose structure you can pick up and understand much more easily. Step 3: Summarize your results (be flexible). Remember that it doesn’t matter whether you’re writing out key points, using markers, or just thinking through your challenge: summarize your results and practice reproducing your challenge in your own words. This will join the pieces of your puzzle together to form a whole, until they create a new, concrete picture. An image that you have created yourself and that contains all the connections that you have drawn. Because only what we can reproduce in our own words we have understood. Only what we have in front of our eyes in tangible form can we always retrieve from memory. You have not only answered the classic journalist’s question: “Who (did) what, when, where, how, why (did)?”, you have also understood and processed your information, combining old with new knowledge. Here is a short version of the 6-W process: Write down your answers to each W question category. This part is about the comprehensive analysis of the problem or question. The more answers and information, the wider and more divergent your data will be. WHO: – Who are the people involved? – Who is the decision maker? – Who is affected by the situation or problem? WHAT: – What do you know about the problem or question? – What else would you like to know? – What has happened or been tried in the past around the question? – How was the problem solved?

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What hypotheses exist around the problem and question? WHEN: – How long has the problem existed? – Was the beginning related to a special event? – When should results be achieved? WHERE: – Where does the problem occur? – Where and how has the problem been solved successfully? – What physical and psychological factors surround the problem? HOW: – How could the problem be an opportunity? – What feelings does the problem trigger in you? – What associations do you make with the sample or question? – What questions should be asked? WHY? – Why is the problem important? – Who’s benefiting from the problem and why? – Why does the problem occur? – Why can’t the problem just be solved? Collect all answers in writing. Develop more than one answer per question. Do not rate or answer the questions during collection. It is important that you get as many different approaches to the question as possible and create an extensive list of solutions. Only then should the information collected be processed. You can use the telescope method to then select the important information. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an insufficient knowledge base

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person– Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pin boards Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Opens up subject area The 6-W Method is a guided evaluation technique with effective learning for the subject area surrounding the challenge. – Table, MindMap, etc. If you like, you can also work with a table, MindMap or similar and literally write out, collect and examine the 6-Ws until you get a feeling for the subject matter and basically perceive new content from this angle. – More discipline In general, of all the applications discussed, at the beginning most users put too little discipline and effort into the method and do not work at it for long enough or deeply enough. It seems “too simple” to many participants. As a moderator you will need to be focused. If good results are achieved because you persist, the method is very quickly liked by the participants.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009)

9 Levels Value System

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The “9 Levels Value System” is a model for describing the development of value systems in individuals, groups and organizations. It allows a better understanding of the corporate culture and, above all, any need for change. Particularly when it comes to the development of the innovation culture, the model is well suited to discovering the current value system and to grasp which changes are necessary and also possible. The 9 Levels model is a value metamodel, a development model for personality development and the evolution of organizations and cultures. The classic application is the completion of a questionnaire that analyzes the individual view of the values of an organization, a team or an individual. Why are values important? Values are the constituant elements of culture. They define meaning, and meaning within a social system (group, society, etc.). A value imparted by culture serves society as a “guideline” for understanding or knowledge of the world and consequently becomes a premise in the planning of behavior. In this respect, the same applies to the question of how innovation processes are accepted. Overview of the 9 Levels: Level 1: BEIGE The “Beige” level, from which all levels start, is characterized by the individual’s innate ability to adapt to the environment in order to survive. In the business context this does not actually occur. Level 2: PURPLE Social structures with distinct distribution of roles and community-oriented rituals are formed, problems are encountered together, but always led by a leader to whom one subordinates oneself. Purple structures can be found in patriarchal family businesses, where it is clear “who wears the trousers”.

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Level 3: RED The individual regains prominence and is characterized by independence, assertiveness and striving for power. For example, new markets are conquered and positions achieved are secured. Red companies have strong hierarchies and decisions are made from above. Level 4: BLUE Blue companies are characterized by jointly-oriented structures with values such as security, order, justice and loyalty. The individual has their area of responsibility in the functional hierarchy with clearly defined rules and fits loyally into the structure of the whole. Self-responsibility at this level means that everyone makes well-thought out, company-oriented decisions within their area of responsibility and the limits and rules that have been set. Hierarchies remain, become broader and more functional, and there are usually structures with a clear division of labour. Blue organizations are classically functional companies, large administrative apparatus or, in some cases, educational institutions. Level 5: ORANGE Competition and individual success, which then also serve the entire group, are becoming more important here. Rigid rules and structures are broken up, the organization becomes faster and more flexible, the individual measures themself more directly against results, keeps a close eye on their goals, but does not lose sight of others or the company either. Loyalty, however, is no longer unconditional; if greater material or personal success can be expected elsewhere, they will change company. In orange companies, leadership based on goals is important and linear organizations with process orientation, product management and project work emerge for the first time. Level 6: GREEN The group, as a heterogeneous unit, moves into the foreground; success is understood as the result of the right team configuration. Complementary skills are promoted and used in a targeted way, following the motto “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”. Hierarchies are further dissolved, cooperation is characterized by flexibility, appreciation and integration, with values such as tolerance, community and responsibility for others playing a major role. The focus here is on securing long-term success, growth and improving quality through a mature error culture. In reality you rarely find whole companies on this level; within an organization it is multifunctional reflected teams or project teams that operate on a green level.

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9 Levels Value System

Level 7: YELLOW From the yellow level onwards, a new group of levels begins; an understanding is established that all existing levels have their advantages. From this level on, people begin to take advantage of the best aspects of the previous levels and work specifically in different working models of other levels in order to achieve certain goals. Flexibility and individuality come to the fore, accompanied by values such as competence, independence, personal responsibility and innovation. Fixed structures are less important, people feel comfortable in loose networks and virtual teams. Examples of this yellow level are hard to find – think tanks or knowledge networks are sometimes developed according to this level. Level 8: TURQUOISE The perspective of this level goes far beyond the actual work context. The world is seen as a global, sustainable team; this means that there is no direct competition any more, large relationships are established, the effects on others and the environment are taken into account in one’s own actions, so that in the long term there is overall benefit for all. This form of enterprise does not yet exist in reality. Level 9: CORAL The ninth level is on the horizon, but is not yet tangible. Here we will try to cope with the problems and challenges of the turquoise level. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates posters Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more know-how growth Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible Handling The moderator should have good background knowledge about the use of the 9 Levels Value System. This can be done – as a minimum requirement – by studying the 9 Levels Book by Rainer Krumm or by certification at the 9 Levels Institute. Step 1: Before the workshop begins, a code will be generated for the participants via the 9 Levels website, with which they will receive an online questionnaire. They fill this out in advance, and the 9 Levels consultant/moderator receives an evaluation, which they can hand over to the participants during the workshop. 84

Step 2: At the beginning of the workshop, the values held by the participants are put into words and collected. Question: “What is typical for us?” The keywords/ phrases are written on moderation cards and collected by the trainer. Step 3: The 9 levels are explained. This can be done through a presentation, a drawing on the flipchart or brownpaper, or using the official 9 Level poster. Step 4: In the next step, the previously queried definitions of the values are assigned to the individual levels. As a rule, a ready-made picture is shown that can be discussed with the participants. Step 5: If the questionnaire has been completed and an evaluation is available, this will now be discussed with the group and, if necessary, differences and similarities will be debated. Step 6: The group discusses the impact on the innovation process. Which measures will work well? Which ones won’t work? Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: large groups possible (≤≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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9 Levels Value System

Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: paper in flipchart size Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: cards approx. 10 × 10 cm Tool: questionnaire Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – Analysis without questionnaire If a certified 9 Levels consultant is not available or a questionnaire was not requested, the model can also be discussed with the group with the questions “What distinguishes us? What’s typical of us?”

Identified sources of the method Book – 9 Levels of Value Systems, R. Krumm (Werdewelt Verlags- und Medienhaus – Oktober 2014)

Notes

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A Kick in the Seat of the Pants

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description In this multimind method you slip into the roles of researcher, artist, judge and warrior one after the other. This is how you find, process, judge and fight for ideas. In the role of the researcher, you look for the raw material from which the ideas are made: Facts, concepts, experiences, knowledge, feelings and so on. You can search for all this in familiar places. However, you are more likely to find something original if you dare to go off the beaten track. There you will find the basic material for your future idea. During your search you will advance into unknown terrain and find the unexpected. When you slip into the role of the artist, you process the source material further. Think of the colored glass particles in a kaleidoscope. These may make a pattern – but if you want them to be different and new, you have to rotate them once or twice. You experiment with a wide range of approaches. You’re following your intuition. You rearrange things, look at them backwards and turn them upside down. You ask “What if?” and search for hidden analogies. You can even break the rules! From all this you come up with a new idea. The judge you play next wonders: “Is this idea even good? Is it worth following? Do I have the means to make it happen?” You weigh ideas critically when making decisions: you look for the disadvantages and ask yourself whether the timing is right. You create risk analyses, question your assumptions and trust your instincts. After all of that, you make a decision.

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In essence, you need the warrior to put your idea into practice. However, you must be aware that not every new idea is welcomed. The warrior fights for your idea. As a warrior, you must be both a general and an ordinary soldier. These individuals develop their strategy and commit themselves to achieving their attack targets. They also have the discipline to “bully their way through the trenches”. Perhaps you need to overcome excuses, idea killers, setbacks and other obstacles. But you have the courage to do what you have to do to realize your idea. When you search for new information, you become a researcher. When you shape your material into new ideas, you become an artist. If you check an idea for its content, you become a judge. If you put your ideas into practice, you will become a warrior. These four roles make up your creative team for developing and implementing new ideas. Of course, the pattern you use to produce most things will not always take this linear path across the four positions. There will probably be a lot of to’ing and fro’ing between the roles. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Food for thought for a researcher: – Look into other areas – One thing can lead to something completely different – Move the focus of your interest – Don’t overlook the obvious – Pay attention to details – Look at the big picture – Kill a dragon – Use obstacles, to break out of a well-worn track – Find what’s fun – Write it down

A Kick in the Seat of the Pants

Step 2: Food for thought for an artist: – Make something of it – Align: Change the context – Ask, “What if?” – Turn it around – Put it together – Find a metaphor – Break the rules – Parody – make nonsense Step 3: Food for thought for a judge: – Is this idea an “Aha!” or an “Oh boy!” experience? – What’s wrong with this idea? – What if it fails? – Assumptions/prerequisites – What are my cultural prejudices? – What clouds my judgment? – The fool makes a statement Step 4: Food for thought for a warrior: – Moving from “What if?” to “What is” – Construct your plan – Be on fire – Be brave as a lion – Go ahead – Get rid of excuses – Reinforce your shield – Sell, sell and resell – Be persistent Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Experiences – Takes time!

This method really takes time – at least one whole workshop day. The team should have about two hours to identify and work with each role (researcher, artist …). I let the participants select individual “food for thought” according to their personal inclination. For example, in the role of researcher: Move the focus of your interest, or Don’t overlook the obvious, or Pay attention to details, or Kill a dragon. Work with these concepts for a while and incorporate others if necessary. Only then switch roles and do the same as the artist. As soon as possible, have a group reflection. This prevents premature evaluation of the somewhat crazy thoughts that arise between artists and researchers. Then it continue the process in the rest of the roles.

Identified sources of the method Book – A kick in the seat of the pants, R. von Oech (William Morrow Paperbacks – Februar 1986) Book – Der kreative Kick, R. von Oech (Junfermann – 1994)

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A Whack on the Side of the Head to stimulate thinking – Discover that sometimes “light blows to the back of the head” are quite useful – in the figurative sense

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Roger von Oech’s book deals with ten mental blockages that prevent you from being innovative. The author presents methods to break through these barriers. Von Oech describes his methods from his experience as a creative thinking consultant for companies such as Apple, ARCO, Colgate-Palmolive, DuPont, Hughes Aircraft, IBM, NASA, Pizza Time Theatre, Sears, Tektronix, Wells Fargo Bank and Xerox. The most important elements of A Whack On The Side Of The Head are, summarized: – 36 tips to break through mental blockages – Use both “soft thinking” and “hard thinking” in a targeted manner after you understood the difference. – Break rules as a way to innovation – Use useless ideas as stepping stones on the way to usable ideas – Find places and search fields to hunt for ideas – Practice playing “the fool” and understand why this is a creative thinking strategy – Find out why creativity can be both constructive and destructive – Understand why “playing” is the father of invention – Discover the “third correct answer” as often the more creative one – Discover both the “artist” and the “judge” in oneself and give both a go in the right moment be. – Allow yourself a certain dose of ambiguity/multi-interpretations in order to be able to

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These “blows” are all events that lead us away from our routine paths and force us to follow ways of thinking. Changing routines helps us to new points of view and perspectives. The book is full of suggestions, exercises, anecdotes, drawings and examples of how others have achieved creative success – and how the reader can achieve it. As explained in the Preface, it is not absolutely necessary to read through the book from beginning to end – it is also possible to pick out chapters at will or by chance and be inspired by them. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling In order to be creative and to find alternative solutions to challenges, it is necessary to break through thought barriers. Rogen von Oech has compiled the following ten statements that block us: 1. There is only one “right” answer. 2. This is illogical. 3. Follow the rules. 4. Be practical. 5. Playing is silly. 6. This is not my area of expertise. 7. Don’t be foolish. 8. Avoid ambiguity. 9. Making a mistake is a mistake. 10. I’m not creative. For each of these statements, von Oech offers a series of short methods to break through the respective block on thinking. Here is an example of a step to break through each barrier: Step 1: There’s only one “right” answer. All too quickly we often give the “right” answer to a question that has always been asked in the same way. Solution: Change the question! Example: When an architect looks at the opening between two rooms and asks themselves: “Which door should connect these two rooms?”, this is probably ex-

A Whack on the Side of the Head

actly what the resulting design will be: a door. But if instead they ask: “Which passage should connect these two spaces?”, their thoughts might take a completely different direction. The result could be a curtain, an archway, a corridor or even a tunnel. The use of different terms leads to different conclusions and leads your thoughts in new directions. Step 2: It doesn’t make sense. A powerful tool to break through this statement is the metaphor. A metaphor describes similarities and connections between objects or states. Change the statement “This is illogical” to “This is like …”. Example: The arrangement of components in a computer seems illogical. Describe the functions of the individual parts, as if they belonged to a vehicle: “This is the engine”, “This is the steering wheel”, “This is the chassis”, etc. This gives you a new perspective on your challenge. Von Oech distinguishes between “hard thinking” and “soft thinking”. “Hard thinking” is more socially acceptable. It is represented by terms such as “logic, reasoning, precision, constancy, reality, analysis, etc.”. In practice, however, this thinking limits creative processes. Metaphors are part of “soft thinking”, which throws a more diffuse light on a question and widens the view in several directions. Terms for “soft thinking” include “dream, humor, ambiguity, fantasy, paradox, inspiration, play”. Step 3: Follow the rules. I’m sure there are rules that can be vitally important to abide by. It’s more than unwise to shout “fire!!” in a full theatre for no reason. But for many other rules, “holy cows make great steaks” – so kill a holy cow once. Example: It is said that Frederick the Great (1712– 1786) lost the battle of Jena. However, this took place in 1806 – long after his death. The saying explains that the Prussians had held on to Frederick’s war strategies for too long and were thus helpless against Napoleon’s modern troop movements. Ask yourself: “How did this rule/idea/program/concept come about?” “Are the reasons still valid?” If your answer to the last question is no, kill the holy cow! Step 4: Be practical. Always thinking practically limits our imagination. You can break through this by asking “What if?” questions or by asking yourself how a certain other person would solve the challenge. Start the question with “What if?” and then use something that stands in contrast to the ordinary or even appears negative. It is guaranteed to open your imagination.

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Example: “What if man had seven fingers on each hand?” Would this change certain sports? What good would it do the jewellery industry? Give yourself a new perspective on your challenge by asking yourself how Martin Luther King, Marie Curie, Beethoven, Jesus, Socrates, Ada Lovelace or Wonder Woman would solve it. Step 5: Playing is silly. It’s a pity to leave playing only to children, because just seemingly aimless “playing around” is an excellent tool for solving serious challenges. Throughout history, complex questions have been clarified in this way. The mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius described a onesided surface with the Möbius loop. You can build your own copy of this amazing tape with a paper strip: Take a strip of paper and hold the ends against each other. Immediately before gluing them together, turn one end 180 degrees once. The result is a surface that has no top or bottom, inside or outside – you can easily check this by drawing a line on the whole strip of paper with a pencil: The beginning and end of your line will touch. In the same way, you can also check that the tape has only one edge. Step 6: That’s not my area of expertise. Looking beyond the end of one’s nose is enormously helpful in particular in generating ideas and mastering current challenges. But how can this truism be put into practice? The trick is to apply a solution from one subject area to the question of another subject area. Steve Jobs: “Innovation is usually the result of connections of past experiences. But if you have the same experiences as everybody else, you’re unlikely to look in a different direction.” One problem is our increasing specialization. Successful lateral thinkers are looking for transmission possibilities. The whole field of bionics asks how perfect conditions in nature can be applied to technical innovations. Step 7: Don’t be a fool. If you look at the motley disguise of a fool and his funny cap, it is easy to mistake him for a stupid guy. But don’t let them fool you. The classical fool had an important advisory role at the courts of the rulers of all great cultures. They can be found in ancient Egypt as well as in India, China, Rome, Greece and in Europea in the Middle Ages. The fool needed intelligence, imagination, cleverness and deep political insight to play his role. He was an actor, poet, philosopher and psychologist. Because of his ability to open minds, the fool had a similar position and influence as a priest or medicine man or shaman. What exactly did the fool do? Put simply, their presence was intended to protect the ruler from habitual 89

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A Whack on the Side of the Head

ways of thinking and decisions that were approved by yes-men from their environment. For the latter were the so-called advisers of the rulers all too often – and since this was clear to rulers, they gave the fool license to parody any proposal, to disturb or ridicule discussion points and existing thought patterns. The fool’s jokes and his crazy views put the subject in a new light. Thus the ruler could rethink their judgments, increase their creativity and protect themselves from group thinking. Play the fool yourself to check your basic assumptions. Turn an assumption into its opposite on a trial basis. Play with riddles like a fool. Reacte to a problem in an absurd way. Notice little things that others overlook. Speak in metaphors or make cryptic remarks in a meeting so that the participants themselves have to think ahead. Famous lovers of foolish ways of thinking are Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. Step 8: Avoid ambiguity. It is an important creative achievement to look at an object and to perceive in it more meanings than the manufacturer has assigned to it. Children typically find that easy. If you press a piece of chalk firmly on a blackboard, you can effortlessly see an eye, a cigar butt or a crushed beetle in the resulting point. Artists have the same ability. So Picasso could see the horns for his bull sculpture in a bicycle handlebar. Develop this ability further on your own. If you have ever used a brick as a door wedge, leaves of a tree as toilet paper or a pen tip as a hole punch, you have already made a good start. Step 9: Wrong is a mistake. Our education system is designed to punish mistakes. Those who err several times in a row and fail exams run the risk of a poor ending their school career, studies or vocational training. The results of successful scientists show that failure and error are essential when they are intelligently processed: as stepping stones to ultimate success. This is how the great discoveries were made. Take risks and welcome mistakes. Use the analysis of errors as directional correction. Step 10: I’m not creative. This statement is a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. Such statements have immense power in positive as well as negative ways. And they even work in cabaret form: The famous American entertainer Johnny Carson told his television audience that there was a shortage of toilet paper. Shortly thereafter this actually occurred, since all Americans stocked up their supplies in panic-buying purchases.

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Business people are also familiar with this phenomenon. The whole system of customer confidence and economic optimism builds on this – if a company assumes that the market is stable, it will invest; this in turn gives other companies the security of a stable market and they will also invest, which boosts the economy in general. Educators report that students who are treated and described as gifted can behave as such and ultimately perform well. Conclusion: Give yourself a creativity license. Ask yourself the question, “Am I creative?” Draw a box next to each of the possible answers “Yes” and “No”. TICK THE BOX MARKED “YES”! Impact on obstacle effects – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination

A Whack on the Side of the Head

Supports a better perception Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Identified sources of the method Book – A Whack on the side of the head, R. von Oech (Grand Central Publishing – Mai 2008)

Experiences – for self-study

I have often recommended A Whack On The Side Of The Head to friends, business partners and clients for self-study or reflection. The reaction was always that the book helped people to perceive themselves as more creative individuals. Reading it was fun for everyone – also, and especially, when the pages were simply turned aimlessly and there was thought-provoking inspiration for direct implementation.

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After Action Review Step 2: Formulate the focus: What did we want to achieve? Define the goals and the expected results. Step 3: Ask the key questions: “What really happened? What went well? What’s the matter with you? What could have been better?” Step 4: Name the insights gained for future challenges and projects. Step 5: Make sure everyone feels understood before completing the review. Step 6: Briefly document all important insights and share them with colleagues who can benefit.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description Review (After Action Review, AAR): “Don’t look for mistakes, but understand what happened and go on” – that’s the credo of this special technique. AAR is a methodical review of a challenge, its solution and its implementation. The aim of this review is to identify mistakes and success factors, to make the project visible to all members of the team, to recognise further potential, to build on important strengths and to reduce obvious weaknesses. AAR allows your team members to quickly and realistically see the progress and results of an entire project, understand the reasons for mistakes, determine what has worked and what needs to be adjusted, and learn from that. Generated output Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible Handling Important note: Such a review is always based on openness and willingness to learn – it is not about problem analysis or even assigning blame. All participants draw their conclusions directly from the review. You can document these findings and share them with a wider circle of colleagues. A look back can be done in various ways, from a brief review alone or in pairs after a meeting to a one-day AAR workshop for a project team at the end of a larger project. Step 1: Invite the right people, choose the moderator and ensure a good atmosphere.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person– Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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After Action Review

Experiences – Little know-how From experience of many projects we can say that retrospectives are already part of daily business in many companies, but sustainability is very often not achieved because the methodical components and the know-how are missing. – Suitable for many purposes A review is suitable for all activities that have a clear beginning and end, a clear goal and defined criteria for measuring success. Suitable moments for a review are the completion of a project and the achievement of milestones (completion of project steps). – Despite success Experience has shown that you have to get your act together in order to hold an AAR meeting on a regular basis, especially if an innovation project has been completed very successfully.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

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ABC Analysis Advantages: The ABC Analysis is a simple procedure that can be used for different business areas and questions. By focusing on just a few test objects, it is easy to understand and the results can be visualized and presented clearly. Disadvantages: The analysis only takes into account quantitative influencing variables. Qualitative aspects or complex issues remain unnoticed.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description ABC Analysis is an examination and classification procedure for classifying large amounts of data. The basic principle of the method is to divide objects or processes into classes A, B and C according to defined focal points in order to determine the relationship between effort and success and to set priorities. This procedure is best used to evaluate larger quantities of ideas. The ABC analysis was developed in the 1950s by the General Electric Manager, H. Ford Dickie, for materials management and served primarily to optimize planning processes, reduce inventory and administration costs, and increase profits. The starting point of the method was the Pareto Principle, the so-called 80–20 rule of the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto and the Lorenz curve of the US economist Max Otto Lorenz. ABC Analysis is now used both within and outside business administration. In addition to materials management, areas of application include personnel and project management, organizational analysis and task prioritization, as well as innovation management. In the area of task prioritization, ABC Analysis is used as a tool for effective time management. The tasks are divided into classes A, B and C according to urgency and importance: The main focus is on the class A tasks. They have top priority and are to be done first. After that the tasks of class B follow. They have a medium priority and can be delegated, optimized or scheduled if necessary. Class C tasks have the lowest priority and should be completed without great expenditure of time and energy, unless they are to be delegated, shortened or completely neglected.

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Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling First, the ideas to be classified are defined and entered in a table with the respective target value pairs (e. g. attractiveness/implementation time, implementation budget/ benefit, etc.). The decisive value (for example, conversion time) is sorted in descending order by size and the total is calculated. Each idea is then calculated as a percentage of the total. In another column you add the percentages row by row, so that you get 100 percent at the end. You can use the percentages to define the class limits and sort the classes into A, B, and C. The percentages are used to define the class limits. The class boundaries are not uniformly defined. They vary depending on the objective of the analysis. As a rule, the B class comprises about 10 to 40 percent. If necessary, an additional class D can be added. When prioritizing tasks, for example, it is assumed that class A tasks account for 15 percent of all tasks and activities and have a benefit of 65 percent. The B tasks account for 20 percent and also lead to a benefit of 20 percent. The C tasks account for 65 percent of all tasks, but only have a benefit of 15 percent. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens excessively long decision meetings – Weakens debating

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ABC Analysis

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Technology: projector and laptop Technique: Microsoft Excel Experiences – Visual work

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

With anABC Analysis, the result should not only be a table of values, but a corresponding, meaningful graphic should always be created. This results in faster findings and fewer misinterpretations.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.todo-liste.de/vorgehen/abc-analyse (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC-Analyse (April 2017) Web – http://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/Definition/ abc-analyse.html (April 2017) Web – https://www.weclapp.com/de/blog/abc-analyse (April 2017)

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ABC Method

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The ABC Method isa usually used in the evaluation phase of a challenge, but it is also often used in the brainstorming phase. The participants give instant-reaction statements about a particular idea. The procedure is especially suitable as a feedback method in the evaluation phase of an idea, as can be seen from the example below. It can also be used to provoke spontaneous remarks about a challenge or to verbalize experiences more easily. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: All participants receive a worksheet in which the letters of the alphabet are written in vertically. Next to this is a longer column for notes. Step 2: The letters of the alphabet each represent a thought impulse/mini-inspiration and participants write notes according to their initial letter in the adjoining longer column. It’s a similar approach to what some of us might know from the old German game “Stadt – Land – Fluss”. If possible, a note should be made for each letter. Step 3: Afterwards, the participants will report one after the other on their remarks in the time allowed. Step 4: The moderator reacts to the contents of the statements, for example, by taking short notes and then commenting immediately, or by summarizing the most important information for the team in a break, reflecting it

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back to the participants and discussing it further with them. Example: The participants are asked to look at the idea and document their first impressions and statements in the list: A Initial phase very important B Do not miss budget approval C Communication needs good pictures D Duration problematic E F G Group work necessary H High standards, little know-how I J “Jan’s big class” K L M N O P Price war Q R S T Training situation U Unmistakable V W Would I buy too X Y Z Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

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ABC Method

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Tool: specific worksheets People: diverse mix of individuals

Experiences – 1 to 20 participants/10 to 30 minutes

Individual work possible – recommended participants 1 to 20 participants – average duration (from/to) 10 to 30 minutes – You can also use several columns to find an idea Two or three columns per letter can also be used, especially for use in idea generation. Each column is given a different heading with a slightly different angle. Example: Finding ideas for a new trade fair stand concept: Column 1 = What attracts people?/Column 2 = What do people like to hear?/Column 3 = Various giveaways. Then for each column collect ideas with the respective initial letters and next, similar to the Morphological Matrix, combine the suggested ideas into one. – Fast tool The ABC method is a very fast technique that combines spontaneity with simple documentation. – Danger of monotony With larger groups, there is possible danger of monotony if all participants speak one after the other. Tip: Here it may be advisable to work in smaller subgroups first, whose result profiles can then be addressed in the large round.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/ABC-MethodeKreativit%C3%A4tstechnik-Brainstorming-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

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AEIOU Technique Handling Step 1: It is best to divide your team into five individual or small groups according to the respective AEIOU focus. Each focus represents a team task. Step 2: Now let the small groups analyze the same material/impression/action using the assigned focus. Step 3: In the analysis the observations are compiled during a group discussion and specific findings are made for the project.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand)

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an insufficient knowledge base – Weakens debating

Description AEIOU is a good technique for beginners to enter the observation phase of an innovation project. The acronym AEIOU stands for: A ction = observe and record the activities of individual individuals. E nvironment = observe and analyze the environment. I nteraction = observe interactions between persons/objects. O bject = Analyze the use of objects, for example machines. U ser = View the actions of the user in context.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person– Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Due to the simplification of complex situations, the human brain focuses on a few aspects that appear to it to be essential for the first impression. This causes the brain to filter the excess of information, which is, however, a hindrance to successful observations. Here the AEIOU Technique supports careful understanding and one receives a complete overview of the situation to be observed. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates forecasts and derivations Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible

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Recommended resources Moderation: A4 sheets Tool: clipboards Moderation: soft pencils Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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AEIOU Technique

Experiences – One angle per person It is easier to get started with this method if each person in the group is responsible for one point of view/focus and concentrates only on that.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – https://thinking-design.de/aeiou%e2%80%89-% e2%80%89methode/ (April 2017)

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AIDA Formula

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Presenting ideas and fighting for ideas is especially important in large organizations in order to make them reality. The AIDA Formula is an old and well-known stepby-step model of advertising effectiveness and was developed by the American strategist E. St. Elmo Lewis (1898). AIDA stands for the basic stages of a sales conversation: A = Attention I = Interest D = Desire A = Action The communication model is based on the assumption that human information processing and decision making are also divided into four consecutive steps: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. Today, the AIDA model is also often used to check and optimize advertising messages. In addition, it is very well suited as a presentation method to best communicate ideas. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The AIDA Formula is based on four equally important phases. The phases are strictly hierarchical, but can also overlap, and are targeted. The classic sequence of the AIDA model in connection with an idea presentation is as follows:

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Attention Attract the attention of the target group: Through targeting the new idea will be brought to the attention of colleagues or the public by means of a wellconsidered campaign. Interest Arouse the interest of the target group: Innovative, unconventional promises of benefits are intended to arouse the interest of colleagues or the public. Desire And desire Well-communicated problem solutions and advantages let the colleagues or the audience evaluate the idea as valuable, necessary and desirable. Action The target group acts. They buy the idea or the product: Finally, the colleagues or the audience need a specific request to turn the willingness to buy into a purchase action or a positive judgment on the idea. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens excessively long decision meetings

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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AIDA Formula – – – – – – – – –

Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: usable for a single person Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: flipchart

Experiences – Analog and visual If you output the guideline to only work analogously and visually, AIDA automatically creates very effective dramaturgies. This will work even better where employees have small micro-budgets, especially during the Attention phase.

Identified sources of the method Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDA-Modell (April 2017) Web – http://www.wirtschaftslexikon24.com/e/aidamodell (April 2017) Web – http://www.kreatives-management-hamburg.de/ 2-uncategorised/13-prozessbezogene-kreativitaetstechniken-von-a-d.html (April 2017)

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets

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OPV – Other People’s Views – –

– – – Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The OPV – Other People’s Views method can be applied in both a narrow and a broad sense. In a narrowsense, it means slipping into the role of people or groups who are very close to the topic and have a very high affinity with the challenge or the original topic. These individuals often have a high degree of participation in the topic. By focusing on this group, it is often possible to view the very small thematic world being considered with different eyes by simply slipping into the role of another person. When the method is applied in the broad sense, the area of the circle of individuals is extended accordingly and thus also the perspective is broadened. One can therefore say that the flight altitude of consideration changes if, for example, one assesses the topic from a political or a macroeconomic point of view. In contrast to the AMA method, it is therefore a matter of assessing the subject area of particular people with certain positions. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The implementation of the method in accordance with de Bono could look like this: – Clear and transparent definition of the topic, problem or challenge.

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Finding people and groups of people who are closer to the topic. Recording the opinions and positions of these individuals. Finding people and groups of people with further distance from the topic. Recording the opinions and positions of these individuals. Documenting and evaluating new opinions and identifying new thoughts and ideas. Selecting the best new ideas.

Example: The prices for staple foods are rising hugely. Retailer: Pleased to receive a higher margin. Consumer: Must change if necessary or buy less because they can no longer afford the same quantity. Industry: Will eventually also raise their prices. Response to the low level of consumer purchases of fresh food. This could be a simplified presentation of positions in the narrow sense on rising prices of staple foods. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Team size: usable for a single person – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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OPV – Other People’s Views Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Experiences – Role play is happily carried out Workshop participants enter into various roles with great zeal and have great fun in the process. – Identification of blind spots By involving people who are clearly not always taken into account in the brainstorming process, it is possible to produce very new ideas and thoughts.

Identified sources of the method Book – A Guide to Lean Six Sigma Management Skills, H. S. Gitlow (Taylor & Francis Ltd. – März 2009) Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005)

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ALPEN Method – – –

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) Description The ALPEN Method is a one that helps to get the daily time management in projects under control faster. This method (according to Lothar J. Seiwert) takes a few minutes each day to create a written daily plan. We have included this method because new ideas and projects are often lost in day-to-day business, especially during the implementation phase, as the time management of most participants is not yet optimal and synchronous. In addition, the technique using the word “Alps” is child’s play, easy to remember, and works simply and reliably. Generally speaking, good and efficient time management plays a very important role in all innovative companies today, as the pace of our business does not slow down, but moves more quickly and in more complex ways every day. Time management, however, must exist just as theory with a frustratingly long list of unfinished tasks every day. The simple “ALPEN” mnemonic, which has very often helped us on the path of good time management, makes planning realistic. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Handling Time management must not lead to excessive time planning, which in turn only devours time. With many other method you only create psydo effects. Therefore do not plan more precisely than necessary – this is the art of the method, the efficient and target-oriented compromise. Any planning costs time. Try to keep scheduling simple. Simple, straightforward rules are the right way to do this. The core rule for permanently scheduled buffer times is as follows:

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Buffer times are usually estimated at 40 percent. However, they are highly dependent on the occupational group. First try to determine your specific buffer time requirements.

The success of daily planning does not depend on knowing these connections. I’d forget by the next day. It is important to implant the connections in your mind. The often quoted ALPEN method serves as a simple rule for this purpose: A – Activities: Note down activities and tasks. L – Length: Estimate length, i. e. duration. P – Buffer: Reserve Buffer time (typically 40 percent for contingencies). E – Decisions: Make decisions about omissions and priorities. N – Follow-up : Follow-up check and unfinished business transferred to next day. Do not concentrate exclusively on the tasks of day-to-day work. Plan for success. Determine which targets you must set for this. Start with the most important subgoal. Place directions on the ALPEN technique within sight of your desk and you will see that this method starts to work almost automatically. Because every time you look at the directions, it is easy to briefly work through the five points. Notes How does daily planning become realistic? Realistic planning always requires that all important activities are recorded in writing, whether on paper or on computer. We need to know how long each of these activities will last. In addition, we need buffer times of about 40 percent (rule of thumb), but for many occupational groups it is much more or much less. Decide according to your feelings. The more you focus on “activities” instead of “goals”, the more buffer time you need. Once you have started, your subconscious makes it “perfect” before it tackles a new and still unknown task. Only then set priorities and decide what to leave out. The decision on priorities is crucial for the success of your time management. Never give preference to favorite tasks. Never lower timing for unpleasant tasks inappropriately. Naturally, at the end of the process, check what has been done and what needs to be presented again. Check whether you have adhered to your resolutions or whether you have again given preference to pleasant tasks over important ones. If you manage to be honest

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ALPEN Method

with yourself here, you are more than halfway to success.

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action

Experiences – ALPEN sticker

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

It has been shown that the more team members use the ALPEN method, the more effective it is. To encourage this, you can, for example, hang stickers with the word “ALPEN” or pictures of the Alps as triggers in the offices of team members. In the daily presence of the stickers, the method establishes itself many times faster.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Zeitmanagement für Ingenieure (essentials), E. Hering (Springer Vieweg – Dezember 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009) Book – Life-Leadership. So bekommen Sie Ihr Leben in Balance, L. J. Seiwert, B. Tracy (GABAL Verlag – September 2001)

Recommended resources No special resources required

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APC – Alternatives, Possibilities and Choices

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The APC – Alternatives, Possibilities and Choices method describes a technique whose aim is to produce alternatives at a certain stage in the Brainstorming process. Importantly it is does not matter which point it is and how it is produced. The main thing is to come up with alternatives at some juncture. Edward de Bono’s research clearly shows that the creation of alternative possibilities is extremely helpful and purposeful in many situations in life. So APC transfers a general wish into a concrete instruction for action and helps to focus brainstorming. Thus APC not only helps to produce the alternatives in the first instance, but also describes the procedure once they have been produced. We then have to make a selection at some time to find a fixed end for this phase and make progress possible. Accordingly, the production of alternatives, possibilities and choices – related to a certain situation – is not an infinite process.

planation alternatives as descriptions and decide which is the most likely. Hypotheses Alternatives should also always be found for hypotheses so that the process or trend can be expressed and corresponding similarities can be identified. Perceptions In order not to fall directly into the trap of explaining the first interpretation as a valid perception, different opinions should always be thought through in order to obtain an overall impression. Problems The actual definition of the problem sometimes only becomes clear in its entirety once various alternative solutions have been found. The problem can then be reformulated and you will not fall into the trap of developing a single valid solution, to general satisfaction. Checks Whether a problem is adequately solved can also be tested by checking and evaluating the validity of alternative problems. Planning When planning, always consider different paths that go in the same direction to find out which can be the best way. Decisions In order to make the right choice, you need a variety of alternatives that lead to the decision. Execution Even if there are several possibilities for execution, you should always check another one to be able to guarantee the best choice. Looking ahead Develop several future scenarios in order to be able to make better decisions about the path and the right steps. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Handling The APC method is applied according to de Bono in the following situations: Explanations If there is a situation that does not seem plausible at first (example: you see a person pouring beer into the tank of their car), then we should always identify different ex-

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use

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APC – Alternatives, Possibilities and Choices – – – –

Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: usable for a single person– Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

Experiences – APC is very complex The implementation of APC often means a lot of work for the group because it is difficult to find alternatives and possibilities. However, the results justify the effort made and leaves the group with a good feeling.

Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Book – Innovation Generation: How to Produce Creative and Useful Scientific Ideas, R. B. Ness (Oxford University Press – März 2012)

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ARIZ

2.

3.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The aim of the ARIZ method (Russian acronym for “Algorithm for Solving Inventive Tasks”) is to solve a complex technical problem analytically through a systematic approach. ARIZ is one of the main components of the macro method TRIZ. The procedure of the method can be divided into different phases. First, a simple problem model must be developed from a complex, closely specified task and an ideal solution must be defined. The original problem is made concrete and broken down into subproblems. This can result in physical contradictions. Once the conditions for overcoming the contradictions have been defined, an attempt is made to resolve the contradictions by changing various parameters. This procedure is carried out iteratively until a suitable principle for solving the (technical) problem has been found. The advantage of this method is that splitting the issue at hand into small subproblems also enables the solution of very complex problems. Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling 1. System analysis, ideal end result Shortcomings and weaknesses of the current system, harmful and useful functions, definition of the ideal end result, formulation of the actual task (not: “The 108

drill is to be improved” but: “The wall must quickly have holes made in it”). Formulation of the contradictions to be solved Technical–technological: “Must be changed, but may not be changed.” Physical: “Must be, but may not be” or “Will be x and at the same time different.” (Note: these contradictions cannot be resolved by conventional methods.) Applyication of the solution strategies These contradictions can be solved at a high (meaning: inventive) level of thinking. The following strategies are available: standards, solution principles, separation principles, physical effects, guidelines for technical evolution, substance–field rules. These methods lead to solutions from other areas, whose “translation” and adaptation to one’s own problem represents the actual creative step.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions– Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person– Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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ARIZ

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Experience required ARIZ plays to its strengths in the field of technical tasks and is very brittle in its first application by inexperienced teams.

Identified sources of the method Book – 40 Principles: TRIZ Keys to Innovation, G. Altschuller, L. Shulyak, S. Rodman (Technical Innovation Ctr – Dezember 1997) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Grundlagen der klassischen TRIZ, M. Orloff (Springer – September 2006) Book – Innovation mit TRIZ, C. Grundlach, H. T. Nähler, C. Hentschel (Carl Hanser Verlag – 4. November 2010) Book – TRIZ / Tips- Methodik des erfinderischen Problemlösens, B. Klein (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2007)

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Action Painting

Description Action Painting refers to an American art movement that today is described as Abstract Expressionism. The term was coined by the American art critic Harald Rosenberg. Action Painting first appeared in the USA in the 1940s. One of its main proponents was Jackson Pollock, who made the style internationally known and caused a break in traditional painting. The focus of Action Painting was the painting process as action. The paint was spontaneously applied to the painting ground, random elements were integrated and the canvas was modified if necessary. As a creativity technique, Action Painting is suitable for sensitizing the visual and kinesthetic senses in particular during a creative process. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Large canvases, fabrics or papers are usually laid out on the floor. Dispersion paints, acrylic paints and/or gouache in large quantities are suitable for the color selection. A variety of tools can be used to apply the paint: Brushes, spatulas, rollers, sticks, paint directly from the tube, sieves, tins with holes, syringes, air pumps, watering cans, hands or other body parts. There are no limits to creativity when it comes to the means of applying paint. Clothing should be protected with overalls or smocks. The floor should also be well covered. The large painting area should be designed together with the participants/team, whereby the colour application should be carried out as spontaneously as possible

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without planning and organising the image composition/content, in a squatting and/or standing position. The distance between the painting medium and the substrate determines the effects. The lines become finer the larger the distance is. Due to the powerful physical movements, the process provides great liberation from constraints and control in the otherwise very organised and structured working world. Creative energies and potentials are released. The process can be further enhanced with music. The painting action allows many sensory impressions at the same time. They find their equivalent in the organisation of our brain, in which sensory impressions of a visual, auditory, somatosensory and motor nature also take place synchronously. In addition, the shared experience promotes togetherness and is remembered for a long time. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Action Painting

Recommended resources Tool: dispersion paint, acrylic paint, gouache Tool: canvas Tool: painting tools Tool: protective clothing Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

Experiences – Good kick-off Action Painting is also an excellent kick-off event for a major innovation project. It is easy to use with large numbers of participants. Open innovation or cross-innovation events can also be opened dramatically with Action Painting. All participants immerse themselves in a creative mindset that no one can resist.

Identified sources of the method Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Painting (April 2017) Web – http://www.bad-bad.de/burda-museum/action_painting.html (April 2017) Web – http://www.beyars.com/kunstlexikon/ lexikon_121.html (April 2017) Web – http://action-painting.org/definition/ (April 2017) Web – http://www.kreatives-management-hamburg.de/ 2-uncategorised/13-prozessbezogene-kreativitaetstechniken-von-a-d.html (April 2017)

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Advocatus Diaboli

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The technique is typically very well suited to the evaluation phase of an idea. A participant or a group takes on the role of Advocatus Diaboli on a given topic or idea and tries to convince the other participants or groups with their controversial argument. Subsequently discuss with all participants when they were convinced and when they were not, and why this was perhaps the case. This method has similarities to the 6 Hats of De Bono, but is much constructed. The Advocatus Diaboli position is intended to develop different perspectives on a challenge. The participants should change points of view and change consciously. The planned project or idea is deliberately discussed controversially. An Advocatus Diaboli is a person who consciously takes a counter-position and thus often assumes the more critical side of an argument. Advocatus Diaboli (Latin for “lawyer of the devil”) is an old expression and originally describes the person in the Roman Catholic Church who, in the process of beatification or canonization of an individual, had to collect and present arguments against the discussed personality. The opponent was Advocatus Angeli, who argued for the beatification. More broadly, in rhetoric someone is called Advocatus Diaboli when their arguments represent the position of the opposite side without belonging to it. (Often one also comes across the wrong name, Advocatus Diabolus, but the devilish one meant here would in Latin correctly be Diabolicus. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

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Handling Important note: The application of this method is always based on openness and willingness to learn – it is not about quarreling or even assigning blame. All participants draw their conclusions directly from the discussion. You can document these findings and share them with a wider circle of colleagues. The Advocatus Diaboli technique can be used in various ways, from a short moment alone, or in pairs after a meeting, to a one-day workshop by a project team. Step 1: Invite the right people, choose the moderator carefully and ensure a good atmosphere. Step 2: A participant or group starts the controversial discussion with their Advocatus Diaboli position. Step 3: Name the insights you have gained. Step 4: Make sure everyone feels understood before making a decision about the idea and completing the session. Step 5: Briefly document all important insights and share them with colleagues who can benefit. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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Advocatus Diaboli

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – The role is crucial

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009)

Since the participants only play one role, more open discussions are possible than when each participant is “themselves”. – Focus moderation The gain in openness is partly bought about by theatrical behavior, as the roles are often portrayed in an exaggerated way. The moderator also has to meet somewhat higher requirements, as the technique does not follow exact guidelines or instructions. Ultimately, there are no limits to individual design here.

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Action-based Learning

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The aim of Action-based Learning is to ensure that employees acquire the necessary knowledge to work on tasks during the course of a project. Action-based Learning is a method of “learning by doing” in organisations. In an action learning program, a team works on a specific project relevant to the company and at the same time reflects on the learning process during the project. First, an interdisciplinary group of people analyses a problem and develops a joint proposal for a solution. The focus is on real work situations and problems that are solved in a “learning” way. During the implementation phase, the group meets at regular intervals and jointly evaluates the previous procedures and the solution proposals developed. Action-based Learning is thus a special form of “learning by doing”, which attaches particular importance to researching problems in practice and only incorporating necessary theoretical knowledge when necessary. The advantage of this method is that the problem at hand is solved during the application and at the same time there is a learning effect for each individual. By developing solutions for real problems, the learning process can be improved. Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Handling Presentation of the problem: Explain the objectives of the Action-based Learning group.

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Group formation: The group can be made up of volunteers or of participants who have been appointed; they should work on a concrete problem. Gather within the learning group a cross-section of people with a complementary mix of skills and expertise. The learning group can meet once or several times depending on the complexity of the problem and the time available to solve it. Analyze the topic and tag activities to fix it. The problem owner briefly presents the problem to the group. They may remain a member of the group or opt out and await the recommendations of the group. Description of the problem: After a series of questions, the group, often under the guidance of the Actionbased Learning counsellor, reaches a consensus on the most critical and important problem on which the group should work. The group should highlight the core problem. Set goals: Once the key issue has been identified, the group seeks agreement for the goal. Achieving the goal would solve the reiterated problem in the long run with positive, rather than negative, consequences for the individual, the team or the organisation. Develop activity strategies: Much of the group’s time and energy is spent identifying and initial testing of the possible activity strategies. Like the previous stages of Action-based Learning, strategies are developed through reflective enquiries and dialogues. Take action: Between Action-based Learning sessions, the group as a whole (or the individual members) collects information, identifies the support status and implements the strategies developed and agreed by the group. Repeat the cycle of activity and learning until the problem is resolved or new directions are identified. Capture the learning: The learning group consultant can intervene at any discussion point during the sessions. After a period of time, the group gathers again to discuss progress, lessons learned, and subsequent steps. In this context, documentation of the learning process should be made for future reference. The lessons learned after each phase of learning should be noted. The consultant ensures that the feedback and dialogue rules are adhered to.

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Action-based Learning

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power

– –

Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

In order to achieve good results with Action-based Learning, very experienced trainers and team coaches should be used.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Using action learning to drive organizational learning and performance (Strategic HR Review, Pounder 2009) Book – Action Learning. Ein Handbuch, O. Donnenberg (Klett – 1999)

Experiences – Experienced trainers

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Omnipotence Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Omnipotence is an idea-finding technique that works with imagination and “What if?” questions. Under the assumption of being omnipotent and being able to solve all the problems of the world, solution fantasies are developed in the group. After the fantasy phase, the results are adapted to the actual conditions until feasible solutions are found. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: First, the problem or task is presented. Then the participants are asked to slip into their roles. They should imagine having all the power in the world to solve the task or problem presented. What are they doing? What means do they use? What ideas arise from this? Step 2: All ideas are collected and checked against the real conditions. Together work out which approaches to solutions seem feasible and how they have to be adapted in order to be successful and workable. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: paper People: multidisciplinary team Room: creative and inspiring workspace Room: pinboards Room: circle of chairs Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Good method for loosening up This method is also particularly suitable if you are starting a topic with a group. It loosens people up – but should perhaps not be used for overly serious topics.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.kreatives-management-hamburg.de/ 2-uncategorised/24-prozessbezogene-kreativitaetstechniken-von-i-l.html (April 2017)

Analogy Method

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Analogy technique uses analogies to change the way we look at the problem in order to provoke new ideas. To this end, parallels to structurally similar things in everyday life are exploited. It is assumed that when analogous situations are considered, the findings can be transmitted back to the original target. From experience, we can report that this technique is particularly well received by technically-oriented teams, because it offers a good mixture of a tight method and great degrees of freedom. The analogy method is particularly useful as a creativity technique for brainstorming, which uses characteristics (properties, attributes) of the task or target to uncover related situations. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The first step in Analogy techniques is to find a suitable analogy for the target. The analogy is then analyzed. Moving the problem to a different area can lead to very different and completely new approaches to the original area. The starting points gained can be used to direct the subsequent production of ideas in new directions. The starting points found during the analysis of the analogy are transferred back to the target reality. There they can help participants to break out of thought structures that have been consolidated by many years of experience, or even serve directly as approaches to solving the problem. Formation of analogies: To form an analogy, a characteristic of the task is selected. The analogies are then other

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“owners” (for example things, people or organizations) that also possess this characteristic. Analogies to a university could be, for example: 1. theatre, airport, conference center (these are also organizations that have large halls) 2. kindergarten, dance school, flight simulator (these are places where learning takes place) 3. tax office, town hall, police station, public toilet (these are also institutions of the public service) 4. company, association, craftsperson, church (all these are also employers) 5. laboratory, archive, South Pole, clinic (also places of research) Procedure: Step 1: Select a characteristic of the existing system. Step 2: Collect other holders of this selected characteristic. Step 3: Solve the task from the perspective of these owners. Step 4: Transfer the solutions found in this way to the task at hand. An example application: New marketing ideas for a shopping center are sought. 1st question: What is a characteristic of a shopping center? Answer: A shopping center has many corridors and rooms. 2nd question: Where else are there many corridors and rooms? Answer: In a museum or a gallery. 3rd question: What is offered to the people there? Answer: Art, paintings and sculptures. 4th question: How can we transfer this solution to our task? Answer: We could use the corridors in the mall to exhibit pictures by artists from the region or children from the local school. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens living in the past

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Analogy Method

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Room: pinboards Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: moderation cards People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Special case bionics Within the framework of analogy techniques, a large number of analogies are often formed and analyzed before the actual idea production begins. Bionics is an important special case of analogy technology, in which analogies are sought from nature. – Great variety Analogy technology is very versatile, since there are almost always infinite possibilities for the formation of analogies. As with the choice of the characteristics, the method can likewise be formulated very freely. The method is also easy to understand and accessible to people who think “logically”. You can also always collect the characteristics very systematically.

Identified sources of the method Book – Techniques of Structured Problem Solving, A. B. VanGundy (Springer Verlag 1988) Book – Cracking Creativity, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2001) Book – Mit Analogien neue Produkte entwickeln, C. Herstatt D. Engel (Harvard Business Manager 2006) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009)

Analytic Hierarchy Process

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The aim of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is to structure and simplify complex decision problems through a hierarchical analysis process in order to make a rational decision. The AHP is referred to as “analytical” because of its ability to comprehensively analyze a problem constellation in all its dependencies. It is called a “process” because it defines how decisions are structured and analyzed in a procedural process. In principle, this process is always the same, which makes the AHP an easy-to-use decision tool when used several times, similar to a routine treatment. AHP’s goals are: – To support decisions in teams – To find the transferable solution and to minimize the time required for it – To make the decision making and the result comprehensible – To detect possible inconsistencies in decision making The AHP serves: – To review and supplement subjective “gut decisions” – To work out qualitative weighting decisions based on comparative decisions – For the structured and hierarchical representation of a final decision by a decision tree Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling To implement the method, the first step is to collect data that is important for decision making. Subsequently, a lineup, comparison and evaluation of all criteria or alter-

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natives takes place. The decision maker must compare and contrast each criterion with each other. The decision maker then notes which of the two criteria appears to be more important for them. This method of pairwise comparisons allows the decision maker to obtain a very precise assessment from the multitude of competing criteria. This leads to a ranking in which the criteria are arranged according to their importance. The last step is to answer the question asked at the beginning. Using a mathematical model, the AHP determines a precise weighting of all alternatives in relation to the respective criteria from the individual evaluations and assembles these in a percentage order. Essentially, the method of the AHP is mathematically based on a chain of matrix multiplications. In order to perform the AHP, you need a sound knowledge of linear algebra. The advantage of this method over, for example, utility value analysis is that it goes beyond idea evaluation and generates a clear selection recommendation. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Analytic Hierarchy Process

Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Technique: Microsoft Excel Moderation: pens Experiences – Tables create helpful structures This method also shows that tables very often provide helpful structures. Especially with large decision tables, it is worth drawing large tables on bronwpapers, for example.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Decision Making for Leaders, T. L. Saaty (Bertrams – Mai 1999) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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And-also Method Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The And-also Method is also known as Progressive Brainstorming or Stop-and-go Brainstorming and is a variant of the classic Brainstorming methods. The principle of the And-also Method is that each idea is first discussed and evaluated in the group before a further proposal can be made. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: A moderator presents the task to a group of ideally four to twelve participants and familiarises them with the rules of the And-also Method. The method can also be used with larger groups, but a multitude of opinions often delays the discussion and evaluation process. Step 2: The task is explained clearly and displayed on a pinboard. Step 3: As soon as a proposed solution has been formulated, it is noted by the moderator and discussed and evaluated directly by the group. Note: The moderator must ensure that the focus is on the positive aspects of the idea. (Note: The direct discussion and evaluation process, which is not usual during brainstorming, can prevent the creative flow and quick association and thus have a counterproductive effect.) Step 4: After a defined time, the discussion on the first idea is stopped. The participants now propose another idea that will set a new discussion and evaluation in motion. The process is repeated until no more ideas are proposed or a given time has elapsed.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Room: creative and inspiring workspace Tool: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Small disadvantages Due to the constant alternation between collecting and evaluating ideas, quick and uncritical association is often not possible. The And-also Method is therefore only partially efficient in finding ideas, but can be very helpful for analysis and constellation problems. – Helpful for preselection The method is very helpful when it comes to preselecting suitable topics for subsequent brainstorming.

Identified sources of the method Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/w/index.php5/Brainstorming_klassisch (April 2017)

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Anonymous Voting The result is a ranking of the existing ideas, which are now discussed and reflected on by the group. The group now decides which ideas will be implemented.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The aim of Anonymous Voting is to select ideas from a list in an anonymous vote that are to be pursued further, or to put them in a ranking order. Each participant selects ten percent of the ideas from an existing numbered list and rates them as A, B, C, etc. The election official collects the anonymous voting cards and then presents the result. The result is a ranking of the existing ideas and thus a processing recommendation of the group. The advantage of this method is that the decision-makers can take creative risks through anonymity, as they act free of group pressure. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling All ideas to be evaluated are either processed as a numbered list, or an idea gallery is created in which each idea is assigned a unique number. Simple ballot papers are prepared on which the participants can write the numbers of the ideas. A group of participants that is as multidisciplinary as possible now carries out the evaluation. Each participant selects ten percent of the ideas from the existing numbered ideas list or the ideas gallery and rates them with letters such as A, B, C, etc. A participant, for example, writes “10 A” on a ballot paper – thus giving the idea number 10 the rating “A”. A previously appointed election officer collects the anonymous voting cards and then gives the result. The result should be presented as visually as possible, for example as a column graphic or similar.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces permanent opponents – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens excessively long decision meetings – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Tool: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Anonymous Voting

Experiences – There are also digital versions For anonymous voting there are also some digital variants that work with technically-based voting systems. This is also suitable for larger innovation events with large groups.

Identified sources of the method Book – Why Not?- How to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems big and small, B. Nalebuff (Harvard Business Review Press – Dezember 2006) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Anonymous Brainstorming Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Anonymous Brainstorming is a variant of classic Brainstorming. Due to the anonymous approach, the method is particularly useful for mixed groups. Participants from different (technical) areas or different hierarchies of a company are given room for open discussion here, and allowed unfiltered comments, without having to take into account the opinions of other participants or superiors. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The moderator presents the problem or task. This can take the form of a question. The participants write down clearly, in briefly formulated sentences and individually, one idea/suggestion per moderation card. The cards are collected after about half an hour, presented individually and clearly attached to a notice board or bulletin board. The suggestions can now be analyzed and evaluated in groups. Checking the feasibility of teamwork encourages the enrichment and supplementation of existing ideas. From all ideas/proposals, the approaches which can actually be implemented as problem solutions and which promise success are then selected.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: glue dots Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards in different colors People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: pinboards Room: wall surfaces Tool: terminal boards Moderation: moderation cards Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Anonymous Brainstorming

Experiences – Has advantages with “alpha” individuals

Compared to normal brainstorming or other “noisy” methods, this technique has the advantage that all participants are equally involved and so-called “alphas” are “switched off”.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Book der Kreativitätstechniken, E. Boos (Compact – November 2010) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Anti-change Checkup dispensable, you can use Hagy’s model as a stimulus: Is C so small because you spend so much time on A and B? Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more know-how growth Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description This somewhat provocative model helps you to check what expectations you have of an upcoming change/innovation process: How much will actually have changed in practice afterwards? The authors Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler wondered why a year in which a company earned just as much as in the previous year is considered unsuccessful. In search of answers, they came across a model created by blogger Jessica Hagy. She presented expectations and results of a change process in an intersection model. In it,, the intersection between A “As it is” and B “As it will be” is relatively small: C. An interesting interpretation of Hagy’s model emerges when it is put into context with Professor Philipp Zimbardo’s findings. He describes three categories of people living in different time zones: 1. Past-oriented “Past negatives” are those defined by misadventures and missed opportunities. “Past positives” are nostalgics who rave about the past. 2. Present-oriented “Hedonists”, these are luck seekers and “non-planners”, the believers in fate, who cannot plan their future for reasons of religion or class. 3. Future-oriented “Planners” believe, as the saying goes, that every man is the architect of his own fortune. “Nachweltler” assume that true life only begins after the death of the body. According to Zimbardo, people in the western world are predominantly “planners” or “past-oriented”. So if you look critically at changes and wonder whether they are actually always desirable or at least in-

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Handling Step 1: Check what expectations you have of the upcoming change/innovation process: “How much will actually have changed in practice afterwards?” Step 2: Draw two large ovals on an -A3 sheet or flipchart and write “As it is” in A and “As it will be” in B. Step 3: Experience your change/innovation process. Step 4: Reflect on the intersection C on the basis of your drawing. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Anti-change Checkup

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Experiences – Dealing with disappointments The trainer working with a group on this topic should be prepared to deal creatively with participants’ disappointments. What input do they have to make to a group that finds that the change in practice has fallen short of their expectations?

Identified sources of the method Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013) Web – http://www.jessicahagy.info, Jessica Hagy (April 2017)

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Anticipating Defect Detection Step 3: First, the entire list of discovered error options is discussed and reflected on by the team. Perhaps interesting problem cluster or the like can already be found. Step 4: Then, for each error option, the group considers how it could be imaginatively prevented in advance.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The aim of Anticipating Defect Detection is to systematically, comprehensively and particularly early detect possible defects of a new system, a new product or a new process. “Make the failures early!” is an important procedure for successful innovation. The Design Thinking and Lean Startup especially focus on the testing and prototyping phases of this “innovation law”. The approach to troubleshooting is special: The search for possible errors is converted into the task: “How can errors be provoked?” The method therefore focuses on the question: “What must one do or what must occur in order to bring a system, a product or a process to failure?” After successful error identification, possible solutions are sought. The advantage of this method is that by searching for possible errors the system, the product or the process is examined very intensively and possible weak points can be identified. Generated output Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: For new products, features or operations to be investigated, a detailed process or usage scenario is created. We imagine the use or the procedure exactly and note down every single step in a sequence. In principle, this can be in any form of list or visual notation. Step 2: Now the team asks of every single point on the list: “What do we have to do or what has to happen in order to bring our system, our product, our process to failure?” Each discovered error option is now added to each list item without any form of evaluation.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Anticipating Defect Detection

Experiences – Promotes an open error culture

This method has a very important side effect – it encourages an open handling of mistakes. An open error culture, in which errors are not bad but are understood as helpful, is an important component of a goal-oriented innovation culture without “forced” harmony.

Identified sources of the method Book – TRIZ / Tips- Methodik des erfinderischen Problemlösens, B. Klein (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2007) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Appreciative Inquiry Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description Appreciative Inquiry describes the way in which innovation-promoting communication takes place within organizations. The principle was developed by David Cooperrider in the 1980s. Following this guide contributes to the development of a culture conducive to innovation. In essence, it is a matter of taking a look into the past and the future in order to draw conclusions about necessary future action in an appreciative question form. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Generates forecasts and derivations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling David Cooperrider’s guide shows four steps along a timeline: Step 1 Discovery: Find out what went well in the past and what is the basis for success so far. Step 2 Dream: Investigate: How can you help shape the future with your knowledge and skills and how can you improve and continue what you have achieved so far? Step 3 Design: Select one of the options you come up with and paint a picture of what the result may look like in the future. Ask yourself what you have to do to get there. Step 4 Destiny: This is about formulating concrete steps in the here and now. What are the first measures to get started?

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Recommended resources People: diverse mix of individuals No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Conduct conversations consistently according to the guidelines If Appreciative Inquiry is practiced regularly and permanently, it becomes an integral part of the corporate culture and leads to better cooperation even in “less important” discussions.

Identified sources of the method Book – Innerinnovation, B. Buck, U. Buck (LiteraturVSM – September 2014) Publikation – Stefanie Bergel: “We Have a Dream – Appreciative Inquiry in der Praxis”

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Assembly Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Description The warm-up Assembly takes 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the stage of development, the choice of topics and the number of people. First and foremost it allows participants to get to know each other better, in a playful way. The participants receive various questions and then have to arrange themselves in the space according to a pattern to be established by themselves. For example, the group can line up one after the other according to shoe size or sort themselves in the room on an imaginary map of their country or continent, where they woke up in the morning or wanted to wake up. After the participants have found their places, the moderator can ask about the results – which sometimes leads to surprises. Assembly can be done with groups of 5 or more and works just as well with 50. However, it fits best at the beginning of a training session or workshop and when the participants don’t know each other (so well) yet. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Handling Step 1: Make sure there is enough space in the room. Step 2: Ask the participants to stand up and gather in the middle of the room. Step 3: Ask the first question/describe the first task and give the participants one to two minutes to arrange themselves in the room. Step 4: Approach individual participants, possibly all of them, ask for their results and check if they are in the right places. Step 5: Repeat one to three times with new questions.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Use the current topic of discussion within the group The assembly is particularly popular if you can use the current topic of the group. So you can talk directly about the topic and start working. If, for example, a new trade fair stand concept is to be developed, ask which trade fair location was the furthest away or how many trade fairs the participants have already visited.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

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Asymmetric Clustering Matrix

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Asymmetric Clustering Matrix compares the values of two different entities and maps them in a visual matrix. Typically, this method is used in the phase of synthesizing or analyzing within an innovation project. The project participants hope to gain new insights and derivations for idea generation by correlating entities – such as different users with different touchpoints – or other things. The Asymmetric Clustering Matrix enables systematic analyses, supports comparisons, makes relationships and dependencies visible, provides transparency and treats large amounts of data. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Handling Step 1: Identify two value lists that you want to relate to each other. For example: problems found, identified needs, relevant customer groups, functions, activities, touchpoints, characteristics and so on. Step 2: Determine the relationship between the entities you measure or compare. For example, if you have places on one side and customer groups visiting these places on the other, it can be exciting to map the frequency of visits in the Asymmetric Clustering Matrix. If you compare customer groups and certain offers, you could, for example, examine the fit.

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Step 3: Determine the scale with which you want to represent the relationship. Example: 0 = no relationship, 1 = a weak relationship, 2 = a solid relationship, 3 = a very close relationship. In our example the visit frequency could be 0 = no visit, 1 = irregular visit and so on. Step 4: Create a matrix/table in which you enter the value lists in the rows and column headers. Each cell now represents a relationship that needs to be evaluated. The use of Microsoft Excel or a similar software solution is especially helpful for larger value lists. Step 5: Evaluate each individual relationship in the matrix using the previously defined scale system. Step 6: Start a multiple sorting of rows and columns of your matrix. Try to bring rows and columns that show similar value lists close together. Step 7: After sorting, try to identify clusters and accumulations in the matrix. The number of clusters should be manageable and not too small or too large. Step 8: Ask yourself questions about the clusters that have been found, such as: “What do the rows and columns that have come together in a cluster have in common?” or “What is the difference between one cluster and another?” Clusters that you consider to be valuable should then be given a name/label. Step 9: Try to relate the found clusters as a whole and to distill all relevant findings from the Asymmetric Clustering Matrix. Step 10: Share and discuss all findings with all participants in the project. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

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Asymmetric Clustering Matrix

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Technology: projector and laptop Technique: Microsoft Excel Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Project on the wall It is always advisable to display the matrix in large format on a wall during processing using a projector. – Tip: Conditional Formatting If you use Microsoft Excel here as a tool, you can assign colors to the various numerical values of the rating scale using “Conditional Formatting”. This makes the clusters visible even faster and is more convenient when sorting.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Atomizing Step 3: Repeat the disassembly process for each of the identified components, for example with the question “What are the individual parts?” Thus a pyramid develops from individual components. Note: The result can serve as a basis for many further work phases and methods or make the structure of the topic/system comprehensible in principle.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Atomizing method is used to break down the topic/ problem into its detailed components. This makes it possible to analyze even complex facts and to facilitate finding a simpler solution to a problem. Atomization is particularly suitable for small groups and should be used especially in the first phase of the innovation process, before the team enters into concrete idea development. Challenges where the use of atomization pays off : – What could our basic corporate offering look like in two years’ time? – What could our technology platform look like for the next few years? – Design of a company-wide initiative – New modelling of the entire value chain – Change in corporate culture or transformation of the entire organization Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more know-how growth Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: At the beginning, the name of the challenge or subject is written on a card and attached to a pinboard. Explain to the participants that it is now a matter of dividing this item into its “atoms” in order to name the concrete individual parts. Step 2: The participants should now determine the main components. These are also written on cards and glued directly under the main theme. Usually there are three to five main components. 134

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: poster Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Room: whiteboard Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Atomizing

Experiences – Always use in combination Even though the technique is complex enough, it should always be used in combination with other idea finding and idea evaluation methods.

Web – http://daswebdesignblog.de/kreativitaetstechniken-es-gibt-mehr-als-brainstorming/1856.html (April 2017) Web – https://www.fastcompany.com/3034356/hereswhy-how-and-what-you-should-doodle-to-boostyour-memory-and-creativity?show_rev_content

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Attribute Listing Characteristics (Attributes)

Current Solution

Possible Variant

Material

PVC

Colour

by cap colour

Mounting

clip on the cap

aluminium, metallized, anodized window for cartridge, sticker metal clip, velcro strap

Attribute Listing is suitable for finding ideas in the area of further development of products as well as of processes and procedures. Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Attribute Listing method is closely related to the Morphological Box. In comparison, however, it has a somewhat narrower and more detailed scope. Attribute listing is a systematic attempt to identify all possible approaches for product and process improvements. It is an ideal method if, for example, you want to extend the “life curve” of a product by equipping it with an interesting innovation without having to carry out a fundamental new development. The dominant principle of Attribute Listing is that of systematic variation. Using Attribute Listing is less demanding than the Morphological Box. It is therefore easier to work in groups and involve participants in the idea-finding process who are not considered to be experts on the issue. It makes sense if the problem solver prepares the first processing steps alone – that is, describes the current situation (list of characteristics of the product or process to be further developed as well as the current design phases). The participants in the brainstorming session can then work together to find possible variations for each feature. This can also be done very efficiently according to the rules of brainstorming. Fountain pen example: Characteristics (Attributes)

Current Solution

Possible Variant

Single parts

Cross section

cartridge, spring, upper part, lower part, cap round

Diameter Lock

constant click lock

integrated cartridge/ upper and lower part a part rval with longitudinal grooves diameter change thread lock, bayonet lock

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Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling As mentioned, the method is based on an existing object or process. This object – for example, a product – is now broken down into all its characteristics and its actual state is described exactly. Then you look for all possibilities of how each feature could be designed or executed differently. If you find there are some interesting variations, then this can become part of a new concept. The steps of Attribute Listing should therefore be described as follows: Step 1: Dividing a product, process or service into its individual characteristics Step 2: Describing the current design of all characteristics (actual state) Step 3: Systematic searching for possible variations in the design of each feature Step 4: Selecting and realizating interesting variations Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

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Attribute Listing

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Experiences – Not for more complex problem areas The method can largely only be used well for product and process innovations and is not particularly suitable for very complex challenges. – Quick and easy A fast and easy-to-use technique that can be employed without much training effort.

Identified sources of the method Book – Creating Workforce Innovation: Turning Individual Creativity into Organizational Innovation, M. Morgan (Allen & Unwin – Oktober 1993) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – Innovationsmanagement, Higgins, J. M. Wiese (Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag – 1998) Book – Projektmanagement, H. Corsten (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2008) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009) Book – Technisches Management, S. Seibert (Teubner Verlag 1998) Book – The Techniques of Creative Thinking, R. C. Crawford (1954) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Task Cards to offer, it scores one point. If not, the task team scores a point. The teams jointly develop a plan that matches the task. The game continues in the same way until the story is told (so there are no more cards available). Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Task Cards method playfully thinks through solutions and possibilities for a problem with a product, service or strategy. Since it is also about competition and storytelling, the method mobilizes the team and leads to a positive mood in dealing with upcoming challenges. Participants closely examine their products, intensively discuss the strengths and weaknesses already existing, and possibly already find first solution approaches. The method works best with small groups of five to ten participants. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The participants will be divided into two groups. One team is the “solution team”, the other the “task team”. The solution team collects features and strengths of the product/strategy/service in a Brainstorming session and writes them on cards. At the same time, the task team brainstorms potential problems and tasks and writes them on cards. There should be one strength or one problem per card. Now the two teams come together again and start telling a story together. The task team takes a card from its stack and describes a situation in which the problem could actually occur. The solution team draws a card from its stack that matches the task. If it has a card and therefore a solution

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Supports a better perception Experiences – Questioning solutions With less dynamic teams, there is a risk that overly generic problems/solutions will be proposed. Here the moderator should question the offered thoughts, in the sense of “Does the feature really solve the problem?” Please don’t be too dogmatic, fun and competition should prevail.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Lunge Step Technique Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description A simple form of mental provocation (see also Provocation technique) is the Lunge Step Technique. It is based on the approach that for new ideas you also have to consider those aspects that are otherwise taken for granted. Here, too, the auxiliary word “PO” from Edward de Bono’s Provocation technique is used to make it clear that this is an intentional mental provocation. It is especially helpful when certain processes or preconceived opinions make creative work difficult. If exactly those considerations that are taken for granted are checked by a fail-safe step, it is precisely because of this that deadlocked procedures or methods can be revised and renewed. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling First collect all “natural” aspects of a problem, a product or a process. Then take one aspect out and (with the word “PO” in front) turn it into its opposite. Next, generate ideas using this reformulated sentence/aspect. So it makes sense and fun in the context of idea finding to collect at first nothing but natural things (best with moderation cards). These can then be picked out at random and then linked to the word “PO” and reversed.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Experiences – Practice with general generally shared ideas The method is simple, but the participants have to practice using it. Therefore it is helpful to practice with a general, all as such obvious idea and also to show how one can then change one’s direction of thinking with the help of “PO”.

Identified sources of the method Book – Kreativer Denken, A. Brunner (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag – Juni 2008) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

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Axiomatic Design

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Axiomatic Design method was developed to translate customer performance requests and expectations into functional requirements, design parameters and process variables of complex products. It is especially helpful when the number of requirements, parameters and variables is very large. The aim is to develop the best possible product design, taking into account all relevant customer requirements, so that reliable production and delivery can take place. It is essential that the principles of independence and full information be applied when assessing and proceeding within the method. This means that the design should be as independent as possible from the functional requirements, but as robust as possible, which is ensured in particular by sufficient information in combination with corresponding methods. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates plans and prioritizations Handling The following steps will help you through the process of Axiomatic Design: Step 1: Definition of customer attributes: Collect customer expectations for a specific product. Step 2: Translation of customer attributes into functional requirements: 140

A customer expectation (for example, “The product should work quickly”) or a product designer expectation (for example, “The performance is influenced by …”) must be included in the functional requirements. Step 3: Translation of functional requirements into design parameters: The appropriate material with the necessary properties to meet the requirements must be found. Step 4: Bring design parameters together with process variables: Necessary in order to design the production and delivery process in a timely and error-free manner. The process should be designed from a rough to a very fine level of detail. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents misinterpretations – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: flipchart Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location People: experts Technology: PC or notebook Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

Axiomatic Design

Experiences – Product experts required Since very complex products with a high degree of detail are often involved, product experts and engineers in particular should be involved in the method.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Complexity: Theory and Applications, N. P. Suh (Mit-Pappalardo Series in Mecha – Februar 2005) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009)

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CAF

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description With CAF you can very quickly and effectively gather a mass of information about a given approach. This helps each individual to detach themselves from their own experiences and to increase the number of perspectives on the problem. This creates an overview of the task and the hidden or difficult-to-see factors come to light. CAF stands for “Consider All Factors”. This means making arough guide to the issue at hand, as far as possible being aware of all associated factors and thus also being free of value judgments. This method, developed by Edward de Bono (originally CAF, Consider All Factors), uses lateral thinking to detach the individual observer from the usual, and thus well-worn, views. In particular, it is important to look at the new points of view in a value-free way and to open oneself up to different perspectives. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Create a list of all factors that may be part of your initial approach. Step 2: Once this list has been created, critically ask yourself whether you have overlooked anything, whether something is missing or has not yet been completely captured.

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Step 3: Also check whether all factors are detailed enough or whether you have described them too generally. Example: Think of buying a new bed. You have probably measured the size of the bed as well as the site, opted for mattress material, examined the possibilities of fastening the lighting, organized delivery. However, have you also considered whether the bed even fits through the door and whether you are able to carry it into your home yourself, or have you overlooked another decisive buying factor? CAF helps to take all factors into account. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets

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CAF

Experiences – Slip into different roles Especially when working with CAF for the first time, it helps to put yourself in different roles: Producer, salesperson, logistician, advertiser and so on. This makes it easier to change perspectives at the beginning of the process.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005)

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Brainstorming 2.0

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description BBR (or Brainstorming 2.0) by Michael Luther stands for “Brainstorming But Right”. It is, as Luther himself says, “an independent variation of classic Brainstorming”, which systematically incorporates the design of the framework and special elements, such as the initial warming up, the setting of an idea quota, and 3–5-stage progressively “intensified” questioning, in order to fully exploit existing idea potentials. Brainstorming 2.0 is not only a variation of classic Brainstorming, but also a macro method or, one could say, a basic small-idea-finding process. The essential elements that Luther combined here for Brainstorming (space, participant mix, sharpening the challenge and so on) can also be found in other processes of Brainstorming and innovation, such as Design Thinking. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Luther describes seven guiding principles or implementation steps for Brainstorming 2.0.: Step 1: Design of the frame Provide a suitably inspiring space, sufficient time and the best working material. Step 2: Team composition As with Design Thinking, an inspiring mix of people are to make up the team. Internal and external team experts, laypersons and lateral thinkers are to be mixed. Step 3: Formulation of the task as a magnetic question In this step, the challenge to be met is defined and “intensified”. This should be done by the group as a whole. 144

Step 4: Formulation and visualization of the five standard rules The group now becomes aware of the basic rules of Brainstorming and reflects on them. For example, killer phrases or similar obstacle effects are avoided. Step 5: Agree on a quota of ideas In order to give the Brainstorming process even more “oomph”, Luther advises that a minimum quota of ideas should now be set. Step 6: Mental warm up as a component This step consists of exercises that prepare the brain for the forthcoming mental challenge (divergent thinking). Step 7: Use progression With the resulting mindset from Steps 4, 5 and 6, the given question is now “intensified” in three to five steps (increased to the impossible) in order to draw out more hidden and radical ideas. Step 8: Find ideas The team is now embarks on a joint brainstorming process. This can be classicBrainstorming or another creative technique. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use

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Brainstorming 2.0 – – – – –

Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Can be used as a general workshop agenda Brainstorming 2.0 can be used as a general agenda for idea generation workshops. Other creative techniques can also be used at the point where classic or other forms of brainstorming take place.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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BBB Method In a further brainstorming phase, all existing ideas serve as a framework and stimulus for further or optimized ideas/solution approaches. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The BBB Method (Battelle-Bilmappen-Brainwriting) is a technique developed at the Battelle Institutefor innovation. It is a combination of classic Brainstorming and visual synetics. The technique uses image folders to mentally solve a given problem. New approaches to solutions are captured through spontaneous associations with the pictorial material. Later, the extent to which the solution ideas bear fruit will be jointly evaluated. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Presentation of the problem/task. Step 2: Start with a brainstorming phase (approx. 15 minutes) for initial spontaneous ideas/solution approaches to the problem or task. Step 3: The moderator distributes prepared image folders with a certain number of photos. All pictures are suitable, which are far away from the task. Images from magazines and catalogs can also be used. Step 4: The participants now have 30 minutes by themselves to look at the pictures, to pay attention to special features and to transfer these to the task or problem. Step 5: Brainwriting: The spontaneous associations and possible solutions are written on cards (one idea per card). Step 6: The cards are clearly attached to the wall and the ideas presented.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Tool: recording device Room: pinboards Tool: sellotape Tool: image folders Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

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BBB Method

Experiences – Number of images Ideally, each image folder has eight to ten images. The pictures should have nothing to do with the task; it is best if the pictures in the respective folders differ from each other. – Own pictures For the long term it is helpful to have a collection of photos that the team or moderator have taken themselves. This collection can also be used with other innovation techniques.

Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Web – https://ews.tu-dortmund.de/public/lecture/logedugate/public/Projekte/ProjektArbeit/Kreativitaetstechniken/content/16_uebersicht_Kreativitaetstechniken.html (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visuelle_Synektik (April 2017) Web – http://creapedia.com/wiki/Visuelle_Synektik (April 2017)

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

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Back-of-the-Napkin Model Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Innovation can also mean leaving out the existing. Concentrate on your core competencies. The future of your business could fit on the back of a paper napkin. Rollin King, the owner of a nearly failed airline, succeeded with exactly this plan. He sat with his lawyer in a restaurant in San Antonio to carry out the liquidation of his company. But King wouldn’t give up without a fight. And so on the back of the napkin he drew a triangle connecting the three Texas boom cities of Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. This was the birth of low-cost flying – the greatest revolution of recent aviation fitted on the back of a napkin: Back-of-the-Napkin. The idea for the so-called “low-cost carriers” was uncompromising reduction: – As few as possible, as short as possible distances between important cities – Secondary airports instead of expensive metropolises (London Stansted instead of London Heathrow) – Only one aircraft type; short downtimes – Only one class on board; narrow seat spacing; no service – Additional turnover through additional offers (rental cars, hotel bookings, paid snacks) – Low non-wage labour costs – Low ticket prices Lo-cost flying is similar to discount supermarkets: Renunciation of everything that seemed indispensable until now.

Handling Step 1: Take a critical look at your company: Could you leave something out to make your offer more convenient, more compact, more concise or easier to understand? What is your core competence? What is indispensable? Or Step 1A: What is the essence of your idea? What’s superfluous? What can you leave out? Step 2: Draw and describe your company/business model/idea on a napkin or piece of paper measuring 21 × 21 cm or less. Step 3: Show your napkin/page to someone else. Is it possible to understand at a glance what makes up your idea? Can you explain it in a few sentences? If so, you have achieved a useful focus. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: paper napkin

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration

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Back-of-the-Napkin Model

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Supports a better perception Experiences – See also Blue Ocean Strategy.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures; D. Roam (Marshall Cavendish International – Juli 2012) Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013)

The Blue Ocean Strategy method is very similar and offers further help and examples.

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Balanced Scorecard Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Identifies existing weaknesses

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The aim of creating a Balanced Scorecard is to translate the planned corporate or innovation strategy into concrete targets and key figures. In addition, the goal of the Scorecard is effective acquisition of necessary data about the performance of the company in relation to target figures and successful implementation of an organizational strategy. In this way, especially in larger organizations, innovation management can be well-aligned with corporate strategy using the Scorecard. The Balanced Scorecard is a strategic management or leadership system that translates strategy into a key performance indicator system based on the corporate mission or innovation goal. This KPI system can be used to control management processes such as communication, strategy development, corporate planning, incentive systems and strategic initiatives. It should be noted that the Balanced Scorecard is not an instrument for formulating the “right” strategy. Rather, it is an instrument for implementing the company’s already formulated strategy. The success variables in the four central areas of finance, customers, processes, and learning and growth are mapped in a clear manner on a multidimensional “scorecard” using around 25 indicators. In order to create a Balanced Scorecard, you need experience in selecting the right perspectives and key figures, and the ability to measure success factors in individual areas. The advantage of this method over benchmarking is that it is not dependent on external data and the success of a strategy is measured against its own objectives.

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Handling Traditional control methods are enriched by additional, company-relevant perspectives with the help of the Balanced Scorecard. For example, key figures are taken into account from financial, customer, internal or development perspectives. The perspectives can be adjusted according to the company and industry. The financial success of a company can only be achieved in the long term by considering other perspectives and with the help of the cause-and-effect chain. There are six basic steps for the introduction of the Balanced Scorecard: Step 1: Definition of vision and strategy. Step 2: Definition of company-specific perspectives. Step 3: Defininition of strategic goals for eachperspective. Step 4: Determination of measurement parameters and targets. Step 5: Definition of a roadmap and allocation of responsibilities. Step 6: Regular controlling and embedding of philosophy in day-to-day business. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high

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Balanced Scorecard – – – – – – – – – –

Complexity for the participants: rather high Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Must be communicated

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Organisation, D. Vahs (Schäffer Poeschel 2015) Book – Balanced Scorecard – Schritt für Schritt, P. R. Niven, R. S. Kaplan (Wiley-VCH – Juni 2003) Book – Wissen Managen, G. Probst, S. Raub, K. Romhard (Gabler Verlag – März 2013) Book – Handbuch Wissensmanagement, M. Haun (Springer – August 2002) Book – Strategisches Management, Zentrale Elemente einer erfolgreichen Unternehmensführung, R. v. Nietzsch (Mainz G 2008) Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013)

The Balanced Scorecard is an important link between the management and innovative teams in order to strategically align the innovation work. Experience shows that far too few management teams communicate their Scorecards widely throughout the company. Only if the Scorecard is communicated in detail aremeanings and effects created.

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Bazaar of Ideas

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The Bazaar of Ideas provides funding within a company for initial, small feasibility studies on promising ideas and at the same time promotes personal commitment and the overall innovation culture. At the Bazaar of Ideas, several employees are given small budgets (e. g. $ 500) to carry out initial research on their ideas. If a single employee now needs more than $ 500, they can try to convince their colleagues of their idea. The result would be that the colleagues give them all or part oftheir budgets to realize the feasibility study. Thus an individual can acquire considerable sums for their idea from colleagues, and simultaneously a mindset for passion and commitment is promoted. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Creates early prototypes Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas plus initial funding and feasibility studies Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Together with the management, the Bazaar of Ideas project is conceived and approved. For example, 152

the management provides a total budget of $ 250,000 for feasibility and development measures, which is distributed among 500 employees. Step 2: An analog or digital directory is created in which all Bazaar participants are listed, with their account balances. In addition to determining Bazaar participants, is the possibly better option of employees actively applying for participation in order to bring their ideas to the Bazaar todevelop them further. Step 3: The Bazaar of Ideas will start with a kick-off event. Step 4: The results of budget acquisition among participants are always transparent and kept up-to-date in the directory. Step 5: Management is kept informed of the status of ideas into which development budgets have flowed. Step 6: Ideas that are finally implemented should be communicated to all participants and the entire organization. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use

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Bazaar of Ideas – –

Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer People: administrators Finances: implementation budget People: kick-off staff

Experiences – A “passion infusion” for silent employees

The Bazaar of Ideas is a real “passion infusion” for organizations, and we also find time and again that especially quiet employees are encouraged by this measure to fight for their ideas.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Building a World

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Creative building, for example with the help of LEGO™ or materials of your choice, offers a wealth of possibilities for developing ideas. The building a World method differs from other techniques such as LEGO™ Serious Play, Prototyping and others in that the task here is very broadly defined and initially tinkers with a shared vision for a topic. This vision is then the starting point for the in-depth work towards asolution. Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates visualized ideas, terms, themes Creates a vision or future scenario Creates early prototypes Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling At the beginning, the moderator defines a topic, the vision for which is to be worked out visually by the team. Participants will receive a collection of materials provided by the moderator. These can be any tool, from glue and paper to modelling clay, pipe cleaners to egg cartons, cotton wool, magazines etc. First divide the group into small teams of up to four participants. The task of each group is now to work out a common vision ofthe desired world in about 10 to 15 minutes. This can be a mini world or the ideal concept of a

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product, or a certain scene or situation in this ideal world. Participants will then have 20 to 30 minutes to build their own vision of the theme using the materials provided. They are supposed to visualize their image of an ideal reality. The participants should visualize their ideas independently of technical or other existing limitations, so as to create the perfect dream of the topic. Once each of the groups have built their world, they are asked to come up with a motto or an advertising slogan for it that describes their vision as succinctly as possible. Each group then presents its ideal and its slogan to the other groups. As a moderator, pay attention to similarities and recurring aspects from the different worlds and also to contradictions and contrasts. Summarize them as comprehensively as possible. You should record and document the experiences and results of these presentations with the entire team. Partcipants can provide an important basis for the further development of ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens living in the past – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Building a World – – – –

Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: paper Moderation: scissors Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: post-its Moderation: glue Moderation: colored pencils People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Tool: craft kit Tool: colored pencils Tool: modelling clay Tool: painting tools Tool: sellotape

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Hidden documentation The moderator should document the similarities and contradictions. The more groups that have worked on their visions, the more it makes sense to hide this information in order to leave the other groups as uninfluenced as possible during the session. This is easy to do by temporarily storing these records away from the groups. – Different rooms with identical materials In order not to let groups be influenced by the ideas of the others, it is helpful to let each group work in a separate room. Make sure that the same materials are made available to each group. This reduces unnecessary discussions.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://gamestorming.com/games-for-design/ make-a-world/ (April 2017)

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Funeral After the reading and asking whether anyone else would like to say anything, the idea is actually buried and thus is given a place of remembrance. This can be either a drawer, a shrine, a shelf or simply the ceiling (as an analogy for the sky). Over time, many ideas accumulate whose added value is still visible and transparent. The Funeral, therefore, is also a very useful culture tool.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Early foreseeable failure of unrealizable ideas is essential in the innovation process. The “Funeral” method is a good way of paying tribute to the learning successes achieved during such innovation projects and, above all, of anchoring them in the minds of team members in the long term. This involves active knowledge management, motivation within the team and with the Idea Owner, as well as the appreciation of parts of ideas that can be reused in further processes. The “Funeral” method is a cultural part of agile development teams, where many impulses are tested and discarded in a short period of time. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling For the execution of a “Funeral”, the Idea Owner prepares a funeral announcement and formulates a text just like a genuine announcement, with a technical and personal summary. The statement can represent the idea as a person, to make writing it easier. After the statement has been created, it will be read out during coffee and cake in the next team meeting/Jour Fixe (quite heavy). Specific learning is recognised. For example, for a failed platform business model it could read as follows: “We’ve learned a lot from you. Over time we had to realize that it was not easy to connect you with people. Nobody wanted to visit you, even when we updated you. We learned from you that people still pay attention to content and not just presentation. You stay in our hearts. Thank you.”

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents unreflected action – Promotes appreciation – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Funeral

Experiences – You can also present the method positively as a “Graduation

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – KOPFSPRINGER GmbH – Düsseldorf

Speech”. If for any reason the Funeral scenario is not appropriate, you can also use the technique in a “Graduation” role play: “We’ve learned a lot here, and we don’t want to forget …”

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Benchmarking

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The aim of the Benchmarking method is to create good conditions for identifying and generating new competitive advantages for your company. Benchmarking is applied in many different areas with different methods and objectives. Benchmarking is most successful as a continuous, systematic process to assess and improve the products, services and work processes of companies. More specifically, product Benchmarking measures the individual attributes of products at a suitable reference point and compares them with your own product portfolio. A company’s products are compared with those of other internal business segments (internal Benchmarking) and companies in the same or other sectors (external Benchmarking) on the basis of certain indicators. Among other things, the benchmark represents the current market leader in one product segment. The comparison is used to find potential for incremental innovations for one’s own product through a potential analysis in order to improve one’s own position in the market. In order to carry out Benchmarking, you need sufficient knowledge of the alternative products, processes, and procedures. The advantage of this method lies in the fact that your own activities or products can be evaluated on the basis of a defined yardstick and so concrete recommendations for action for improvement can be identified. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling A distinction is made between quantitative and qualitative (conceptual) Benchmarking. While quantitative Benchmarking is usually applied within one industry, qualitative Benchmarking can be applied across all industries. The implementation is typically divided into seven steps: Step 1: Definition of the target Step 2: Definition of the products, services and processes to be investigated Step 3: Determination of the data to be collected (measurement criteria are identified) Step 4: Comparison of the Benchmarking object with your own pstrengths and weaknesses Step 5: Analysis of the cause and definition of appropriate measures Step 6: Make decisions clear and implement measures for improvement Step 7: Controlling of success and handover to the innovation teams Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Benchmarking

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception Experiences – Multidisciplinary teams Multidisciplinary teams have also proven their worth in Benchmarking. They measure a greater variety of attributes and provide a more complete 360-degree view.

Identified sources of the method Book – Handbuch Wissensmanagement, M. Haun (Springer – August 2002)

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Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013) Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Innovationsmanagement, Higgins, J. M. Wiese (Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag – 1998) Book – Organisation, D. Vahs (Schäffer Poeschel 2015) Book – Technisches Management, S. Seibert (Teubner Verlag 1998) Book – Wissensmanagement in der Projektabwicklung, M. Schindler (JOSEF EUL VERLAG, Lohmar-Köln – Dezember 2002) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Best Failed Idea Award Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Description The Best Failed Idea Award is a very effective innovation culture tool and goes back to Ratan Tata, CEO of the Tata Group. Based on his mindset and his experience – “Failure is a gold mine for a great company” – Tata initiated the annual Award. The Award is presented annually to the “best” failed ideas and projects – with all the serious intent of learning from them. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling There is no specifically recommended procedure or format for this method; every approach is possible, from analog to digital. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Promotes appreciation – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Be serious This method is really very good for an innovative culture, but you have to present it seriously. Especially at initial events, the management of the company (CEO) has to be present and lead by example with their own mistakes. Use a large room with a stage and create a suitable atmosphere.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.economist.com/node/18285497 (April 2017) Web – http://www.innovation-point.com/dont-fear-failure-fear-fear-itself/ (April 2017)

Employee Suggestion System

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Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents the ideas bunker and secrecy – Promotes appreciation

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The aim of a classic company Employee Suggestion System is to use the experience of your own employees to directly identify grievances and potential for improvement in the company. According to company-specific rules, employees systematically record, evaluate and award prizes – this often happens in IT systems already available on the market. As a rule, the evaluation and awarding of prizes is organized centrally within the company. An IT system, commissioned employee or even a team accepts the suggestions for improvement and discusses with the managers to what extent a suggestion can be implemented and what value it has for the company. However, experience has shown that the development of well thought-out forms and the hanging of letterboxes on the company premises are not sufficient to tap the employees’ potential for ideas. Internal online idea platforms enable easy access and efficient processing of the submitted ideas. It is essential that the introduction of the scheme, use of contributions and awarding of prizes are transparent for staff, so that the conditions of participation are clear for each contributor. Positive examples and good results areusually the best motivators for new proposals. Nowadays systems for the use of employee ideas are used in nearly all large enterprises. The advantage of this method in particular is that employees are motivated to use their individual skills, specific knowledge and creativity within the company in order to develop significant improvements and innovations.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources Finances: implementation budget Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Permanent communication Successful Employee Suggestion Systems are always systems through which the company communicates permanently. In particular, many small successes from the implementation of ideas are necessary to keep such a system alive. – Reward submission In most systems, the implementation of ideas is rewarded. It is much better if the submission of ideas is rewarded and the employee is regularly informed about progress status. – A reward system can quickly hamper innovation culture A classic Employee Suggestion System thrives on the awarding of prizes for submitted and implemented ideas. This can quickly become the main motivating factor for idea generation and often makes it difficult for innovation systems to develop without incentives. In addition, there may often be discussions between submitters and reviewers about the reward amount.

Identified sources of the method Book – Wissensmanagement, J. Schüppel (Deutscher Universitätsverlag – September 1999) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Proof of Evidence Step 3: All the evidence is brought together in the form of a plea. In this conclusion, the pictorial presentation of arguments in the form of creative story-telling is also encouraged. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description In the Proof of Evidence process, the participant focuses on concrete proof of specific initial assumptions in order to create a broader and newer horizon of thought for a situation or challenge. Since it is not necessarily a matter here of actual, factually verifiable subjects or objects, the art of this creative technique is the finding and bringing together of possible circumstantial evidence, which also makes unthinkable phenomena, objects and situations appear plausible. For example, creative evidence can be used to formulate an overall picture that “proves” the presence of spells, mythical creatures or aliens. Since these things typically do not correspond to the factual, it is important in this process to find imaginative approaches to possible evidence and to broaden one’s own thought horizon. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The Proof of Evidence method is very good for opening thought processes and increasing the creative potential of individuals and small groups. Step 1: A previously unthinkable, fabulous challenge is formulated, which has to be proven by means of evidence. Step 2: Circumstantial evidence is collected that makes the unthinkable conceivable, possible and even probable.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Opening of previously unthinkable thought corridors The method is wonderfully effective in opening up people in passive groups. At the beginning, novices often have problems entering such thought corridors, where no proof is actually possible. In fact, however, it is precisely these individuals who quickly become real fans of the technique.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – KOPFSPRINGER GmbH – Düsseldorf

Evaluate-Discuss-Evaluate

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens excessively long decision meetings – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens debating – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens the inner censor – Weakens overly extrovert team members Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The goal of the Evaluate-Discuss-Evaluate method is to improve the quality of team evaluations of different aspects of a problem, such as solution ideas, procedures, and so on. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: First anonymous rating The team members carry out an initial, anonymous assessment of a given situation, so that the influence of other participants is excluded and assessment only takes place according to the preferences of the respective member. Step 2: Presentation of the average The evaluation, which is now presented to the group in the form of an average, should serve as an impetus for a subsequent discussion. Within the discussion the problem can be deepened and other aspects can be pointed out. Step 3: Second anonymous rating After the members have questioned their rating within the discussion, the vote is taken again, anonymously. This procedure reassesses the facts on the basis of updated findings. The advantage of this method is the combination of the anonymous evaluation with the group discussion. This ensures that the personal preferences and opinions of the group are taken into account in the decision-making process.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Helpful for artificial harmonies The method is extremely helpful in less-than-ideal cultures where artificial harmony predominates. This is especially the case when a very traditional, conservative environment is present.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Creativity in Education (New Delhi – 2005)

Notes

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Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

Evaluation Matrix

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Evaluation Matrix is a method of evaluating ideas according to various criteria. The criteria can be pre-defined individually. It is not a question of deciding for or against an idea, but rather of giving participants an overview of its strengths and weaknesses. In this way, improvements can be made to ideas that would have been discarded if a pure decision-making method had been used. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Create a matrix. Ideally you should use a pinboard with a paper background. You can also implement the matrix with Excel, which is especially useful if you are evaluating ideas at your desk. Step 2: Develop evaluation criteria and formulate them as questions. For example: “Could this idea be interesting for our primary target group?” or “Can we deliver the product to the customer within x hours?” If the criterion is fulfilled, a “YES” is entered. Step 3: Select the most important criteria to be transferred to your matrix and write them one below the other in the rows.

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Step 4: Develop symbols, such as smileys, that will provide you and the participants with a good rating system. Define exactly what each smiley means so that everyone in the group has the same understanding of the process. Step 5: Write ideas or solution options in the columns. Step 6: Go through all ideas or solution options line by line. Move from left to right and then one line down to the next statement. Evaluate each idea according to the criteria. Step 7: Expand the matrix with decision words such as “Accept”, “Improve”, “Delete”. Ideas or solution options that are interesting but have weaknesses in some criteria can thus enter a revision loop and become more attractive. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: paper Moderation: pens Room: flipchart Room: pinboard as topic memory

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Evaluation Matrix

Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: post-its

Experiences – Time investment It is worth practicing this method very intensively. The ideas should literally be “scrubbed” to their foundations with a “steel brush”.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

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Picture-Text-Potentiation

Step 4: The participants take the perspective of the target group and assess the profile from that viewpoint. The profile offers not only the basis for discussion, but also the opportunity to recombine what is written down, to associatively expand that information and to develop solutions that are really new. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents idea generation with an insufficient knowledge base – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Picture–Text–Totentiation (according to the Brainfloating principle of Harald Braem) is a creativity technique that makes use of the different effects of pictures and writing. The areas for writing and image are not hard-wired in the brain, but learned neurally through habit and socio-cultural agreement. Picture–Text–Potentiation expands and strengthens this connection through the targeted use of other sensory qualities and resulting observations, concepts and insights. The method is suitable for tasks concerning services, ideas, products, advertising messages, etc. It produces and structures material for the implementation process. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The task is hung up and clearly visible to all participants in the room. In order to approach the task in a structured way, it is first perceived using all the senses and described from every sensory angle (seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling). The results are entered on a grid and visualized by sketches, drawings or pictures. Step 2: The profile created from the grid is personalized. From the contents, it is described as specifically as possible and differentiated as a separate entity. Step 3: The properties and insights formulated are then related to the original task.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors People: moderator/trainer Room: creative and inspiring workspace Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Room: wall surfaces Tool: painting tools Tool: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

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Picture-Text-Potentiation

Experiences – Creative space is very helpful here With this method particularly, where we want to activate and use all senses, the space should offer the opportunity to do this. A normal hotel meeting room can be counterproductive here – unless you have the materials to change it. – Systematic problem clarification The method is very helpful when it comes to looking at a problem from several angles and creating transparency about the different aspects of the issue.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Brainfloating – Im Entspannungszustand spielerisch Ideen finden, H. Braem (mvg Verlag 1989) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/wiki/Bild-Text-Potenzierung (April 2017)

Pictures Instead of Words

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The saying “A picture paints a thousand words” is often heard. However, the fact that this can be applied in a meaningful and useful way in the context of creativity and innovation has not yet been widelt accepted. Very often it makes sense to visualize a problem first in order to get to the heart of it rather than merely describe it. Emotions are created and the topic illuminated from an absolutely new perspective. It is precisely this approach that the method Pictures Instead of Words pursues, by calling on participants to sketch out all visual elements and connections for a given challenge and problem and to discuss the resulting “Pictures” with the circle of participants. The different perspectives of the participants then often produce complementary viewpoints that enrich the formulation of the problem, and offer more space and attack potential for the later generation of ideas to trigger solutions from a larger circle of people. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The following procedure (based on Scherer/Brügger) is recommended for the Pictures Instead of Words method: Step 1: Problems should be recorded in writing and made transparent for all involved.

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Step 2: Participants sketch/ssribble theirr spontaneous reactions and associations, which you, when contemplating the problem to the city. How do they understand the problem? How could it be described figuratively? Step 3: The group reflects on the pictures created; as they describe how they understand the pictures,information will be intensively exchanged. Step 4: Agree on a common understanding of each of the images. The group will then focus on the issue (and potential solution) transmitted by that image. This issue (solution) should then also be set out in writing and made accessible to all parties involved. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: pens Moderation: paper

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Pictures Instead of Words

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination

Experiences – Different points of view become clear Through the visualization of problems using images, it quickly becomes clear that there are often widely varying perspectives on them from different people. The method usually helps to develop a uniform picture taking all perspectives into account.

Identified sources of the method Book – Kreativitätstechniken, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2007)

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Picture Storming

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Step 7: At the end of the exercise a whole gallery of visualized elements will have been created. Let the participants walk around and look at the pictures. Ask for the meaning of different pictures and discuss with the group which words were easy/difficult to visualize. Together, discuss which situations the participants can use visualizations for in everyday life.

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Picture Storming is a method of developing skills in visualization. Particularly in the context of innovation, visual language is an important tool in the development and presentation of ideas. However, many people shy away from drawing pictures and using them in everyday business. In Picture Storming, participants develop several visualizations and experience how well pictures can aid a team. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates visualized ideas, terms, themes Handling Step 1: A large white presentation area is required, for example an empty wall or two pinboards. Participants will receive a large number of presentation cards and stickers. Step 2: The participants should now write words on the cards that they think are difficult to visualize. Step 3: The labeled cards are collected, shuffled and participants draw a card, which they read aloud and attach to the wall/pinboard. Step 4: Ask participants to think about the word and draw a pictorial representation or metaphor on a sticky note. Duration approx. two to three minutes. Step 5: The participants stick their notes under the card with the corresponding word. Step 6: Steps 3 to 5 are repeated until all the words have been read out. If a word is drawn twice (or a synonym of an existing word), repeat the process.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: colored pencils Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination

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Picture Storming

Experiences – Makes a logical connection For many people pictures are not part of business thinking, therefore the technique can be met with (inner) resistance and lack of understanding. Careful moderation is necessary, and reference to the fact that our brains thinks in pictures and therefore visualizations can be processed more readily than other instructions.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Bingo

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Feature-Bingo is a very good method of breaking the ice in a workshop for groups, whether the participants know each other or not. During a workshop, the method helps to bring out unknown “secrets” and “peculiarities” of the participants and to strengthen group members’ appreciation of each other. Technology is also a wonderful way of experiencing new things, revealing potential and seeing old colleagues in a completely new light. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The method is based on the logic of the classic Bingo game. For the preparation of a workshop with 10 to 25 participants, all participantss will separately and in advance provide information on special experiences they have had and which nobody knows anything about. This could be information like, “I have had breakfast with the Pope” or “I circumnavigated the world” or “I composed my first piece of music aged 8”. Any information must of course be true and the participant should be able to say more about it in the workshop itself. Once all the information has been collected, the moderator creates a template in the form of a table in which they enter the 10 to 25 items of “secret” information (all anonymous). A copy will then be made for each participant and distributed in the workshop. Then a 10 to 15 minute Bingo game follows, which helps to break the ice among the participants at the beginning of the session and creates a positive mood right from the start.

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The rules of the game: Step 1: Each participant receives a Bingo template. Step 2: As many people as possible should be interviewed in 10 to 15 minutes to be able to make an assessment of which statement belongs to which participant. Step 3: Only indirect questions may be asked. For example, if the statement is “I have circumnavigated the world”, only questions like “Do you like water?”, “Dol you like to travel?” or “Do you have a Master’s ticket?” may be asked to establish the owner of this special experience. Step 4: The respondent then answers yes or no. The respondent can then ask a question. If both sides have exchanged a question and an answer, the next participant must be asked, since two questions may never be put one after the other to the same person. Step 5: After 10 to 15 minutes the participants have 2 to 3 minutes to finalize their assignments on the templates. Step 6: The moderator reveals the ownership of all the secrets, which often leads to great astonishment and surprise. Participants will then have the opportunity to provide further information about their experiences. Step 7: Whoever has the first horizontal or vertical chain of correct person–characteristic assignments calls “Bingo” loudly and wins the game. If nobody makes all the right connections, the winner will be the participant with the most correct assignments. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes the agility of the participants – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons

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Bingo

Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: pens Moderation: paper

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Experiences – Good for groups who have worked together for long periods of time This method makes sense and fun, especially for groups who are working together on a long project.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.materialboerse.ejo.de/wp2014/menschenbingo/ (April 2017) Web – https://www.spielereader.org/spielereader.pdf (April 2017)

Bionics

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ation of this system as a model. It is a question of asking why things in nature are like this or react like that, and drawing conclusions from the analysis. Examples: – “Ground speed sensors” of airplanes. The biological analogy was the mode of action of a beetle’s eye. – For the production of paper and cardboard, the wasp’s nest construction served as a model. – Material-saving designs with optimum strength have numerous models in nature. Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Bionics is a breathtaking and exciting technique that tries to solve difficult technical problems and challenges by taking advantage of our understanding of nature and biology. Bionics is much more than a method for innovation; it is also often referred to as an independent interdisciplinary science. Since it is of great importance, however, we have decided to include it in this book. In Bionics, biological processes are directly transferred to a given problem and completely new possible solutions are formulated. Bionics (also known as biomimicry, biomimetics or biomimesis) deals with the transfer of phenomena from nature to technology. A well-known example from history is Leonardo da Vinci’s idea to transfer the flight of birds to flying machines. A common example from modern everyday life is the velcro fastener inspired by the burdock plant. Bionics is based on the assumption that nature develops optimized structures and processes through evolutionary processes, from which humans can learn efficiently. As an interdisciplinary field of research, Bionics attracts scientists, engineers, architects, philosophers and designers. Bionics is concerned with the systematic recognition of solutions of living nature; it thus distinguishes itself from the purposeless inspiration of nature. Its goal is always a technical object or process separated from nature. This distinguishes Bionics from sciences that use and expand biological processes, such as bioinformatics, biophysics and biochemistry. Bionics is typically used to solve problems and come up with ideas in the technical and process engineering fields. An important requirement of Bionics is not the “copying” of details of a living system, but the consider-

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Biological functions, mechanisms, phenomena, processes and structures are analysed and investigated, questions asked about why they work in which way, and by analogy the findings are transferred to the development of technical solutions. The technique of Bionics itself has no detailed procedure. Often, attempts are made to transfer the analysed and researched findings to the challenge at hand using other techniques, such as brainstorming or analogy methods. In analog Bionics, a “topdown process” takes place: One defines the problem, searches for analogies in nature, analyzes these and finally searches for solutions to the problem with the knowledge gained. Examples: Airplane: Otto Lilienthal and the Wright brothers observed the flight (locomotion) of large birds and optimized the designs of their prototypes. Winglets at the ends of aircraft wings: Large vortices at the wingtips of aircraft cause high fuel consumption, which can be reduced by around five to six percent by using winglets. Investigation of wings of sailing/gliding birds used as aircraft analogy. Description of the wings of certain bird species (e. g. buzzard, condor and eagle) which cause several smaller vortices instead of one large vortex and thus consume less energy overall. Manufacture of artificial wings with multiple winglets. Aircraft designers have further developed the winglets into a split-wing loop (spiroid). This example shows that at the end of an optimization process, its bionic derivation does not always have to be visible. Development of new profiles for car tyres: Biological models are, for example, cats’ paws, which widen with a

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Bionics

change of direction and thus have a larger contact surface with the ground. Spider-like robots whose legs have autonomous control functions and are therefore superior to centrally controlled robots. Abstraction Bionics involves a “bottom-up process”: The researchers conduct basic biological research, investigate the biomechanics and functional morphology of biological systems, identify and describe an underlying principle, abstract this principle (detach from the biological model and translate into non-specific language), search for possible technical applications and finally develop such applications together with engineers, technicians, designers and so on. Examples: Non-wettability and self-cleaning of certain biological surfaces: The observation and closer investigation of the fact that virtually all water-soluble substances roll off a lotus leaf led to patents for extremely water-resistant and self-cleaning surface structures (such as a new artificial surface as an exterior paint) – the lotus effect. See also: Waxes on plant leaves, for example from the lotus flower, kohlrabi and so on. Structural optimization of components (CAO and SKO): growth forms of trees or bones. Riblet foils: With fast-swimming sharks, the skin surface consists of small, closely-arranged scales. On these scales there are sharp-edged, fine grooves which are aligned parallel to the flow of water. These microscopically small grooves reduce frictional resistance. This resistance-reducing effect works well within all turbulence flows, thus also within air. Aircraft can be covered with a special film (so called “Riblet film”), which has a similar structure on its upper side and thus reduces air resistance. The scientific basis of the development comes from investigations on fossilized sharks and their “scales”. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – High-level demands The procedure is complex and places high demands on the participants and the moderator. – Strategic focus The majority of companies that successfully employ Bionics use the method strategically. Due to the complexity of the technique and the range of possibilities this makes sense. – New approaches This method is especially useful in seemingly hopeless situations for product development or for new products. It can generate completely new approaches to a problem.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Innovationsmanagement für technische Produkte, W. Eversheim, E. Baessler (Springer – November 2002) Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Lotus-Effekt und Autolack: Biologie in unserer Zeit, W. Barthlott, C. Neinhuis (1998) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser Fachbuch 2001) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Bionics Book – Wissen Managen, G. Probst, S. Raub, K. Romhard (Gabler Verlag – März 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreativitätstechniken (April 2017)

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Bisociation Bisociation is a particularly good brainstorming technique in the fields of advertising and marketing. Here the number of positive results is always very high, since even the craziest analogies are used. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The aim of the Bisociation method is to break down thought patterns. Terms, objects or images that trigger associations and have nothing to do with the given basic problem are used as aids. The term Bisociation refers to the creative process in which objects, images, concepts or ideas from very different conceptual frames of reference are linked with one another. The term “Bisociation” was introduced by Arthur Koestler in reference to word “association” and is today regarded as one of the basic terms of both creativity and humor research. Bisoziation describes breaking through established mental routines as a basic creative concept. While Association designates mental connections on one level, Bisociation goes beyond this by linking concepts from two levels that are not usually linked to each other. The results of a Bisociation session can lead to three major discoveries: 1. Humor – because the juxtaposition of things that do not belong together can be funny. 2. Knowledge and revelation – because the joining of two elements not yet thought of together can lead to surprising and new insights. 3. Understanding – because the coming together of new elements can also lead to a deeper understanding of contexts. Bisociation thus brings together two previously unconnected dimensions of thought. The effectiveness of the method, however, is strongly dependent on the choice of these two dimensions, i. e. one must know beforehand exactly where one must search, because for every useful analogy there are hundreds of useless ones, therefore careful examination is required.

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Handling Step 1: The problem is clearly formulated by the consensus of the group. Step 2: A small number of terms, objects or images (three to five) is displayed. The objects must have nothing to do with the problem thematically. Step 3: The participants agree on one of the items. Step 4: The term, object or image is placed so that everyone can see it. The participants now associate terms with the item. The associations are written down on cards, which are attached to a pinboard so that everyone can see them. Step 5: The participants must then relate the generated associations to the initial question. This results in unconventional proposals, which are noted in turn. Step 6: The proposals will be shown to all participants and discussed or examined for feasibility and further thought. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Bisociation – – – – –

Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Tool: impulse pictures Room: pinboard as topic memory Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Experiences – Not without difficulty in the application

Difficult with “uncreative” people. They need a good moderator and extra time.

Identified sources of the method Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisoziation (April 2017) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009) Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014)

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Blue Ocean Strategy Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Blue Ocean Strategy is a macro method for the strategic development of new, profitable business models, without competitive pressure, from the strategic innovation management field. The basic idea behind the methodology is that lasting success can only be achieved through the development of innovative new markets that offer really differentiated and relevant benefits to the broad mass of customers and non-customers (so-called Blue Oceans), made through, among other things, the meaningless competitors, new acquisition of customers and optimized cost structures. First, a benefit curve is drawn up for a market or industry sector in order to clarify which core elements characterize it from the point of view of customers and non-customers. The benefit curve of a company is visualized with current and potential competition. By changing the previously defined core elements, benefit curves can be permanently changed. There are four measures necessary to redefine core elements: 1. Elimination: Which factors should be omitted? 2. Reduction: What can be radically reduced? 3. Increase: Which elements of the product need to be raised above the industry standard? 4. Creation: Which components of a product need to be reinvented? By modifying the core elements of a value curve, new business models are developed.

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Handling Step 1: First, you create value curves to understand and analyze the competitors in this market. To do this, you name the characteristics/properties of the respective business model/product on an axis and compare their importance to each other. (Example: circus – circus ring = high/prices = medium/food = low/and so on.) Step 2: Plot your business model/product in these curves if you already have one, or place your idea in the appropriate places. Step 3: With the help of the “Elimination/Reduction/Increase/Creation” matrix, develop ideas for new business models/products that stand out from your competitors. – Elimination: Which factors should be omitted? – Reduction: What can be radically reduced? – Increase: Which elements of the product need to be raised above the industry standard? – Create: Which components of a product need to be reinvented? For each topic simply assemble several possibilities. Then evaluate these or form them into new combinations for a new business model. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base

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Blue Ocean Strategy

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Letting go is difficult Especially if you want to change existing business models/products, “elimination and reduction” is difficult: changing your own baby! Have courage and trust yourself – success will come. – Examples help When using the “Blue Ocean Strategy” in particular, it is helpful to work with handy examples during the introduction. This allows a quick “Aha!” moment for the participants. Good examples are Cirque du Solei, Ryanair, Motel One …

Identified sources of the method Book – Blue Ocean Strategy, W. C. Kim, R. Mauborgne (Harvard Business School Press – 2005) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-Ocean-Strategie (April 2017)

Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer People: experts Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location

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Blue Roses

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Intuition – how to develop and apply it. Blue Roses goes back to an ancient legend: the king promised the hand of his daughter to the one who would bring her a blue rose. The suitors courted her with a sapphire rose, artificially-colored roses and a blue rose painted on a porcelain cup. But the princess fell in love with a simple minstrel. He gave her an ordinary white rose, but the princess thought of it as blue. What the princess did was to trust her intuition. To use intuition means to pay attention to feelings and to believe in their accuracy. Trusting your intuition is essentially knowing the answer in advance. Important leaders and managers have trusted their intuition: George Washington, in the American War of Independence; Conrad Hilton, when he made an offer on Chicago’s largest hotel; Henry Heinz, when he elevated “57” to a trade mark; and George Eastman, who did the same with the letter “K” for Kodak. Successful managers use intuition to (according to astudy by Daniel Isenburg): – to find out whether there is a problem. – apply learned behaviors quickly, at the right time. – to be able to interpret isolated data quickly, in context. – to verify rational analysis by intuition. – to skip detailed analysis and make quick decisions. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

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Handling Step 1: “You can’t fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren.” Strive to become aware of your intuition on a daily basis. – How sharp do your intuitive impulses feel? – Estimate something before you check the result. – Ask yourself some “yes/no” questions to which you know the answers, and observe your feelings in the answers. Do you hear “yes” or “no” first? Do you see colors like green for “yes” and red for “no”? – Proceed in the same way when making decisions. Start with decisions you have already made and weigh up the (overlooked) alternatives. Observe your choice of words, phrases, images and symbols that represent the respective answers. – Practice the same process with some simple decisions you haven’t made yet. Step 2: Combine intuition with rationality. Effective perception of our environment and creative handling of challenges are optimized if you master both parts equally well. Impact on obstacle effects – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required

Blue Roses

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Encourage!

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Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Publikation – Journal – Thinking and managing: A verbal protocol analysis of managerial problem solving; D. J. Isenberg (Academy of management Journal – 1986)

In a group with mainly rational personality types, it is initially difficult to work with the concept of intuition. Simple exercises help. Once some attempts have been made to decide something intuitively, the work becomes more fluid. It is important to praise even the smallest successes and to always positively encourage the participants, so everyone feels that intuitive processes are not “funny”, “strange” or “wrong”.

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Bodystorming

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Bodystorming is a special kind of role play, in which the use of one’s own body and improvisation are used to recreate real-world situations. Bodystorming is therefore not only a prototyping method, but also a brainstorming method, in which ideas are tested and at the same time new insights are gained for further development. Ideas win. Example: The recreation of an aircraft cabin on an intercontinental flight with the simplest means (chairs, brownpaper, boxes …). Without a real plane, the new interior, including the service, can be simulated and tested. Advantages: low costs and fast results. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling Step 1: Clearly describe the process, situation and previous ideas to the participants and present these in a role play scenario. Step 2: Bear in mind that people who may be entering such a new situation for the first time often need more time than experienced participants to come to terms with it. However, it is precisely these individuals who often provide the best insights or questions. Step 3: When setting up the test environment, make sure that it is as similar as possible to reality. If this cannot be “felt” by the participants, the results may be unreliable. Step 4: Let the participants role play a “normal” situation in the test environment. This can be done with the help of a briefl script or improvized. Step 5: After the “game”, summarize the findings of the participants and observers and derivenew ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: diverse mix of individuals Moderation: pens Moderation: notebook People: experts People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room

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Bodystorming

Room: flipchart Technique: camera Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Supports a better imagination

Experiences – All resources are possible It is almost impossible to list the necessary resources. Depending on the scenario and the imagination of the team, all the material the team has or can obtain can be useful.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – https://thinking-design.de/bodystorming/ (April 2017)

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Boundary Shifting Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Boundary Shifting involves moving problem boundaries in order to find solutions to issues in a broader or different field of knowledge or application. First, the essential criteria that must be fulfilled within a project (or product) are identified. Existing solutions that occur within the framework of the perceived problem boundaries are evaluated with regard to their feasibility and sustainability, and considered as further application scenarios. Thus, alternative solutions are sought by shifting the defined limits of application perception and including other areas of knowledge in the analysis. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits and needs Handling Example: lighter manufacturers’ products solve the problem of lighting or need to light candles, cigarettes or other flammable objects for their users. At the same time, some user groups often misuse and lighters to replace conventional bottle openers. The pressure causes cracks in the plastic shafts of the lighters and they can break. With Boundary Shifting, the manufacturer includes this problem/solution shift in their product. They weigh up the added value and decide whether a solution approach should be implemented. In this example, this could be a reinforcing metal ring on the shaft of the plastic lighter.

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Difficulty engaging in reimagining It is often difficult for participants to accept a shift in application scenarios, because the focus of project development is actually on the benefit/s already identified. A detailed explanation of the procedure and the specific advantages is recommended.

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Boundary Shifting

Identified sources of the method Book – Creative techniques in product and engineering design: A practical workbook, D. J. Walker, B. K. J. Dagger, R. Roy (Woodhead Publishing – Oktober 1991)

Book – Design methods, J. C. Jones (John Wiley & Sons – 1992J

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BrainCharting

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description BrainCharting is an inspiration technique that uses visual stimulation by collaging image and text fragments. The participants have the task of creating a collage of existing pictorial material in small groups on the basis of a pictorial question. Possible questions/tasks could be: “What does the world look like for our product?”, “What do our customers do in their spare time?” or “Create a poster that whets consumers’ appetite for XYZ.” The finished posters serve to inspire the team for the further creative process and to discuss possible assumptions and viewpoints. The term “BrainCharting” was coined by Nadja Schnetzler. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling You will need a large selection of newspapers, magazines and periodicals that are as thematically different as pos-

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sible. Also, for each group: scissors, stiff paper or cardboard in DIN A2 (or larger) and glue. The participants will be divided into groups of three and will be inspired by the print media on display. Little by little, the selected pictures, headlines and motifs become small works of art that show an overall picture. Let the participants work for 15 to 20 minutes. Five three-person groups will give you about 100 inspirations. At the end of the BrainCharting session, organize an “exhibition” of the posters and let the groups explain them. It can be useful to write individual keywords on the posters to document the ideas behind the collages. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: scissors Moderation: glue Moderation: poster Moderation: paper in flipchart size

BrainCharting

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination

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Identified sources of the method Book – Die Ideenmaschine, N. Schnetzler (Wiley-VCH Verlag – August 2006)

Experiences – Prevents competition Since this technique is quite meditative and tranquil, one should prevent the participants from feeling under pressure in terms of time and content. It’s not about creating the greatest poster, it’s about creating one work by many individuals. All the works together then form a whole.

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BrainRace

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description BrainRace is a technique that combines motor skills and spontaneous idea development. In a race, as many ideas as possible must be developed and written down. BrainRace is a playful sports competition in which the participants compete against each other. Every runner has to be able to run as fast as possible. There should be ten ideas to one sheet of paper. The legibility of the ideas is then evaluated by a referee. Unreadable ideas are disqualified. The principle behind BrainRace is the elimination of long reflection and generation of brain activity through increased physical exertion. Ideas should be spontaneous, intuitive and also absurd. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The BrainRace can be carried out in several variations. The basic structure is almost identical for all variants: In a field, a parking lot, in a long corridor, a factory building or similar, at a distance of at least ten meters (more is recommended) establish a starting area and writing stations with sufficient room for ten ideas, plus pen each (also benches, crates, chairs and so on). The runners run from the start to a writing station, take a sheet of paper, write their ideas on it and run back with the sheet. Impartial helpers take the sheet and put a green stamp next to every legible idea. Step 1: Individual run on one topic

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All participants start at the same time. Everyone has an empty clipboard as a writing surface. After a runner returns with the first ten ideas, they are checked for legibility and the runner runs again to write down more ideas. After ten minutes the race is over and the winner with the most green stamps receives a symbolic prize (chocolate or similar). Step 2: Individual run on several topics In this variant, the participants also run back and forth several times, but have to write down ideas for a different question in each round. For this purpose there are no blank sheets at the writing station, only pens. The runners receive a new worksheet with the question on their clipboard at the start after the assessment of their results, with which they then run to the writing station. Step 3: Relay race Two or more groups are formed to compete against each other. Each runner hands over their clipboard with their ideas at the start to the next member of their group. They then run to the writing station, take a new sheet and also writes down their ideas. The race is finished when the first group has all runners at the finish. The winner is the team that produces the most legible ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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BrainRace –

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources Tool: clipboardsclipboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: outdoor area Tool: clock Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

Experiences – Consider the workshop experience of the participants Participants with little or no workshop or brainstorming experienceusually need longer to develop spontaneous ideas. Here, the number of ideas required should be reduced from ten to five, otherwise the session will take too long. But you can extend the distance to be run to increase the fun. – Two winners Sometimes there will be a tie. Be prepared for this by giving two first prizes.

Identified sources of the method Book – Die Ideenmaschine, N. Schnetzler (Wiley-VCH Verlag – August 2006) Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

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BrainShaping Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description In BrainShaping, the participants are asked to craft their ideas on a defined topic in the form of dough/clay models. Afterwards, each group introduces its model and says something about it. All details are adequately documented, and photographed and recorded for later processing. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Work is carried out in small groups of two to three people. Each group receives enough children’s dough/modelling clay (e. g. Play-doh) as well as a mat and white flags. The group should work on one or more three-dimensional objects to create a representational answer to a given question within 15 to 20 minutes. These models are supplemented with flags, on which the features are written in keywords. This technique is particularly suitable for concrete tasks. For example, “Build something that is as conspicuous as possible”, “What does the kitchen of the future look like?” or “What does a vehicle that will transport us in 50 years’ time look like?” Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: table tops Moderation: soft pencils Tool: modelling clay Tool: craft kit Tool: white flags Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Encourage participants – fun is what counts

Some participants find “playing with dough” a bit strange. On these occasions you should encourage the participants to get involved and try it out. Make it clear that the perfect model is not important. They may then attempt to create a model right away.

Identified sources of the method Book – Die Ideenmaschine, N. Schnetzler (Wiley-VCH Verlag – August 2006)

BrainStation

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The BrainStation method is one in which individual groups develop ideas parallel to changing questions at separate group workstations. The structure of BrainStation scenarios can vary greatly. It is important that there are separate areas in which the participants can work undisturbed. These can be created with boxes or tents, or just by using different rooms. The work areas should be large enough to accommodate the individual groups and equipped with flipcharts, sufficient paper and pens/pencils. Ideal group sizes are five to eight people. For clarity, the work areas should be numbered consecutively. One question per workstation/station is required, for which sufficient ideas can be produced in just a few minutes. During the execution of this technique, the question is changed after a given time interval, so that each group has developed ideas for each question once. In order to illustrate the questions and to strengthen inspiration, the individual stations can be decorated according to the theme. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Procedure: Step 1: The questions should be printed on sheets at least A3 DIN size. At each station a sheet with a question is hung up. Step 2: The participants should be divided into individual groups and assigned to stations.

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Step 3: A sound, action or music gives the starting signal, after which as many ideas as possible are written on flipchart sheets at each station. After a given time (e. g. three minutes), the groups change stations and work on the next question. With six stations, three minutes of working time and two minutes of travel time, a total time of 20 minutes produces hundreds of ideas. Advantages: The BrainStation technique delivers many ideas within a short time and is very entertaining for the participants. The method is particularly useful when it comes to looking at a topic from different angles. Disadvantages: It is not always spatially possible to create many separate work areas. It also takes some time to decorate the stations. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: flipchart Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – When the stations are far apart, multiple moderators are needed The method is effective and entertaining and, as stated, there should be enough space between the stations. There should be one moderator per station (depending on the size of area and number of groups).

Identified sources of the method Book – Die Ideenmaschine, N. Schnetzler (Wiley-VCH Verlag – August 2006)

Brainfloating

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Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Brainfloating, developed in 1989 by the designer, writer and cultural scientist Harald Bream, is the generic term for various creativity techniques whose multisensory function is to address the entire brain during the creative process. Depending on the brainfloating technique (see image text potentiation, creative casting, double head, triad, shape formation, shape impulses, onomatopoeia, simultaneous action, reverse polarity) this is achieved in very different ways. For example, the different senses are linguistically newly combined or visualizations are expressed in movement. The Brainfloating principle was originally based on the outdated research position that the individual hemispheres of the brain had to be assigned certain functions. The opinion prevailed that the right brain was responsible for creativity and intuition and the left for analytical thinking and language. However, there is a consensus in current research that such exclusive task-specific allocations do not apply. Although some areas of responsibility are more strongly represented by one hemisphere than by the other, there are also areas that place equal demands on both hemispheres. What is certain is that there are asymmetries in the distribution of tasks, i. e. that the hemispheres of the brain are involved to different degrees depending on their function and task. However, the prsent state of research has no significant impact on the Brainfloating method for innovation. Used as a creative technique, Brainfloating has an activating effect on the brain and allows novel thought patterns to break through so that new, fresh ideas can emerge.

Handling The general implementation of the Brainfloating techniques is as follows: Warm-up phase: The brain is deliberately irritated by unusual movements or altered movement sequences (e. g. an action is performed with the left side/hand instead of the right). Multisensory exercises: There can be various exercises, such as singing, painting, acting or speaking, that can be performed simultaneously and the brain as well as the body is set in motion. Main part: The individual techniques have different main parts. Creative phase: After the main part, use the stimulated brain productively for finding ideas. It is generally recommended that the exercises be done regularly so that they feel natural and no longer seem unusual. Advantage: The different techniques lift blocks on thinking and return the participants to a childlike experimental state, which is positive for every creative phase. Disadvantage: For most of the participants these techniques are very difficult to get used to. Even in a group, these techniques are only possible if no one is worried about embarrassing themselves. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees 195

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Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

Notes

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Experiences – Good moderation and creative groups important

This is already an “advanced” method or one where you have to get involved. Good moderation and ideally a group familiar with some creative methods are essential.

Identified sources of the method Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Braem (April 2017) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/wiki/Brainfloating (April 2017) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Brainfloating – Im Entspannungszustand spielerisch Ideen finden, H. Braem (mvg Verlag 1989)

Brainstorming

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Brainstorming is of course the classic among all creative techniques and probably also the most popular. Invented by Alex Osborn and further developed by Charles Hutchison Clark, this idea-finding method is designed to encourage the generation of new and unusual ideas in a group of people. Alex Osborn orientated his idea on the Indian technique Prai-Barshana, which has been around for about 400 years. He named it after the concept of this method, namely “using the brain to storm a problem”. Brainstorming can be used in many different ways and in many different situations, e. g. to establish a target, to find ideas in advertising, for product development, as a way out of unproductive meetings, to prepare creative meetings, and as a basis or preliminary stage for further creativity techniques. Brainstorming always works optimally for challenges, problem types and questions of low complexity. Note that this method can be very successfullycombinated with other techniques. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling During the Brainstorming session, the participants formulate a large number of potential problem solutions through spontaneous expressions of ideas. It is important here that any criticism or evaluation of the ideas expressed is initially avoided in order not to disrupt the creative idea-generation process. The leader/moderator has the task of motivating and encouraging the group to develop and present its proposals. They should support insecure or hesitant participants and make sure that every-

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one in the group has their say. To be able to brainstorm, you need an independent, moderating group leader as well as a way ofrecording the statements of the participants in detail. Compared to the Brainwriting method, the advantage of this one is that the creativity of the individual participants is stimulated by the joint, spontaneous generation of ideas. In addition, openness with one’s own ideas is supported by the prohibition of evaluation and criticism (“Going crazy is also allowed!”). Brainstorming can also be performed using Internetbased tools. The aim of the online version of Brainstorming is to generate as many ideas and suggested solutions as possible. The same rules apply as for the offline method. Differences to classical Brainstorming can arise when the session is interrupted. In general, many people can participate in online Brainstorming via the Internet. To use this method, you need a suitable Internet platform. Step 1: The problem is presented to the participants, if necessary supplemented with illustrative material, and the expected course of the Brainstorming is communicated. Step 2: The participants spontaneously name their ideas for finding a solution, and in the best case scenario they will inspire each other and enable different suggestions to flow into new approaches and ideas. Step 3: All ideas are logged. Even more important than a precise set of steps are rules that must be observed under all circumstances: 1. no criticism of other contributions, ideas or proposed solutions 2. no criticism at all 3. license to express the impossible 4. take up ideas of others 5. repress bias 6. the bolder and more imaginative, the better 7. no fear of embarrassment. In order to comply with the “no criticizing rule”, the moderator can exclude participants from a round using a “red card” if they repeatedly fail to comply with the rule. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Tool: recording device Technique: recording device/method Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Pay attention to the mood The participants should be put in a mood that is as productive and thoughtful as possible. The method is highly suitable for solving problems on a purely linguistic level (e. g. finding names and slogans). It is also suitable for target formulations and symbolic statements, and as an introduction to a new topic in order to define the range of solutions. Quantity takes precedence over quality, because it’s all about producing ideas. Opportunities for collecting ideas: – The moderator notes all ideas and suggestions on call (with many ideas the moderator can get into trouble with writing). – – Each participant has their own pen and goes forward to write their idea down on the flipchart. – – Each participant receives cards and a pen and writes each of their ideas on a card and attaches it to the pinboard. – – Sound recording (the visualization of the ideas is missing; here participants will not have a visual stimulus for ideas, which may have been brought in at the beginning of the workshop. Tape can be put to use, but not exclusively.)

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Die Ideenmaschine, N. Schnetzler (Wiley-VCH Verlag – August 2006) Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Book – Innovationsmanagement für technische Produkte, W. Eversheim, E. Baessler (Springer – November 2002) Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Innovationsmanagement, Higgins, J. M. Wiese (Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag – 1998) Book – Innovationsmanagement, J. Hauschildt, S. Salomo (Vahlen – März 2007) Book – Organisation, D. Vahs (Schäffer Poeschel 2015) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser Fachbuch 2001) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Book – Wissen Managen, G. Probst, S. Raub, K. Romhard (Gabler Verlag – März 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

Brainwalking

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Brainwalking is a very appealing and efficient creativity technique, which gets the brain “on its toes” and creates a lot of dynamic thought through movement. It is a special form of Brainwriting and was formulated by Eduard G. Kaan. Classic Brainwalking (after Fritz Hellfritz, 1978) describes the free association of ideas by writing them down on metaplan walls distributed throughout the workspace, including movement. The questions to be asked may be identical in content or different in content. Good blood circulation in the brain is crucial for the flow of ideas. Movement is therefore an essential element in connection with creative thinking. If a team has been sitting for a long time, this method loosens everyone up. Since this is a special form of Brainwriting, its advantages (undisturbed association possibilities, no evaluation by colleagues) should be adopted, but its disadvantages (static, somewhat complicated, post-processing behavior) avoided. The participants bring in their own ideas and build on those of the other participants or develop them further. Like Brainstorming, Brainwalking is also suitable for almost all types of innovation and challenges. You should limit the group to goals of light to medium complexity. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling Step 1: For every two to three participants, a flipchart sheet is hung up in the room. The same target/goal is written as the headline on top of each sheet. Step 2: During the first few minutes, the participants write spontaneous ideas about the flipchart sheet they are in front of. Step 3: Then they go to the other flipchart sheets, look at the ideas of the other participants and write down new associations. Step 4: Each person thus gradually walks around the room and develops new associations based on the thoughts of the other participants. Step 5: The sheets are removed from the walls at the idea collection stage, and carefully torn into strips so that each contribution becomes its own paper strip. Excess white paper is removed. The strips are now further sorted, evaluated and arranged on pinboards or on the floor. During this stage, no one speaks in order to avoid a interrupting the individual flow. Alternatively, pinboard stations can be set up – even in an outdoor area. Variant: Each pinboard station can have a different question/target/goal, and so on (see BrainStation). Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Room: sufficiently large room Room: flipchart Room: outdoor area Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Great for introverted participants This is a simple technique that allows the more introverted participant to have their turn at eye level. Walking around also creates a fundamentally relaxed atmosphere. – Danger of talking forever A very large room is required for larger groups. The evaluation must be well moderated, otherwise there is a danger of endless discussion and talking.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

Brainwriting

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an inner censorship of the participants and make it more difficult to find new ideas. In the second phase, the results are subjected to detailed criticism and the best ideas are filtered out. In order to carry out Brainwriting, you need a moderator who collects the ideas (slips of paper) and summarizes them on a board. The recommended average duration for a Brainwriting session is three minutes per question, so teams of 15 or more can quickly create hundreds of inspirational concepts. Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description In contrast to Brainstorming, the aim of Brainwriting is not to build on the intellectual performance of the participants, but rather to allow each individual to collect ideas independently and to write down, in order to later develop them together with the group into creative problem-solving ideas. Brainwriting ensures that all factors that can inhibit the production of new ideas are minimized. The participants should produce ideas without any restrictions and/or combine their thoughts with others’. Ideally, the participants will inspire each other during the discussion of their ideas, which they can then develop further. The advantage of this method over other creativity techniques is that ideas from otherwise passive or quiet participants can also be recorded. The anonymity of the submitted notes allows sometimes crucially important ideas and suggestions to be revealed. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Brainwriting is divided into two phases. The first phase is for the development of ideas and the creation of associations. In this phase it is forbidden to evaluate your own or others’ contributions, because this would lead to

Impact on obstacle effects – Involves quite introverted team members – Encourages inhibited team members – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome – Prevents the bunker of ideas and secrecy – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Counteracts a lack of inspiration

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens

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Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – All are equally involved In contrast to verbal Brainstorming, all participants are equally involved, because very extroverted participants are partly muted during the writing phase.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Die Ideenmaschine, N. Schnetzler (Wiley-VCH Verlag – August 2006) Book – Innovationsmanagement für technische Produkte, W. Eversheim, E. Baessler (Springer – November 2002)

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Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Innovationsmanagement, Higgins, J. M. Wiese (Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag – 1998) Book – Innovationsmanagement, J. Hauschildt, S. Salomo (Vahlen – März 2007) Book – Manual Thinking, L. Huber, G. J. Veldmann (GABAL Verlag – August 2016) Book – Organisation, D. Vahs (Schäffer Poeschel 2015) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser Fachbuch 2001) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Book – Wissen Managen, G. Probst, S. Raub, K. Romhard (Gabler Verlag – März 2013) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

Brainwriting Pool

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description As a creativity technique, the Brainwriting Pool belongs to the large group of Brainwriting methods. Itis particularly suitable for exploring and illuminating problems and their thematic environment, and generating ideas and collection of insights for this purpose. As with other techniques of this type, such as Brainwriting, the 6-3-5 Method or the Card Technique, ideas are written down in a group session and then exchanged among the participants in order to further develop and improve them, if necessary. The creation of spontaneous collection of insights, especially for less structured topics, is quick and easy. This method is also suitable, however, for creative challenges in advertising and journalism. The focus should be on problems and questions of low to medium complexity. Advantages – The sessions are usually very active. – Recording ideas in writing promotes their improvement by other participants. – Documentation of the brainstorming is available immediately. – Quieter participants are well-integrated. – This requires a somewhat increased evaluation effort, since on the mindmaps several ideas and subideas can be present.

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Handling Step 1: All participants sit around a table (teams of five to a maximum of eight people are optimal). Step 2: A stack of empty post-its is placed in the middle of the table. Step 3: Each participant takes a post-its and writes down an idea. Step 4: Each person hands the card to their righthand neighbour, takes another card, notes another idea and passes the card to the right again. This is now carried out for each idea. Step 5: Cards received from the neighbour are read briefly, supplemented if necessary and passed on like the particpant’s cards. Alternatively, if they are busy formulating an idea, the card can also be passed on unread. Step 6: If someone gets one of their own cards back and doesn’t want to add more, it will be moved to a pile (pool) in the middle of a table. Participants who cannot think of a new idea can arbitrarily take a card from this pool, supplement it if necessary and put it back into circulation. After a certain time, when all participants have run out of ideas and the cards from the pool have already made the rounds several times without additions being made, the Brainwriting is finished. Impact on obstacle effects – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Tames a disturbing group clown – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: wall surfaces Room: pinboards Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Room: table tops Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity

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Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Very good for inexperienced teams This method is particularly suitable for teams that are very inexperienced with creativity techniques. – Promotes a culture of innovation Since each participant simultaneously gives their own idea (their brainchild) to colleagues and works with the ideas of colleagues, a good appreciation of others’ concepts is achieved. This is also evident from the fact that most participants are happy about their own ideas, which return to them with helpful suggestions from colleagues.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

Brand Innovation Checkup

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Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) – Description The Brand Innovation Checkup is part of the Ten Types of Innovation macro method (also described in the Dictionary). Brand innovations describe innovations that affect the brand itself. Customers should be able to recognize the brand throughout these improvements and the original products should be able to compete with those of their competitors and imitators. With the Brand Innovation Checkup you test your own brand or further develop it with the results of the tool. Great brand innovations distill a “promise” that attracts customers and conveys a sense of belonging to an individual group. These Brand Innovations are typically the result of carefully crafted strategies that take effect at the many points of contact between companies and customers. This includes communication, advertising, interactive service, individual sales channels with their unmistakable environment, and targeted management of trainees and business partners. A Brand Innovation transforms a simple commodity into a high-quality and coveted product. It adds a deeper meaning and intention for purchasing products and increases the overall value of the company in the customer’s perception. Brand Innovations include extensions: A new product or service can be published under the umbrella of an existing brand. Alternatively, Brand Innovation can consist of letting a company stand for a “big idea” or for a catalog of values. The brand then stands for a firm belief in these values, which represent a constant and are lived transparently. In business-to-business contexts, Brand Innovation is not limited to the last manufacturer with whom the consumer has had contact. A manufacturer of components or pre-production stages can also control consumer preferences by creating a good brand and thus build up negotiating power.

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Example of successful brand innovations in practice: Virgin: Richard Branson designed Virgin in 1970 as a mail order company for inexpensive records. In 1971 he opened the first Virgin record shop in London. The following year he built a recording studio, released Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” in 1973 and made a contract with the Sex Pistols in 1977. What is actually already music history was only the beginning of the Virgin brand, which remained a brand in constant innovation. Under this name, Virgin Atlantic Airways was launched and expanded a portfolio that included mobile telephony, transportation, financial services, media and fitness. INTEL: Every computer user has read or heard of “Intel Inside”. This Brand Innovation was as smart as it was surprising, because the branding highlights the value of a processor that few computer users ever see. Method: These environmentally-friendly detergents do not contain chemicals, and their packaging is so aesthetically-pleasing that the bottles can be safely displayed in the home. In addition, an advertising campaign invites customers to become part of their “people against dirty” community.

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Generates forecasts and derivations Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Use these questions to check whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) is a potential Brand Innovation: Step 1: Does the company have an unusually pronounced or pictorially vivid identity – especially in comparison with its competitors? Step 2: Is the company’s brand used by business partners, suppliers, customers or even competitors? (Example: INTEL processors in Apple computers). Step 3: Do customers and users see themselves as part of a particular community or movement that has grown around the brand? Step 4: Is the brand associated with a special brand promise? Step 5: Does the brand communicate a “big idea” to its customers?

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Step 6: Do customers associate the brand with a highquality and sought-after product? Step 7: Does the brand have a high recognition value? Step 8: Does the company have individual sales channels, so that special points of contact between brand and customer arise? Step 9: Has the company expanded its brand to completely different business areas? Step 10: Is the brand used to create a connection between or even integration of different offers?

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Weakens living in the past – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Supports a better perception

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use

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Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals People: administrators

Experiences – Brand name for a music school

When we founded the music school “Rhythm & Groove Factory” in 1999, the name intentionally did not have the word “music school” in the title. While business partners initially feared that this name would not be understood by the general population, it was precisely this omission that soon proved to be a strength. It was a deliberate distancing from the municipal music school that primarily gave lessons in classical music. Our teaching staff consisted of (graduated) jazz, rock and pop musicians, and that was also our teaching profile. What tied the students, their families and especially adults and advanced students to our institution were the experiences that could be taken with them, from the teaching of main instrumental subjects to band coaching – community was created. In the lobby you could sit before and after lessons with “real” musicians at the café table. Music teachers did not teach here, but active musicians on the scene, who talked about how life really was on tour, in the recording studio, backstage or as a session musician.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

Brutethink

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The aim of Brutethink is to develop new ideas for solutions by linking aspects of a problem that do not obviously belong together. Brutethink (after Michael Michalko, 1991, further developed by Michael Luther, 2009) is an idea-finding technique that is a variation of the well-known stimulus-word technique. The method forces the user to establish relationships that are not recognized spontaneously. This offers the potential for new ideas, because the solution to a problem is not limited to conventional approaches, but new answers are provoked into being. To do this, you define a goal or a problem and choose a random word. This random word can come from the problem context or from a completely foreign place, for example a dictionary or a newspaper. Random associations are used to create concepts which are then related to the random word and the defined goal. The advantage of the method is that the identified relationships provide new insights and can thus be the basis of a new problem solution. Brutethink is based on the random stimuli method. Brutethink makes you perceive the objects and processes of your routine in a new light by juxtaposing them with a randomly chosen term. The method works so well because it makes use of a special characteristic of our brain: We can only concentrate to a very limited extent on two completely different themes/objects. As quickly as possible, our brain tries to establish a connection between the two and “fills” the gap. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling Step 1: To find a new approach to your challenge, juxtapose it with a random word. This can come from a stimulus word table (see figure). Alternatively, you can open a book and use any word. It is important that the choice is indeed random and that the term is not “selected”. Step 2: Write down all the associations with the word you found. Step 3: Find connections between your challenge, the random concept and the associations found. Step 4: Make a note of all the results and discuss them with the team. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Brutethink

Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – The more distantly related the words, the more creative the new ideas will be. If you’re looking for new creative ideas, use words that are far away from the actual topic. This gives the brain more incentive to make an association – and is more fun.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Book Exchange Club

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description With the Book Exchange Club you achieve several effects with one action: The team gains knowledge, you increase intrinsic motivation and you strengthen team spirit. To start or prepare for an innovation project, all team members receive a book on a specific innovation aspect. Everyone is encouraged to make notes in the book and then swap it with another team member. This process continues until each participant has read and commented on each book. This simple method is effective in many ways: – The notes of the colleagues inspire people to make further enquiries. – The notes of colleagues make life more efficient. – A common and synchronized level of knowledge quickly emerges. – The books show everyone, via the notes, that they have committed themselves to the task. – The method is a booster for an innovative mindset. The technique is inspired by the concepts of public bookcases and bookcrossing. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Selection and identification of relevant book titles and acquisition of the investment budget by management. Step 2: Briefing of the participants and description of the types of possible notes.

Examples of permitted and desired notes in the book: – Text with green highlighter = This is very relevant for us. – Text with simple Underline = That’s interesting. – Post-it notes for various annotations. – Paperclips on individual pages – and so on. It is important that all books are regarded as work books in which writing is allowed. An agreement on note formats greatly accelerates reading and learning efficiency. Step 3: At certain intervals (for example, one week) a short meeting should take place in which the team reflects on experiences and knowledge gained. Step 4: Determine whether the exchange of books is freely decided by individuals or always at fixed times. Step 5: At the end of the “Book Exchange Club” the books should be stored in a team library. Other teams can now also be granted access to the books. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Promotes appreciation – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens living in the past – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period 209

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Book Exchange Club

Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources Finances: implementation budget Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Takes a long time – but adds a lot Of course it takes a certain amount of time to read a book, and in a crisis situation this can cause stress, but the method creates a lot of the shared insight in teams.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookcrossing (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Öffentlicher_Bücherschrank (April 2017)

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Bull’s Eye Evaluation Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents wrong granularity – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Bull’s Eye is another very nice, simple and descriptive method to evaluate single ideas efficiently and quickly and to optimize them further in the course of the evaluation meeting. It gives the individual participant the opportunity to give feedback, but also makes the whole team describe ideas very clearly. In the discussion, suggestions for improvement or requests for changes to the idea can be made immediately. The technique allows evaluation of ideas of light to medium complexity, and also provides a quick illustration of the overall team spirit. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The idea to be evaluated is presented to the participants in detail and then the pre-prepared goal is presented and explained. Like a real goal/target, it is divided into circular rings and additionally into segments within those rings. The concentric rings contain numbers from ten to one, from the inside to the outside. The segments within those rings are marked with keywords and characteristics of the idea. Participants are asked to use pinboard pins to show ratings. For each segment within those rings (= evaluation field) there is a pin. As in the game of darts, the best rating is in the middle (bull’s eye) and the lowest is in the outer ring.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Moderation: glue dots Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Fast and visual The method is very fast and very descriptive.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

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Buridan’s Donkey Step 4: Ideally this approach ultimately leaves one choice. Step 5: If this is not the case, adjust the criteria and repeat Steps 2 to 4.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding)

An example (after De Bono) is described as follows: A genie in a bottle makes a wish come true, and one may choose between the following alternatives: 1. Wisdom 2. Wealth 3. Beauty 4. Artistic talent Make a decision.

Description Buridan’s Donkey method goes back to an old myth. A donkey could not decide between two bundles of hay and stood between them, and in the end starved to death. The resulting – and philosophical – question is, when both alternatives seemingly are the same, how we should decide on a better choice? This is the basis of the method. The donkey has already demonstrated the problem: if he decided on one bundle of hay, it would equally mean having to do without the alternative. But how do you decide which alternative to do without and which choice is ultimately the right one? If it is not possible to choose, then you may just as well let a roll of the dice decide. Ultimately, it is always the case that what you have chosen is less interesting than what you could have chosen. This is what makes the fundamental question of the Buridan’s Donkey technique so difficult. But what is the solution? This may be easier than imagined. Basically, it is a matter of making the existing alternatives unattractive, one after the other, until ultimately only one alternative remains. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The following procedure is recommended for successive decision-making steps: Step 1: Write down all available alternatives, one after the other. Step 2: Evaluate these alternatives subjectively, but with fixed criteria. Step 3: Determine step by step whether one or other of the alternatives becomes uninteresting.

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You could follow these (subjective) approaches: Wisdom, #1: I find all others stupid and I am aware of the misery in the world. Wealth, #2: I never know who my friends are. I’m jealous of people who are even richer. I have a lot to worry about. Beauty, #3: I’m afraid of losing my beauty. I attract dubious characters. I’m getting vain. Artistic talent, #4: I am disappointed when my talent is not recognized. There are always new horizons. A talent can also be a burden. On this basis, it is now easier to choose the best of these alternatives or to exclude the worst of them. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

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Buridan’s Donkey – –

Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location People: recording device Moderation: pens

Experiences – Ideal tool to help make difficult decisions

Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Publikation – Buridans principle, L. Lamport (December 1984)

Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Business Model Canvas

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The business model CANVAS, invented by Alexander Osterwalder, enables a structured representation of both new and existing business models. Using nine building blocks, the participants explore each neuralgic position of a business model, capture its essence and work out correlations and logical links. The pictorial representation helps to achieve a quick, common understanding among team members and makes the model accessible and comprehensible even for uninvolved parties, at any time. The technique guarantees fast business model generation and a good overview of the task to hand, even for institutional outsiders. However, the efficient, broad use of the tool for all phases of an innovation process requires good training. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more know-how growth Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible

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Handling Step 1: Mobilization Make all team members aware of the need for a new business model. Collect all elements needed for successful design and create a common “language” to describe, develop and discuss business models. Step 2: Comprehension Research and analyze the elements required for business model design. Gather information through interviews, mafos and Internet searches to understand the needs and problems of the knowledge areas “customer, technology and environment”. Step 3: Shapes Transform the information collected into business model prototypes (canvas-style) – the more, the better. These now need to be researched and tested. Create many business model prototypes and select the most promising one. Step 4: Implementation Implement the selected prototype. Step 5: Execution Create the (management) structures to continuously monitor, evaluate and adapt your business model. Modify your business model regularly with regard to market reactions. Impact on obstacle effects – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium

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Business Model Canvas – – – – – – – – – –

Complexity for the participants: rather medium Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: Post-its Moderation: colored pencils

People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Finances: implementation budget Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Read books and practise a lot Note: The Business Model Canvas from Osterwalder looks quite simple at first sight. One side, nine blocks! And this is also where the danger lies. You should know exactly what goes into each of the individual building block fields and how these are filled and connected. In addition, there is still an environment and each field should be checked. You should at least have read Alexander Osterwalder’s book(s) about the method and/or workshopped it with an experienced coach.

Identified sources of the method Book – Business Model Generation, A. Osterwalder, Y. Pigneur (Campus Verlag – August 2011) Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

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Business Wargaming

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description At the heart of a Business Wargame is the simulation of a situation in which multiple parties are involved. Each of these parties adopts the perspective and behaviour of a specific stakeholder of a situation under investigation. Each wargame party receives a challenge that corresponds to the nature of the particular stakeholder or would very probably correspond to it. In a turn-based game, you now try to reach this entry. The boundaries between a wargame and a role play, a scenario analysis or a simulation game are fluid. The course of the game is essentially unpredictable due to the dynamics of the process. The agile moves and decisions of the individual players influence its progress. In a subsequent analysis, this characteristic trait makes it possible to understand the mechanisms of behaviour in the situation under investigation. The realistic interpretation of the roles by the players is conducive to this. Consequently, the focus of a wargame lies in the analysis of moves and game strategies that can be discussed together within the framework of the technique. The incentive to win the wargame as a participating player is beneficial for the analysis and recognition of cause–effect relationships and action–reaction patterns, but victory in the Business Wargame is not the primary goal of the game.

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Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates more knowhow growth Generates forecasts and derivations Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Business Wargaming consists of several playful rounds. The playful character gives this technique great added value. In each round it is the task of the game parties to make entrepreneurial decisions in the given situation. Which detailed decisions these are depends on the question to be examined and the design form of the business wargame based on it. When all game parties have taken their turn, the game moves are consolidated into a model and the round results are determined (in a similar way to a simulation game). This is followed by a new market situation in the next round. At regular intervals, the moves and underlying strategies of the individual stakeholders are disclosed and discussed by all parties. This ensures that all participants develop an understanding of the market mechanisms in play, which is ultimately a goal of the wargame. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

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Business Wargaming

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials will be required.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Success begins and ends with the moderator The professionalism of the moderator is of particular importance with this method. They must not only play the game, but also ensure the team members take it seriously and make appropriate challenges possible through good research. Business Wargaming should be very well prepared. Advantage: once prepared, it can be recycled to wonderful effect.

Identified sources of the method Book – Business War Games, B. Gilad (Theoklesia – September 2008) Publikation – Woodruff, David. “War Games Help Businesses Prepare For Anything”. Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition), Newswire: Dow Jones (März 2002)

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Buzz Report

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description Collect and share information about the latest news from around the world and from a wide range of sources. Create your own permanent storage for the latest information. This method is used especially in the understanding phases of permanent Design Thinking. A Buzz Report is about perceiving patterns of change and current developments. A “buzz” is a topic or trend that is currently attracting the attention of many people. Buzz Reports are something like the innovation team’s/ project’s own news service. Buzz Reports have the most lasting effect if they are established as continuous and parallel additions to individual innovation projects, so that innovation teams have access to the results at all times. The benefits of this method are: permanent capturing of the latest organizing information for easy access, promoting common understanding, and providing inspiration for new possibilities. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more know-how growth Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations

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Handling Step 1: Set fixed times for other team members or you yourself to plan and continuously filter information from a variety of sources. Sources can be websites, news broadcasts, magazines, newspapers, libraries and so on. Step 2: Browse through all the sources and try to to identify current trends and sense buzz issues. However, avoid focusing oninformation that has a very strong connection to your innovation project. Step 3: Combine, distill and share all your findings and results. Step 4: Discuss the findings and results at regular intervals and find out whether they have an impact on your project. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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Buzz Report

Recommended resources Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception

Experiences – The Internet alone already offers many Buzz Reports

In our company there is an “Early Bird” alert – a daily Internet evaluation of our industry and innovation highlights. This is really helpful – if you read it regularly and talk about it.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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CATWOE

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description With CATWOE we are dealing with a totally classic analysis technique for the understanding phases of an innovation project. CATWOE is an acronym for a checklist to define problems or goals (Customers, Actors, Transformation process, World view, Environmental constraints). It was created by Peter Checkland and Jim Scholes. With this method there is no challenge as such, instead the business environment or the surrounding system in the central focus. For example, a heading for a CATWOE analysis would read like this: – “A process that serves this purpose …” – “An institution that …” – “A system that …” or … – “A device that serves to …” CATWOE is certainly particularly suitable for analyzing and describing challenges in the category of process or service innovations. If, for example, in your opinion, the quotation process in your company no longer runs optimally, this technique would be worth a try. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

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Handling Once a challenge has been identified, the steps or questions on the checklist are asked one after the other, answered and written down in order to analyze the challenge in a very efficient manner. Here is the checklist, with some helpful questions: C = Customers – the “customers of the system”. In this context, the position of users. – Who is ultimately the user or customer? – What is their current problem and how will it be solved? – What are their possible reactions? – Who will be the winners and losers? A = Actors – the “actors of the system” These are the people who must carry out the actual activities. – What is the influence on the actors? – How will they react if the system is implemented as planned? T = Transformation process – what happens during the process? What does the system do? – How does it convert input into output? – How does it deal with changing input? – Where does the output go? – Which stages does the output go through? – What are the steps within the system? W = World view – the “world view” Embeds the process within a larger context. – What is the real problem that should be addressed? – What are the implications of the introduction of a system? – What are the implications of its failure or malfunction? O = Owners – the “owners” Considers the position of those who have formal power over the introduction or rejection of the system. – What are their motives? – Who are their partners? E = Environmental constraints – the “limits” These may be ethical, legal, administrative, personnelrelated, financial and other. – How do the boundaries affect the system and how can they be overcome?

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CATWOE

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

– – –

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – A great mnemonic

In this technique, the advantage of checklists – as a means of structured procedure – is combined with a perspective that places the actual question in a larger context. This allows you to quickly and efficiently view the target from a distance, and probably more objectively. The acronym “CATWOE” is a very good mnemonic, especially for people or groups with experience in the application of this technique. CATWOE can always be quickly and easily integrated into other techniques, methods and discussions.

Identified sources of the method Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreativitätstechniken (April 2017) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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COCD-Box Step 3: Assign one color per category and distribute the previously limited number of colored moderation cards to the participants. The participants mark or note the selected ideas on the cards. Step 4: Each participant then explains their selection and decision.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description With the COCD-Box, you can easily make a selection from a collection of many preliminary ideas that is worth looking at further (according to Mark Raison). Three categories are included in the evaluation: – “Now ideas” are ideas that are not original, but good and easy to implement. – “Wow ideas” are ideas that are highly original and easy to implement. – “How ideas” are those ideas that are highly original and promising, but have a high degree of difficulty of implementation.

Hints: – The smaller the group, the more ideas per category are possible. In the case of large groups, the number should be smaller in order to arrive at a target-oriented selection. – After discussing the idea evaluation, participants can cluster according to the fields and deepen the content of the result. Modification: You can also immediately ask participants to jointly evaluate the ideas according to the criteria in the dialogue and mark the ideas in the respective fields by Post-it. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Create a four-field matrix on a flipchart that shows two coordinates: the x-axis shows the degree of originality, and the y-axis the degree of difficulty of the implementation. The difficulty of the implementation is presented from “easy to implement” to “difficult to implement”. The degree of originality is described from “normal” to “high”. This results in four fields. This gives you four categories, whereby the categories with “normal originality” and “difficult to implement” are outside the scope of the task, i. e. they are not relevant for further consideration. As the moderator, you control the evaluation process, so you determine how many ideas each participant can select from the previously-generated idea pool per category. Step 2: From the idea pool, select only those ideas that seem exciting to you.

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboard as topic memory Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper

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COCD-Box

Moderation: post-its Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Rough pre-selection

Identified sources of the method Book – Creativity Today, I. Byttebier, R. Vullings (BIS Publishers 2007) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Kreative Mitarbeiter: Wegweiser für Führungskräfte zu mehr Kreativität und Innovation, L. Rütten (Springer Gabler 2015)

With a COCD-Box you can create a rough orientation as to which ideas should be considered further. You can cluster the ideas within the fields according to specific criteria and thus recognize new connections. – Transparent structuring The method helps to structure ideas and preliminary thoughts and to document them transparently.

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Café to Go

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Café to Go is aimed at larger groups of 20 to 100 people and focuses on both brainstorming and evaluation. Among the methods for larger groups, this is my absolute favorite. With this technique, participants can take very unambiguous positions, take different positions, even take positions from different departments. It allows you to exchange perspectives and contribute your own ideas, thoughts and viewpoint very efficiently. Together with the other participants, valuable insights are developed and linked on a broad basis. Collective knowledge is quickly and easily made visible and tangible. This method is ideal for the analysis of challenges and the evaluation of ideas, and also for finding ideas. It is especially recommended for more complex challenges with participants from different departments in the company. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Depending on the size of the group, perhaps four to five people are seated ideally at a large table, round if possible. The moderator presents the challenge and the

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first question, and starts the first round of talks (20 to 30 minutes). Step 2: At each table, the question is discussed. The theses and ideas developed are noted and recorded directly on the paper tablecloth. Step 3: The moderator ends the first round of talks after the elapsed time. One person remains at the table as “host”, while the others become “travellers” or “opinion ambassadors” and move together to another table. Step 4: At the beginning of the next round, the host briefly presents the most important topics and ideas of the previous round. They then encourage the “guests” to link and connect the ideas from their previous table’s discussions. The results are noted directly on the tablecloth again (a separate colour for each group would be useful). Step 5: In the third round, people can return to their original tables to bring their discoveries together or “travel” to new tables. The hosts can also be exchanged. Step 6: After the planned rounds of talks, all the findings are discussed. The tablecloths can be hung on the walls of the room to make the results visible. Impact on obstacle effects – Promotes appreciation – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room

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Café to Go

Room: small tables Room: chairs Moderation: pens Tool: paper tablecloths People: moderator/trainer Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Experiences – Discussion in large groups Smaller numbers create more intimate rounds, where discussion is often much easier than in large groups. – Decoration Those who take the trouble and actually decorate the meeting room like a café create a very relaxed, sociable atmosphere in keeping with the method, which clearly changes the perception of the participants and allows daily business to take a back seat.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

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Case-based Reasoning

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Case-based Reasoning (CBR) is a procedure for solving problems by analogy. The central element in a CBR system is a so-called “case basis” (a case database) in which problems that have already been solved are stored as cases. A case in such a system consists of, at least, a problem description and an associated problem solution. The aim is to solve a given problem by using the solution to a similar issue that has already been solved. It’s an imitation of human behavior: Faced with a new problem, people often remember a comparable situation they have experienced in the past and try to master the current task in a similar way. Case-based Rlosing has proven itself especially in the area of incremental innovations, and also in applications for help desk systems, where it is used, for example, for the diagnosis and resolution of customer problems. More recently, it has been increasingly used in (product) consulting systems, for example in e-commerce, and for the classification of texts. It is an advantage that CBR can also be applied to poorly structured and incompletely described problems. As always, if one argues with analogies, one must be ensure that the solution proposals generated by the system are adequate for the problem at hand, i. e. whether, for example, the preconditions on which the historical solution was based are still operational, and so on (obsolescence of knowledge). Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling The best-known CBR model was developed by scientists Agnar Aamodt and Enric Plaza, who described the basic principle of Case-based Rlosing as a process with four phases, the so-called “CBR cycle”. Step 1: Retrieve Starting from a given problem description, it is necessary to determine a problem that is as similar as possible in the case database. The challenge in this phase is to determine the similarity of the problem descriptions. Step 2: Reuse The solution of the case that is most similar to the given one is adopted as a first solution proposal. This provides a starting point for solving the new problem. Step 3: Revise It is not always possible to solve the current problem in exactly the same way as the previous one. In the revision phase, the initial solution from the database is checked and, if necessary, adapted to the specific conditions. Step 4: Retain The revised case is finally saved in the case base and is therefore available for future queries. In this way, the system “learns” with each further problem solved and improves its performance. Impact on obstacle effects – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Convinces rationalizers – Convinces structure-loving team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day)

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Case-based Reasoning

Recommended resources Technology: PC or notebook Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Degree of novelty through process of elimination The degree of novelty and innovation will be determined by comparison with similar products or services.

Identified sources of the method Book – Case-Based Approximate Reasoning, E. Hüllemeier (Springer – Januar 2007) Book – Case-Based Reasoning, Morgan Kaufmann Series in Representation & Reasoning, J. Kolodner (Morgan Kaufmann Publishers – September 1993) Book – Handbuch der Künstlichen Intelligenz, G. Görz, C.-R. Rollinger, J. Schneeberger (Hrsg.) (De Gruyter Oldenbourg – November 2013)

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Opportunity/Risk Analysis

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The aim of the Opportunity/Risk Analysis is to uncover innovation potential for the company. In contrast to the SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), this method only considers developments outside the company and their influence on it. To compare opportunities and risks, a matrix is created in which the main these elements are summarized. In order to perform an Opportunity/Risk Analysis, you need comprehensive data about your business environment and forecasts about its future development. The advantage of this method is that it provides indications of future innovation potential. It should be noted, however, that the outlook is dependent on forecasts of future developments. Generated output Generates lists of opportunities and risks Handling In order to be able to carry out an Opportunity/Risk Analysis, you must consider in advance which elements you would like to compare. First and foremost, they should be elements that have a direct external influence on the company (in both a positive and a negative sense). It is crucial, however, that the entrepreneur has comprehensive information about current and future environmental factors that influence the company and its environment. With the help of the matrix generated from this, the company receives meaningful indications of future innovation potentials that still need to be exploited.

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Examples of opportunity elements: – Recovery of the economy as a whole – Relaxation of relevant laws – There are enough users for our products – The market volume has increased in the last three years and the market is not yet saturated – There is the possibility of a trend for our products – It has been established that there is currently no competitive situation – New groups of buyers emerge, new demand is awakened – Development of new markets abroad – Increase in demand Examples of risk elements: – Economic slowdown – Restrictive measures through legislation, e. g. increased liability – The market potential has decreased measurably over the last four years – Modification of the basic technologies – The market share by volume and the market share by value of our products have declined – Our company had to accept reputational damage – Competitive innovation – Emergence of new competitors – Emergence of new competitors abroad – Emergence of overproduction Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high

Opportunity/Risk Analysis – – – – – – – –

Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Technique: Microsoft Excel Moderation: pens

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Taking trends into account In the field of innovation, good Opportunity/Risk Analyses are made almost exclusively in teams that are familiar with trends and continuously use the trend databases.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Das große Handbuch der Strategieinstrumente, H. Simon, A. von der Gathen (Campus Verlag – September 2002) Book – Strategisches Management, M. K. Welge, A. Al-Laham (Gabler 2012)

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Change Model Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler’s summary of Change Management makes us sensitive to the fact that change is only possible with movement and by no means without pain. Up until the 1980s, change was mostly decreed by management. The decision was made at the top of a company and the levels below had to implement the new specifications. Whether or not the employees understood the need for new action was irrelevant. However, with the growing importance of psychology in business administration, the way we deal with employees and Change Management changed. Change must be understood, especially when radical or disruptive innovations are generated to support it. In the meantime, Change Management has become a discipline in its own right for which there are hundreds of models – one of the best known being John Kotter’s 8-step model. Change never happens without pain, because change requires movement. Movement causes friction. Friction causes pain. Every change, both in the private and in the professional environment – i. e. in the company – requires renunciation and effort. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling What can you do yourself? Write politically if you are a journalist. Research for a better future if you’re in science. Change the pause topics if you are working on the conveyor belt. Ask where the fish comes from when you go out to dinner. If you think you’re intellectually capable. “I’ll hold your hand.” Harald Welzer 230

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Talk about pain It is difficult to make a change when everyone is still trapped in the status quo and the right pressure for innovation only exists in a few individuals. If you look at completed change processes, often only success is seen and the painful path to achieve it has faded out. That’s why it works so well if, at the beginning of a change process, you first let participants relate exactly how earlier processes were lived through. They will remember and tell each other what kind of friction there was on the way to transformation. This opens up the perspective on the current path that lies in front of the team.

Identified sources of the method Book – Change Management: Grundlagen und Erfolgsfaktoren, T. Lauer (Springer Gabler – August 2014) Book – Leading Change, J. P. Kotter (Harvard Business Review Press – November 2012) Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013)

Channel Innovation Checkup

– Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Channel Innovation Checkup is one of the Ten Types of Innovation macro method (also described in this Dictionary). The eighth of the “Ten Types” describes innovations that affect all channels through which a company’s offerings reach users and customers. Although Internet trading has grown rapidly in recent years, retail stores still remain important – especially when it comes to a special shopping experience. Skilful innovators in this field often find multiple and matching ways to deliver goods to customers. Their goal is to ensure that customers can have their products when and where they want, while minimizing friction losses and increasing enthusiasm. Channel innovations are specifically tailored to the product group and the industrial context. Flagship stores can be very value-adding innovations. Recognizable stores permanently present brands and offers in a city context, while pop-up stores can be more useful making short, flashy appearances in resorts. Internet trading provides completely different advantages: on the sellers’ side, it reduces costs and increases profit margins. Multilevel marketing is also a channel innovation: the cost of advertising is distributed between many small, medium and large sales teams who convey the benefits of a product directly to the end customer. Successful channel innovations in practice: – NESPRESSO: The capsule system from Nespresso is a “Product Performance” and “Product System” innovation. With the purchase of the machine, customers are tied to the subsequent purchase of Nespresso capsules. The system has been spreading since 1996 thanks to all-encompassing channel innovations. These include its own stores and coffee shops, kiosks

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in partner stores such as Macy’s and Boomingdale’s, the online Nespresso shop (which uses email to remind customers to reorder capsules), and several business-to-business channels. This includes partnerships with hotels such as Ritz-Carlton and Hyatt, as well as airlines from Lufthansa to Quantas. As if that wasn’t enough, there is even a Nespresso Someliers Club, which teaches which coffee goes well with which food and wine. Amazon: The closed e-book system, “Kindle”, enables very fast buying and reading of digitized books. Xiameter: Chemical giant Dow Corning opened a web-based platform in 2002 for the direct sale of silicone beads needed to produce plastics. The intermediate trade was completely eliminated and the prices for companies that did not require technical support were drastically reduced. If you know exactly what fabrics and colors you need, you can put together your own order from thousands of options. This channel innovation functions parallel to the traditional sales model of the parent company.

Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Identifies existing strengths Handling Use these questions to check whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) is a potential channel innovation: Step 1: Does the company supply its products in ways that are fundamentally different to the methods commonly used in the industry? Step 2: Do customers tell each other about memorable interactions with the manufacturer? Step 3: Does the company use different distribution channels in a complementary way? Step 4: For example, are products offered in shops as well as in direct sales and Internet trading? Step 5: Are there other players in the distribution channels such as partners, users or even competitors that deliver the products? Step 6: Does the company have a concise and recognizable concept for retail stores?

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Step 7: Are customers enthusiastic about the shopping experience in these stores? Step 8: Does the company use distribution channels from partner companies, competitors or even companies in another industry? Step 9: Do customers appreciate their independence and combination possibilities when purchasing the manufacturer’s products via Internet platforms? Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

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Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high

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Experiences – More than product innovation! One team had the urgent wish to carry out innovations in its company, but was completely fixated on the topic of product innovation. I directed the conversation towards partners, users and competitors. After only a short time, ideas came up regarding the delivery of the products, and the world of successful channel innovations had opened up for the team.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

Checklist Technique

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Now sort the rows of the table according to the rankings in the individual columns and get an overview of the results. Step 5: Discussion/Decision Discuss the results in the team and decide which solution or idea you would like to follow.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The aim of this Checklist Technique is to make as clear statements as possible about the chances of success of alternative solutions or ideas with as little effort as possible. The purpose of the method is to ensure that all significant weaknesses of the actual situation are identified. For this purpose, various evaluation criteria are compiled which are of fundamental importance for the evaluation of a fact or an idea. In order to create a Checklist, you need criteria that are based on experience and have been used in comparable evaluations in the past. The advantage of this method is that it is easy to use and leads to comprehensible decision recommendations. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Define criteria Based on experience in recent years, the method achieves good efficiency metrics if you define between five and ten criteria that are essential for the assessment. Step 2: Create a rating table Tools such as Microsoft Excel can be used to quickly create the rating/scoring table. The idea to be evaluated is listed in the first column of each row and the evaluation criteria are named in the other columns. Step 3: Evaluation The participants now evaluate each criterion for each idea. You should have determined in advance which evaluation criteria to use (the academic grading system or other number ranges). Step 4: Ranking

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Technique: Microsoft Excel Technique: printer Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Everybody should be allowed to express their opinion What is important in this type of assessment is that each participant is allowed to express and explain their opinion. An individual opinion can also lead to a decision.

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Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Book – Innovationsmanagement, D. Vahs, A. Brehm (Schäffer Poeschel – Februar 2015)

Cherry Split

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Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Cherry Split divides a challenge into individual aspects that can be re-contextualized again and again in order to generate new, alternative ideas. First, the challenge is described by reducing it to two terms. That’s how this technique got its name: It was developed to improve cherry picking. Each term is split into two further “splits”. The result is a graphic in which two lines of association are drawn from each term. The term “cherries” was divided into “sensitive” and “separate”, and “pick” into “remove” and “transport”. From the four associations, in the next level eight were identified: “Sensitive” was associated with “damaged” and “flawed”; “separate” with “select” and “close to each other”; “remove” with “touch and hold” and “pick up”; and “transport” was divided into “bottom” and “boxes”. The terms could then be brought into any combination that inspired the improvement of the process of cherry picking. This technique can be used alone or in a group. Cherry Split allows you to break the inhibiting, fixed unit of a challenge to recombine individual attributes.

Handling Step 1: Name your challenge – reduced to two core terms. Step 2: Start a diagram that starts from these two divided terms. Step 3: Divide each of the two terms into two new terms that you associate with it. It’s not about right or wrong. No two people will have the same associations. This makes “Cherry Split” effective in group work. Step 4: Continue the “splitting up” of the terms in the diagram. Step 5: Examine each attribute found for ideas that could help solve the challenge. Step 6: Rearrange the terms found. Every combination offers new perspectives. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Room: flipchart Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: colored pencils Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Tool: markers Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Dental office The team of a dental practice wanted to improve its practise management, a topic we split into “patients” and “waiting”. “Waiting” was split into “boredom” and “entertainment.” The team talked about how patients could be entertained, and this led to the idea of offering free WLAN in the waiting room.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Chilling Out

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Just relax! You already have more answers in you than you realize. The trick is to let them come to the surface. Become a medium yourself through relaxation and meditation. You will discover that problems solve themselves in this way. Relaxation techniques affect alpha waves in our brain, which oscillate more slowly than beta waves. Alpha waves give us access to our subconscious, so that we can see solutions that have long existed. A master of alpha waves is the financial expert Wayne Silby, founder of the Calvert Group, which has assets worth billions. His business card says “Chief Daydreamer”. He uses an isolation tank, among other things, for inspiration. Cut off from light and noise, Silby finds an inner peace there, in which solutions rise to the surface like air bubbles. Relaxation needs practise. If you have six busy days behind you, consciously relax on the seventh day. The result may be that the following six days you experience less stress than the week before. Find one or more relaxation exercises that suit you. You will find some suggestions under “Implementation”. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling Step 1: Activate alpha waves in your brain. You need a quiet environment without distractions: a quiet room or a quiet natural environment. Step 2: Use a relaxation technique. Examples: “Tripping In the Past”: Do you remember a time when you were internally relaxed and felt inner peace? “The Jell-O Syndrome”: Deep relaxation for the muscles. Take a comfortable position. Close your eyes and relax muscle by muscle from toes to crown. This can be accompanied by a sound recording which announces the individual body regions for relaxation. “Truman’s Foxhole”: President Truman stated in an interview that he had a “mental foxhole” in his head into which he could withdraw – like a soldier seeking protection. “Hot-air Balloon”: Imagine loading your worries and problems into the basket and then letting the balloon float away. “Letting Go”: You can catch a monkey by using nuts in a container as bait. If the opening is smaller than the fist of the monkey, they cannot pull their closed hand out of the container. Do you have a mental block that’s holding you down as well? Practice “letting go” or “putting down” something symbolically, too. “Warm Stones”: Autogenic training (a psycho-physiologically determined relaxation state is achieved). Live through different physical stages that correspond with consciousness. “Relaxation” is abstract. The pleasant idea of warmth and heaviness is light. Imagine lying down, with heavy, warm stones pushing you deep into a mattress. “Aum/Om”: Speak/sing a single word in continuous repetition as mantra. “Sleight of Head”: Great ideas sometimes arise when you imagine “getting away from your problem”. You can do this on your own or with a group. Step 3: Practice a “passive” attitude. “Empty” your imagination. Step 4: Take a relaxed position. Find a posture in which you can comfortably rest for 15 minutes without falling asleep.

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Chilling Out

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room Room: outdoor area

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation

Experiences – Chill Out in a workshop

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

In creative workshops there can be moments when “nothing works anymore”. Of course, in such situations one can use a range of methods to break through mental blocks. As a trainer it is valuable to be alert to this scenario: I have often used a relaxation technique that can be carried out in a group in situations like these. If it feels strange to some participants at first, most of them will be happy about the suggestion later on. We can go on with our work with new energy afterwards.

Identified sources of the method Book – Entspannung erfolgreich vermitteln. Progressive Muskelentspannung und andere Verfahren, U. Sammer (Klett-Cotta – März 2017) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Circle of Opportunity

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from high-resolution photos of exotic places to stickers and matching envelopes for mailing. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description With this technique you can roll the dice! Random adjective pairs release associations for your challenge. Even at large airports, the air traffic controllers in the tower allow a maximum of two aircraft to land simultaneously. Meanwhile, the other planes must circle over the area. The Circle of Opportunity works in a similar way. Twelve adjectives are chosen – either freely or related to the current challenge – and arranged in a circle like the numbers on a watch. Two dice are used to select two words, to which associations are now made. Your brain is stimulated to relate existing information to the adjectives. The information gains new meaning, which leads to new ideas and insights. An advertising agency was looking for an idea for an airline’s new campaign. The twelve freely chosen adjectives were: large-scale, manually, tough, green, elastic, constant, round, cultivated, mobile, heavy, beneficial, expensive The dice fell to “green” and “mobile”. Among the large number of associations created were the terms “green eyes”, “travel” and “tourists”. The resulting campaign was based on the special offer of travellers with green eyes getting a 50 percent discount on flights to the Caribbean. A packaging company used the Circle of Opportunity and used twelve adjectives to do with its products and their manufacture: loud, rectangular, light, promotional, blue, exotic, conservative, sharp-edged, porous, chill, solid inexpensive. The dice fell to “exotic” and “promotional”. In the end, a packaging set was produced, with which the end consumer could produce their own personalised CD gift packaging in a handy way. The set contained everything

Handling Step 1: Name your challenge. Step 2: Draw a circle and mark twelve dashes like the hours on the dial of a watch. Step 3: Select twelve general adjectives; these can describe material, structure, color, shape, texture, sound, taste, fragrance, size or density. Step 3A: Choose twelve adjectives that relate to your challenge. These may be to do with marketing, sales, manufacturing, function, time, jurisdiction, politics or taboos. Step 4: Throw ONE die to choose the first adjective. Step 5: Throw BOTH dice to choose the second adjective. Step 6: Associate freely with each adjective and the combination of the two. Draw a Mindmap for this. Step 7: Look for connections between your associations and your challenge. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low

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Complexity for the participants: mainly low Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: coloured pencils

Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Tool: dice Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Quick start The Circle of Opportunity provides a quick start to a creative session. The search for adjectives is already a very good communication tool and is usually great fun for the group. And the relaxed atmosphere is a guarantee for releasing the creativity of all participants.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Clever Trevor

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Talk to a stranger about your challenge! Clever Trevor shows you how to increase the number of people you can inspire. It is tempting to become an “expert” in a field. Unfortunately, this expert condition limits the flexibility of our thinking. There are enough sad examples of this in history: Robert Millikan, winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physics, was certain that “[no one could ever] tap into the force of the atom”. Lord Kelvin, the president of the Royal Society in 1895, was equally certain that “flying with machines heavier than air is impossible”. In order to gather ideas, it is exciting to listen to opinions of non-experts, i. e. to talk to people outside your field of expertise. Non-experts don’t have enough expertise to have thinking barriers. Instead, they look everywhere for ideas. In fact, breakthroughs are often found by non-experts. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Talk about your challenge with someone who is not only outside your field, but also has a completely different (professional) background. The more distant your connection, the more likely it is that they can offer you an original perspective. Step 2: Look for “idea-oriented” people. Surround yourself with those who love ideas and use them in their lives

and businesses. These people will cheer on your own imagination. Interesting people – offer alternatives and suggestions – find life exciting – are “naive” about your field of expertise, but by no means stupid or ignorant – have good powers of observation and see the absurdity in things – have a different value system to yours – like to travel and watch attentively – are active readers Make a list of friends, relatives and neighbors who stimulate your creativity and spend more time with them. Step 3: Benefit from the creativity out of strangers you only meet from time to time. Anyone can have at least one idea that can be useful to you. Step 4: Listen carefully! Overhearing by chance can save you from a misinvestment in the stock market (this happened to Joseph Kennedy in 1929) or inspire you to name a new fruit on the fruit market (this happened to Frieda Caplan: She renamed the unattractive “Chinese Gooseberry” after a New Zealand bird, “Kiwi”, hence “Kiwifruit”). Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low

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Clever Trevor

Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Out of the mouths of babes Children are the perfect non-experts. They usually have original views and insights on facts. My children have often surprised me and have steered my thinking in a whole new direction.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Cluster Method

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You should have pre-selected and discussed options or ideas that will bring you together. Ideally, you and the other participants should cluster the individual options written on cards according to similarities in content. Now think of a heading for each cluster that best expresses the similarity. Make sure that the heading consists of more than just one word, for example, “Determine customer needs” or “Use magnetic rotation principle”.

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Clustering is a common moderation method for structuring, organizing, categorizing, and representing relationships between a wide range of values or options. Clusters help to reduce complexity and gain a better overview. You can cluster in every phase of your creative process (facts, guiding questions, preliminary ideas, enriched ideas, etc). It is advisable, especially with large amounts of data, to first reduce the choice of options, for example by the telescope method, and then to cluster.

Hints: – If you have two options that are similar, express the same concept or are a sub-item of another idea, then choose only one. Hang the options next to each other or below each other. You can also visualize the deeper levels of detail with Post-its. – Make sure that the clusters are not too large. They should contain a maximum of seven cards. With a higher number, finer distinctions can be made to open other clusters. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Generated output Creates visualized ideas, terms, themes Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates plans and prioritizations Handling For a cluster you should use a pinboard, cards and pins. In principle, clustering is always about bringing all similar options together to find and name similarities.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: Post-its Moderation: pens Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Room: wall surfaces Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Often too carelessly executed Many participants think of clustering as an old or boring technique. The creation of categories is a deeply brain-friendly way of working. Experience shows that Clusters tend to produce suboptimal results only if they are created too carelessly. The more commitment the participants put into the discussion on the formation of clusters, the better the result.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

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they will most likely characterize each customer by several characteristics, such as its order frequency (number of orders in a given time period), the most frequently ordered categories of goods, the average value of an order, the proportion of goods returned, the preferred method of payment, and the way the order was placed (by phone, mail, or over the Internet). Two customers are considered to be similar if they are similar in the totality of these six characteristics.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description Cluster Analysis refers to methods for discovering similar structures in data sets. The groups of “similar” objects found in this way are referred to as clusters, the group assignment as clustering. The found similar groups can be hierarchical, partitioning or optimizing. In innovation work, Cluster Analysis is used in the area of the understanding phases of innovation projects. The aim of the method is to present important segments or characteristics of products or target groups in a structured way by forming groups and thus uncovering gaps within the offer. New products can then be created to satisfy possible demand within these gaps. The Cluster Analysis provides an overview of how identified customers are distributed and which third-party products are comparable to your own. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Handling Step 1: A similarity measure is chosen first. For each of two objects, check the value of their variables and measure the match. The determined value symbolizes the correspondence between the objects. Step 2: Subsequently, a fusion algorithm is applied to divide the data into groups. Due to the similarity values, the objects are assigned to groups in such a way that the individuals with largely identical property structures find themselves in a group. Step 3: If clusters exist, a validity check and interpretation of the resulting cluster solution takes place. For example, if a market researcher wants to divide a mail order company’s customers into customer groups,

The advantage of Cluster Analysis is that an unmanageable number of heterogeneous objects are combined into homogeneous groups. Thus, complexity can be reduced and an overview according to selected characteristics can be achieved. A large number of clustering methods have been developed in a wide variety of application areas. The following types can be distinguished: – (Center-based) partitioning methods – hierarchical procedures – density-based methods – combined processes The first two process types are the classic cluster processes, while the others are more recent. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – First it looks ugly but afterwards it looks nice. For many teams, Cluster Analysis often appears somewhat thin and of little value before they have engaged in the process. In almost all cases, however, this perception changes after the first application of the technique, since the method delivers strong visual results that usually move teams forward quickly.

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Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Clusteranalyse – Anwendungsorientierte Einführung in Klassifikationsverfahren, J. Bacher (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag – September 2010) Book – Marketingmanagement: Strategie – Instrumente – Umsetzung – Unternehmensführung, C. Homburg (Springer Gabler – Oktober 2016) Book – Clusteranalytische Methoden in der Persönlichkeitsforschung. Eine anwendungsorientierte Einführung in taxometrische Klassifikationsverfahren, Huber (Bern – 1992)

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Collaborative Sketching

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Collaborative Sketching is a creativity technique that appeals to our visual appreciation and tries to visualize ideas. Ideas are developed and collected through team sketching. With this method, it is the quantity of ideas that is most important. No end solutions are expected. You must also assume the sketches/drawings won’t look perfect. Everyone draws as well as they are able. The technical execution is not important, because the development of ideas is foremost. Collaborative Sketching is also an extension of “Method 6-3-5”, a brainwriting technique by Bernd Rohrbach, where the digits stand for the number of participants, the ideas and the work steps or procedures. Following this, Collaborative Sketching was initially given a different name, namely “Method 5-1-4 G”. The combination of numbers and letters stood for five participants who worked on an idea at the same time and essentially went through four work steps. Since the method uses graphic representation, the letter G (for Graphic) has also been added. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The moderator communicates the task or problem. Here experience is necessary, because not every task fits the method of Collaborative Sketching, for ex-

ample, approaches to solutions for technical problems are often difficult to represent graphically. Step 2: On paper sheets, flipcharts or whiteboards sketch ideas for the task, together, with a maximum of three to four participants, within ten minutes. Each participant can supplement or change the ideas of the others with their own sketches. Present the sketches briefly (for about one minute) at the end of the round. Step 3: In the second ten-minute sketch round, all participants will receive new sheets of paper/charts/boards. The ideas presented in the first round are now dissected, combined and/or refined. While the second round was more about the quantity of ideas, the focus is now more on the elaboration of approaches to the task or problem. This round usually shows which ideas seem particularly interesting to the participants. Step 4: After the round of sketches, the ideas will be presented again. Then the participants discuss and question the ideas that they particularly liked. Step 5: Finally, the participants prioritize the approaches. This is possible, for example, by allocating ten points to their favorite approach. In this way, the solution approaches are ranked. The best ideas can then be compiled, discussed again and further developed together in order to find a solution to the problem. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Room: whiteboard Tool: colored pencils Tool: markers Room: flipchart Room: creative and inspiring workspace Technique: Internet access Technology: PC or notebook Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

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Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Encourage participants but … This is not necessarily the first choice of method for a group with little or no experience of creative techniques. It can quickly put them off the process of finding innovative solutions. “I can’t paint!” they say very quickly!

Identified sources of the method Web – https://apliki.de/2015/11/16/mit-collaborativesketching-gemeinsam-ideen-skizzieren/ (April 2017) Web – http://www.designmethodenfinder.de/collaborative-sketching (April 2017) Web – http://thinking-design.de/collaborative-sketching/ (April 2017)

Communities of Practice

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The aim of the Communities of Practice (CoPs) method is to bring together employees who have to solve similar problems or work on a joint project. Within the meetings useful knowledge can be exchanged among participants. For this purpose, a group of people is defined who meet regularly (or maintain contact via an appropriate IT system), detached from the primary company organisation, and exchange experiences on a given topic. The advantage of this method compared to classic knowledge databases is that experience knowledge is actively passed on by the knowledge carriers themselves and, if necessary, detailed questions and follow-up questions can be clarified immediately. In this context, CoPs are also well suited for introducing, training and sharing new employees. Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates lists of opportunities and risks Produces more motivated and innovative participants

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Handling Five classical phases characterize the development of a Community of Practise. Phase 1 Potential/Possibility Phase 1 is characterized by one or more individuals dealing with a specific topic. Phase 2 Coalescing/Association Phase 2 is characterized by the formation of a basic structure in which objectives, tasks and communication channels are outlined. Phase 3 Maturing/Maturation In Phase 3, the actual work of the Community begins: building up knowledge and exchanging ideas. With increasing activity, the number of members usually also increases. Goals, tasks and communication channels are continuously evaluated and adapted to the needs of the members by the members themselves. Phase 4 Stewardship/Responsibility Phase 4 can be described as reaching a level acceptable to the majority of the members and no need for further activity is foreseen. In this case, the amount of information contributed decreases compared to the amount of information extracted. Phase 5 Transformation/Change In the last phase, the Community is increasingly losing its importance as a central information hub because it is switching to other sources or because the issue itself has become less important. These phases can, but do not have to, be passed through in this order. The phase sequence was generalized by Wenger, Snyder and McDermott from different cases in order to give a basis for the respective support needs for the emergence of the Community. In contrast to Knowledge Management, Wenger, Snyder and McDermott developed a concept for promoting Communities of Practice. It should counteract the phase-typical problems of a Community of Practice. The concept describes the following fields of action: Design for evolution Constant change is necessary: Adaptation to new members, introduction of new members, change of resource situations, change of discourse traditions, change of problem situations of members, changes in the structure of CoPs.

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Open a dialogue between inside and outside perspectives The exchange with the environment and the active negotiation of meaning in the arena of the CoP form the main driving force behind people uniting to form CoPs. Invite different levels of participation Core activists alone should not make up the CoP. For example, junior staff must be recruited for positions within the CoP. The inclusion of other zones in the CoP also contributes to the plurality of perspectives on a specific problem. Develop both public and private community spaces Even though the CoP itself is often part of the Organizational Underlife, there should also be areas in which subgroups meet, in which topics off the agenda are discussed, in which personal problems and differences can be addressed without these having to appear before the CoP plenum. Tensions may persist if such problems cannot be discussed away from the official stage. Often, such side scenes are the birthplace of subsequent themes of a CoP, which it then maintains, albeit in a perhaps changed constellation. Focus on value Quality assurance is also important for CoPs. This concerns both the maintenance of CoPs at a meta-level and the contributions to the Situated Negotiation of Meaning. Combine familiarity and excitement CoPs also thrive in supporting structures of more routine practices and ideas. Create a rhythm for the community The pulse of various activities also contributes to continuity and a good working atmosphere within the CoP. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals Finances: implementation budget Depending on the scope of the challenge, a large range of materials will be required. Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Management mandate required In order to establish a Community of Practice, you need the backing of management to be able to hold these meetings during regular working hours and a support a suitable infrastructure.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity, E. Wenger (Cambridge University Press – Januar 2000) Book – Encyclopedia of Communities of Practice in Information and Knowledge Management, S. A. Clark, E. Coakes (Information Science Reference – November 2005) Book – Leveraging Communities of Practice, H. SaintOnge (Butterworth-Heinemann – Juli 2011) Book – Knowledge Networks: Innovation Through Communities of Practice, P. Hildreth, C. Kimble (Idea Group 2004)

Competencies Plan

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Step 5: Share and discuss the Competencies Plan with all stakeholders of the projects in order to jointly decide on the targeted actions.

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) Description The Competencies Plan is an alternative planning tool that correlates planned innovation projects with the necessary competencies. The tool makes it clear whether the skills required to implement the projects are already available, still need to be developed or need to be supplied from outside. The method is based on ideas and projects that need to be implemented as well as on the competences and expertise that are necessary for the implementation of the projects. The Plan produces a visual matrix which clearly shows the connections between projects and competences and thus considerably simplifies planning. The reported benefits of the method are: – Focus for the implementation process – Common orientation of all participants – Widens the view of the projects – Better resource management – Creates a clear plan Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates plans and prioritizations Handling Step 1: List all ideas and projects that are due to be implemented or are highly likely to be implemented. Step 2: For each project, identify the competencies required to implement it. Step 3: Create a matrix in which you identify the projects on the vertical axis and all the necessary competencies on the horizontal axis. Step 4: Now describe in all relevant cells what the status of the competencies is and what is necessary to have the competencies available at the start of implementation.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – The competence trap In reality, many organizations fall into the competence trap. This means that, especially in a phase of innovation euphoria, they do not give sufficient thought to the necessary competencies – or to how to acquire them – to implement the projects. If you fall into this trap, you will find that many projects die because the competencies are not available as quickly as they should be.

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Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Competitive Product Survey

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weaknesses, opportunities and threats), industry structure analysis or simulation models can be used. If a specific niche has been identified, a prototype with the characteristics of the niche offer should ideally be formulated or created – in the sense of agile testing – and evaluated by customer feedback.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Competitive Product Survey or substitution analysis is essentially about collecting, comparing and evaluating information about similar products and services of the competition. The overriding goal is to gain knowledge of the relevant market offer and to uncover potential niches in the process. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling First, the procedure in the Competitive Product Survey focuses on the definition of information requirements. Information is then searched for via primary and secondary sources. Primary sources describe, for example, industry experts, (former) employees of competitors, customers, suppliers, dealers or trade fairs. Secondary sources, on the other hand, refer to business reports, trade journals, newspapers, the Internet, patents or specialist databases. As soon as the data collected is available, the information is structured. This can be done, for example, in the form of tables or as part of a product comparison matrix. The data is then analyzed and interpreted. Classic tools such as benchmarking, SWOT analysis (strengths,

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Technique: Internet access People: multidisciplinary team People: experts Depending on the scope of the challenge, a large range of materials will be required.

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception Experiences – Search period critical Competitive Product Survey should not necessarily be seen as a method for a workshop. It is a technique whose application only shows its strength over a longer period of research. The more market knowledge there is, the better the outcome.

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Identified sources of the method Publikation – IDEO Method Cards. 51 ways to inspire design. William Stout (November 2003)

Competitors-Complementors Map

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Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Identifies existing strengths Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description In times of rapidly changing markets, the Competitors– Complementors Map gives you a broader overview of your market environment and allows you to better identify exploitable potential. The Map provides an overview of both your competitors and complementors with regard to important dimensions such as price, quality, turnover, market share, offer characteristics or types of customer groups. The method provides a visual plan of how the individual market participants are performing and how they relate to each other. It can provide a visualization of where market areas exist in which disruptive innovative downturns are possible. The complementors are very important here, as they often offer potential for exciting cross-industry innovations. Clarification of terms: 1. Competitors: these are direct competitors who offer the same product/service to their customers. In a cinema, the classic direct competitor is another cinema. 2. Complementors: These are companies that make their customers an alternative, different offer. For a cinema, a theater, restaurant or even a circus is a complementor. Cross-industry innovations often originate in the consideration of complementors. With new complementor combination offers, direct competitors can often be added to the market.

Handling Step 1: First research and identify all competitors and complementors in your market. Step 2: Now define two dimensions that you want to use as axes in a 2x2 matrix. Axis one: lowest price/highest price and axis two: simple offers/integrated offers. Then draw a 2x2 matrix, for example on a large sheet of brown paper or on a pinboard. Step 3: Choose different symbols for competitors and complementors, such as triangle and a cross, and then position all the organizations in the 2x2 matrix. Step 4: Discuss the Map with the team and keep an eye out for possible market potential for new offers. The following questions can help here: What are the relationships between the organizations? What is the significance of accumulations of organizations or empty spaces? Where are there great similarities or great differences? Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium

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Competitors-Complementors Map

Complexity for the participants: rather medium Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception Experiences – Great potential in continuous use In recent years, I have found that the teams that benefit most from the method are those that use it continuously. The map is adjusted in a constant cycle and filed by the company in such a way that all teams have immediate access to it. – Customers know complementors The customers of a company are always a particularly productive source of complementors. Under the heading of Open Innovation or Co-Creation, it makes sense to create the tool together with your customers.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Concept Evaluation

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Concept Evaluation provides a ranking of concepts/ideas depending on their value or benefit for users and many other stakeholders. The great advantage of this tool is that it presents the results in the form of a visual map. Visual methods and tools usually generate greater efficiency, especially when it comes to filtering and decision-making activities. Generated output Generates lists of opportunities and risks Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: First, create a list of all concepts and ideas that you want to evaluate in your project. There can be many of them. Step 2: Develop several target-oriented scales as evaluation criteria. Examples: Simplicity of use: from simple to complicated CO2 footprint: small to large User benefits: low to high Strategic potential: low to high Step 3: Create a valuation table (for example, in Excel). All your concepts and ideas should be written on a card and listed as row headers in the first column. Now add two more columns, each representing one of the identified scales. They thus combine two of the identified scales. Step 4: Choose a scoring system (for example, one to five, where five is the highest value) and evaluate each

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idea against the criteria columns and enter the corresponding values in the cells. Step 5: Now create a business graphic (quasi a map), i. e. a coordinate system from the two criteria columns of your table, and visualize each idea as a point in this system (see figure). Repeat steps three to five to create multiple coordinate systems based on different pairs of criteria. Step 6: Analyze the distribution of concepts/ideas on your card in the group. It is helpful to draw a diagonal line through the coordinate system from the highest value of the vertical axis to the highest value of the horizontal axis. The concepts/ideas in the upper triangle should now get more attention than the concepts/ideas in the lower triangle. Step 7: Share the results with all stakeholders and discuss the next steps and measures for the preferred concepts/ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Technique: Microsoft Excel

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – The bigger the better In addition to the fact that this method is an effective tool because it is visual, the printout of the result maps on large formats – in A3 or larger – generates additional effect. Further, other handwritten notes can be added (arrows, circles, text and so on, representing the results of the joint analysis) directly on the map.

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Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Concept Grouping Matrix

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Concept Grouping Matrix is a technique in the field of idea combination and idea enrichment. It is particularly helpful when it comes to dealing with larger ideas and concept quantities (and highly recommended in order to create new potential from “old” ideas as well). The Concept Grouping Matrix scores/evaluates relationships between existing ideas, revealing previously undiscovered clusters and groups of ideas. In our complex world, it is very often the clusters of ideas that become successful innovations. In a symmetrical Matrix, all available ideas are compared to each other in two axes. In the resulting cells, the relationship/combination of the respective opposing ideas is then evaluated. For great similarities and great combinations, high scores are awarded in the cells. By sorting the rows and columns according to the highest scores, you can create exciting groupings that can be highlighted within the Matrix by framing them. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Handling Step 1: First, create a list of all available ideas. It is often helpful to proceed systematically and in a modular way with the specification in order to make the individual ideas more distinguishable from each other. Step 2: Create a table, using Microsoft Excel for example, in which the ideas form both the row headers and the column headers. The ideas face each other symmetrically.

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Step 3: Score every idea against every other idea in the matrix by entering a number in the connecting cell. Example point model: 0 = These two ideas are totally different and cannot be combined. 1 = These two ideas are not similar, but can be combined in principle. 2 = These two ideas are similar and/or can be combined. 3 = These two ideas are very similar and/or can be combined very well. Step 4: Now sort the columns and rows of the table so that they form areas with as many high points as possible (see figure). Step 5: Discuss whether individual groups of ideas, which now show themselves, can offer potential innovations. Mark the new, promising idea groups with a visual frame and also assign a speaking name for the respective group. Also discuss the results from groups that are very similar or very different. Which groups are richer than others? Which ones provide more benefits than others? Step 6: Groups that are perceived to be very rich would then be taken to further enrichment and shaping in this next step. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Shortens overly long meeting times – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Concept Grouping Matrix

Recommended resources Technology: Microsoft Excel Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

Experiences – For structure-loving people This method, like innovation digging, is very popular with groups of people or corporate cultures that like to deal with structures and systems. Therefore all those in engineering, mechanical engineering, automotive industries, steel and so on will like this technique.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Concept Generating Matrix

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Step 4: The created concepts can be presented straight away in an idea gallery, further processed and also evaluated.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description With the Concept Generating Matrix you can quickly generate initial concept ideas for the given challenge based on the findings from the understanding phase of the project. In addition, the method promotes a broad mindset for the generation of very different solution approaches. In addition, the brainstorming process is structured, well-founded and comprehensive. The Concept Generating Matrix is a two-dimensional table that – by combining two values – provides inspiration for new concepts at its intersection points. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: First, the results of the methods from the understanding phase of your project are searched for findings and relevant derivations. Ideally, two or more categories/lists of values can be determined. An example could be a list of customer habits. Another could be relevant life events of the customers. Step 2: A Concept Generating Matrix is now created from both lists, in which the values of the first list form the row headers and the values of the other list form the column headers of the table. Step 3: Now generate one or more concepts/ideas in the team for each cell of the Matrix. Give the concepts memorable names and perhaps add to them with sketches and descriptions.

Note: It is advisable to create several Concept Generating Matrices from the results of the understanding phase. There are always some tables and cells that work better than others. Use the largest paper format as possible with table cells as large as possible to accommodate as much information as possible. This could be, for example, several brownpapers, which are placed next to each other on walls. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Large areas and Post-its We can say from experience that the larger the tables, the better the method works. Large paper areas on large walls are ideal. This allows you to work easily with self-adhesive Post-its in the table cells. The different colors of the Post-its can also be used for categorization (green = technical, yellow = service, and so on).

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Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Concept Linking Map

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Step 4: Observe your Map and try to discover patterns and special relationships. Step 5: Combine individual ideas into solutions by joining the ideas belonging to the solutions with lines. Create solutions both in the high customer benefit area and in the high potential area or formulate solutions that connect these areas with each other. Step 6: Discuss and describe the newly-found solutions and assign titles. Share the solutions with all stakeholders and decide which ones should be developed in further steps. Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Concept Linking Map connects and combines complementary ideas to form clusters of concepts and more complex solutions. Ideas typically created in classic Brainstorming rounds almost always address only one very specific aspect of the underlying, larger challenge. With the Concept Linking Map you can find more complex and higher-quality integrated solutions to a problem. This method uses an evaluation system that is then converted into a holistic, visual, overall system. The Concept Linking Map works in a similar way to the Concept Evaluation Map, but it is visually superior, faster and more intuitive. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Handling Step 1: Evaluate each existing specific idea (preliminary idea) by two parameters: the business value (market potential or strategic potential) and the user value (value for the user, customer benefit). Use the same scale for each parameter – for example from 0 to 100. Step 2: Create a coordinate system from two axes with scales from 0 to 100 and enter each individual idea into the system as a point with a name. Step 3: Divide the coordinate system with a line into two areas, from the highest point of one axis to the highest point of the other axis. The ideas in the area with high customer benefit and high potential should generally receive a lot of attention in the next step.

Impact on obstacle effects – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Good with integrated services and digital transformation This method is especially helpful if the goal of an innovation project is the generation of new integrated services with a high share of digital ideas, because such projects typically generate a lot of small ideas that still have to be integrated. The Concept Linking Map is an effective tool on the way from “specific” to “integrated”.

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Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Confluence Dynagram

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The Confluence Dynagram has a radar shape and is therefore a multidimensional configurator. It can thus capture and visualize the properties of prototypes and their interdependencies and possible limitations. The Confluence Dynagram can help Design Thinking teams to see, discuss, and establish dependencies between factors and their effects in the prototype profile before creating an actualprototype. Experiences from prototype tests can then be entered into the Confluence Dynagram. By saving different statuses, development of the prototypes is documented and can thus be used for reflection. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Identify factors First collect and document the factors that will make up the prototype and select a minimum and maximum value for each factor. Step 2: Group factors and name each dimension Group the factors into clusters, so that the required dimensions are created from them. Step 3: Create dependencies

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Discuss the dependencies of factors within a dimension as well as across dimensions. The discussion is about a tendency and not about numerical accuracy. You may want to use units like “more leads to more” or “more leads to less”. The higher the number of factors that influence another factor, the larger its circumference becomes in the display. Step 4: Create profile for prototype If you now move the slider buttons, you can easily make the dependencies visible. As a group you can now adjust various slider buttons, thereby creating a profile and now able to discuss it. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Confluence Dynagram

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts Technology: projector and laptop Finances: implementation budget Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – There’s software for that See also www.dynagrams.org.

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – https://lab.interactivethings.com/confluence-diagram/#/ (April 2017)

Conjoint Analysis

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possible to present such alternatives as virtual two- and three-dimensional models. The advantage of this method over other techniques (market surveys, customer surveys and so on) is that the relevance of different product characteristics can be revealed by the customer during the purchasing process. Generated output Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The aim of Conjoint Analysis is to assess the acceptance of a product and its functions by the customer. To this end, customers are presented with various types of a product, which they they rankaccording to weighted customer requirements with regard to the individual product features. Subsequently, customer-oriented benefit values for the individual characteristics are obtained, for example, by mathematical/statistical iteration and simulation methods. As a rule, it is assumed that the total benefit is composed of the sum of the individual characteristic values. In order to undertake Conjoint Analysis, you need different product variants, weighted customer requirements and a sufficiently large group of test individuals. Example: For a bicycle manufacturer, it would be necessary to determine the importance of the characteristics “manufacturer”, “gearbox” and “color of the bicycle” for the user’s purchasing decision. Conjoint Analysis would combine total products consisting of different features (for example, a blue Giant bike with a 21-speed gearbox and a red Hercules bike with a 7-speed gearbox, and so on). The interviewee votes on each of these overall concepts. Within the framework of the conjoint procedure, it is possible to deduce from the user’s data their preferences with regard to individual characteristics and values. In our example, it could be shown that the manufacturer is mainly responsible for the benefit of the bicycle perceived by the customer. With the help of IT, it is now

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Known disadvantages Unsuitable for evaluating combinations of characteristics that exceed the imagination of the respondents. The effort required for Conjoint Analysis increases disproportionately with the number of characteristics included and their variables. Limitation of the characteristics studied may lead to a distorting simplification. – Known advantages Determination of the relevance of different product features for the customer.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

Consumer Clinic

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Step 3: Execution Phase: Demonstrate the product or service and then leave the test group to interact with it independently. During this phase observe and document the reactions of the test group. Step 4: Follow-up Phase: Evaluate the questionnaires of the test group. The questionnaire should include points where the test group is asked for their opinion, overall impression, expectations met, what they liked/disliked, and why, as well as any further personal observations on product use. Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description At the Consumer Clinic, customers and users are shown new products and services in real-life use. They should express their opinions on the respective product. For comparison purposes, customers can also be shown products already established on the market. However, you should only invite people who are also from the right target group. The process of a Consumer Clinic is always divided into three phases: Preparation, implementation, followup. In each phase, the participants fill out a questionnaire with their opinions on the products and services. This then forms the data material for the extensive evaluations. It is possible to work with ten to several hundred test individuals. In contrast to tests with focus groups, in which the products and services are still in the ideation or test phase, in this case you work with existing products. The goal is to gain deduction and insights that can be used to develop new or improved products. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Select the test group and the respective testers. Step 2: Preparation Phase: Create a questionnaire that reflects your expectations of the test group’s statements.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Technique: recording device Technique: camera Moderation: notebook Tool: recording device Room: sufficiently large room Tool: specific worksheets Moderation: pens

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Consumer Clinic

People: administrators Finances: implementation budget Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception

Experiences – Protected environment Try to offer a protected but also real environment for the test group. This is the only way the testers can “feel” the product or the service and thus use it in such a way that knowledge can be drawn from the experience.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Book – The Handbuch of Technology Management Volume 2, H. Bidgoli (John Wiley & Sons Inc. 2010)

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Contextual Research Plan

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Contextual Research Plan is a method for developing a targeted calendar overview of all planned observation and research activities in the innovation project. This tool answers questions like: – Which methods should be used? – When should we talk to which experts? – Which surveys should be carried out, when? – Who is responsible for which activity in the team? – What resources do we need? – What overall timeframe can be expected? – and much more. If the Contextual Research Plan is used early and continuously by the team, the necessary efficiency and motivation for project implementation will be achieved. The very process of jointly developing the Plan ensures good team orientation for the common goal. The key data in the Contextual Research Plan is: Research, teams, tasks, times, duration, resources, methods, milestones and results.

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tions you have made, and what you can discover which is not yet known. Step 2: Identify and discuss the targeted and necessary sources. First create an overview of the possible sources, such as: Internal or external experts, publications, surveys, Internet research and so on. Step 3: Select the possible research and observation methods that you want to work with. Step 4: Create the Contextual Research Plan based on a central timeline. Combine all resources, research areas, sources and methods into one goal-oriented overall plan. Include additional milestones or review dates. Step 5: Display the Contextual Research Plan as a large visual and graphic tool able to be seen by all team members. Put it in a central location or wall in your company. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Handling Step 1: Definition and identification of research areas. Based on the fact that time and resources are limited for the vast majority of teams, the relevant and potentially most substantive areas of expertise must be identified together. Discuss as a group what you know, what assump-

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Contextual Research Plan

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Recommended resources Room: wall surfaces Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: post-its Moderation: glue

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Make the representation of the plan large and flexible Such project plans work much better when their graphics/diagrams are large and flexible. With several Bronwpapers and different colored Post-its, they can be quickly created and made flexible and able to be changed spontaneously.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Convergence Map

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Step 2: Identification and listing of trends, innovations and changes in the selected clusters. Step 3: Creation of a Venn diagram, to represent the overlapping areas. Venn diagrams are used, for example, in set theory and probability theory to graphically represent relationships between two sets or events – overlapping sets/circles. Step 4: Identification and discussion of identifiable opportunities in the overlapping areas.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description A Convergence Map is a visualization of converging fields and topics in order to be able to recognize the opportunities for innovations in the overlaps in these areas. The Map shows how areas of daily life or industries overlap and how new behavior can emerge from this dynamic. Using a visualization that shows these overlapping areas, teams can more efficiently discuss and deduce how and whether new customer activities and needs arise. The Convergence Map is very often used in the early stages of understanding Design Thinking and Lean Startup projects. This method is particularly worthwhile for companies that want to fundamentally innovate their offering or disrupt other markets. The technique makes it possible to identify and discuss fundamental relationships between markets, industries and broad needs. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates forecasts and derivations Generates lists of opportunities and risks Handling Step 1: Identification of the clusters/themes from which the Convergence Map is to be built. Example: food production, wellness and diabetes.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Convergence Map

Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboard as topic memory Technique: Internet access

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Use multiple colors When creating the diagrams, it has proven very useful to work in a multicolored way from the beginning in order to recognize the message of the diagram even faster. Use a small legend to determine which things the individual colors stand for (red = trend, green = need, blu e= ritual/rule and so on).

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Creative Casting

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of participants during the creation of the Mood Chart is important! Once a holistic, coherent status quo on the topic has been achieved, it forms the basis for further action within the project. Impact on obstacle effects – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Creative Casting (according to the Brainfloating principle of Harald Braem) is a light, refreshing perspective extension with a simple method, which produces a Mood Chart (a kind of collage). This forms the basis for further action in the project. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The aim is to perceive the initial situation or the challenge in a holistic way. The participants are asked to compile all available materials. These include, among other things: (a) Collection of information, such as pictures, newspaper articles, prospectuses, catalogs, books, etc. (b) Perception using all the senses, for example by visiting the place where the creative action is planned. It is important to let the place have an effect on you and to imagine what could change the environment and how. (c) Interviews. These can be target group members, involved parties or uninvolved parties. The material collected by individual participants is now processed by the group into a mood picture, a Mood Chart (collage). It can be painted, glued, or whatever means used to create the common picture. In order to get the most comprehensive, emotional and cognitive impression possible, the exchange of ideas

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: glue Moderation: scissors Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: creative and inspiring workspace Room: pinboards Tool: craft kit Tool: image folder Tool: colored pencils Tool: periodicals Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception 275

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Creative Casting

Experiences – Teambuilding free of charge In most cases, the format-free collection of information and the joint design of the mood image also contribute directly to improved team building.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Brainfloating – Im Entspannungszustand spielerisch Ideen finden, H. Braem (mvg Verlag 1989) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/wiki/Creative_Casting (April 2017)

Creative Challenge

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Creative Challenge is about focusing on three specific questions for a given problem, which are intended to challenge, rather than question. The necessity, validity and uniqueness of the current solution will be examined. This technique is therefore very helpful in the phase of brainstorming and idea enrichment, as it is able to further improve the solution space. It is not a technique of quick brainstorming, but rather is intended to soften and analyse prevailing beliefs and assumptions of, or limitations to, an existing solution. This is done through an approach that is abbreviated as E/R/A These three letters stand for: – Eliminates: Which elements can be omitted from the existing solution? – Reasons: What are the reasons for the correctness of the existing solution? – Alternatives: What can be alternatives for the existing solution? Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling The procedure is divided into five steps: Step 1: The problem area should be precisely defined and assigned to an innovation type (e. g. product innovation, process innovation or business model innovation), in order to determine which changes have been made to the problem area or which challenges are being worked on. Step 2: The current solution for the problem area should be examined in detail and all information on characteristics (e. g. inputs/outputs, processes, customers, etc.) should be recorded in writing. This list can then be used as an excellent basis for the next step. Step 3: The assumptions of the preceding step, which represent prevailing opinion, are to be worked through. Step 4: The assumptions can be examined using the I/O technique, i. e. what can be omitted, for example, and the reason for this assumption; and finally, improved with alternative solutions. Step 5: In the final step, the solution alternatives are selected for further consideration. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Critically question ideas and solutions With this method, suggested ideas can be intensively examined and tested again.

Identified sources of the method Book – Real Leadership, Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest Challenges, D. Williams (UK Professional Business Management / Business 2005) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009)

Creative Collaboration Technique

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Advantages: Through individual work, original thoughts, those not articulated or those later developed come into play, which would not have found their way into joint brainstorming without this phase. Similarly, prematurely formulated problem solutions can still be corrected or even rejected. Disadvantages: The method requires more time than classic brainstorming due to phased work and repetitive brainstorming. Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Creative Collaboration Technique, also called the Nachlese Technique, is a variant of classic Brainstorming. It takes place alternately as teamwork and individual work and represents a reinforcement of conventional brainstorming through this interplay. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The problem or challenge is presented and, if necessary, visualized for clarification. This is followed by a general brainstorming session for about 10 to 15 minutes, to which further additional idea-finding techniques can be added if required. Step 2: The brainstorming is followed by individual work. Each participant has 5 to 10 minutes to reflect on the previous phase and to write down their own ideas. The written notes obtained from this step represent the so-called “post-harvest”. They are collected by a moderator and presented to the group. Step 3: Another group brainstorming session follows. This can be the final point of the Creative Collaboration Technique or the session can be continued by further alternating phases of individual and group work. Step 4: An evaluation of the ideas takes place only after completion of the work phases and a break, so that ideas and solution approaches are not prematurely rejected or wrongly judged.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper People: moderator/trainer People: diverse mix of individuals People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Tool: pens Room: flipchart Room: sufficiently large room

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Room: creative and inspiring workspace Room: pinboards Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Take out the hustle and bustle Due to the individual work phases, this technique significantly reduces the often hectic pace of brainstorming. Thus the challenges can be better penetrated, especially by the deep “thinkers”.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Web – http://www.braincloud.teambits.de/meki/meki. html (April 2017) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Betriebswirtschaftliche Bewertung von Qualifizierungsinvestitionen, C. E. Höfer (Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag – Juni 1997)

Creative Collages

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Alone or in a group, Creative Collages let you create a metaphorical collage of magazine clippings and so on. The combination of the pictures/visuals creates mental images that stimulate creativity and move the group toward new ideas in the discussion. When two images that do not belong together collide in a collage, our imagination transforms them into a common, new reality that is higher than the two individual images (i. e. it has transcended that image). The collage is more meaningful than the original material and may represent something quite different. Cut out pictures/graphics from magazines, newspapers, advertising brochures and catalogs and play around with the individual images. Move them and allow patterns to appear. Don’t force anything! Make associations while playing and moving, and continue until the image feels complete. Create a large metaphorical collage that tells a coherent story. Think in analogies. This technique works very well in a group and is usually great fun for the participants. It stimulates the visual, emotional brain regions and gives the participants a new perspective on the challenge. Creative Collages is related to the technique Sand Tray and can be found in Michael Michalko’s book Thinkertoys in the chapter “Raw Creativity”. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: The moderator distributes previously collected magazines, newspapers, brochures and catalogs.

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Step 2: All participants will be asked to cut out numerous images from the magazines that might be directly or remotely related to the current challenge. You should also be looking for metaphorical images that represent the “big picture” or individual aspects of the problem. Step 3: Each person should now have access to the allimage material collected and should now create their own collage. Each arrangement should not only have to do with the challenge, but also have an aesthetic result. Step 4: Everybody should assign a word or a sentence as a title for their collage and write a brief statement about it. Step 5: Each participant now transforms their collage into a large, metaphorical “language picture” by completing the following sentence: “Our current challenge (“… [insert title of the collage] …”) is very similar because …”. Step 6: Hang the all collages on one wall. The group is asked to discuss the collages. Special attention should be paid to the similarities between the pictures. The aim of the discussion is to find out where there are still gaps for solving the challenge. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Tool: periodicals Moderation: scissors Moderation: glue Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Room: flipchart Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Needs space! Participants are most engaged in designing and gluing when the paper sheets (brownpaper or paper sheets of the flipchart) are worked on when on the floor. Large table tops are also suitable. In any case, plenty of space is needed to store and collect the clippings and to process the collages.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Creative Problem Solving

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3rd Prepare for Action 3.1 Solution Finding (working out ideas for a feasible solution) 3.2 Acceptance Finding (planning action steps)

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is a structured process for generating novel solutions. In contrast to Design Thinking, which is user-oriented, Creative Problem Solving focuses more on the client and their challenges. It is therefore well suited to topics for which there are no users (yet), or for process optimizations that have as their goal, for example, cost reduction. The first version of Creative Problem Solving was developed by Alex Osborn and Sidney J. Parnes in the 1950s. Alex Osborne had previously described the basic rules of brainstorming and wanted to develop a model for the entire process of creative problem solving. Alex Osborne distinguished between two basic ways of thinking that take place in the Creative Problem Solving process: – divergent thinking (thinking of many options) and – convergent thinking (evaluating thinking, making decisions). There are now many different versions of the process, which have evolved over the years. Different authors use different versions: The Creative Problem Solving Process according to Isaksen and Treffinger, from 1992, consists of six substeps in three phases. These are: 1st Explore the Challenge (exploring the challenge) 1.1 Measurement Finding (determining the goal) 1.2 Data Finding (collecting of necessary information) 1.3 Problem Finding (identifying the problem that needs to be solved in order to achieve the goal) 2nd Generate Ideas (generating ideas) 2.1 Idea Finding (generating ideas for solving the identified problem)

This version was adapted again, in 2000, by Isaksen, Dorval and Treffinger and divided into four phases with eight steps. These are: 1st Understanding the Challenge – Constructing Opportunities – Exploring Data – Framing Problems 2nd Generating Ideas 3rd Preparing for Action – Developing Solutions – Building Acceptance 4th Planning Your Approach – Appraising Tasks – Designing the Process The 2011 CPS Learner model by Dr. Gerard J. Puccio and Marie Mance is widely used today and consists of four phases and six sub-steps. These are: 1st Clarify – Explore the Vision – Gather Data – Formulate Questions 2nd Ideas – Explore Ideas 3rd Develop – Formulate Solutions 4th Implement – Formulate a Plan Generated output Creates implemented ideas Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling At the beginning of the Creative Problem Solving process there is always an exact analysis of the problem or challenge. Then the phases follow as described in the different versions of the process. Different methods can be used for the individual phases, for example different creativity techniques for the idea generation phase. It is important for the implementation of CPS that the following principles are observed: 283

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Divergent and convergent thinking must be balanced; always separate the two ways of thinking (such as brainstorming and idea evaluation). Use clear, open questions to describe challenges, thereby creating greater motivation among the participants. Do not give a rating too early. There will be enough time for this in the convergent phases. Focus on “Yes, and …” instead of “But …”. Language has a decisive influence on the development of ideas. Criticism (even hidden) often ends the discussion about an idea at much too early a stage.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

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Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a large range of materials will be required. Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Trial and error

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Creative Problem Solving is a well researched, well thought-out process that is at its best in client-oriented questions or process innovations. At the start the method seems to be very complex, but this feeling is significantly reduced as you move through the technique.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

Identified sources of the method Book – Creative Problem Solving: An Introduction, D. J. Treffinger, S. G. Isaksen (Prufrock – 2005) Book – Denkwerkzeuge der Kreativität und Innovation, F. Rustler (Midas Management Verlag AG – März 2017)

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You can use the Creative Whack Pack simply as a quarry for random discoveries among the creativity techniques or have regular games alone or with a team. Challenge yourself with the cards if you are working on a current problem. The card deck is only available in English.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Roger von Oech’s “Creative Whack Pack” is a card game that works like a “creative workshop in a box”. It can be used as an oracle or to make your thinking more flexible when you find yourself stuck. The Whack Pack is based on the idea that you sometimes need a “light blow to the back of the head” to be pushed out of habitual ways of thinking that prevent you from looking at things in a new, fresh way. The card game consists of 64 cards, each with a creative strategy – sketched in a few sentences and a drawing. The whole set is divided into four groups of 16 cards each, assigned to four roles that you go through in a creative process as researchers, artists, judges and warriors. These roles are borrowed from Roger Oech’s book Der Kreative Kick/A Kick In The Seat Of The Pants. (The card game can also be used without having read the book, or another by the author entitled A Whack On The Side Of The Head. In von Oech’s Multimind Method you slip into the roles of researcher, artist, judge and warrior one after the other. This is how you find, process, judge and fight for ideas. If you’re looking for new information, you become a researcher. When you shape your material into new ideas, you become an artist. If you assess an idea on its cost, you become a judge. When you put your ideas into practise, you become a warrior. These four roles are your creative team for developing and implementing new ideas.

Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Get to know all the cards. What may sound exhausting at first is great fun in practise: Not only do you gain inspiration simply by reading the short texts on the cards, many are also written entertainingly and will make you smile. Search for patterns. For example, each group of 16 contains a “Whack” card. What’s the difference between them? Some cards have similarities. Which ones? Some cards contradict each other. Which ones? What differences do you see between the card groups? What other patterns can you discover? Step 2: Your personal “creative style”. Sort all cards into three stacks: Stack one represents methods you applied last month. Stack two represents methods you applied last year. Stack three represents methods you rarely or never use. What pattern do the methods of each stack show? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What do the stacks say about your creative style of the last year? Step 3: The plan for your next three days: Choose five methods from the entire deck of cards that you want to use over the next three days. Place the cards in prominent positions on your desk, refrigerator or other places. If you have used a method, put that card back in the box. Step 4: Use the cards for a creative workshop by working on a specific challenge, alone or in a team. Work systematically – or unsystematically – with the cards. In order to get ahead, do you need the method of the researcher, artist, judge or warrior? Interpret the cards, use metaphors, be serious or crazy. Do not search for the first

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“correct” answer, but for the third or fifth answer. Don’t think about whether your path is logical or practical – it’s when you relax that it’s most exciting to see the direction in which the cards take your thinking. Step 5: In a team you can play a real “card game”: “Group Brainwhacking”. Deal five random cards to each player. In turn, each player lays out one or more cards from their hand and explains the story this combination tells in relation to the challenge they face. Vary the rules: Can stories of other players be told with their own cards? Step 6: Help your team members make their thinking more flexible: At the beginning of a meeting, you can place a card on the table and ask each participant to comment on the card in relation to the current challenge. Use more cards during the meeting: If the discussion gets too complicated, lay down “See the obvious” or “Simplify”. If it gets too serious, lay down “Slay a sacred cow” or “Loosen up”. If everything takes too long, you have “Set a deadline” in your hand … Step 7: Use the card game as an oracle, as it has existed in many cultures: from the Greek Oracle of Delphi to the Chinese I-Ching and the Egyptian Tarot to the Nordic Runes. The use of these oracles is less the prediction of the future than being in contact with one’s own intuition. A randomly selected card invites you to take a completely new look at your task. Just when the instruction on the map seems to be quite absurd, it enables you to think in a new direction. Step 8: Make the “Creative Whack Pack” your personal card game. Create your own rules for the application. The better you get to know the cards, the more the set will become your personal friend. After some time, you uncover a certain card and remember a case that you were able to solve with the relevant way of thinking. Is it possible to use a variation of that in the current situation? This is how your creative thinking continues to develop. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: card game “Creative Whack Pack” Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – My (secret) oracle The Creative Whack Pack is my personal oracle, which I have always carried in my laptop bag since 2004. In our digital age, I particularly like the sense of touch with this technique: you can let the colorful yet stylish cards run pleasantly through your hands and make a random discovery with them. If I read one of the short stories on the cards, I remember a successful application of the respective method. And it keeps me from always going the same way. Even in meetings I secretly leaf through the deck of cards on my lap under the table and am able to bring fresh perspectives to a discussion.

Identified sources of the method Book – Creative Whack Pack, R. von Oech (U S Games Systems Inc. 1992)

Critical Reading Checklist

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“What’s new?” Where exactly is the added value in the idea, is something given that no customer has yet articulated? – “Who cares?” Is the team enthusiastic or not; is it worth working on and if not, why not? Step 3: Collect the answers and present them to the team again. This is the basis for being able to judge the idea/ perspective.

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The Critical Reading Checklist is very well suited for teams that are currently in a Design Thinking process. It is focused on collecting feedback on ideas and perspectives with the aim of testing validity, testing the potential of a perspective, whether it is unique and sufficiently focused or exciting. There are four formulated questions, which the participants ask themselves and then answer openly. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Discuss the current ideas or perspectives with the team and choose one (which one seems to have potential?). Step 2: Now ask the team the four questions of the Critical Reading Checklist about the idea/perspective, one after the other, and briefly note down the answers. – “What sense gives the idea/perspective?” Is it customer-oriented, is it based on a need, is it based on an insight? – “Who says so?” How valid is the perspective, which customer analysis is behind it, where was the derivation drawn from?

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: soft pencils Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity

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Experiences – Fits advanced design thinkers The Critical Reading Checklist is more suitable for use by experienced design thinkers, as it already requires a great deal of openness and know-how. Beginners can successfully use the questions to challenge their own team and make clear what “professional” feedback should look like.

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Book – Design Thinking im Unternehmen. Ein Workbook für die Einführung von Design Thinking. I. Gerstbach (GABAL Verlag – September 2016)

Cross Industry Innovation 1.

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Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Frequently, solutions are found in one industry to problems in another. Cross Industry Innovation is about learning from solutions that other areas have found for themselves and transferring solution approaches to your own topic. That’s why thinking out of the box is so important, which can be systematically made a principle. Advantages of this technique are: 1. Already proven knowledge can be used to minimize development risks and shorten innovation cycles. 2. At the same time, costs can be kept low. 3. Development results/patents can be used in other industries without competition conflicts. 4. Emergence of cooperation and the resulting increase in innovative strength. 5. New perspective on one’s own offer and the corresponding success criteria. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Within Cross Industry Innovation, a distinction is made between three phases or work packages:

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Abstraction Customer benefit, type of use of the product and functionality are questioned. An analysis takes place independently of those with actual expertise. Recommended tool at this point: the TRIZ method. Analogy The abstract results are used to search for analogous solutions from other industries. Resources: Industry lists, paper format standards, raw material tables. Early selection is recommended due to the large variety of possible solutions. Adaption The possible solutions found in the preliminary phase are now evaluated, selected and projected onto the product context.

Note: During this structured approach, the goal is kept in mind at alltimes. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants)

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Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a large range of materials may be required. Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Cross-company synergies A side-effect of consciously looking at other industries often leads to very interesting and lastingly important contacts. Reaching out with your own company to other companies is therefore often a win–win situation.

Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012) Web – http://wiki.iao.fraunhofer.de/index.php/Cross_Industry-Innovation (April 2017)

Cross Impact Method

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description Cross Impact Method, also called Interaction Analysis, was developed in 1966 by the American futurologist and management consultant, Theodore Gordon and the German-American mathematician and futurologist, Olaf Helmer. It is a forecasting technique that examines and analyzes the correlation of events and presents it using a matrix of the same name. Events and developments can cause, replace, or even prevent each other. The probability of an event is therefore not a single phenomenon to be considered in isolation, but depends in turn on whether other events occur or not. The Cross Impact Analysis establishes links between events, shows the interactions of essential factors and is preferably used in the creation of scenarios (scenario technique). Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible Handling The determination of the interactions essentially takes place in four steps: Step 1: Determination of the events and indication of the intensity of their interrelationships. Here it is necessary to filter out the decisive events. Since the success of the entire analysis depends on this step, an expert should be consulted.

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Step 2: Estimation of the probabilities of occurrence. Each event is considered in isolation. Possible other influencing factors are ignored in this step. Step 3: Calculation of the conditional probability. In this step, the influence of the output event on the other events is determined. The question is asked for each pair of events: “How does the probability of occurrence of each individual event change when the initial event becomes true?” The cross impact matrix results from this calculation. It forms the basis for further interpretation. Step 4: Calculation of final probabilities (sensitivity analysis). After the cross-impact matrix, simulation runs are carried out to refine the matrix and to identify the respective strengths and weaknesses of developments and events. Advantages: Cross-impact analysis is versatile. The intensive examination of the various influencing factors can lead to new perspectives, thought-provoking impulses and solutions in all areas of application. Disadvantages: Cross-impact analysis is time-consuming. Its success depends very much on the selection of the initial parameters and the assessment of the experts consulted, because ultimately all the events to be analysed are subjectively selected and assessed. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards in different colors People: experts People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Complex method with helpful results Even though many calculations and intensive numerical work are necessary for the various steps, the method surprises with clear results that can be used ideally as a basis for decisions for future scenarios.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/Definition/ cross-impact-analyse.html (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wechselwirkungsanalyse (April 2017) Web – http://www.cross-impact.de/deutsch/CIB_d_MBl. htm (April 2017) Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006)

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Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Frequently, companies can’t get beyond a certain point with their internal idea generation and actively search for inspiration from outside, for suggestions from users and customers. One way to generate such suggestions is to use Crowd Sourcing (CS). On the various online platforms (atizo.com, innocentive.com, brainfloor.com, designboom.com etc. or the their own website) organizations can call for joint brainstorming on specific issues. The users submit ideas and, if successful, can receive a financial reward. These suggestions can involve ideas for marketing measures, product designs or product innovations, for example. Besides this, a company can advertise, signal openness and innovative courage, recognize user wishes and overcome internal blindness. There are different opinions about Crowd Sourcing. In addition to many positive aspects, there are also some risks: – The costs that arise beyond the actual CS project (implementation and embedding in the corporate context) are often underestimated. – Some of the innovators receive very low rewards or are not compensated at all. Thus, the image of the company can quickly suffer in the innovator community. – The motivation of the participants is not particularly high, since they have to cede all rights to their solutions. – It is impossible to quantify in advance how much an idea is worth. Therefore, there are often discrepancies when it comes to the awarding of the idea.

Handling The classic Crowd Sourcing process is divided into five steps: Step 1: Preparatory Phase Questions, expectations, addressees and platform must be clear. Step 2: Initiation Phase The right question has to address the right people. Step 3: Implementation Phase The question is posed and the answers/suggestions for solutions are received accordingly. In this phase, the company can at most intervene in a moderating manner. Step 4: Evaluation Stage Clear criteria should be established prior to evaluation. As the evaluation process usually involves a great deal of work, appropriate resources should be made available beforehand. Step 5: Exploitation Phase A plan for dealing with the results received should be finalized beforehand. The selected ideas as well as the innovators should be handled with respect. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Identified sources of the method Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing (April 2017) Web – http://www.gruenderszene.de/lexikon/begriffe/ crowdsourcing (April 2017) Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012)

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– Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Customer Engagement Checkup is one of the Ten Types of Innovation macro method. The tenth of the “Ten Types” describes innovations that reflect an understanding of the deep desires of customers and uses this to create meaningful connections between consumers and the manufacturing company. Great Customer Engagement Checkups provide easy access to discoveries within the full range of the company’s product line and help customers make certain areas of life unforgettable or fulfilling. We are increasingly observing such innovations in the social media sector. Companies are moving away from a one-sided flow of information from them towards customers. More organic, reciprocal and authentic interaction is sought. We see companies that offer elegant solutions for otherwise complex situations, so that they become trustworthy partners in processes for customers. As always, however, technology can only be a tool. Even seemingly simple components such as smart packaging or product bundling can raise the shopping experience to a higher level and create a lifelong connection to the customer – far beyond the time of purchase. Successful Customer Engagement Checkupsin practice: – Blizzard Entertainment: In addition to other successful multiplayer online role-playing games, World Of Warcraft captivates millions of players worldwide. Large game areas are deliberately designed in such a way that the greatest successes can be achieved in cooperation between players. Eleven million registered players bring billions in profits to the com-

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pany, which connects millions of players daily via its website Battle.net. MINT.com: The management system for personal finances simplifies something complex for the user: It combines automatic updates of bank accounts with categorizing and marking purchases, identifies potential savings and, if desired, creates your own budget. FAB: Leading design experts curate the presentation of offers on the company website. In doing so, they create a unique, design-driven view of the products and give customers a feeling of security that FAB is just the right place for the next cool shopping experience. Apple: The computer giant will first present its latest hardware and software at the World Wide Developers Conference. This conference will allow Apple’s partners and suppliers to help shape the final product and provide feedback. Attendance at this conference is so popular that tickets priced at US$ 1,600 are regularly sold out within two hours.

Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Handling Use these questions to check whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) is a potential Customer Engagement Checkup: Step 1: Does the company use clever communication to help its customers manage difficult-to-understand areas more easily? Step 2: Do the offers of the company develop a life of their own? Step 3: Do the company’s offers give customers a certain identity, status or recognition value? Step 4: Do customers call themselves “fans” of the brand or its products? Step 5: Do customers talk about how a product or service became part of their lives?

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Step 6: Is there a lifelong connection between customers and companies – far beyond the time of purchase of a product? Step 7: Can customers help shape the company’s products? Step 8: Do customers give the company a lot of feedback? Are there specially created channels or a platform for this? Step 9: Is there a mutual, authentic interaction between companies and customers? Step 10: Do customers report that the brand understands and satisfies their deep desires? Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for intercultural experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application

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Complexity for the moderator: rather medium Complexity for the participants: rather high Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Lived customer relationship management Answering the technique’s questions sharpens perspective of the customer relationship and helps to develop measures for active customer relationship management at an early stage.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

DNA Analysis Method

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The DNA Analysis Method helps to show dissonances between a company’s strategic orientation and its actual identity, for example the effect of its market presence on the existing product portfolio. The method helps to create an innovation strategy and to identify innovation search fields. This results in a need for action that can be measurably translated into new goals. You can feel the “corporate personality” and how to change it successfully. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates more knowhow growth Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Analysis of existing strategy papers. What drives the company? What are recurring topics? Work out whether the company is future or past oriented. Is it a risk taker or risk averse? Flexible or static? Step 2: Visual representation of the strategic contents. These are presented as interesting pairs of themes in metaphors or images on an evaluation axis, for example: risk-taking versus restrained, traditional versus willing to change.

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Step 3: Workshop with the management team. First, each member of the management teamevaluates the pairs produced, referring of course to the current actual state of the company. It is then important to find consensus on these pairs through an open discussion within the team. This “basic character” (DNA) is then set in relation to innovative individual aspects. “How innovative are our products? How innovative is our external communication?” Then look at the differences and similarities, and decide which direction is the most promising for the company. Step 4: Comparison with competitors. Competitors are now evaluated and classified according to the same criteria. From this, you should then determine potential differentiation. Step 5: Record the process and the results. The results, content topics, findings and potential differentiation should all be recorded and visualized. Ideally, you should create a clear visualization. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper People: experts Moderation: glue dots People: diverse mix of individuals Tool: recording device Tool: periodicals Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: colored pencils People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception

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Experiences – In an ideal scenario the whole company participates

According to the “train-the-trainer” principle, the method and findings of a kick-off workshop should be carried out by the whole company. This ensures that the goals and methods are consistently disseminated and that the way forward is clear.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – http://docplayer.org/8607376-Milani-design-consulting-ag.html (April 2017)

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Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces permanent opponents – Convinces rationalizers – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents financial and resource traps – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Weakens debating

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description DRIVE is a method that is used before idea generation to define success criteria for later results. These criteria can then be compared again and again with the current results in the course of the process to ensure that development is going in the right direction. DRIVE is an acronym for Do, Restrictions, Investment, Values and Essential Outcomes. Generated output Creates defined target corridors Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling At the start a table with five columns is created. Should be clearly visible for all participants, so a pinboard is a good idea; for smaller groups a flipchart sheet is sufficient. DRIVE Criteria Do: What should the solution developed by you do? Restictions: What should be avoided? (Changes or results.) Investment: Are there upper limits for your investment in time, money or other resources? Values: Are there important values that need to be considered in the solution? Essential Outcomes: Are there already measurable numbers that should be achieved in any case? Execution: In each of the columns, write down a list of possible evaluation criteria that is as long as possible. Make sure that everyone in the group is allowed to name their relevant criteria. Then reduce the list to a manageable number of key criteria – two to three per column are recommended. Have the table available during the innovation process to check partial results or finalized solutions.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Stay focused The total number of criteria should not exceed ten to ensure theassessment is not too complex. The motto here is: Stay focused!

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

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Book – Think Better: An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking, T. Hurson (McGraw-Hill 2007)

Da Vinci’s Technique

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Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Free drawing. This technique shows how you can inspire yourself with unintentional scribbling and painting. One of Leonardo da Vinci’s techniques for generating ideas was to close his eyes, relax completely and cover a sheet of paper with random lines and scribbles. Then he opened his eyes and searched the random image for images, patterns, objects, faces and events. Many of da Vinci’s inventions were directly or indirectly inspired by his random drawings. Drawing, or rather “scribbling”, is your way of communicating with yourself. It gives your subconscious the chance to express abstract thoughts that you only analyze afterwards. Draw freely and without a plan, without worrying about what others might think about it – the result is only for you. Leonardo himself wrote in a notebook: “I cannot refrain from mentioning … that I have a new method of study which, although it seems trivial and almost ridiculous, is extremely useful for stimulating the mind to innovate. And this happens, for example, when you look at a wall littered with stains … In it you may discover similarities with landscapes – beautiful with mountains, rivers, rocks and trees. Or you may see them again as battles and people in motion or strange faces and costumes or an endless variation of objects that you only have to finish to get to a completed painting.” Leonardo also wrote an essay in which he agreed with Botticelli that you can throw a sponge full of paint against the wall and see the starting point for various pictures in the splashes. Leonardo da Vinci said of himself that he was inspired by the “handwriting of nature”: He was interested in forms that he could recognize in feathers, eggshells, clouds, snow, ice, crystals and random arrangements of objects.

Handling Step 1: Go through your current challenge again. Consider different aspects of it. Write down questions and reflect on them for a few minutes: – What doesn’t fit? – What are the main sticking points? – What are the unknowns? – What do I want to understand? – And so on. Step 2: Relax. When you are relaxed, your subconscious uses images and symbols more freely. Use one of the popular relaxation techniques before moving on to the next step. Step 3: Allow your intuition to conjure images, scenes and symbols that correspond to your situation. Perhaps you already see a picture with your inward eye. Step 4: Format. Start with a border for the image. Draw a frame of any shape, roughly sketched or symmetrical. The goal is to free your challenge from the environment and focus on it. This step creates an atmosphere around your image and helps to keep the “big picture” together, which is meaningful in itself and also enhances the sense of your image. Step 5: Let your subconscious do the drawing. Practice not wanting to control the lines. Some creative people draw with the other hand than they normally use for this purpose. Imagine that the lines have a life of their own. Don’t censor – the drawing is highly private and doesn’t have to be shown to anyone. Just let the lines flow. Luck or chance gives your picture depth and meaning. The tangle contains a hidden order that you may not yet know – consider it a secret message from your subconscious. Step 6: If one drawing doesn’t seem enough to you – start a new one, and always do more if necessary. Step 7: Examine the result. Recognize the messages of your subconscious. First look at the big picture and then at individual areas. Search for symbols, unexpected signs, and new information that represents the visualization of your thoughts. Step 8: Write down the first word that goes through your mind with each picture. Step 9: Combine the words into a sentence or paragraph. Associate freely. Compare your statement with the drawing.

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Step 10: Consider the relationship between your drawings and your challenge. Is it changing your perspective? Is it giving you new insights? Is your subconscious holding a surprise in store for you? Did something scare you? Be particularly attentive to questions you suddenly ask yourself, such as: – What’s that? Who’s that? – Where did it come from? – What could this mean? Perceive each image like an artichoke, where not only the heart and leaves are edible, but also the prickly stalk. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Moderation: soft pencils Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Overcoming inhibitions In groups or individual coaching sessions I meet people who think very rationally and are sometimes completely inexperienced in drawing. They initially have an aversion to Da Vinci’s Technique and fear that the quality of their drawing would be judged. I encourage them by saying that it is a matter of unintentional scribbling and that an experienced draughtsperson has no advantage at all. It is important to create an atmosphere free of criticism. I like to support such an atmosphere by playing music during the exercise. I offer about four different audio examples beforehand and ask the participant what they find inspiring at that moment. This interaction alone helps to break down inhibitions about unusual “artistic” activity.

Identified sources of the method Book – Drawing on the right side of the brain, B. Edwards (TarcherPerigee – April 2012) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Dali’s Technique

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Hypnogogic images. With Dali’s Technique you can see your own surrealistic images and find an associative connection to your challenge. You can access your subconscious from different starting points, one of which is known as “hypnogogic images”. These are images you see right before you fall asleep. The artist Salvador Dali consciously put himself in this state in order to find inspiration for his famous surrealistic pictures. Dali sat down in a chair directly over a metal plate and took a spoon in his hand. Then he relaxed completely. Sometimes he would fall asleep – but just at the moment when he relaxed to a certain point, the spoon slipped from his hand. It would fall on the metal plate and Dali would be woken up by the noise. He immediately captured his crazy dream images. Hypnogogogic images seem to come from nowhere, and yet there is a logic in them: The subconscious is a living stream of energy from which thoughts only occasionally rise to the surface of our consciousness and take on a defined form. Practice with Dali’s Technique to keep this flow to consciousness going. The forms and the seemingly alien structures that you then encounter ask to be interpreted and give you new ideas. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling Step 1: Think about your challenge. Weigh up your progress, your prejudices, alternatives and so on. Then relax and put your thoughts aside. Step 2: Relax your body completely. If necessary, use a common relaxation technique. Step 3: Calm your mind. Do not think about events of the day, your challenge or your problems. Step 4: Relax your eyes – you can’t actively look for the images you want. Be passive. If you wish, you can imitate Dali’s Technique with a spoon or a bunch of keys in your hand. When you fall asleep, the object falls out of your hand and you wake up to immediately capture your pictures in words or as drawings. Step 5: Always capture your images immediately after the hypnogogic exercise. The images you see will be mixed and unexpected and fade quickly again. Patterns, color clouds or objects may appear. Step 6: Search for associative connections. Write down the first thoughts that go through your mind after the experience. Look for connections to your challenge. Ask yourself questions like: – What surprises or frightens me? – Do I see a kinship with my challenge in the pictures? – Do I gain new insights? – What’s bothering me? – What do the pictures remind me of? – What analogies do I see? – What associations do I have? – Which real events do the pictures correspond to? Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Tool: spoons Tool: bunches of keys Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination

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Experiences – Background music For group and individual coaching, relaxing music helps during this exercise. A relaxation technique should actually precede the session. I ask the participant(s) to choose from about three to four examples of music they find inspiring and relaxing for the performance of Dali’s Technique.

Identified sources of the method Book – Die paranoisch-kritische Methode. Der Einfluss der Psychoanalyse auf Salvador Dalís Kunst, G. Barrios (Grin Verlag – Dezember 2015) Book – Wolkenlesen. Über hypnagoge Halluzinationen, …, R. Anders (Literaturverein Wiecker Bote e. V. – September 2003) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

The 7-Ps Framework

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Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases

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6. Description A thoughtful plan lays the foundation for successful innovation work with participants in a workshop. Such a plan can be easily and thoroughly formulated and implemented with the 7-Ps Framework. Basically, this method is an open checklist, which supports you in determining the factors for a goal-oriented and successful workshop. It also allows you to consider the effects of the challenge’s individual aspects on each other – those already at the planning stage – and to let them flow into the plan. The 7 Ps form the points of the checklist: Purpose, Product, People, Process, Pitfalls, Prep and Practical Concerns. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Handling You must clarify the individual points for yourself before the beginning of the workshop or meeting. It can make sense to bring other people on board during the planning phase. Make these seven points visible during the workshop, as this will increase the willingness of the participants to follow your plan. 1. Purpose As the moderator or leader of the workshop, you must be aware of the purpose or rather the background of the workshop and be able to explain it simply and clearly at all times. 2. Product This is only about the “product” of the workshop, where you want to be at the end of the planned time. Is it to have a finished draft, a sketch, a collection of ideas or something else that subordinates itself to

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the intended purpose? If you have clarity here, you can easily take the other participants with you. People Think in advance about who and how many participants can contribute to a successful workshop. It is also important to formulate in advance the questions to which an answer is to be found. Process This refers to the course of the workshop. You can also work on this process very successfully with the participants. Pitfalls If you know the possible pitfalls, you can develop rules in advance to avoid these hurdles. Prep This means that you should consider whether tasks should be completed before the beginning of the workshop, i. e., whether homework should be done by the participants. Practical Concerns These are very practical: When, where, how long will the session last and is there a good and sufficient catering? These concerns must be addressed in good time.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person 305

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The 7-Ps Framework

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – Everything is connected Take your time in the planning phase, because all 7 Ps influence each other. The process depends on the purpose, the composition of the participants depends on the product coming out, and so on. – Nothing is fixed A good plan is worth a lot, but it is just a plan. Things constantly change and drift into unforeseen trajectories. Be prepared for surprises, then these will hit you with less force and you can react more appropriately.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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The Antiproblem

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Step 5: When time is up, individual teams present their solutions to the Antiproblem. Ideally, they do this standing up and also present the visual material they have created. Step 6: Everything that comes to the participants’ minds is discussed as a group and new solutions are noted.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Antiproblem method opens up new problem-solving corridors for participants. It is particularly popular when the team gets stuck in brainstorming and can’t get any further. By asking the participants to solve a problem that is the exact opposite of the current problem, they are led to recognize where an existing solution does not work or where a solution has not been applied even though it is obvious. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Formulate the problem to be solved in clear language. Step 2: Provide participants with materials such as sticky notes, pens, cards, pipe cleaners and modeling clay – things you can use to design and present solutions. Step 3: Divide the participants into smaller groups of three to four and explain that they should work on the opposite of the current problem. Example problem: The sales figures are too low. Antiproblem: How do we keep customers from buying the product? The more extreme the antiproblem, the better. Step 4: The teams are given 15 to 20 minutes to work out as many different solutions as possible for the antiproblem. It’s about quick answers and as many ideas as possible. There are no wrong solutions.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: glue Tool: pipe cleaner Tool: modelling clay Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Formulate an extreme Antiproblem The method works best the more extreme the Antiproblem. Ideas are only preliminary thoughts Don’t worry if you don’t end up with a viable solution. It is not about solving the problem in a short time, but about getting the participants to think in a different direction and to change their perspective.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

The Grid Principle

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Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The Grid Principle is a framework for the establishment of innovation culture on the basis of non-hierarchical grid structures. In contrast to the classic top-down culture, an innovation culture in this sense promotes the creativity of the individual. The word “Grid” is used because all hierarchical levels and titles within the company are dispensed with and all communication channels between employees become direct. The basis of the Principle is the assumption that all people are basically creative and willing to work well. The action corridors and values of a company following the Grid Principle are: 1. Belief In The Individual The human being as an individual is at the centre of the technique. Every employee can join whichever project in the company they like and which they can advance through their strengths; they thus have the opportunity for continuous development and according to their inclinations. 2. Thinking And Acting For The Long Term The relationship between companies and their employees, customers and partners is sustainable and long term, so that new ideas can be given the appropriate space to develop. 3. Exploiting The Power Of Small Teams Project work preferably takes place in small, capable teams that organize themselves. This promotes a sense of responsibility and commitment on the part of employees. 4. All Working Towards The Same Goal Even companies that are made up of different departments should see themselves as a unit and communicate this to their employees in the same way. The fact that each individual is just as important as another and everyone is in the same boat avoids

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competitive thinking among colleagues and increases appreciation of each employee. Direct Communication Probably the most important aspect in a grid structure without a hierarchy is the constant and direct communication between colleagues: Every employee should know about the strengths and abilities of his co-workers.

Additional note: The following elements destroy any culture of innovation: – Lack of eEmotion – No fault tolerance – Hierarchies and power imbalances – Singularity within the team – Poor communication – Withholding of information – No interest in areas outside one’s own – Individual offices and closed doors in the office building – Too much “safe thinking” – Too much control Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents the bunker of ideas and secrecy – Promotes appreciation – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012) Web – http://www.inknowaction.com (April 2017)

The “Ability to Innovate” Triangle of Forces

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases

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people with cognitive new know-how, tools and methods for successfully developing ideas and innovations. Even a team willing to change will not put innovation power on the road without a good knowledge base. Let us now assume that columns one and two are given. People still have to be given the opportunity to make those changes in concrete terms. In other words, the third pillar is banally concerned with the times for brainstorming and innovation work and the places and spaces where this can take place. It is, so to speak, an organizational topic, clearly “Easier said than done”. In a genuine and lively innovative culture, the people in a company have both freedom for creative work and appropriately equipped workspace.

Description When you want to increase the innovative ability of a team or company, you hear about a lot of cases where this did not succeed. With the Triangle of Forces it is possible to reflect on this with the team and to develop goaloriented actions. If you read through the relevant literature, you ultimately come across the same three core requirements again and again, which form the pillars of the tool “triangle of strengths of innovation capability”. These three core requirements are: 1. Willingness of people to change. 2. Ability of people to change. 3. Opportunities for change given to people. If one of the pillars is missing or if there are no accompanying measures for at least one pillar, the increase in innovation capability will not succeed in the long term and the development of a vibrant innovation culture will also move into the distant future. Let us now take a closer look at the three pillars. First of all there is the willingness of the people involved to change, or the WANTING. Only when the individuals involved see sense in the generation and implementation of new ideas are they then open to the implicit changes that follow. The most basic measure for creating willingness to change is certainly information, information and more information. With transparency and a good communication policy, you take people on a journey of innovation. Beyond this basis, everything is conceivable in terms of possible measures, from individual discussions to team-building, to provide support for the process. If, at best, you now have a team ready to change, then wyou should work directly on pillar two, change competence. The fundamental aim here is to provide

Generated output Creates more innovative organisations Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The “Ability to Innovate”-Triangle of Forces is a reflection tool for teams and individuals. This means that it must always be visible when you want to actively think

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The “Ability to Innovate” Triangle of Forces

about the status of the innovative ability of a team or individuals. It has proven successful to hang the Triangle of Forces prominently on the wall of your own office or the team workspaces in at least A3 size or, better still, displayed as a flipchart graphic. This means that it can always be accessed immediately. If you want to analyze and further develop innovative ability in relation to a team or a project, you might want to ask yourself the following questions, considering the Triangle of Forces: – What can I say about the willingness of the team to change? – How do I determine genuine willingness to change on the part of the team? – What have I actively done recently to increase the willingness of the team to change? – What could I do in the near future to increase the willingness of the team to change? – How could I tell that the willingness to change has developed further? – What can I say about the change competence of the team? – How do I determine genuine change competence of the team? – What have I actively done recently to increase the change competence of the team? – What could I do in the near future to increase the change competence of the team? – How could I tell that change competence has developed further? – What can I say about the team’s opportunities for change? – How do I identify good and helpful change opportunities for the team? – What opportunities for change have I given the team lately? – What opportunities for change should I give the team in the near future?

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Another recommendation is to plan and repeat this reflection process cyclically.

It is always beneficial, especially when working with “unknown” teams/clients, to talk about these three pillars. You quickly ask yourself: “What is it really about, what can you change?”

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Can/Want/May

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Path of change: All actors are in the band. Now the group develops a logical system by which each member changes position, person by person. At the same time, you should cover a distance of about 30 meters. Only with real team choreography can the group actually cover the distance.

Description “No good idea-finding without a functioning team.” A key feature of all well-functioning teams is that each member can rely on the others. Experience has shown, however, that many people find it difficult to “fall” and be “caught” by others. The Team Tape, a very physical activity, lets your participants experience the feeling of being held by the team – here trust grows perceptibly. Allow space, be creative, play with team choreography: The tape gives your participants the feeling of being surrounded, supported and sometimes moved by the team. Team body learning to perfection! Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Below are three basic exercises recommended by the manufacturer Metalog. However, everyone is encouraged to invent their own exercises. Microcosm: If you want to promote moments of real emotional connection in your team, you need a protected space that surrounds everyone like a safe cave. Stand or sit comfortably in the band with your group, lean back, feel the mutual support and discuss what there is to discuss. Roundabout: Six to 20 people are in the tensioned belt. One person suddenly runs off and lets themselves be caught by the soft wall in a free space within the circle; the next person follows, and so on. Once the group has developed a sense of stabilizing each other despite the movement, you can increase the speed. The result is highly dynamic team coordination.

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Promotes appreciation – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Tool: the game “Team Band of Metalog”

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – Lots of space and good atmosphere Sufficient space, preferably an outdoor area, and a good atmosphere within the group support success of the method.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – METALOG® training tools OHG – Olching

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The Sales Talk

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Step 5: The risk investor(s) may then ask up to two questions. If you want to bring in a competitive element, you can let the risk investor(s) choose which sales team won at the end. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Sales Talk is a method that simulates a real conversation between a salesperson and a potential customer of the product or service idea. This provides participants with clarity about the actual product benefits and enables them to better assess their innovation idea. In contrast to the Fake Sales Method from the Lean Startup concept, The Sales Talk is limited to a virtual product, which significantly reduces the time and effort required for implementation. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Divide into small groups (ideal: teams of two and three). One group assumes the role of risk investor, the others are entrepreneurs. Step 2: Each group works for ten minutes on their idea for the product or service (which has already been developed). The group can draw, write or rehearse something. It is important to note that only one or two players from the group take over the actual product presentation, but all other participants in the group must answer any questions the risk investors may have. Step 3: Shortly before the end of the preparation time, the risk investors issue the warning: “You still have two minutes.” Step 4: The groups present their products in three minutes.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: A4 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination

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Experiences – Focus on the product arguments! Concentrate the focus of the sales groups (and feedback) on the product arguments and not on the sales techniques used. These are not at the forefront of the task. Especially when salespeople are present, that focus could develop. – Address language Listen carfeully to the language used to describe the product or idea. Write down the language used by participants and reflect on the result with the group.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

The Pinocchio Product

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Products or services are often viewed from a great distance. This can lead tonot noticing obvious difficulties or hurdles after a time. With this technique, the product (or service) to be illuminated is made into a good friend, who is ascribed completely human characteristics. This enables a more personal view of the idea and the easier identification of strengths, but also weaknesses. As in the story of Pinocchio, an object becomes a living being with character traits and relationships to other people. This different approach opens up new perspectives on the product. The exercise also helps you to take on the role of the consumer more easily. This will make clearer what is important from the product user’s point of view and which aspects can still be sharpened. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling As moderator, consider four different situations in which the product (or service) has to carry out an action or for which a decision has to be made. Write these situations on different moderation cards. Prepare five different flipchart sheets by writing one of the following headings on each: a) Who am I? b) What are my values? c) Who am I dealing with? d) What makes me special? e) What am I fighting for?

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Each time one of the sheets is used in the process, at the beginning of that exercise draw/paint the product so that it acquires human features, i. e. arms, legs, a head with a face, etc. Step 1: Deal with the question “Who am I?” With the team collects adjectives that describe this being as a person. Imagine this character is a good, longtime friend. Write the adjectives around the figure. Step 2: Give the participants adhesive points and let them evaluate which characteristics apply best to the figure. Discuss the result at the end. Step 3: The sheet with the question “What are my values?” is next. Divide the team into four small groups and give each one a prepared moderation card with a given situation. They now have a couple of minutes to think about how the character would react to the scenario. When the groups get together again, ask them to present the different situations and reactions and write them on the flipchart. Step 4: With “Who am I dealing with?”, the whole team thinks about who the figure is interacting with. These considerations are recorded on paper. Step 5: The flipchart sheet “What makes me special?” is next. Here the participants should consider what distinguishes the figure from their friends and acquaintances, which particularly good or bad characteristics it has, and what distinguishes it. The results obtained here are also recorded in writing. Step 6: The last question the group deals with is “What am I fighting for?” Here, the participants should think about what the figure is passionate about, what their convictions are and which ideas could be laid to rest. Step 7: Finally, the team as a whole should gain an idea of the different traits of the character and consider how these individual points can be transferred to the product or service. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: paper in flipchart size People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: pinboard as topic memory Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception

Experiences – Which questions help with the work? Here are some useful questions about the individual flipchart sheets that can help guide the participants: a) Who am I? How did I grow up? What skills do I have? – What is my work? – How do I look to others? – What do my friends like about me? b) Who am I dealing with? – When do I get involved? – Who depends on me? – Who do I spend my free time with? c) What makes me special? – What are my strengths? – Where do I have weaknesses? – What can I offer a team? – What can I do better than others? d) What am I fighting for? – What’s the matter with me? – What am I pasionate about? – What’s my mission? – What keeps me awake at night?

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History and names help Especially at the start of this method, participants often need time to put themselves in the character’s position. Help by encouraging them to think up stories about the character. Refer to them by name, which will make it easier; for example, “What would Pinocchio do now?” Encourage participants not only to choose the traits of their acquaintances, but also to calmly attribute extreme qualities to the figure. You can put this into perspective later.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Data File Technique

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Thus, in the thought strand AWARENESS, characteristics such as noise, exclamations, surprise, unexpected, humorous, exaggerated, etc. could be awakened. If you have collected characteristics for all folders, you can either let yourself be inspired by them freely (passive method) or select individual characteristics from the folders and use this combination to advance your ideas creatively.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description In order to better define the creative focus, the most important requirements can be determined with the Data File Technique (also called File or Data Strand Technique). This method makes it possible to deal with individual characteristics without directly associating them with the real problem. This involves the creation of different lines of thought (comparable to digital folders) that describe the basic requirements underlying the task or problem. Afterwards, each “folder” is filled with typical traits/ descriptions that usually describe the characteristics of the situation, regardless of the actual problem. This method can be applied passively, by looking at different characteristics, or in an active variant, in which different characteristics are consciously combined with each other and thereby searched for solutions. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling First collect your thoughts (folders) under a generic term. If, for example, the generic term is “advertising”, the folders could be named as follows: ADVANTAGES, ATTENTION, VISIBLE, POSITIVE IMAGE, CREDIBLE. These folders are now filled with individual characteristics. Make sure that the characteristics refer only to the thread of thought and not to the current problem.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Room: pinboard as topic memory Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Recording folders Since the typical folder structure of Windows is well known, it is helpful at the start to use it in the workshop. Visualization helps to understand the technique. – Use other methods for inspiration Free inspiration is a hurdle for many, especially inexperienced participants. Don’t give up. In this case use other methods to define the creative process, especially all variants of brainstorming and brainwriting.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

Debriefing

Description The aim of Debriefing is to preserve the knowledge and experience acquired during a project even after it has come to an end and to make them available to non-participating teams. The Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF) in Magdeburg has developed the Debriefing method for collecting, structuring, condensing and securing project experience. Debriefing workshops or meetings focus on the question of which findings from completed projects can be used in the future. Debriefings are an effective and efficient way to preserve and reuse knowledge. If the method is applied consistently, improved performance of future projects can be achieved. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The Fraunhofer IFF Debriefing approach consists of six steps: Step 1: Workshop Entry Presentation of the goal and the agenda as well as warming up the participants. Step 2: Project Review Review of important project events from the point of view of the team. Step 3: Collection And Evaluation Of Project Experience Collecting, sorting and prioritizing negative and positive experiences to reflect on the project as a whole. Step 4: Options For Action

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This step analyses what actions can be taken to resolve problems and repeat successes. Step 5: Measures Implementable measures are decided upon on the basis of the options for action developed. Step 6: Workshop Conclusion The feedback of the participants is collected. At the end of a workshop, the central experiences of the project team are clearly presented in a transparent manner. The team will have worked out the success and failure factors and identified concrete solution proposals for follow-up projects. According to Fraunhofer, these often concern the following points: – Teamwork – Project management – Framework conditions – Process sequences – Technical knowledge In addition to its Debriefing approach, the Fraunhofer IFF offers individual moderation services and support. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) 321

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Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room Room: circle of chairs

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Make results visible If the results of debriefings are visibly saved, for example on the walls of office corridors, etc., then learning effects and transfers to the next projects can be achieved more quickly.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Fraunhofer-Institut für Fabrikbetrieb und -automatisierung IFF – Magdeburg Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

Delphi Method

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Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates forecasts and derivations

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The aim of the Delphi Method is to unite the knowledge of different experts in order to achieve as reliable a joint forecast as possible in an innovation or problem area. The method is based on the assumptions that experts know the future of their field better than others and that several experts do not forecast the future in a worse way than an individual. The Delphi Method is a multi-level form of expert survey. The preselected experts are interviewed using a formal questionnaire about their assessments or judgments on the facts of interest. The results obtained are then evaluated and sent to the experts again if the opinions differ strongly. An important pre-requisite for the implementation of the Delphi Method is the careful selection of leaders in their area. It is important to involve experts from different fields who can give an expert opinion on the question to be investigated. In addition, a carefully prepared questionnaire is required which covers all relevant survey contents. Another success factor for the implementation is a qualified team to evaluate the questionnaires. A typical example for the application of the Delphi Method is the determination of development forecasts in the field of technology. In this context, the technique can be assigned to trend research. Example: How is technology evolving in the field of battery life for Notebooks? The advantage of the Delphi Method over other qualitative forecasting tools is that it is largely objective and free of extreme assessments due to the survey loops and the large number of surveyed experts.

Handling The implementation process consists of six consecutive steps. Step 1: The area to be examined is defined. Step 2: Suitable experts are sought. Step 3: The experts are interviewed separately in writing. Step 4: The results are be merged. Step 5: The experts are informed of the aggregated survey results. Step 6: A realistic forecast is determined among the experts. The quality of the results is usually good, as many wellfounded professional opinions are sought. By interviewing many experts, however, radical trends, which are usually only recognized by a few, are weakened in the course of the process and do not flow into the future planning of a company. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Unbiased opinions It is extremely important that the experts interviewed are not biased about the topic or the project because they are stakeholders, for example.

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Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Frühwarnsysteme, M. Reich, C. Zerres (In Handbuch Marketing-Controlling. Springer-Verlag 2006) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013)

The “Specificator” – – – – – –

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The “Specificator” is a small, helpful tool to prevent that most dangerous of things – generic thinking, creating and working. “Many teams are only not innovatively successful because they think, create and work too generically”: this is my experience and assumption, which is now based on ten years of work in the international innovation business. Especially in our ever more complex world, working too generically with too high flight altitudes is not the way to go and even wastes valuable resources. In addition, this error of too high an altitude can be made several times in innovation processes such as Design Thinking and other areas. It starts with generic key questions such as “How can we strengthen the relationship with our customers?”, continues with generic syntheses such as “We are too far away from our customers” and ends with generic ideas such as “We need to communicate more”. There are many reasons for this phenomenon: – Generic keeps you in your comfort zone – Generic is so beautifully simple – Generic does not make you tired – Generic is fast – Generic works without passion – In generic mode, all always agree – And so on. Conversely, this means that specific, concrete thinking, creating and working: – Are strenuous – Make you tired

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Challenge you Lead to discussions Need more time Demand your passion Challenge your creativity And so on.

If you look at innovatively successful teams, you immediately notice: “The successes always and exclusively result from specific, concrete thinking and working. It can be observed that great innovations almost always result from small details, problems and needs. Only those who have an eye for the small detail will celebrate great innovation successes.” This insight is not new either – it has been understood for many years in problem-solving approaches to complex unstructured problems. A recognised method that helps here is the well-known “5 W” method. The 5 Why Technique also called the “5 W method” or “5 Why” or “5W” for short, is from the area of quality management for cause-and-effect determination. The purpose of this application of the five “Why?” questions is to determine the cause of a defect or problem. The number is not limited to five, it is symbolic. It is important to keep on checking until the process step causing the error is clearly identified and can no longer be further subdivided – the flight altitude is thus lowered by generic and specific questions. Example of a problem: The car does not start. Why doesn’t the car start? The starter battery is flat. Why is the starter battery flat? The alternator’s not working. Why doesn’t the alternator work? The fan belt is broken. Why did the fan belt break? The fan belt was never replaced. Why was the fanbelt never replaced? The vehicle has never been serviced. Here we would arrive at the idea of establishing regular maintenance or a maintenance indicator that warns of servicing not being carried out. verrocchioWe recently developed The “Specificator” at the Verrocchio Institute for Innovation Competence. We apply this innovation method to challenges/leading questions as well as to ideas. The “Specificator” is a rule set that is applied to guiding questions and ideas. Generated output Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements

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Handling “Specificator” for guiding questions and ideas: – The leading question or idea must be a complete sentence – The leading question or idea must consist of at least eight words – The leading question or idea must contain at least one adjective – The lead question or idea must contain at least one verb. – The key question or idea must at least name a person or group of people Application: Give The “Specificator” to the participants before the beginning of the workshop, hang it up as a poster or check written questions and ideas with its help. Questions or ideas which do not meet the criteria are returned to the participants for revision. Here are some general, additional recommendations for writing specific and effective guiding questions and ideas: – Select suitable words – Use ordinary words to say unusual things – Use short instead of long words – Serve all the senses – Dodge substantiated verbs – Generate impact force with details – Use specific facts instead of general ones – Replace auxiliary verbs (to have, to be, to be) and modal verbs (to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be) – Use or omit stretch verbs (“make a calculation” instead of “calculate something”) as expressive amplifiers – Use English rather than foreign words – Clarify conditions with bywords – Build clear sentences – main cases in main clauses, secondary cases in subordinate clauses – Use punctuation marks as reading aids Say “problem” – not problem area, problem field or problem situation. Such words are regarded as “filters”, whereas one- and two-syllable words act as “amplifiers”. Write with the senses and for the senses. People can and want to hear, smell, feel, taste – and above all – see. Paint pictures: Use words that trigger pictures. Concrete terms your readers associate with ideas and therefore stick in the mind. For example: “drink”, “buy”, “heaven”, “night”.

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Or go one step further and use pictorial comparisons. For example: “We hesitantly enter sleep like entering into a cave” (Ernst Jünger, from African Soul). Avoid top-heavy words; the more abstract a word is, the further away it is from real life – andthe more difficult to understand it usually is. Let your readers participate in the events with all their senses, not only with their eyes. Instead of “An adjustment of the price is unavoidable” it is usually better to write “We have to adjust the price”. Don’t let all your verbs be eaten by nouns. Details create relationships, ensure commitment and stimulate the imagination. Don’t talk about “many years of experience”, but become concrete: “I offer experience from more than 1,000 projects.” The more exercise, the better. Choose keywords that describe exactly what is going on. Avoid verbs that only pretend to be keywords. “Standing”, for example, is a verb that is usually too general and does not reproduce any action. There’s a tree here, a steeple there, a car outside, a candle over there. Better: a tree grows, a steeple rises, a car parks, a candle flickers. Occasionally, adjectives are suitable for revealing decisive subtleties. A “mild brandy” is more attractive than simply a “brandy”, the “fully automatic washing machine” is more helpful than a simple “washing machine”. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

The “Specificator”

Experiences – Persist

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Working as moderator of a workshop means being persistent and relentless in relation to a specific project. I recommend that any idea that is too generic be immediately returned to the participants. Specific work is also demanding for the moderator.

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The 100 Dollar Test Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak team leader

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Everyone has a feeling for the value of money. This feeling can be used in The 100 Dollar Test to intuitively evaluate ideas, concepts, functions and other components of a procedure or product and at the same time find a common denominator valid for all. This method is based on quickly evaluating individual parts of a given whole with a known and frequently used unit and thus placing those parts in relation to one another. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling First of all, you need a table with a list of different concepts. For example, these could be different functions of a product that cannot all be implemented. The group then “receives” 100 dollars and has the task of dividing this money between the various concepts. It is important that the group reaches a common consensus. The respective amounts should then be briefly justified in a third column: How exactly did they come to this value? Finally, give the group time to review the table and draw conclusions. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: paper in flipchart size Experiences – When it becomes difficult to find a value … Sometimes it is difficult for the participants to get to grips with the task. Help them by giving them tips on how to reach the right value. For example, it may be appropriate to find an actual price for a spare part not in order to enter it, but only to use it as a basis for discussion. – Also good for wishes This method is also very good for identifying wishes and needs. The value can then reflect the meaning of the individual wishes and thus provide information on how to better address individual needs.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – https://karencatlin.com/2013/07/09/100-dollartest/ (April 2017)

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The Imaginary Friend

Step 5: Selection of the best alternatives on the basis of the assessment given (selection based on costs, benefits, perspectives). Step 6: Justification of the selection in front of an imaginary friend thoroughly and from your own perspective. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Imaginary Friend technique is based on one of the many role-playing games that Edward de Bono offers. Here, too, it is necessary to put yourself in the position of a fictitious person, in this case an imaginary friend, in order to be able to see from their perspective, with their world view and from their personal perspective, their ackground, to either consider an existing problem or the ideas and solutions to a problem. Which idea do they seem to like best? Which solution could be the most sensible from their point of view? A large number of new evaluation criteria emerge, which have often been ignored in the attempt to carry out an objective evaluation. Thus the subjective contemplation of ideas also becomes socially acceptable again, since it is objectified by the objectified view from outside (i. e. by the imaginary friend). Conversely, weak evaluation criteria are also quickly identified, as they have developed too much from the emotional part of the observation. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The following steps are recommended for the implementation of the method (following De Bono): Step 1: Each alternative should be thoroughly and sequentially evaluated and viewed with through imaginary friend’s eyes. Step 2: All reasons that led to the respective evaluation should be addressed. Step 3: All reasons for the assessment should be documented and written down. Step 4: Reflection on all ratings.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for multidisciplinary experienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Rethinking necessary The first few times you use this method the change of roles and perspective seems a bit strange and it is not easy to see through new eyes. However, as soon as you get involved with the technique and allow it to happen, very surprising and new ways of looking at things come to light. This will be very entertaining and extremely exciting. – Thoroughness brings success The more thoroughly the individual steps are carried out, the greater the success of the method and the better the result. “The Imaginary Friend” performs on a variety of documented reasons.

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Web – So, You Want to Be a Creative Genius? (April 2017)

The Crucial Point

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Crucial Point requires that you work out the core of a given challenge. In order, for example, to be able to use creative methods sensibly and efficiently, in this scenario there must be a clearly formulated, misunderstood problem at the beginning. From experience we know that the more diffuse and larger the problem formulated, the smaller the chance of achieving really concrete and target-oriented solutions. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Handling The following measures and methods help to work out The Crucial Point – the core of the task – efficiently and reliably: The 5-W Method At least five times in a row and more deeply each time, ask about the “Why?” until the cause of the problem has been identified and a situation cannot be further “crushed”. Change The Perspective The problem is written down as a question. This question will then be reworded. Reformulating means exchanging verbs, subjects and objects, so that new questions are asked from different perspectives. This happens several times in a row. With each reformulation, the understanding of the problem increases.

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Visualize The Problem The understanding of the problem also increases when it is represented graphically. A visualized problem makes relationships clear and provides a better basis for discussion. Mindmapping can be used here as a visualization method. In addition, it is a fact that you have only understood a fact yourself when as you are able to sketch it. Ask Customers Or Affected Parties The wishes, needs and demands of the target group concerned must be addressed. It is important to consider hard facts, but also the feelings of other players, in the evaluation. Observe Customer Behavior The more intensively the target group is observed, the greater the chance of encountering the actual problem that the users themselves would not mention in an interview. Learn From Other Areas Solutions are found in all industries and areas. Often, precise observation and subsequent transfer to one’s own field brings the eureka moment. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

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The Crucial Point

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Identified sources of the method Book – Denkmotor: Nichts ist gefährlicher als eine Idee …, C. Brügger, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2014) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-Why-Methode (April 2017)

The Blind Spot

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Blind Spot method reveals previously unknown knowledge that can significantly improve the efficiency of the innovation process. The first step is to collect and visualize the known knowledge up to the unknown, yet to be discovered know-how. The Blind Spot works best with teams that come from different disciplines and work areas, but already know each other well. The technique was inspired by the “Johari Window” model known in communication sciences (by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham). The adaptation of the model comes from Sunni Brown. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Creates more background information Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Define the topic/challenge you want to address. Draw a side view larger-than-life head and four arrows coming out of the head. Label the arrows: – Known/Known – Known/Unknown – Unknow/Known – Unknown/Unknown Step 2: Give the participants stickers and pens and explain the task: “The aim is to find out what knowledge you have and can use well, and what knowledge you do not have.”

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Step 3: Start with the “Known/Known” section. Participants write everything on a piece of paper (one piece of information per piece of paper) that they already know about the topic. Step 4: Next comes the “Known/Unknown” section. Here the participants write down what they know they don’t know. As a rule, it will take a little longer here than in the first round. This is about lack of knowledge. Step 5: Now comes “Unknown/Known”. “What things don’t we know exist that could help us?” These could be, for example, skills that someone possesses but does not currently actively use. Possibly also resources that already exist, but are almost forgotten. Step 6: The last thing you have to do is “Unknown/Unknown”. This is where joint explorations and discoveries take place. Ask provocative questions like: “What does the team know it doesn’t know it doesn’t?” How can you find something like that? Simply put, this is about the current “wrong” knowledge that the team has. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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The Blind Spot

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Trust is important With The Blind Spot, trust is important, otherwise knowledge or missing knowledge may not be revealed. So it makes sense not to use the method until the team knows each other fairly well.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Design Innovation Process

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The Design Innovation Process is a Design Thinking dialect or variant developed by Vijar Kumar. With this method, Kumar provides an easily understood, step-bystep structure and a macro process for an innovation project. This method covers seven fields of work which, like Design Thinking, can and should be passed through antilineary and iteratively. The fields of work are: 1. Tracking down the target corridor (Sense Intent). 2. Understanding the environment (Know Context). 3. Understanding the people (Know People). 4. Structuring the findings (Frame Insights). 5. Discovering new concepts (Explore Concepts). 6. Creating concept solution clusters (Frame Solutions). 7. Implementating new offers (Realize Offerings). The Design Innovation Process is also a customer- and human-centric innovation process. Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration

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Creates key questions for idea generation Creates new knowledge and experience Creates early prototypes Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Generates lists of opportunities and risks Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling This process can basically be carried out in the sequence shown above and this is recommended by Kumar. On the one hand, it is important not to miss a single step, and on the other, to approach the matter iteratively. So if the results of a step do not feel good, jump to an earlier position in the process and insert an iteration loop. Field of Work 1 1.1 Tracking down the target corridor – We collect all changes in our environment – We collect the latest changes and news – We study the trends that could affect us – We’re investigating all the effects of these changes 1.2 Collecting everything new Search for the latest events, innovative developments and the latest findings in the environment. 1.3 Mapping developments Taking a higher altitude in order to clearly visualize the developments and changes in the targeted area/ theme. 1.4 Mapping the trends Get an overview of all relevant trends in business, technology, society, culture and politics. 1.5 Re-interpreting framework conditions Find/think of problems/challenges based on different, related trends and frameworks to create opportunities for high quality innovation. 1.6 Defining the initial target corridor Outline initial hypotheses on how the company can take advantage of innovation opportunities.

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Design Innovation Process

Field of Work 2 2.1 Understanding the environment – We study our environment – We study how we perform our offerings in the marketplace – We scan the offers that are like our own – We study our company – We look at our competitors and their strategies – We study the relationships with our complementors – We find out which laws, etc. affect our innovation focus 2.2 Planning the Search Create a work plan to understand the environment – based on time, resources, methods and expected results. 2.3 Searching the existing knowledge Browse large amounts of data from existing sources to discover exciting patterns. 2.4 Mapping developments Prepare overviews of leading industrial developments, phases, timelines and probable future events. 2.5 Making comparisons Create overviews showing companies in relation to networks, competitors and comparable companies 2.6 Investigating the conditions Gain insights into the capabilities of enterprises, their performance and their patterns of innovation. 2.7 Interviewing experts Talk to experts in the field and understand their analyses, opinions and recommendations. Field of Work 3 3.1 Understanding the people – We use observation methods – We’re investigating their interactions with all the things in their daily lives – We try to find the unsatisfied and unspoken needs 3.2 Planning the search Define research objectives, target groups, field research protocols, budgets and timeframes. 3.3 Observing people Recruit participants, performance of field work, documentation of activities and interactions with the environment. 3.4 Interviewing people Conduct surveys and discussions with others about what you have found and collect feedback and ratings.

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3.5 Involving users Users become an active part of activities, entertainment and interactions with researchers. 3.6 Work-uping of problem identification Compile observation and research results, label keywords and identify research gaps. Field of Work 4 4.1 Structuring the findings – We sort, concentrate and structure all found data and results – We analyze the data and look for patterns/signals that indicate undiscovered markets and niches 4.2 Making the core findings Identify patterns/signals in the research results about people and the environment as well as detect core findings. 4.3 Visualizing systems Visualize the environment as a single system showing its components, relationships, parameters and value creation. 4.4 Finding accumulations Sorting and clustering the data in different ways to gain accumulations and reveal core insights. 4.5 Finding samples Visualize research results as diagrams with revealing accumulations, gaps and overlaps. 4.6 Creating profiles Define the attributes of key people and other participants in the system. 4.7 Mapping value-added flows Visualize how value creation flows in the networks of producers, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. 4.8 Mapping user experiences Visualize the user journeys in space and time, discover the pain and show new possibilities. 4.9 Picture-frame scaffolds Summarize the core findings and translate them into frameworks and recommendations for action to drive concept generation. Field of Work 5 5.1 Discovering New Concepts – We identify new opportunities with structured brainstormings – We discover new concepts and approaches with brainstormings – We also use “old” innovation signals to generate new approaches

Design Innovation Process – 5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

We ensure that fresh and exciting ideas are created through collaborative work Creating design guidelines Transform core insights into design guidelines, rethink assumptions and create hypotheses for concept generation. Developing concepts Create concepts in the widest possible corridor of thought, inspire metaphors and visualize concepts. Organizing the concepts Sort, recombine and divide the found concepts into logical systems and groups. Collect and archive concepts for future work. Communicating the concepts Draw, visualize and create prototypes. Describe the concepts in a clear and understandable way and check and communicate their benefits and values.

Field of Work 6 6.1 Creating Concept Solution Clusters – We combine single concepts/approaches into coherent clusters and systems of concepts – We evaluate the concepts and identify the best ones – We also evaluate the concepts with regard to their ability to form holistic systems. – We make sure that we classify all concepts into categories and hierarchies – We develop and test prototypes iteratively in real environments 6.2 Generating new possibilities Combine all found individual concepts into sets and clusters of more complex solutions for further evaluation. 6.3 Developing coherent systems/solutions Group and synthesize concepts into coherent systems – plan lifecycles of offers and create first roadmaps. 6.4 Evaluating the concepts Grade, evaluate and classify the concepts with/by guidelines, costs/benefits, profitability and feasibility. 6.5 Communicating the solutions Refine the visualizations, diagrams, prototypes and stories of proposed concepts. 6.6 Managing the solutions Sort, collect and archive solutions for easy access, especially for other teams and projects.

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Field of Work 7 7.1 Implementing new offers – We ensure that the solutions are purposeful and centered around the user’s experience – When we have created a valuable solution, the implementation plan follows immediately – We develop roadmaps that show how the adopted solution should develop in clear phases 7.2 Developing prototypes Develop prototypes to test all details, feasibility and technical specifications. 7.3 Defining strategy Determine market positioning, platforms, partners and relevant business plan components for successful implementation. 7.4 Defining the tactics Identify the skills needed to implement the planned strategy and development phases. 7.5 Developing the initiatives Collect the necessary resources and budgets, and recruit the teams. Create the plans for pilots and introduction of new offers. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

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Design Innovation Process

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: creative and inspiring workspace People: multidisciplinary team People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Advantageous for “old economy” Because the Design Innovation Process particularly focuses on understanding and analyzing one’s own situation, it is especially suitable for very established companies. The technique also works very well for developing incremental innovations.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Design Thinking

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Unlike many other innovation tools, Design Thinking is not a method in the classic sense rather it is a fundamental approach that leads to solving complex problems and developing new ideas, and always puts the customer or user at the center of the effort. Thus it is more than an innovation method: “Problem solving in this context does not necessarily always have to have an innovation context.” Design Thinking is based on the assumption that problems can be solved more efficiently if people from different disciplines and teams work together in a space that promotes creativity, jointly address a question, know the exact needs and motivations of customers and then design concepts that are tested several times and changed iteratively (pivoting). The Design Thinking process is based on the work of inventors and creative developers, and understood as a combination of understanding, observation, Brainstorming, enrichment, testing and learning. Design Thinking is always multidisciplinary! The leading approach for this technique is exclusively multidisciplinary work with people from at least

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three to five different specialisms, departments or teams. So if only people from a particular team use Design Thinking, it is not Design Thinking. In order to create new things and solve problems that our customers have, but have not yet recognized, it is irrelevant to which hierarchy level an employee belongs or to which department. Maximum diversity is the key to innovation success with Design Thinking. Design Thinking always means “broad understanding”! Design Thinking is always about understanding a problem broadly. What else does it have to do with anything? Who or what influences it? These and similar questions are asked in this process. For many this already means a paradigm shift – most people are conditioned to understand a problem only on one dimension. Design Thinking always means “Doing” “Don’t judge on opinions – only judge on testing!” is one of the most important natural laws in Design Thinking. In general, we can also say “Before we theorize for a lengthy period and create assumption after assumption … let’s make it better”. Early prototyping and testing also means difficult business management: We want to make mistakes quickly and early. In this way we save cash and learn great things early on. Prototyping and testing also happened during the Renaissance, when works of art were repeatedly altered and overpainted during their creation. Also tried and tested at that time were inspiring spaces and multidisciplinary work. Both can be found, for example, in the art school of Andrea del Verrocchio. Artists from a wide variety of disciplines worked together interactively in large inspiring spaces – they executed immediately and put their ideas into practice. Design Thinking is a culture of innovation! Yes, there is one – the culture of innovation. Design Thinking brings with it a lot of mechanisms for action and helps to transform entire organizations in a targetoriented way. Some of the essential characteristics: – Involves more people for more ideas in less time, so the right things happen at the right time. – Helps you transform and sharpen your strategy – it makes your team fit. – Means creating benefits for the user or customer, thereby putting the company in pole position. – Is inventive thinking with a focus on radical customer benefit and radical need fulfilment. – Creates a new, agile culture of collaboration with more lived values.

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Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Creates implemented ideas Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Handling Since Design Thinking is lived in an iterative-agile way, there is really no fixed process as such. There is also no time limit for Design Thinking – you can scale it and use it in both an hour- and a month-long project. Teams who want to use Design Thinking for the first time should always first learn the necessary basic knowledge, and work with and be guided by an experienced Design Thinking coach. The Design Thinking Process One of the essential elements of Design Thinking is the clear process that takes place in iterative loops. Thus early prototyping takes place and insights are repeatedly reassassed. The iterative process usually consists of six steps: Step 1: Understand The first step is to understand the problem, which leads to the choice of a suitable question that defines the needs and challenges of the project. Step 2: Watch This is followed by intensive research and field observation in order to gain important insights and clarity and to define the framework conditions of the status quo.

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Step 3: Point-of-View/Synthesis The observations made are then broken down and ascribed to a single, prototypical user whose needs are condensed into a clearly defined brainstorming question. Step 4: Idea Generation This step is one of the core elements of Design Thinking and consists mainly of brainstorming, which serves the development and visualization of different concepts. Step 5: Prototyping To test and illustrate the ideas, the first low-cost prototypes are developed and tested on the target group. Step 6: Refinement On the basis of the insights gained from prototypes, the concept is further improved and refined until an optimal, user-oriented product is created. This iteration step can refer to all previous steps. Basic Values In Design Thinking Work – Work visually (be visual) – Only one person speaks (one conversation at a time) – Encourage crazy ideas (encourage wild ideas) – Defer criticism (defer judgment) – Quantity is important (go for quantity) – Stay on topic (keep to the topic) – Build on the ideas of others – There are no mistakes Interdisciplinary teams Design Thinking brings together people from different disciplines in order to ensure the widest possible variety of approaches to a problem. These can be professional, but also cultural, national or simply age and gender differences. The multi-layered view of a topic is decisive. Changeable workspace concepts Space plays a major role in Design Thinking. Standing work, writing on whiteboards and changeable workspace concepts are part of Design Thinking, as inventor IDEO practices it. Design Thinking also offers the opportunity to involve employees in change projects through various creativity methods and the rapid development of prototypes, to take their ideas and concerns seriously and, at the same time, to include the outside perspective as well as the inside view.

Design Thinking

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens living in the past – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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Recommended resources Room: creative and inspiring workspace Depending on the scope of the challenge, a large range of materials may be required. Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception Experiences – Design Thinking is not a method In contrast to many other innovation tools, Design Thinking is not a method in the classic sense. Design Thinking is an approach that aims to solve problems and develop new ideas. So it’s more than just a method. P. S.: Problem solving in this context does not necessarily always have to have an innovation context. – Workspaces/rooms are particularly important An example of a space ideally suited for Design Thinking can be found on the Hasso Plattner Institute website or when searching Google for “Creative Workspaces”. Here the focus is very much on a highly flexible room concept with easily movable furniture. An appropriate book recommendation at this point is Design Thinking – Das Handbuch published by Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch. It also deal with the topic “Creative Spaces” in great detail. Properties of creative spaces are, for example, encouragement to interact, stimulation of creativity, free choice of workplace, workplaces for co-creation, large tables and work surfaces, sources of inspiration such as libraries, and natural and direct light. – Design Thinking must be translated correctly The correct translation of “Design Thinking” must be: “Think like an inventor.” You could also say that the developers of Design Thinking have taken a close look at how successful inventors and developers have proceeded to unearth their discoveries. One of the most important findings has been that no inventor starts directly with the idea – they all start by understanding the given challenge in detail.

Identified sources of the method Book – Change by Design. How design thinking can transform organizations and inspire innovation. T. Brown (HarperBusiness – September 2009) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Das IDEO Innovationsbuch. Wie Unternehmen auf neue Ideen kommen, T. Kelley, J. Littman (Econ – August 2002) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

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Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Book – Design Thinking im Unternehmen. Ein Workbook für die Einführung von Design Thinking. I. Gerstbach (GABAL Verlag – September 2016) Book – Design Thinking live. Wie man Ideen entwickelt und Probleme löst. C. Meinel, U. Weinberg, T. Krohn (Murmann Verlag – Januar 2015)

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Book – Design Thinking: Fragestellung, Recherche, Ideenfindung, Prototyping, Auswahl, Ausführung, Feedback, G. Ambrose, P. Harris (Stiebner – Mai 2010) Book – Design-Thinking, Innovation lernen – Ideenwelten öffnen, H. Plattner, C. Meinel, Ulrich Weinberg (mi-WirtschaftsBook – Februar 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

Design Thinking CheckUp

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The Design Thinking CheckUp summarizes critical experiences that are essential for the introduction and use of Design Thinking. You can use this tool either as a checklist when introducing Design Thinking or as a reflection tool with your team within ongoing projects. Many organizations, especially those with very traditional, conservative cultures, don’t fully realize what they can do if they don’t prepare the organization enough for Design Thinking – it’s really that simple, and Design Thinking is actually a fantastic innovation tool. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The verrocchio Institute has been consulted several times in the past as a kind of advisor to organizations to analyze why there was resistance to Design Thinking.

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The result of those investigations is the following checklist of Dos-and-Don’ts: Dos: – Please identify the Design Thinking variant that is right for you; there are about 15 to 20 known variants worldwide. – Know-how about Design Thinking is also important and should be imparted before the first workshop – this does not have to take longer than a day as. – Decide clearly and reflectively whether you want to use Design Thinking only within a single innovation project or as a helpful tool for a strategic transformation of your organization. Both are possible, but require different approaches. – Follow the three essential principles of Design Thinking, without exception: use creatively inspiring spaces, multidisciplinary teams and a truly agile, iterative process. – Every project should have a space in which all work results are always visible. Results being constantly cleared away and hung up again greatly reduces productivity. And you particularly miss the chance of “working multidisciplinary”. – An internal marketing campaign should accompany the project, which also keeps the people in the organization informed and includes those not directly involved in the project. Otherwise, envy and jealousy can quickly arise, especially in more conservative, traditional cultures. Don’ts: – Get people into ongoing Design Thinking phases without preparation. Many people, especially older employees, then often work with no direction or even opposition, because they cannot classify the situation. – Disregard the essential factor of “multidisciplinary teams” and perform Design Thinking only within one department – then the generated ideas are usually never more than small, incremental improvements. – Underestimate the first phase of “understanding”. Many teams underestimate this phase and give it far too little time in relation to the idea generation or prototyping phases, for example. – Undertake Design Thinking in the “normal” meeting room. Without rooms furnished according to the findings, the method hardly works. – Only prototype and test internally. Only those who really go into the outside world with their early prototypes and tests will win with Design Thinking.

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Many organizations believe that internal testing is sufficient and cite “lack of budget, time and courage for external testing”. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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– – – – – –

Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Good conversation guide The checkpoints listed in the Checkup can be used one-to-one as a discussion guide for the introduction of Design Thinking.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Destructive-Constructive Brainstorming

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The method Destructive-Constructive Brainstorming or Negative-Positive Brainstorming is a Brainstorming technique in two parts and was originally developed by General Electric. It is very well suited to incrementally develop existing solutions. In the first phase, the given solution is examined for weaknesses and inadequacies. Then better solutions are sought for the weaknesses found. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Developing the negative questions First, one or more negative questions are formulated for the existing solution. Examples: “What is it about our solution that is unsatisfactory for the customer?”, “What is it about our product that prevents use at XYZ?”, and so on. Step 2: Collecting all weaknesses All weaknesses that can be thought of are collected and deduced from the given questions. All points found are written down/drawn, for example on pinboards. Step 3: Constructive brainstorming For each weakness found, constructive brainstorming follows, after questions such as: “How can the weak point be improved?”

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Does not have to fit every topic Similar to the Reversal method, you should check whether the technique fits the topic and the group before using it. It is possible to “run in the wrong direction”. Basically this method is fun.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Idea power, Arthur B. VanGundy (Amacom New York – 1992)

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Didactic Brainstorming Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Didactic Brainstorming was developed in the 1950s by the US inventor and psychologist William J. J. Gordon as an independent Brainstorming variation. He originally named this technique Progressive Revolution, and it later became known as the Gordon Technique, Little Technique or Gordon Little Technique. It is acharacteristic of this method that only the moderator knows the exact problems or tasks. Participants will initially receive only general and broad information about the problem. Only gradually, when the flow of ideas comes to a standstill, do the participants receive additional information. This process is continued until the moderator has shared all the information and the problem is fully revealed, possibly over several sessions. By keeping the participants in the dark for a long time, ideas can be developed that are far removed from the problem. In this way, solutions can be developed at many different levels. In addition, it prevents hasty evaluation of ideas as well as premature and one-sided limits to solution aspects and search fields. Due to the step-by-step and intensive development of the problem, however, the time required and the demands placed on the moderator are very high. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration

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Handling Step 1: The procedure and background of Didactic Brainstorming are explained. The participants learn that the problem has to be made concrete step by step. Then the moderator asks the group a very generally-formulated abstract question (or gives them an abstract task) that leads to intensive thinking and initial ideas, for example: “How can interpersonal relations be fundamentally improved?” Step 2: The moderator reveals further information that more closely defines the challenge/task. The participants develop further ideas. The new question could be, for example: “How can the relationships between companies and customers be optimized?” Step by step, the moderator announces further information and lets the participants collect ideas on ever more concrete questions. This process depends on the complexity of the core task and continues until it is fully revealed. On the key question, which could be, for example: “How can we improve our customer service in such a way that we increase customer loyalty and give the customer a feeling of ‘wanting to stay here’”, ideas are again being collected. At the end of the session the ideas are presented. With regard to the core problem, these can – for example, during a joint Brainwalking session – become the trigger for concrete solutions. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use

Didactic Brainstorming – – –

Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Tool: recording device Room: creative and inspiring workspace Room: flipchart Room: pinboards Tool: sellotape Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity

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Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Good for more complex topics The method works well for more complex topics. The moderator must also have room for manoeuvre to gradually allow more information to flow in. – Combination with Mindmapping This method can be combined well with a Mindmap.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/wiki/Didaktisches_Brainstorming (April 2017)

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The “£ 1,000 in 24 hours” Challenge Identifies existing weaknesses Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description “How do we really motivate employees to go to their limits or even beyond in an innovation project?” This is a question that managers in organizations are constantly asking themselves. The “£ 1,000 in 24 hours” Challenge is an extremely helpful tool here. It provides participants with a very intensive understanding of what it means to be an entrepreneur and innovator. Startups do not have finance, marketing and product development departments. Everyone does everything, and at the same time there is a massive learning curve and a new horizon of experience is built up. The Challenge confronts its participants with the task of inventing and manufacturing a new product or service in just 24 hours and generating fixed orders for at least £ 1,000. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Identifies existing strengths

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Handling Step 1: Identification of the participants and conception of the challenge with all rules and parameters. Either a complete team goes through the challenge or teams of three to five participants compete against each other. Step 2: Briefing on the complete project with all rules and Dos and Don’ts takes place. Step 3: The teams carry out the challenge using, for example, the Design Thinking Process as a guardrail and procedure. Step 4: An essential component is a deep and detailed debriefing and exchange of all experiences from the Challenge. After the exchange of all experiences, the findings are jointly derived and documented for the group. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

The “£ 1,000 in 24 hours” Challenge –

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets

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Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Experiences – Prizes for the successful team A valuable and target-oriented prize for the successful Challenge teams can be budgets to promote or even implement a “real” idea within the company.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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The Ambidextrous Organization is achieved through many years of experience and internalized, professional processes. At the same time, dynamic, smaller units are also engaged in new areas of business. If these are discovered and become established at some point, the orchestral principle takes hold again. Generated output Creates more innovative organisations Handling

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Today Ambidextrous Organizations are usually more successful than others. To explain this, we can compare companies in the field of innovation strategy with various forms of music. There are two basic corporate structures: that of an orchestra and that of a jazz combo. The orchestra plays according to the instructions of a conductor. They set the tempo and the musicians follow it. They determine who plays which instrument and who plays the solos. Roles and tasks are clearly distributed and must “sit down”. The longer you rehearse in this formalized setup, the more perfect and efficient the result will be. The conductor has every single musician in their sights (note: they stand with their back to the audience). The jazz combo is fundamentally different from the orchestra. The musicians are completely free and can “let off steam” creatively. Each member of the group has a fixed role; however, how and where they use their role is left to them – it resembles a creative-chaos process. New ideas and innovations are expected as a result of the interaction. Both forms captivate exclusively in their own expertise: the orchestra masters complicated interplay to perfection, the jazz combo can easily improvise and produce music creativly. Transferred to companies, this means that “jazz combo organizations” find it easy to identify new ideas, business concepts and markets, whereas “orchestra organizations” have learned to survive in existing markets. Today, a company must mix both organizational forms in order to be successful in the long term. Those who manage to run their company efficiently AND breathe the wind of creative chaos into it are prepared for the future. According to the orchestra strategy, established business areas should be maintained; competitive advantage 350

Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012)

The Eyes of the Expert

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It can be entertaining and creative to make a list of famous people as a group. Alternatively, you can prepare a whole series of names which you then randomly present to the participants. The experts should come from all walks of life, and can be historical, contemporary, real and fictional individuals such as Pele, Pippi Longstocking, Steve Jobs, Marie Curie, Robinson Crusoe, Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill, Hilary Mantel, Alfred Hitchcock, Wonder Woman, Asterix, Lucky Luke and so on. Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Even today, Apple asks the famous question, “What would Steve Jobs do?” when faced with new problems and challenges. This principle of looking at a problem through the eyes of another is also the basis of this method. Try to look at problems, questions or tasks through the eyes or, better yet, through the glasses, of a famous person. What would that person do, say, think; how would they act, decide? This change of perspective helps to get to the bottom of core issues and develop new approaches to solutions. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates key questions for idea generation Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling After you have described a problem, a task or a question in a way that everyone can understand, a famous person is appointed a virtual expert. It is not important that they are or were real experts in the field, but that they are known for a certain special approach, way of thinking or type of behavior. Then try to empathize with the participants as this person and from their perspective approach the task and find ideas or solutions. They can all decide together what the selected person would say, or divide the participants into small groups, each of which “represents” one virtual expert and then presents their results to the whole group.

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards Room: pinboard as topic memory Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: poster

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The Eyes of the Expert

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Good introduction to a workshop This method works well as an icebreaker. Especially in the choice of a random individual as a virtual expert, it is not only very entertaining but can also inspire reserved participants in the creative process.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das Book der Ideen, K. Duncan (Midas Management Verlag AG – September 2016)

The Penguin Story

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Penguin Story … or How You Feel In Your Element. A reflection on innovative mindsets, innovation culture and own possibilities. This story actually happened to me. I was hired as a moderator on a cruise ship. Everybody thinks, “Oh, great! Luxury!” That’s what I thought. Until I was on the ship. As for the audience, I was on the wrong liner. The guests on board certainly had a sense of humour, I only didn’t find it in two weeks. And even worse, seasickness has no respect for the license to practice medicine. In short: I was cruelly unhappy on the cruise. Finally! After three days at sea, solid ground. “This is real luxury!” I went to a Norwegian zoo. And there I saw a penguin standing on his rock. I felt sorry for him: “Do you have to wear a tuxedo?” “Where’s your waist anyway?” And above all, “Has God forgotten your knees?” My verdict was final: misconstruction. Then I looked again through a viewing window into the swimming pool of the penguins. And then “my” penguin jumped into the water, and swam right in front of my face. Anyone who has ever seen penguins underwater will never think of anything else. He was in his element! A penguin is ten times more streamlined than a Porsche. With one liter of fuel, it could cover more than 2,500 kilometers. Penguins are excellent swimmers, hunters, water dancers. And I had been thinking, “Misconstruction!” This encounter taught me two things. First: How fast I often judge, and how I can be completely wrong. And secondly: how important the environment is, whether what you are good at is actually effective. We all have our strengths, our weaknesses. Many people try hard forever to iron out quirks. If you improve your weaknesses, you become mediocre at best. If you

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strengthen your strengths, you become unique. And for anyone who is not like the others, be confident: enough others already exist! Again and again I am asked why I exchanged the hospital for the stage. My strength and my weakness is creativity. This means not doing everything according to plan, improvising, putting things together repeatedly and unexpectedly. It’s inconvenient at the hospital. And I love to think freely, to write poetry, to play with language. This is also inappropriate for doctor’s letters and prescriptions. On stage I use much more of what I am, know, can be and have to give. I have more fun, and others have more fun with me. Performing live I’m in my element, in the flow. People rarely change completely and fundamentally. If you were born a penguin, seven years of psychotherapy won’t turn you into a giraffe. So don’t quarrel for long: As a penguin, don’t stay on land. Take small steps and find your water. And then jump! And swim! And you’ll know what it’s like to be in your element. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Read the story in a team (ideally in a cosy atmosphere). Step 2: Ask team members for the insights or conclusions from this story. Step 3: Record within the team what this means for the team and the project. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons

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The Penguin Story

Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: sufficiently large room Tool: specific worksheets Room: flipchart

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Supports a better perception Experiences – Also good as part of a lecture The story can also be used very well in lectures as it is vivid and funny. – Caution with unknown groups You should already know the group, the team, in order to be able to judge how and whether it will be open to this technique.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.hirschhausen.com/glueck/die-pinguingeschichte.php (April 2017) Web – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az7lJfNiSAs (April 2017)

Searching for the Key

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here?” asks the police officer. “Because there’s no light back there!” Step 2: Ask the participants what this story has to do with brainstorming or creativity and discuss it. Step 3: Record the answers and use them as an introduction to finding common ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description In the book Manual to Unhappiness by Paul Watzlawick a nice joke is quoted. This joke can helpfully be used as an analogy of an innovation project with a team before or shortly after entering the analysis phase. When you think about it, the joke beautifully demonstrates why we accept blind spots when searching for ideas and how convenience can prevent the generation of good ideas. To look at this the other way around: Finding ideas is to do with effort and leaving comfort zones. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Tell the story of the “lost key”: In the pool of light of a street lamp late in the evening, a drunken man crawls in the snow in a circle and searches and searches. A passing police officer watches for a while and then asks what he has lost. The man answers: “My key!” Now they’re both looking. After searching the circle of light three times, the officer asks the man if he is sure he has just lost the key there. “No,” replies the drunk, “I lost it back there.” “Then why are we looking

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: flipchart Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Well-received by teams and in plenary sessions Most people know of Paul Watzlawick or at least have heard something about him or his stories. Because quotes from famous people always go down well, this method is a good fit for teams or in lectures. In addition, it is short and at the same time memorable.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Anleitung zum Unglücklichsein, P. Watzlawick (Piper TaschenBook – November 2009) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anleitung_zum_Ungl%C3%BCcklichsein (April 2017)

Dilemmagram

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The dilemma diagram – Dilemmagram – facilitates decision-making in situations where two or more equivalent options or ideas are available through a change of perspective. The method works well with groups of up to ten people and can be completed in 30 to 45 minutes. A dilemma is a situation in which we have the choice between (usually two) mutually exclusive options or ideas, with each option having advantages and disadvantages. The basic idea is that in this case only a change of perspective can bring about a solution.

Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

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Handling A template is prepared, which is filled by the participants during the process. This can be shown on a projector or sketched on a large wall. Step 1: The first step is to describe the dilemma as clearly as possible. In the first line the question is described, and the urgency and degree of novelty (is it the first time it has come up or a repetition of a problem?) are indicated. If there are important values, criteria or properties required of a potential solution, these are also noted in the correct field. Now the two alternatives are described and in between the reason/s why the two cannot be realized or combined (the bottleneck). This arrow also contains the key distinction, i. e. according to which criterion can one distinguish between the two alternatives (examples – time: investing today or tomorrow? Space: Going to the mountains or the sea? Money: Spend a little or a lot?)? Step 2: Change to the second zone with the two circles and enter there all respective advantages of the solution (upper half of the circle), and next the disadvantages (lower half of the circle). In the intersection of the two circles, enter the positive (top) and negative (bottom) properties of both alternatives. Now check the resulting image: Is one side fuller than the other or are both sides the same? The advantages can also be weighted by large and small points. Step 3: In the third step, enter the short- and mediumterm effects of each alternative in the third zone. Also make a note of the assumption on which this expectation is based and discuss in the team whether the two assumptions are really correct. In the middle, write down the objective you want to achieve. Step 4: Now go back to Step 1 and as a team note alternative perspectives/dimensions next to the leading differentiation that you have entered in the double arrow. Choose three to four candidates. Discuss what possible combinations will result from the new perspectives/dimensions and which solution will come closest to your objective. An alternative use of the dilemmagram is to prepare the three phases as three separate graphics or on three different walls and discuss them one after the other.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

– –

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Reduce complexity

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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Often the method seems very complex to the participants at the start, which may lead to push-back. Therefore, it may make sense not to explain the complete dilemma diagram in the first step, but to go through the process step-by-step and explain each zone before filling it in.

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

Discussion 66

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best ideas after the idea-finding phase and then present them in a pitch presentation in the plenum. The group size and time above are only approximate. For example, “Discussion 89” is a group of eight participants who brainstorm for nine minutes. The process is based on the same principle as the Discussion 66 method and is just as logical and feasible.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Discussion 66 (also known as Buzz Session or Philipps 66) is a variant of Brainstorming in which many participants can be involved. Typically, the number of participants is more than 50. The number 66 results from the group size (six people) of the small groups on one hand and from the period for the brainstorming intervals (six minutes) on the other. Experience has shown, however, that the advantage of activating many heads in a very short time only occurs when the skills of a highly eloquent moderator are used, who can inspire and enthral the group toward the target. Discussion 66 is particularly valuable when a large number of ideas have to be put on the table quickly, for example to find new niches for products or services, to promote product improvements and to think about new products and process technologies. It is also suitable, however, for areas such as technical construction, advertising, sales promotion, product naming, leadership challenges and organizational problems. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling In Discussion 66, a brainstorming session is held with a large number of participants, so division into small groups is important. The participants are therefore divided into groups of six. Each of these small groups conducts a short six-minute brainstorming session. Ideally there will be a lot of tables in a large room where the groups can work. The participants select their

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Room: sufficiently large room Room: pinboards Room: table tops Tool: sellotape

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Good involvement for 20 and more participants The timeframe of this technique leads to high levels ofparticipation, as it can be an incentive to produce as many ideas as possible in the set time. The competitive situation between the subgroups is also a noticeable incentive to collect the most or best ideas. This technique works best with 20 or more participants. The advantage of the method lies in the wide spectrum of ideas that can be worked out in a short time. – Moderator necessary The use of an eloquent moderator or discussion leader is necessary in order to inspire the participants and most effectively organize the process. The ideas developed in the small groups are presented in the plenum – this requires the coordinating and moderating activities of a discussion leader. The premises should enable division into subgroups based on meaningful criteria (e. g. departmental mix) in order to avoid unnecessary tensions. A random classification is always preferable to the formation of groups according to personal preferences. Here, the pop effect method can also be used. – No let up A disadvantage of this method is that the goal cannot be addressed in depth. However, this disadvantage is significantly reduced if several rounds of Discussion 66 are carried out or if other methods are subsequently added to the innovation process. The time pressure, which can encourage participation, can also prove to be a disadvantage under certain circumstances – but this very much depends on the actual participants and the basic atmosphere.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

Disruptability

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Dispruptability should be used if there are too many ideas and it is desirable to determine early on whether these are developing into disruptive innovations and thus groundbreaking novelties. Thus, this methodology helps to make a statement at any point in the idea’s life cycle about its potential and whether it is worth pursuing. The most important thing here is to precisely examine the origin of the idea, i. e. the problem and search field from which it has come, in order to decide on the probability of whether a disruptive idea will develop. This is easily and transparently translated into a corresponding idea life cycle diagram (a socalled disruptiveness scale), which helps to steer the ideas in order to adjust the strategic orientation of your innovation management. This forecasting method is very new and uses the disruptiveness threshold to highlight which ideas are more disruptive and which perhaps only bring about step-by-step improvement, and can accordingly be described as incremental change. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Concrete sequence of the Disruptability method: Step 1: Finding problem and search fields The search fields are determined by observing, evaluating and interviewing.

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Step 2: Matrix-based evaluation of the search field Random further developments of the matrix are also possible. Reviews should are based on team commitment. Evaluation should be done by looking at “blind angles”. Step 3: Selection of disruptive search fields Prioritization of about five search fields, then successive processing of further search fields. Step 4: Start of the idea-finding workshops Concrete idea-finding workshops with various creative methods are conducted for the search fields. Step 5: Continuous evaluation of the resulting ideas using the disruptiveness scale Document and evaluate ideas from the workshops and transform them into diagrams. Step 6: Control of the idea life cycle Review and management of the life cycle of ideas based on the disruptiveness scale. Step 7: Increasing the probability of disruptive innovations Reliable and more likely prognosis of disruptive innovations. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Technology: PC or notebook Technique: Microsoft Excel

Experiences – Method surprises The simple predictability of disruptive ideas always surprises the participants. – Control of the innovation process The method makes the innovation process much easier to control and calibrate. If there is a need for more disruptive ideas, it is directed there, if incremental improvement is needed, it is more in this direction with the process activities.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.msp-innovation.com/leistungen/ inno-works/disruptability/ (April 2017)

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Double Head

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Double Head technique is a Brainfloating technique (see The Brainfloating Principle by Harald Bream) performed in teams of two. Each of the partners identifies with one half of the brain and its main competence. Although the hemispheric division of the brain, to which Bream referred in 1989, is now obsolete from a neuroscientific point of view, it can still be used today as a creativity technique to focus polar abilities. Where exactly cognitive and emotional abilities are located in the brain is of secondary importance to a successful implementation of the Double Head technique. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: A goal is defined in partner work. The task and all available information (including pictures and/or sketches) are clearly displayed on a pinboard. Step 2: Each of the partners now takes on their polar role. The person who takes on the role of the objective– logical has the task, also objective–logical, i. e., factually verifiable, of arguing methodically. The person who takes on the emotional–intuitive part addresses the problem with feelings, imagination and spontaneity. The fact that each participant takes on a clearly focused role brings contrast and tension to the task. Step 3: Then a role change is carried out. The one who now assumes the emotional–intuitive role builds on the

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observations of their predecessor and enriches them with positive emotions, praise and imagination. The person who now assumes the factual–logical role has the task of contradicting the statements of their partner with facts. Step 4: After a break, the new findings and sketches are added to the pinboard. Further, the common goal can now be evaluated differently and you can consider whether it needs to be modified with regard to the task at hand. Step 5: A new role change is carried out. All negative arguments of Steps 2 and 3 are converted to positive ones. Each of the partners must endorse the previously rejected arguments and affirm their suitability from their new viewpoint. The results of this step will be added to the pinboard. Step 6: A break for the incubation of ideas is important. After the break, the arguments that have been worked out are structured, analysed and checked for their usability as a solution. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors

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Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: A4 sheets People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team People: diverse mix of individuals Room: flipchart Room: creative and inspiring workspace Room: pinboards Tool: sellotape Tool: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Practice and moderator very helpful

This is a method that should not be used by “creative but untrained” people without a moderator. Especially at the start, an experienced moderator should be present to remind the partners of their roles again and again. Practise makes perfect here too.

Identified sources of the method Book – Brainfloating – Im Entspannungszustand spielerisch Ideen finden, H. Braem (mvg Verlag 1989) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/wiki/Doppelkopf (April 2017)

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Dot-mocrazy

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description With Dot-mocrazy a very simple methodology was developed to very easily cluster the large stock of ideas after initial Brainstorming rounds and thus separate the wheat from the chaff. Thename of this method is divided into “dot” and “mocrazy”, an abbreviation for democracy. In short, it can be translated as “democratic scoring”. In principle, Dot-mocracy can be assigned to the group of scale techniques. The ideas are divided into three groups: TOP Ideas, OK Ideas and OUT Ideas. Through clear guidelines on how to get to the TOP ideas that can be chosen, solid idea selection is decided on. A little more intuition must then be shown when distinguishing between OK Ideas and OUT Ideas, because no reconsideration is planned for the OUT Ideas within this method, while OK Ideas are to be evaluated again. With appropriate processing, a quick and easy evaluation round provides a simple and transparent overview of the status of the ideas. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling The following steps (according to Scherer/Brügger) are recommended for appropriate selection of ideas: Step 1: Decide which ideas will be further processed in each case. Preferably select six to twelve ideas to work

on further. This selection can be repeated in several steps. Step 2: All workshop participants receive about three to six glue dots which they can stick to the various idea cards for evaluation. This results in a ranking, which can be distinguished as: A. TOP Ideas: the six to twelve ideas with the most points B. OK Ideas: at least one or two points placed on these ideas C. OUT Ideas: have not received any points Step 3: The TOP Ideas can then be further refined. The OK Ideas are pulled out of the ideas drawer as they are needed for further processing, while the OUT Ideas do not receive any further attention. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: glue dots Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team 365

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Experiences – Anonymous scoring It is often advisable to award the points anonymously in order not to get into the dangerzone of point clouds (tendency of the participants to stick to places where many points already exist) and to generate neutral evaluations.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Dotmocracy Handbuch, A Simple Tool to Help Large Groups Find Agreement, J. Diceman (Createspace – März 2010) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2007)

Dreamscape

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Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Dreams are a rich source of ideas because they often contain combinations and rearrangements of events that we would not be able to make when awake. Dreams reveal connections you are not even aware you know! Many famous inventors, scientists, and artists “dreamed” of their important works. After an impressive dream, the philosopher René Descartes began a dream diary in 1619 – at the end of his notes stood his d new system of thinking. Author Robert Louis Stevenson dreamed his novellas before writing them down, and physicist Niels Bohr first saw the model of an atom in a dream. In a dream Elias Howe was surrounded by a forest tribe pointing spears at him with a hole in their tip – this model of the sewing needle became the breakthrough in his invention of the sewing machine! Sleep psychologists tell us that we have about six dreams a night – but most of them we forget. The “Dreamscape” method is about putting yourself into a productive dream state, filtering out the important aspects of a dream and recording the results. You will find that your dreams have to do with memories and experiences – including those related to your current challenge. Dreams interweave old and fresh experiences in new contexts in a unique story. With some practice of “creative dreaming”, the “correct” interpretation is the one that “works” for you. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration

Handling Step 1: Formulate a question about your challenge. Write the question down several times in a row and repeat it immediately before falling asleep. If necessary, do this several evenings in a row. First the consciousness has to deal with a problem for a while before the subconscious also takes up the task. Step 2: If you never or almost never remember your dreams, it may help to set the alarm for 30 minutes earlier then normal. This increases the chance of being awakened within a dream phase. When you wake up, lie for a moment and reflect on your dream – don’t let your thoughts of the day ahead distract you. Step 3: Keep a dream diary. Put it next to your bed and write down as many details of your dream as possible. If you can’t remember the dream itself, write down thoughts that just came to you – they may still be directly influenced by the last dream. Step 4: After a dream is noted down, ask yourself: – How were people, places and events in the dream connected with my question? – Who were the key people? – Does the dream change my question? – What elements of the dream could solve my problem? – What associations does the dream trigger in me, which I can use for my challenge? – Does the dream give me an answer? Step 5: Take one or two dream images and associate freely with them. Write loose thoughts about them. Do this day by day and the more your diary fills up, the more experienced you will become in interpretation. Step 6: Keep your dream diary up to date. If you practice remembering your dreams, you will retain more and more details over time. Then begin to recognize patterns and recurring images. Your dreams will become richer and richer in images and metaphorical meanings. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents unreflected action – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation

Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person

Experiences – Talk about dreams

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets

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Members of a team dreamed more intensely and remembered their dreams better when they began to regularly tell each other about them.

Identified sources of the method Book – Meditationes, lateinisch-deutsche Ausgabe, R. Descartes (Philosophische Bibliothek, Meiner – Hamburg) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Turn It Around!

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description With “Turn It Around!” the participants are instructed to deal first with the possible obstacles surrounding and doubts about a topic. This paves the way for positive aspects and opportunities that will arise. Especially when fears and worries about an approach are written down and highlighted, positive possibilities can be developed more comprehensively and more freely. This method differs from the Headstand technique in particular in that thinking is freed from obstacles or concerns before the actual work on ideas begins. Most importantly with this technique, the attitude to a question is freed from fears. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Preparation: Clearly and legibly record the topic, the task, the product, etc. to be worked on. Then hang up at least four flipchart sheets in two rows. Write HOPE centrally on the upper left paper and the word FEARon the sheet below. All participants will receive Post-its or moderation cards and pens. The first task for the participants is to write fears, concerns, obstacles or other problems on the Post-its/ moderation cards. Allow about five to ten minutes for this. Then collect the results and glue them to the bottom row of flipchart sheets. If desired, the participants can say something about their thoughts. In the next step,

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participants should consider how the collected points can be reinterpreted as positive thoughts/hopes and perspectives. Here, too, you should allow between five and ten minutes for people to capture their thoughts. Again collect the cards/paper slips and distribute them on the upper sheets. Here, too, you should allow the participants to explain their thoughts on a voluntary basis. Now the participants can use glue dots to determine which of the hopes seem reasonable from their point of view. Write the “winners” of this vote on new pieces of paper and staple them on a new sheet that is headed with the title “Execution”. In a joint brainstorming session, possible approaches and measures are now assigned to cards. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents misinterpretations – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: paper in flipchart size Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: post-its Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000)

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Turn It Around!

Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer Room: wall surfaces Room: pinboards

Experiences – Additional techniques for large groups and many fears If many fears are expressed, whetherusing this method with a larger group, or working on a topic that raises many concerns, you should first identify them after collecting participants’ thoughts. Uuse helpful techniques such as “map sorting” or “togetherness plan”. – Focus on fears Put the main focus on fears. Because if all concerns are expressed and recorded out loud, they can be effectively invalidated or turned into positive considerations. This also helps skeptical participants to work on an idea and to get involved.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Three Good Ones – Three Bad Ones

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Note: With “Three Good Ones – Three Bad Ones” the critics have to take a stand and consciously deal with good aspects of the idea. In this way they open themselves to the idea, and reservations are tempered right from the start. Afterwards, it is easier to determine the future path of the idea and to concretize it through the use of further methods.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The method “Three Good Ones – Three Bad Ones” provides feedback, evaluation and exchange of views on ideas and projects. With a direct focus on bad, i. e. negative, aspects of an idea or a project, it can also be used to involve idea deniers. Further, it is an easy way to find out what level of knowledge already exists about the task or product. The knowledge gained here can then flow directly into further idea finding and idea enrichment and, as a nice side-effect, also convinces strong critics of the project. Generated output Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: All participants write down three negative and three positive thoughts about the idea or the project, for example on moderation cards. Note: The negative aspects should always be taken as a starting point, only then should the positive considerations also be put on paper. The prerequisite is that no more than three aspects are written down; fewer are always permitted. Step 2: Now the participants present their noted points. Very often you see that first all participants present only their negative points and in a second round all their positive ones. Step 3: The moderator then summarizes the observations and invites the participants to discuss them as a group.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Moderator must be vigilant This method is easy to use. However, the moderator in particular must ensure that critical participants are not exposed. – Exact task important In order to be able to limit oneself to only three aspects for consideration, a short, precise task or product description is indispensable. – Negative experience with the problem helps Especially with untrained teams, it makes sense to start with a negative experience of the team or individual team members. This opens the mindset of participants.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das Buch der Ideen, K. Duncan (Midas Management Verlag AG – September 2016)

Triad

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The he Triad technique (see Brainfloating by Harald Bream), according to the principle of synaesthesia, is about the playful handling of different sensory qualities. These are connected to each other even though they are not actually physically linked. From neuroscience, we know that sensory qualities do not have to be experienced separately. For example, blind people can experience color by touching something. So blue can feel sticky, red dull, and so on. The separation of sensory qualities is not genetically fixed, but arises only through the formation of linguistic categories in the respective cultural sphere. Our brain can experience sensory qualities both individually and in combination. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The aim is to rethink or reposition products or services during development, to free oneself from patterns of thought and identification or to find new ways of describing them. A clear challenge, such as “developing a campaign for a drink”, is formulated at the beginning of the process. The question is, “If this drink was a candle, how would it sing?” (Example from www.creapedia.com/ wiki/Dreiklang, 15 September 2016.) The two terms “candle” and “sing” are added to the question. They are not related to the term “drink”.

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Now concentrate on the term “drink” and write down everything you can think of to fill the meaning space of this term with adjectives, verbs and nouns. Auxiliary materials such as magazines, catalogs, Internet, etc. can serve as inspiration throughout the entire process. Associate collected thoughts with the second term “candle”. The associations and thoughts evoked by the second term are used to place them in a new context of meaning with the first term: “How can these previously found qualities be made to shine? Where is there anything comparable? Which shapes and colors correspond to the previously found properties? And how can this drink arouse such feelings as dreamily looking into a burning candle?” (Questions from www.creapedia.com/wiki/Dreiklang, 15 September 2016) In the next step ask yourself the question: “How would this drink, this ‘candle-like’ drink, sing?” (Example from www.creapedia.com/wiki/Dreiklang, September 15, 2016.) All your senses and imagination are required. Collect the thoughts and associations that come to mind and then apply them to the original product. In order to make even better use of all sensory levels and increase your ability to experience your own senses, supplement the whole thing with a body movement that occurs to you spontaneously. These can be powerful, dance-like movements, for example from modern dance. Perhaps you would like to inspire participants a dance video by a popular musician. It’ll be unfamiliar, but have the guts to do it – it’s worth it. You will know when you have found a movement or movement sequence that is appropriate. It should be playful, because this is the only way to integrate the fullness of emotions, associations, analogies and thoughts into a new, powerful whole. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: pens People: multidisciplinary team People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer Tool: recording device Room: sufficiently large room Room: pinboards Tool: sellotape

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Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Method for later brainstorming This is more of an advanced method for innovation. That’s why you shouldn’t use it directly with creative newcomers. The Triad technique should also be used after methods such as Brainstorming or 6-3-5 or similar. Then great success can be achieved. – Easy exercise in advance Slightly lighter exercises such as “How does a certain color taste or feel?” are beneficial as warm-up activities.

Identified sources of the method Book – Brainfloating – Im Entspannungszustand spielerisch Ideen finden, H. Braem (mvg Verlag 1989) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/wiki/Dreiklang (April 2017)

Clear View

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ideas seems more important from the point of view of the group for achieving the goal. The two cards are hung one below the other, the more important card above the other. Then another idea is selected and assessed in its value to the other two ideas and hung up accordingly. Continue this way until all previously highlighted ideas are listed in a column. At the end, you will have a clear list of ideas that reflect a clear prioritization.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description At some point in the Brainstorming process, ideas must also be evaluated. Purely objective criteria are rarely sufficient to really make a statement about which idea should be pursued or implemented. If several people meet for this purpose, it is difficult to get a uniform assessment without major discussion. With the Clear View method, a form of forced ranking, you can introduce the group bit by bit to a suitable and comprehensible prioritization of ideas. This strengthens the motivation for supporting the selected ideas and also helps you understand why your own favorites do not get a chance at first. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling At the start, collect all ideas or projects ready for evaluation and write them on single cards or sticky notes. These are then mixed well. Individual ideas are gradually presented and then discussed in the group, as to which advantages this idea has or why that one should be pursued further. Write the advantages on cards or stickers and put them next to the idea. If an idea has been discussed enough, the next idea is drawn at random. Thus all ideas are examined step by step, individually, with positive aspects and advantages are noted. It is important that the group stand united on these advantages – it is not acceptable for some participants to overrule others. When all ideas are illuminated in such a way, the moderator is needed. They first take two randomly selected ideas and ask the participants which of the two

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: post-its Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Do not allow discussions Avoid discussions that run on endlessly. These inhibit the motivation to evaluate ideas openly and productively. In addition, experience shows that they usually take place at the start of the process and once you have found a rhthym, the work becomes more effective and team oriented. – Leave time to find advantages It is important to give the participants enough time to work out the benefits of each idea. Participants who stick to a certain opinion are not stubborn per se, but sometimes have more knowledge about the idea. Therefore, try to discover this knowledge in order to present it to the other participants.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) BOOK – Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play, L. Hohmann (Pearson Education – September 2006)

EBS – “Explore Both Sides” 3.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The EBS method is particularly useful when it comes to putting arguments for an idea to the test and questioning them. EBS stands here for “Explore Both Sides” or, originally, “Examine Both Sides”. The crux of the technique is to examine a point of view more closely and to consider it as neutrally as possible. According to Edward de Bono, the inventor of this tool, it is very human to perceive other points of view only superficially and to defend one’s own views as steadfastly as possible. EBS helps to illuminate different views in a value-neutral way and only then to connect them again with one’s own values and preferences. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Edward de Bono offers several ways to explore the two sides of an idea. 1. The Essay Give the participants the task of writing a letter, essay, script or the like, which seriously and from two sides illuminates the disputed point, without a reader being able to tell which attitude the author takes. This method is rather time-consuming and works best if you want to objectively and seriously consider a fundamental question. 2. The Presentation Give a participant the task of giving a presentation on a topic from a particular point of view. When they have finished, “spontaneously” give them the next task of discussing exactly the opposite perspective, as objectively and non-judgmentally as possible.

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The Discussion Divide the participants into two equal groups (or several equal teams). These should first collect arguments as a group for a particular point of view. The groups then meet and try to convince the other/s of their argument. After the first discussion, the groups exchange points of view and then the procedure is repeated. This method requires some practise, as it is often difficult to argue against one’s own convictions while remaining objective.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: flipchart Moderation: paper Tool: colored pencils Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Poll opinion During the process, it can be very informative to ask anonymously and discreetly about an opinion in the various stages of discussion. This allows you to ask each participant how they feel about the topic before the start of the task, before the first discussion, after the first discussion and after the end of the second discussion, rated using academic grades. If these are shown after the technique has been completed, there is often an “Aha!” moment as to how opinions (can) change.

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005)

ERAF Systems Diagram 4.

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Flows These are the directions of actions or entities to each other. Effect directions can be temporary or represent a permanent process from input to output. Words such as “from/to”, “in/out”, “before/after” or “first/last” are used to describe the directions of action.

The ERAF Systems Diagram works on two levels. It synthesizes a system from all its components, and simultaneously analyzes it to uncover existing or emerging problems, gaps or disparities. Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The ERAF Systems Diagram is a very efficient analysis tool to quickly gain a holistic view on a system to be changed. Entities, relationships, attributes and directions of action are systematically examined and visually represented. With this tool complex systems can be analyzed. If, for example, you want to innovate and understand a system such as a supermarket, a library, a salesroom or a production process, you are well equipped to handle the task with this method. Let’s look at the four areas that the ERAF Systems Diagram analyzes per system: 1. Entities The entities are the relevant main components of a system (people, places, areas, things). In a supermarket, for example, these would be customers, staff, shelves, checkout area, deposit return, parking spaces, etc. 2. Relationships Here the way in which the individual entities are fundamentally connected with each other is described. Example: “Staff advise the customer”, “Customer runs to return the deposit return desk”, and so on. It is preferable to use verbs to describe the relationships between entities. 3. Attributes These are primarily the properties of the entities. This part of the analysis is about qualitative attributes, which also include brands, names, perceptions and emotions, as well as quantitative attributes such as quantity, age, size, cost, duration or other dimensions.

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates key questions for idea generation Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Identify the entities of the system. Draw the identified, relevant entities as circles on as large a sheet of paper as possible or on a wall. Step 2: Describe the relationships and directions of action. Using lines, arrows and text between the entities (circles), represent all identified and relevant relationships and directions of action between the entities. You can also use color codes here. Step 3: Find attributes. Try to find as many attributes as possible for each entity and draw them as small circles around each one. Step 4: Refine the diagram. Discuss the diagram as a team in order to check it for traceability, clarity and completeness and to supplement it if necessary. Step 5: Analyze the chart. Joint analysis considers conspicuous features such as accumulations, gaps, missing components and misunderstandings in order to uncover existing or emerging potential, problems or needs. Step 6: Extract insights. Extract the findings for your innovation project. These can be unresolved problems, innovation search fields, potentials or even key questions.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

– – – –

Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

Experiences – Different viewing angles

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

It can be extremely productive to have a certain system examined by two different teams using the ERAF Systems Diagram. The difference in perspective leads to a difference in the diagrams, which often shows exciting potential. In addition, this difference can be usefully employed for team building and reflection on different perspectives.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

UDI – “Unity, Disunity, Irrelevance”

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Usually these are small counter-opinions, which have no great effect on progress, or there is still a need for knowledge and the necessary additional arguments, in order to close the gap further. It is also possible to bypass the disagreements and seek a different solution. In any case, the reduction to the essential different approaches is helpful to minimize resistance and to allow the team to continue to work together constructively.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The UDI method supports teams in talks and evaluations during innovation projects by reducing the discussion to essential points. It is very closely linked to the UDI method. UDI helps to analyse the views gained through that technique and to classify the relevant contrasts. The acronym UDI stands for Unity, Disunity, Irrelevance. The original name is ADI – Agreement, Disagreement, Irrelevance. The arguments of UDI in different views on a question are divided into three groups: 1. Views, values and arguments on which both sides agree. 2. Views, values and arguments about which there is disagreement on both sides. 3. Views, values and arguments for which agreement is considered irrelevant by both sides. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Once the various points of view on an idea or question have been made clear, ideally using the EBS method, the respective arguments can be collected and assigned to the three UDI areas. Afterwards, the areas of unity and irrelevance can be excluded, since they are either shared by all or are not needed for the real answer to the question. The points about which different views exist can now be examined with a focus on their importance and meaning. On the one hand, it now becomes clear which points still stand in the way of agreement or joint progress and what influence they have on the question.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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UDI – “Unity, Disunity, Irrelevance”

Experiences – Visualize arguments This method works very well if you arrange the individual arguments in a very clear visual manner and separate them by clusters. It is therefore advisable to work with large, colored moderation cards and objections.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005)

Edison’s Principle

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Generates ideas plus initial funding and feasibility studies

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Edison’s Principle is a creativity technique for finding ideas, developed by Jens-Uwe Meyer. From 2006 to 2008, Meyer investigated the working methods of inventor Thomas Alva Edison, from which he derived the eponymous principle. Jens-Uwe Meyer has a comforting message: You don’t have to be a genius to have good ideas! Even Thomas Edison did not shake his numerous inventions up his sleeve, but worked purposefully towards them. The Principle consists of six steps, according to which Edison systematically developed his ideas: The creative person must … – recognize the chances of success of their idea – leave the current way of thinking and find new ways – genuinely seek inspiration – create a flash of inspiration – organize their ideas and insights – and get the most out of the process. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions

Handling Step 1: Recognize Identify search fields with the greatest potential for success. The first step is to search for concrete fields of opportunity. The aim is to identify unsolved problems, find weaknesses in existing solutions and discover future trends. Which search fields have the potential for successful ideas? In the end, you don’t choose the best idea, but decide during the idea development process which directions are worth pursuing. Step 2: Define Get to the bottom of problems, develop new questions. Develop concrete questions that will help you to explore the search field and leave the usual paths of thought behind you. In this step, the well-founded basis for the search for ideas is created. You will learn to find new solutions and thus create extensive possibilities for finding answers to problems. Step 3: Inspire Look beyond the end of your nose. In the third step, become a sponge for ideas: absorb ideas everywhere that can help you further. The most important thing in the search for inspiration is the change from the concrete to the abstract level. You will break out of your own thinking environment and start looking for inspiration in other areas. Clever solutions, analogies and approaches from other industries stimulate the mind. Step 4: Collect fFash of inspiration The fourth step is the idea generation phase – for many the actual creative phase. In the systematic development of ideas, however, creativity is an important component in the entire process: from the search for opportunities to the definition of questions to the optimization of concepts and the maximization of benefits. If the preparatory work was good, thoughts sometimes seem to generate themselves. Develop new ideas first without evaluation; in this step there are no bad ideas. Step 5: Optimize From the idea to the concept. Filter out the promising ideas and “knead” them. In the end, concepts emerge that are perfected through critical scrutiny and constant optimization. This is the step for which you need the most patience and frustration tolerance. The important message is – don’t give up!

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Edison’s Principle

Step 6: Benefit Develop implementation strategies In order to use your concept optimally, develop further ideas in the sixth step: those that allow your idea to be implemented, convince your environment of the uniqueness of the innovation, help market your concept. This step is what ultimately makes the difference between an ingenious invention and a successful innovation.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium

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Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Picks up structured people Edison’s Principle is particularly valued by people who like structures and guidelines. In very traditional corporate cultures, for example, it can be used successfully as a preliminary stage to agile Design Thinking in order to better include people.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das Edison-Prinzip, J. U. Meyer (Campus Verlag – März 2014) Web – http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreativitätstechniken (April 2017)

Effectuation

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2.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description This concept describes how an innovation project can be successful without pursuing perfectionism and with realistic goals – despite a lack of knowledge and experience. The term “Effectuation” was coined by Saras Sarasvathy during her research in the field of entrepreneurship and formulated as a concept with four main pillars. Effectuation distinguishes itself from classic teaching and describes how an idea or a (business) project can be led to success by reacting to circumstances. The greater the lack of knowledge of a topic or a procedure, the more suitable Effectuation is compared to traditional approaches in terms of goal orientation, expected return, risk management and perfect partnerships. Generated output Creates a vision or future scenario Creates defined target corridors Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Handling Effectuation describes four individual principles for being successful in an entrepreneurial or innovative way: 1. Middle Orientation Ask yourself the questions: “Who are we/who am I?”, “What do we know/what do I know?”, “Who do we know/who do I know?” Align your goals with the answer to: “What goes with what I can do and know?” Use existing potential concepts to successfully achieve smaller innovation goals, if necessary, instead of failing with large goals.

Affordable Loss Describe how much commitment you are willing to risk: Time, capital and reputation. Assume that you completely lose your bet. In this way, failure is bearable and the risks are not overestimated. 3. Chance and Circumstances as Ppportunity Always react to changes by flexibly adapting your strategy and take advantage of new perspectives. Changing circumstances raise the following questions: “What new opportunities are there?”, “What additional options have arisen?”, “What new goals can I set for myself?” 4. Partnerships with Interested Parties Strive for partners who want to get involved in your innovation project. This is usually only the case if the project matches the capabilities and expertise of these partners. That’s why you’re turning the objective around. Do not search for perfect partners, but for the perfect project for yourself and the existing partners. And be open to people who want to get involved: adapt goals and processes to these people. The concrete application of these four principles inevitably results in iteration loops. These loops should always be as short as possible in order to quickly develop your innovation project further. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) 385

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Effectuation

Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Notes

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Experiences – Choice of partner Particularly when looking for a partner, qualities such as reliability, motivation, willingness to take risks and commitment are much more important than professional skills or favorable conditions. A new project needs energy above all and only later professional perfection.

Identified sources of the method Book – Innerinnovation, B. Buck, U. Buck (LiteraturVSM – September 2014) Publikation – Effectuation. Unternehmerisch Denken und Handeln kann jeder lernen. M. Faschingbauer (Thema Wirtschaft – Mai 2016)

A Kid Wants to Know

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description In innovation projects, this technique creates clarity in complex situations. During a workshop or creative meeting, this method explains existing issues or functions that are to be improved in such a way that a child understands them clearly and without misunderstanding. This results in clarity and focus on the essential aspects of a problem. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Handling A workshop participant explains a situation, a process, an object or a function. The other participants may help them. They may not use foreign words or special technical terms. Even complex sentence structure is taboo. The explanation must be formulated in such a way that a child can understand it and reproduce it in their own words. For help with this, follow the principle of simple language, such as the Hamburg concept of comprehensibility, the core elements of which are: – Simplicity Short sentences (9 to 13 words), short words (up to three syllables), familiar words (no foreign words or technical terms).

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– Structure Only one thought per sentence, the essentials at the beginning of the text and at the beginning of a sentence, showing meanings through separate paragraphs. – Conciseness Verbs (instead of nouns), pictorial language. – Suggestion Use of explanatory metaphors, images and graphics. The advantage of this technique is that it can be used straight away and without further explanation. Using simple means, it helps to quickly identify weak points and problems within a given situation. This method is particularly important with multidisciplinary project teams such as those used in Design Thinking. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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A Kid Wants to Know

Recommended resources No special resources required

Experiences – Take the child’s role

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

It helps if one of the listeners takes on the role of a child and consciously asks simple questions, and repeatedly goes back to them if they feel that they are not yet formulated simply enough. – One variant is: “A managing director wants to know.” What is often helpful for loosening up a group is to start this method with the introduction: “It must even be understood by the management” – because often the management is as far away from the business as a kindergarten child.

Identified sources of the method Book – Seminare, Trainings und Workshops lebendig gestalten, A. Lienhart (Haufe Lexware 2015)

Notes

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Simple Focus

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want to create a list of all product parts or properties that have not yet been addressed in projects.) Step 2: Now consider why the nature, mode of action, execution, etc. cannot also be designed differently. By asking this you focus on a partial aspect of a product or a process without questioning the latter, simply in order to question and examine the aspect itself. Tip: Sometimes it is sufficient to simply note these so-called focus points and then address them later with other creativity techniques. Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Simple Focus is a very effective creativity technique that does not concentrate on solving a problem, but instead focuses on an area that has not yet been subjected to critical/creative scrutiny. This method is suitable for effectively achieving improvements in existing, successful products or processes or generating ideas that would have fallen by the wayside with current approaches. It is especially interesting if you want to change your course, but don’t know yet in which direction the journey should develop. An example from the inventor of this method, Edward de Bono, illustrates very nicely the effect of Simple Focus: Imagine a normal water glass and look at the edge of the glass. Would it make sense to offer a replaceable rim, for example for hygiene reasons? Could the floor be fitted with a cooling unit to keep the drinks cool? In contrast to a Creative Break, you do not step out of a creative process, but focus on one aspect without looking for concrete solutions. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Simple Focus can be used anytime and anywhere. Step 1: Take a closer look at any aspect of a challenge that you or others have not yet considered. (You may

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required

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Simple Focus

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Start with the less obvious aspects Simple Focus must be practiced. Therefore, start with less obvious aspects of the product or process. It makes it easier to practice this technique.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

The Simplest Way Out

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Example based on De Bono: A girl learns that her boyfriend has asked out her best friend. Alternative response options: 1: She pretends to know nothing. 2: She confronts him. 3: She blames him. 4: She asks the girlfriend to drop the plan. 5: She’s dates someone else.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Simplest Way Out method is kept very simple and clear, since it is intended to clarify the fact that when considering alternative possibilities, you can always find the one that ultimately offers the simplest way out of a dilemma or the most logical justification for an alternative route. You can, however can deduce from this that the conscious choice of an alternative is always a subjective decision and therefore has no general validity. It is conclusive for the individual involved, understandable to them, and absolutely consciously met. Rather, it helps if the decision can still be justified. The dilemma is then resolved and the subjective rationale for the decision is clearly improved. It follows from this that often no complicated evaluations are required to make a decision, but concentration on the essential factors of the simplest way out is sufficient. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The following step-by-step approach is recommended: Step 1: Transparent presentation of the problem. Step 2: List of all alternative solutions to the problem. Step 3: Conscious, subjective selection of the simplest solution after evaluation of all circumstances and monitoring criteria. Step 4: Justification of the choice of the simplest solution and presentation of reasons. Step 5: Documenting the simplest alternative plus justification.

The choice of the simplest alternative depends strongly on personality. That is why in this example, no recommendation can be given. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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The Simplest Way Out

Experiences – Pragmatic solution finding The simplest, fastest way out can provide good solutions.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Book – Tactics, The Art and Science of Success, E. de Bono (Profile Books 2002)

Elementary Transformations

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Step 2: Describe the physical contradiction as precisely as possible. Step 3: Now go through the four transforming principles and try to develop ideas for the problem at hand. Try to find as many as possible from each principle; if one principle is not applicable, just move on to the next. A good example of this step can be found in Denkwerkzeuge der Kreativität und Innovation by Florian Rustler:

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Elementary Transformations are used in the idea generation phase to solve physical contradictions. The principle of this method comes from the TRIZ method. It can be used to specifically find new ideas that solve contradictions. Example: A car should drive as fast as possible, but at the same time consume as little fuel as possible. The parameters used for the transforming operations are “fast driving” and “low consumption”. The following four principles are used for transforming: 1. Separation in space: The different parameters are implemented, spatially separated. 2. Separation in time: The different parameters are implemented at different times. 3. Separation in the relationship: The specifications are realized under different conditions. 4. Separation by system transition: A An object consists of several components. The entire object has a property that the components do not have, or B A component is part of a larger whole and has a particular property that the whole does not have. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Formulate a concrete challenge for which you need new ideas.

What would a smartphone look like that is small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket and big enough to read books on? Application of the principles: Separation in space: – a smartphone with a fold-out screen that can be either small or large – a smartphone with a retractable display that can double in size when needed – a smartphone with a screen on the front and back of the device Separation in time: – a device that slowly reduces the font size the longer the device is on, so that the eyes can get used to it – a smartphone that adjusts resolution and font size according to usage mode to make the most of space Separation in the relationship: – when displaying books, the font is automatically reduced to fit more text on the page – a smartphone that automatically scrolls the text by tilting it. When the device is moved to the right, the text scrolls accordingly – A device that automatically detects whether it needs to grow or shrink, for example by applying pressure to the sides Separation by system transition: – a smartphone that can be paired with any other nearby screen to expand the display size – a smartphone with an integrated projector that can project text onto any surface – a smartphone that can pair with other smartphones to enlarge the screens Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

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Elementary Transformations

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Stubbornness is rewarded The method is not as simple as it looks and requires discipline on the part of the participants.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

Elevator Pitch – –

Innovation phase P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Presentation of an idea with the Elevator Pitch – sounds simple and well known, but is quite tricky to implement. Imagine you have a groundbreaking concept and meet the potential decision-maker or an important stakeholder by chance in the elevator. You now have the unique opportunity to convince them of the idea during the elevator ride. Unfortunately, the journey does not take two hours, only one to two minutes. The challenge of this method is to precisely work out all the essential features of the concept and present them briefly and concisely. Therefore the Elevator Pitch is usually described as a presentation method. As a creativity method it is very helpful because it forces participants to concentrate on the most important points and to find answers to the difficult questions. This allows weak points to be identified and open questions answered that would otherwise easily be swept under the carpet, as they are often dismissed as purely marketing problems. It is precisely this aspect, however, that must also be given intensive consideration. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling At the start of preparation there is a kind of idea-finding phase (depending on the complexity, maybe 30 to 45 minutes). Gatherany ideas on the following aspects in conjunction with other methods such as Brainstorming, Post-up, Headstand etc.: – Target Audience – Customer Requirements – Product Benefit

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Competitive Products (Market Observation) USP (= Unique Selling Proposition) or Unique Selling Characteristic

Further points can be product name and product category, to be decided in the respective situations. First, write down some catchy questions about these aspects on flipcharts or pinboards, for example: “What are the three most important arguments for using our product?” Take the time to explain the terms used in detail so that they are not discussed during the idea-finding phase. Then give the participants enough time to come up with answers. The group should then sort, evaluate and also prioritize the responses in order to achieve a common understanding on each point. The subsequent design phase (15 to 20 minutes) serves to structure the arguments for a short presentation and to find the appropriate form for doing this. Divide into individual groups, each working on its own presentation. It is not necessary that there is a finished presentation at the end, but that there is a concept or a concrete approach on how the idea can be presented most convincingly. Finally, the participants can decide on one or more presentations to be developed further. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Elevator Pitch

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: paper in flipchart size Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Room: flipchart Room: wall surfaces Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – The goal is not a finished presentation Don’t expect too much. Once you have found concrete answers to the relevant questions and a possible form of presentation, the group will have achieved a lot. Finally, you can hire someone to create a finished presentation, make it to the group at a new time, and fine-tune it. – Final role play If the presentations are already very advanced, you can perform a kind of role play. The groups present the idea to the board, the target group, at a press conference, at a trade fair or the like. The other participants are the listeners and may ask critical questions. In a modification, you can first instruct the groups to work out a presentation. Afterwards you organize the role play at a later time and turn it into a small, fun event.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Empathy Map

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description Empathy Maps or Personas are mainly used in the understanding and observation phases of Design Thinking and Lean Startup Innovation. The Empathy Map transforms an abstract target group, the potential customers, into a concrete person – including your own feelings, needs, problems and wishes. More and more companies understand that there is nothing more important than recognizing the unconscious needs of customers. You can’t start from zero, though, you have to have a rough idea of where you’re going before creating the Empathy Map. The Empathy Map helps to capture the individuals or groups being considered on an emotional level. Alexander Osterwalder’s Value Proposition Design approach also includes a persona tool. A typical Empathy Map uses four aspects – seeing, hearing, thinking and feeling. – See: “What does the person see at the moment or in a certain situation?” – Hear: “What is the person hearing right now or in a particular situation?” – Think: “What does the person think about what they have just heard or seen (acoustic/visual perception) based on their experiences and expectations?” – Feel: “How does the person feel about what they have seen, heard and thought? Is there any discrepancy that may lead to discomfort or uneasiness?” Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs

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Handling Step 1: Use a flipchart or brownpaper and divide it by a diagonal cross into four fields, which you then name See, Hear, Think and Feel (alternatively, use ready-made Empathy Map worksheets from different providers). Step 2: In the middle of the cross, paste the name and, if available, a picture of the person being observed. Step 3: Fill in the Map (as a team) by writing each participant’s contributions/observations on this person on Post-its and locating them in the appropriate field. Step 4: Discuss the new findings and anomalies as a team. Step 5: Use and renew the Map after an observation session or interview with the details actually seen and discuss the new findings, or possible deviations and reasons for them. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period

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Empathy Map

Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Moderation: post-its Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: moderator/trainer People: diverse mix of individuals Technique: camera Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Large and visual working It helps us as visual beings, especially with this method, to work on a large surface (Brownpaper) and with small sketches, visualizations and pictures of the people being analysed.

Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Room: flipchart

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014) Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012) Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

Entities Position Map

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Entities Position Map shows correlations and accumulations of items, facts and analysis results in relation to two relevant project parameters. This method helps to synthesize results and derivativations from a set of analysis results by helping to visualize the relationships among the individual results. Especially in the synthesis phase of innovation projects, this method reliably helps to gain an overview, to recognize new possibilities and to support team communication. It often prevents endless differences and discussion, and ensures valid and positive developments and guiding questions. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Collect the items that you want to consider with this method. These can be: identified problems, needs, customer groups, brands, complementors, activities or whatever. Step 2: Now define the attributes or scales with which you want to relate your values. These attributes should be correlated with your project goals or limiting factors. Now create a coordinate system on a pinboard from two crossed axes and label them with your attributes (examples: small to large, cheap to expensive, old to new, local to international, etc.).

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Step 3: Place all items and values as single Post-its in the Entities Position Map. You may want to start with the values that you can classify most clearly – values that occupy extreme axis positions, for example. It is important that the values stand in understandable relationships to each other. Step 4: Start the analysis of your Entities Position Map. Proceed in such a way that you take on different perspectives and points of view one after the other. For instance: – Extreme Values: Consider only the values in the corners of the Entities Position Map – Groupings: View unique groups or clusters of values – Gaps: Now examine the gaps or open spaces in the Entities Position Map – Quadrants: Analyze each quadrant Identify further perspectives and ask yourself questions about each one, such as: “Are the value relationships expected or rather unexpected and can we explain why?” Step 5: Share the results with your team and other project participants and discuss the results to arrive at relevant derivations and insights. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Entities Position Map

Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Room: wall surfaces Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: post-its

Notes

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception Experiences – Particularly good for large number of values The Entities Position Map demonstrates its visual strength in particular with large sets of values and knowledge bases. In general, working in parallel on large pinboards or walls is recommended.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Decision Model (after Krogerus and Tschäppeler)

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Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description In innovation processes, important decisions have to be made continuously: What idea are we pursuing? What materials do we purchase? Who becomes part of the task force? Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler, authors of The Change Book, have compiled various decision strategies to help you make the right decision. The diagram shows seven strategies in relation to each other, so that different steps are taken in your Decision Model and thus help you to make a good decision: 1. Consciously design the search process. 2. Limit selection. 3. Is “good enough” enough for you? 4. Do not be afraid of the consequences. 5. Trust your first impression. 6. Let someone else decide. 7. Do not question your decision.

Handling With regard to an upcoming decision, use the seven steps for reflection and support. Step 1: Determine the search strategy Set yourself limits if you are looking for information that will help you make the decision – how long you will research the Internet, how many friends will you ask, how many magazines will you read and how many retailers you will visit? Step 2: Limit the choice of decision options Start early to reduce the number of possible decision options. It is a mistake to believe that our decisions would be better if there was a great choice. In fact, we spend a lot of time weighing all the options – at worst, we make the decision too late or not at all. Step 3: Accept “good enough”. Choose options that meet your basic needs rather than always looking for one hundred percent best. Step 4: Do not be afraid of the consequences The American psychologist Daniel Gilbert wrote: “The consequences of most decisions are less lasting than one might think.” Step 5: Trust your first impression There’s a lot of research going on about our intuition. Apparently, our subconscious knows more than we understand. And: We accept wrong decisions that we have made in the heat of the moment rather than those with a long preceding decision-making process. Step 6: Let someone else decide Simona Botti was able to prove something interesting in experiments at Cornell University: The assumption that we are happier when we have everything in our hands is wrong! In fact, when making our own decisions, we are faced with the nagging doubt that we have not chosen the best option. So ask another person or flip a coin. Step 7: Do not question your decision once it has been made Follow the chosen idea! Buy the material. Name the members of the task force. The relationships between these decision-making aids and possible sequences suggested by Krogerus and Tschäppeler can be seen in the diagram. Ignatius of Loyola, the co-founder of the Jesuit Order, proposed a simple method of decision-making in the 16th century: “For three days, pretend as if you had al401

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Decision Model (after Krogerus and Tschäppeler)

ready decided on a choice. During these three days, write down all your thoughts, feelings and dreams. Then proceed in the same way with the other choices. Compare your notes at the end and decide.” Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – A drawing to smile at In companies, important decisions sometimestake so long to make that they stop making sense. The graphics in Krogerus and Tschäppeler’s The Change Book simplify many things and present a kind of boardgame schedule with a knowing wink. However, they convey the truth that we must reduce options in order to actually make a decision. In a debate that was becoming heated, I once opened The Change Book. The graphic of the Decision Model made the decision-makers smile and soon a decision was reached.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013) Book – The Locus Of Choice; Personal Causality and Satisfaction with Hedonic and Utilitarian Decisions, S. Botti (Journal of Consumer Research 2010)

Decision Tree

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The sum of the probabilities must always be 100 percent at the node. The branches are also provided with alternatives for action. Step 3: The DecisionTree values are calculated. Decisions and events lead to a result. The evaluation takes place with the help of the so-called rollback process: Starting at the end of the branches, the decision values for each decision node are determined by multiplying values. Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This method is suitable for multi-stage evaluation and selection of the “right” ideas. The prerequisites is previously identified solution approaches to a problem. These approaches can be very similar or completely different. In order to be able to evaluate them properly, a clear graphic representation is useful, to bring clarity into the formulation of the goal. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The Decision Tree is used to illustrate a multi-level decision-making process with successive decision alternatives. There are two ways to illustrate the process using the Tree, either from a temporal or a logical point of view. For the first decision situation, there are branches that represent alternatives and possibilities. You can follow each branch further or reject it. The aim is to systematically pursue the structure until a satisfactory result is achieved. The first step is to define and formulate the question on which a decision is to be taken. The Decision Tree works in three steps: Rectangle = decision situation Circle = events or states Triangle = consequences Step 1: The tree is created. Branches are drawn for the various possible actions. The decision-maker chooses a branch to follow. Step 2: Probabilities are evaluated. The probabilities are entered on the branches.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Decision Tree

Experiences – Graphically clear The clearer the graphic visualization, the better the process. Suitability The method is primarily suitable for large-scale projects in the field of research and development (R&D). – Advantage and disadvantage Advantage: clear presentation of complex – and all – decision-making problems. Disadvantage: The overview can easily be lost if the Decision Tree becomes too complex.

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Notes

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Identified sources of the method Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entscheidungsbaum (April 2017) Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013) Web – http://managementmethoden.info/TBManagementwerkzeuge/Entscheidungsbaum (Mai 2017)

Decision Cake

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This feedback technique is not only about opinions, but also about focal points and weighting. The opinions and focal points – on a challenge or on an idea – of the entire team are expressed very quickly and vividly with this technique. Contrary to the representations with dots (as for example with Moderation Clouds) this method also makes clear how intensely individual participants wish themselves the focusing or treatment to one or other point. The participants weight their priorities for example for the next meeting and also their criticism of a previous meeting and its results. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: For a problem or an idea different partial aspects are collected, which are to be evaluated. Step 2: The individual aspects are numbered consecutively and a pinboard with a “cake” (circular piece of paper) is created for each participant. Step 3: The participants weight these aspects by dividing their “cake” into pieces (circle segments) according to their assessment of their importance and assigning the corresponding aspect numbers to them. Step 4: All the individual pieces of all cake are then cut out, sorted according to theme and glued together on a pinboard to form new cakes. Step 5: The final round of discussion and voting will then take place after a free choice of the format of that process.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: paper circles Moderation: scissors Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Decision Cake

Experiences – Clear and fast The decision cake is a very descriptive, fast and simple technique. Recognizing trends Since the weightings of each participant are not based on a standardized measurement method they are not absolutely comparable. So as not to create distortions, only the weighting trend should be assessed. – A great variant There is a nice variation of the Decision Cake. Instead of a circle, each participant can also be given a 100cm-long adhesive tape. Depending on the loading, the participants can divide this into parts of any length. These partial strips are then glued under the desired aspects, which are written as headlines on pinboards. If the partial strips are glued together under a certain aspect, a continuous strip is created, the length of which can be used to measure the intensity of the attention paid to this topic.

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Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

Design the Box

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The exercise Design the Box actually comes from the prototyping phase. Here a physical box is built, similar to the packaging of the later product, with which the idea is to be sold in the second step. Participants thus have the opportunity to bring their ideas and thoughts forward in a concrete and tangible way. It is easier to develop ideas when you are talking about a solid, visible and touchable product. Through the process of “selling”, the later customer benefit becomes a central component of the development ideas. Generated output Creates early prototypes Handling Preparation In the slimmed down version of this technique, prototypes can be drawn with paper and pencil, but it is better if participants have the opportunity to actually create the result. Ideal craft utensils are, for example: cardboard, markers, packing paper, stickers, sellotape and scissors. Some sample packaging can also be used to increase the creativity of the group. The process basically consists of three phases: Phase 1: Filling the box First, the group considers what might be in the box. As an orientation aid, consider: – Possible names for the idea/product – Potential customers, users, buyers – Possible features, functions

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Phase 2: Making the box The participants now have 30 minutes (longer if necessary) to develop the boxes for their ideas. You should imagine how the box will later be found on the shelf. Questions that might help: – What’s the name of the product? – Who is it meant for? – What is the short description/slogan? – What are its salient features? What is the benefit of the product? – What kind of design would you use to attract attention to the product? Phase 3: Selling the box Now it’s about selling the box. Each team (or each individual, if individual boxes have been developed) has the opportunity to stand in front of the group and advertise their own box. Pay attention to how the product features are translated into customer benefits and the presentation skills of the participants. Discuss the results and findings of the participants. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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Design the Box

Recommended resources Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: glue Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: scissors Moderation: pens Tool: craft kit Tool: colored pencils Tool: sellotape Tool: painting tools Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Supports a better imagination

Notes

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Experiences – Keep boxes Do not throw the boxes away after the exercise, but display them in a prominent place. They often provide more tangible results than written documentation.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) BooK – Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play, L. Hohmann (Pearson Education – September 2006)

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Eras Map

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Eras Map provides historical perspectives on diverse features of different eras or epochs. When you understand how various things have changed over time, you gain a more complete picture of the area of innovation and ideally you will be able to predict how things will develop in relation to your challenge. In the Eras Map, the key features of each relevant period are identified, highlighting the peculiarities of epochs and changes. The visual representation also provides a quick overview and much clarity for all team members. Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Identify and define the attributes that you want to compare over different time periods. These can be changes in behavior, technical developments or even people or groups who were cultural icons, for example. Predominant brands, sports activities, and service and product trends are also frequently examined. Step 2: Search for each attribute of the individual time periods. Search the Internet, talk to experts and educational institutions to gather relevant information. Step 3: Now map the found information along a timeline and mark meaningful time periods as vertical areas. Enter titles for the various areas and assign all other data found to the attributes row by row – see figure. Step 4: Discuss the Map with the team and try to distill relevant insights and findings.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Recommended resources Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception Experiences – Very effective in the long term It has been shown that the Eras Map shows its true potential in continuous use by different teams across different projects. It should always be shared with many project teams. Conversely, many small teams that work solo shy away from the seemingly large research effort of the method and thus do not achieve good results with it.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012) 409

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Success Paths

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Success Paths method uses ten important findings from various studies on the subject of creativity to form a graphic process. The idea behind the technique is that creativity can be increased if we repeatedly receive inspiration for a problem/goal and are able to react to it with new ideas of our own. The procedure was developed at the University of Sankt Gallen by the Department of Communication Management between 2009 and 2012. Ideally, the method is led by a moderator, but it can also be used on an individual basis. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The method of Success Paths consists of the following main steps, which are visually developed on a corresponding template. Each participant receives an A3 sheet in landscape format, a yellow marker and a pen; the moderator makes noteson a wall or pinboard clearly visible to everyone. The steps are presented by the moderator; the participants carry them out themselves on their A3 sheets: Step 1: Reality: Write your current situation or problem in a box below the middle of the blankA3 sheet. Leave some space at the bottom. Step 2: Target: Write the goal or target in a box at the top of the sheet. Again, leave some space (three to five centimeters) between the box and the edge of the paper. 410

The objective should be as generic as possible and not too precise. Step 3: Flip-flop: Draw an arrow from the Reality box to the bottom of the sheet and note ideas next to the arrow on the question: “How can the present situation be further aggravated?” Underline all measures that you currently practice; highlight the best idea with a yellow marker. Step 4: Analogies: Now draw an arrow from the outside right to the SET box. Give analogies for it and write down solution ideas from other areas (nature, sport, science, film and so on). Here, too, the best idea is highlighted in yellow. Step 5: Target experience: Draw a looping arrow above the SET box that goes away from the target and then back to the target. Step 6: Barriers: Draw three small circles in the middle of the sheet between the SET and the ACTUAL box. Participants should write down possible barriers on the back of the A3 sheet. As a group discuss which are the three main barriers. Write these inside the three circles. Step 7: Barrier reduction: Draw three arrows from the status quo to the three barriers and then on to the target. Write ideas on how the barriers can be reduced, next to the arrows. Each participant highlights their best idea in yellow. Step 8: Bypass barriers: Draw an arrow around the barriers. The appropriate questions are: “How can the obstacles be completely circumvented or made irrelevant?”, “What conditions would have to be met for this?” Step 9: Short-term recombination: Draw an arrow from the ACTUAL to the right to a new box. Write an idea in it that combines three of your best ideas to date. This must be achievable within the next three weeks. Each participant then presents their combination idea in a unanimous “Elevator Pitch”. Step 10: Selection of ideas: Discuss with the participants which ideas should be pursued and how. Write a short list of ideas and define responsibilities and deadlines. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Success Paths

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Tool: markers

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Editing steps intensively Take your time to implement the Success Paths. This is the only way you can be sure that the steps will be processed intensively. Without moderation, participants often jump too quickly through the method and do not generate any relevant ideas. – Show – make – merge Practice has shown that for this method to be successful the trainer should first explain astep, participants then carry it out on their A3 sheet, and the results are then discussed in the plenum. The best ideas are then written down by the trainer on a sheet clearly visible to everyone.

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

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Success Zones can also use cards or stickers on the pinboard. Do this for all topics. Benefit of the result: Priority is given to all the challenges that are at the top of the list. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description The Success Zones method defines the right objectives for innovation at the start of the process. It achieves this by prioritizing goals and challenges with the help of a matrix. The technique is particularly useful where there are many challenges and it is difficult to choose which to pursue. The visual element in this method is especially helpful for team decisions. Generated output Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Create a table/coordinate system consisting of three by three fields. Label the axes as follows: Vertical axis: Importance Horizontal axis: Probability of success Of course, you can also choose individual headings that are suitable for your project. The axes should have the values “low”, “medium” and “high” outwards from the center. You can draw on a sheet of paper if you choose the headings yourself, or you can use a larger visual area like a pinboard for selection as a team. Step 2: Take your topic list and locate/place the first challenge within the grid system. Rate it according to “Importance” by using the triple scale: low – medium – high. Then judge your challenge according to “Probability of success”. In the next step, combine the assessments and enter the challenge in the corresponding field of the system. You 412

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Success Zones

Experiences – Very effective in permanent use This tool has a particularly sustainable and target-oriented effect if it is permanently used in a company or a department. It should be maintained with each new challenge and documented in an accessible place.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

Notes

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Escape Training

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Escape Training usually takes place in so-called Escape Challenges in specially-prepared Quest Rooms. A team must complete a puzzle in order to be able to leave the room at the end. The game is ideal for innovation contexts and team-building measures and is offered by various service providers. The respective challenges are very different and are usually designed for two to eight people. The puzzles have different difficulty levels. With its strong focus on creative problem-solving, the tool is ideal for innovation teams. A combination of skills, team spirit and communication are promoted and strengthened. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The game usually starts with a group of participants being locked into a room. This so-called Quest Room contains very different objects, depending upon the puzzle and formulation of the challenge. The task of the group is to inspect the room carefully and search for any hidden clues. Similar to well-known computer adventure or quest games, the training offers a very good opportunity to improve your own logic and creative ability to combine and solve problems in a playful way. First, participants are asked to explore the specific scope of the challenge and look for possible clues for a solution to the puzzle (focus on observation). In or414

der to do this it is necessary to try out the objects in the room and ideally apply them to the conundrum (trial and error). For a process to be as efficient as possible, it is particularly important to thoroughly analyse elements as a group, to come up with creative ideas and to test out solutions. As a problem is solved, new clues emerge in the process from the specific space that were previously not accessible. In this way, participants move from one problem to the next until, ideally, they can solve the puzzle within 60 minutes and leave the room. A game leader monitors the progress of the puzzle solution as well as the time on the monitor and gives the participants small hints by speaker if they need them. The training is thus based on four essential factors that are also elementary in the creative problem-solving process: 1. Analysis and search. 2. Collection of clues. 3. Information and ideas. 4. Combination and evaluation of solutions. In an ideal scenario, success brings the right path. The time pressure under which the challenges take place deserves special mention. As a rule, participants in a challenge have 60 minutes to solve the problem. This creates a certain pressure to find solutions, which stimulates creativity,quickly reduces fear of contact with new things and establishes an essential trial and error culture. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents unreflected action – Tames a disturbing group clown – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Escape Training

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room People: experts Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity

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Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Fun, fun, fun – top for teambuilding They say that fun is fundamental in creative processes. Escape Training provides a lot of fun in a very impressive way and will achieve really wonderful team results. Danger – tension and joy definitely weld together.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.escape-game.org (April 2017) Web – http://www.rundschau-online.de/magazin/testin-koeln-was-hat-es-mit-dem-hype-um–live-escapegames–auf-sich–23007694 (April 2017) Web – https://www.escaperoomgames.de (April 2017)

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Ethos, Logos, Pathos –

Pathos: Which emotional signals do the customers/ users receive from you and what image do you create? For each force, the group has a maximum of ten points that it can award. The number found together is written in the small inner triangle of each force.

This gives you a picture that clearly shows where improvements are still necessary.

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration)

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions

Description The participants slip into the role of the customer or user and then examine the selected idea from this point of view with Ethos, Logos and Pathos. The principles of Aristotle’s rhetoric are used to reflect on the relationship between the three forces and to identify possible weaknesses or imbalances. Ethos is understood here as credibility, sense of responsibility or awareness of responsibility that one associates with an idea, service or project. Logic (logos) is used to compare whether the benefits and arguments are consistent and understandable from the recipient’s point of view. The emotional aspect (pathos) is used to investigate whether the company’s approach also reaches customers on an emotional level.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation

Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: paper in flipchart size

Handling Draw three triangles on a flipchart and write Ethos, Pathos or Logos at the top of each triangle. If you draw a smaller upside-down triangle into the triangle, you will get three more small triangles at each point. Now the participants should imagine how the customers/users see the provider: – Ethos: Why can this company offer this product? Discuss how credible the provider of this idea or service is. – Logos: Check whether all statements and functions are logical and meaningful.

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Write down reasons Do not just discuss the different forces, but record the results in each case. Otherwise thoughts become crowded and your own position becomes more important thanthe argument developed by the group. – Moderator should practice First, on an individual basis, practice addressingthe idea consistently for each of the forces. Only then can you really work out a suitable result together with the group.

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Ethos, Logos, Pathos

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Web – http://gamestorming.com/games-for-any-meeting/ethos-logos-pathos/ (April 2017)

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Experience Simulation Step 3: Designing the simulation In this step, the optimal simulation environment is designed and created. The aim is always to get as close as possible to reality. Step 4: Performing the simulation There are simulations that only take a few hours, but there are also those that take several weeks. Step 5: Deducing findings The findings are derived from the observation results and, for example, further iterative solution enrichment or prototyping is initiated.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description Experience Simulation is a special variant within the large range of simulations. This is about understanding in a focused way how people react and interact in concrete situations relating to the use of products and services. Let us assume that we have designed a new food presentation that is supposed to deliver special information about nutritional values, etc. to the customer on special labels. In Experience Simulation, a specially set up simulation environment is used to precisely observe how people interact with the presentation. Experience Simulation is really all about very detailed observation. How exactly the packaging was handled, what people looked at specifically, what else was looked at and so on. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling There is a basic procedure for experience simulation: Step 1: Identifying the challenge Example: “How do customers select organic products on the refrigerated shelf?” Step 2: Selecting an action for simulation Typically, a challenge often involves several actions or interactions that are worth separating and simulating individually. 418

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Finances: implementation budget Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required

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Experience Simulation

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Experiences – Simulation is investment Good simulations that reveal valuable insights are always a concrete investment, either in terms of the time to be spent or the physical structure of the simulation environment. “Quick and dirty” has never paid off in our experience. The innovation challenge or goal should therefore always have strategic relevance in order to justify the investment.

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Extreme User Interview

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The aim of the Extreme User Interview method is to develop new solutions by involving even “unusual users” in the development process. The result in the focus of development can affect any area of innovation: Services, products, processes or business models. In the process, people are involved through interviews and feedback sessions who have a very high interface with the potential innovation and/or very high technical expertise, as well as those who are regarded as very unusual participants and would therefore be left out of the development in “normal interviews”. With these individuals there is no intersection with the topic focused on. These extreme users can also reveal new market access opportunities through completely new impulses and completely different application scenarios (use cases) and perspectives. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling Since the interview sessions also focus on atypical individuals who have no points of contact with the specific subject matter, it is a great advantage to also have prototypes for visualizing the subject matter available in these interviews. The same prototypes help to quickly convey a basic understanding of the topic. As these are free, nonstandardized interviews using questionnaires and guidelines, interviewers should be trained in conducting surveys. It is also a good idea To have up to three people conducting the interviews?. The roles are observer, interviewer and recorder. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required

Extreme User Interview

Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception

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Identified sources of the method Publikation – IDEO Method Cards. 51 ways to inspire design. William Stout (November 2003)

Experiences – Change of perspective in a class of its own If you have time and resources, this method is ideal for taking on new perspectives. The art is to actually identify extremely foreign users. A funny example was once the questioning of very old people for a contraceptive. However, the results were not, as anticipated, very far from being useful, because the elderly were of course also once users. It is therefore necessary to consciously use “impossible” connections.

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C&S – Consequences and Sequels – –

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description C&S stands for Consequences and Sequels. This method is described by De Bono as a means of looking at the consequences of an approach/idea in specifically time-related ways. In German-speaking countries it is sometimes called ZUF (Zukünftige Folgen) -Technik. Here an idea or a question is hypothetically put to the test in its immediate, short-term (1 to 5 years), medium-term (5 to 20 years) and long-term (longer than 20 years) sequence. This helps to deal with the consequences of a particular approach. The method is particularly helpful when several similar ideas have been developed and a decision is required as to which option is the best or most suitable for further development or implementation. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling There are two ways to use this method. First If you want to open the minds of the participants and expand their thinking horizon, you can take them on a thought journey with C&S. Draw up a thesis that fits into the context of the participants, the idea to be developed or a service. On a whiteboard, select an area for each period: – Direct (up to a maximum of 1 year) – Short term (1 to 5 years)

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Medium term (5 to 20 years) Long term (longer than 20 years)

Then use Brainwriting or other creativity techniques to collect ideas and reflections on the different time periods. From these results you will derive new approaches and ideas. Examples: “Let’s say there’s no more oil” or “Imagine the city being completely closed to cars.” Second Alternatively, you can use C&S to advance the decisionmaking between several ideas. If, for example, you have developed three different solutions to a problem in parallel, you can now use this method to find out which one is the most sensible solution for a particular timeframe. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Moderation: paper in flipchart size

C&S – Consequences and Sequels Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Supports a better perception

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005)

Experiences – Pay attention to the time constraints The moderator must ensure that the participants observe the time constraints and consciously deal with differences. Otherwise the value and expressiveness of this method will become blurred. – Can also be used by individuals This method also provides decision support to individuals. If you want to change your career, you can use this tool to examine various options and clearly work out the various consequences.

Notes

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FRIES

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description With the macro method FRIES, innovations and innovation successes can be planned and optimized in a targeted and transparent manner. The Innovation Culture Index (ICI) provides a basic statement on the degree of establishment of the innovation culture. Successful innovations and new ideas can be planned with FRIES. The defined FRIES process ensures that the correct steps are carried out in the correct sequence. In addition, FRIES ensures that the innovation culture functions according to the same system throughout your entire company, regardless of time and place. The key figures can be used to plan the solutions to problems and questions in advance and to permanently control and measure their progress. FRIES makes innovation a living part of the company and demystifies it. Through a uniform approach to idea generation and the introduction of your innovation culture, successes or failures are recognized more quickly. Experiences can be better shared among the participating teams, departments and/or profit centers. With manageable effort, the most diverse innovation carriers, teams and departments 424

can be controlled by one person. A uniform reporting system (audit) also ensures a tight organization. Ideas with little chance of success are identified faster, implementation costs can be lowered. Reduced to the essentials, the FRIES method and the associated process consist of four phases or steps: Step 1: Freespace In this phase, innovation carriers and innovators are searched for and promoted with a free hand, and targets and challenges are identified whose solution and brainstorming should take the company forward. Step 2: Ideas This phase stands for the actual idea generation, the creative meetings and the creativity techniques. Step 3: Evaluation Since it is important to distinguish between the actual idea generation and idea evaluation, the latter is also undertaken as a separate phase in FRIES. Step 4: Self-awareness In order not only to create a spark, but also to sustainably introduce an innovative environment and culture, the successes, i. e. the resolved targets and implemented ideas, must be communicated to all participants and stakeholders of the company. This is the main task of phase 4. Generated output Creates implemented ideas Handling In the four phases of FRIES, a total of five Key Performane Indicators (KPIs) are generated and defined. These indicators can be used to measure the performance of the entire FRIES method and thus your innovation culture. Note: If the documentation of the method is carried out by software, the current key figures are always available at the click of a mouse. KPI 1: Innovation Culture Index – ICI The ICI is the most important indicator in the system. It shows you whether an innovation culture already exists and whether it is subject to harmful influences. KPI 2: Target quota This key figure periodically shows you how many targets were found and captured by your innovators and how many of them were transferred or released to the next phase, for idea generation.

FRIES

KPI 3: Ideas quota Here, the number of targets with ideas worth evaluating is compared with the total number of targets captured. KPI 4: Acceptance rate This ratio compares the targets of ideas worth implementing with the targets captured. KPI 5: Realization rate The targets with successful solutions are compared with the total of the targets. On the basis of these quotas, future innovations can be reliably planned, necessary resources and expenses calculated and processes reliably controlled. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents unreflected action

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application

– – – – – – –

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Complexity for the moderator: rather high Complexity for the participants: rather high Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants)

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: administrators Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Key figures very scalable All key figures contained in the method (especially the ICI) are extremely well received and can be scaled very successfully to individual companies.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Factfinding –

What’s the next step? Is it mandatory? What would happen if …? If, for example, we dropped this? – What ideas have been considered? What would an idea/proposal have to be like in order to satisfy our requirements? – How should these ideas be changed or further developed? Step 2: Problem Profile The results from Step 1 are compiled and ideally presented as a Problem Profile, for all project participants, in a clear and concise way. Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Factfinding method uses specific questions to collect information and facts on a challenge. The aim is to clarify the background to it and perhaps also the problem behind the problem. Thus, this method pays tribute to important basic knowledge in the brainstorming and innovation business: “Never start brainstorming immediately!” It is always necessary to first deal with the given problem or challenge. In many cases reflecting on the problem, in that it offers Factfinding, leads to difficult problems losing their initial scariness or to the discovery of an underlying problem. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more background information Handling Step 1: The following questions must be answered in relation to a given challenge: – What is the starting point, the current status? What the hell is going on here? – What information do we have? What are the facts, what is the information base? How useful is this information? How credible is it? – What information is missing? – What does it mean, what does it affect? – How else can you understand it? – Which goal is to be achieved? – How exactly can we measure that the goal has been achieved? – What exactly prevents this goal from being achieved? 426

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Factfinding

Experiences – Especially useful for difficult problems The method is particularly helpful when people are faced with a particularly difficult or nasty challenge. Such a situation is often connected with negative previous experiences. Factfinding helps to leave this narrow, hopeless corridor of thoughts and gain a less emotional view of the problem. This is important because it is almost impossible to come up with an idea for a problem that you are confronted with in a negative manner.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

Notes

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Fake Sale

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The Fake Sale is an elementary part of the Lean Startup method. The agile innovation methodology is based on a distinctive, fast iteration cycle, in which the testing of offers for products and services is a basic component. The Fake Sale is often referred to as the Wizard-of-Oz test. In the case of a Fake Sale, a cover or façade of the later product is created (not to be confused with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)). The aim of this shell is that it appears that the offer already exists on the market. However, all functions that make up the quotation are executed manually in the background. In this way, the respondent or potential customer interacts with an offer that appears to already exist on the market and is therefore fully mature. In this way the test designer or provider hopes for more uninfluenced feedback than is typically possible in conventional test situations. Here, influencing factors are usually triggered by the “artificial” or “prototypical” form of the offer to the customer. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling The test designer creates a prototype in the later stage of a Lean Startup process (in reality often in the phase of value engine validation) in iterative cycles, which they can use in Fake Sales. This can be a touchable product, a brochure or a contract. The tester goes to their customer group with the product and tries to actually sell the offer. The aim here is to evaluate and confirm contracts or the like, i. e. in particular the actual willingness to pay, via the Fake Sale. After the test, the situation with the customer is usually resolved in order to clarify possible confusion or claims in advance. Often it is the customers who have been introduced to the offer in the course of Fake Sales in order to include them in VIP pools, who can contribute valuable further insights to product development from their perspective. Moreover, potential annoyance about the “pretended” sale quickly disappears. In contrast to testing with prototypes, which often do not yet look “finished” and can therefore hardly generate real purchase approval from potential customers, Fake Sales generate a higher degree of seriousness or credibility by faking an anticipated fact (keyword: availability). In the end, the test of the actual willingness to buy is often more realistic than with other test forms. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use

Fake Sale – –

Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required

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Experiences – Staying serious – playing a role Several times users have dropped out during a Fake Sale and still been included in a survey phase. The important thing has been to concentrate on the process and behave professionally. Provide improvised answers to questions from potential customers that cannot yet be answered. The Fake Sale is a powerful tool for testing prototypes in the Design Thinking process, for example.

Identified sources of the method Book – Lean Startup: Schnell, risikolos und erfolgreich Unternehmen gründen, E. Ries (Redline Verlag – Oktober 2014) Web – https://www.gezeitenraum.com/methoden/wiewir-arbeiten/lean-startup-prinzip/ (April 2017)

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False Faces – Masks

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description This technique, which Michael Michalko translates as “Masks”, uses inversions: Idea generation by reversing conventional assumptions. Michalko recommends that challenges tear off these Masks: “Problems are often salted with assumptions that prevent creativity.” As an example of such masking, the author illustrates two lines of equal length. One of the lines seems to be longer, as it has arrow-like points at both ends pointing outwards. The seemingly shorter line has arrows pointing inwards. If the Mask of the arrowheads is removed, the true (same) length of the lines becomes visible. Michalko cites an example from industry where a reversal of assumptions was successfully applied. At the time Henry Ford entered the automotive business, the conventional approach was “Get people to the work”. Ford reversed the principle with “Bring the work to the people” – the result was the assembly line. Nothing is sacrosanct (untouchable) and any assumption can be questioned. Reversals destabilize our conventional thought patterns and release information that emerges in provocative new combinations. It is less about finding the right answer straight away than about new perspectives on existing information. False Faces is related to the Headstand technique – but to reverse assumptions using it generally does not mean to reverse negatively, as with that method. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling Step 1: Name your challenge. Step 2: List all your assumptions about your challenge. Step 3: Question your fundamental assumptions. Step 4: Reverse your assumptions. Write down the opposite of each assumption. Step 5: Retain different points of view that seem useful to you. Step 6: Ask yourself how you could apply each and every inversion found. List as many useful points of view as possible. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination

False Faces – Masks

Experiences – Collect basic assumptions Take the time to collect as many basic assumptions as possible with the group. The team members often want to start quickly with the “reversals” (see also: Headstand technique). However, only when you have taken the time to list enough elements that seem completely self-evident do facts and connections come together that are really worth questioning.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Techniques of Structured Problem Solving, A. B. VanGundy (Springer Verlag 1988) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Notes

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Fast Finish The fictitious end of the development period is usually followed by a pitch session in which all different statuscan be examined and discussed. Impact on obstacle effects – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) Description In the context of a development project, Fast Finish defines a pseudo-final project status in order to develop a presentable result within an artificially shortened time. Accordingly, the method works very well with the factor of artificial time pressure, which demonstrably fixes mental blocks in the creative process. Accordingly, the objective is to develop various different solutions in the shortest possible time and to check an initially defined, real project goal. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas plus initial funding and feasibility studies Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The implementation of the Fast Finish method requires that an existing project (with the output target a product or concept) is completed in the shortest possible time. The participants of such workshops are therefore confronted with a certain time pressure and are confronted with the task of achieving a presentable result within a very short time. The specified timespan is variable. For example, the moderator can specify “30 minutes” or “tonight” as the fictitious end of the project. The question would then be, for example, “What would be the solution for tonight?”

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Also good for prototype construction Fast Finish is especially good for teams from more traditional organizations who tend to have group discussions when building prototypes in innovation projects.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.designmethodenfinder.de/fast-finish (April 2017) Web – https://thinking-design.de/fast-finish/ (April 2017)

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Feedback Capture Grid

Quadrant lower right = LIGHT BULB MOMENT. Here you will of course write down new ideas on the topic. Step 3: The topic, the challenge or the idea to be given feedback is determined. Now give the team time to fill in the sheets, the Feeback Capture Grid. Step 4: Ask the participants individually which points they have noted and list these on a whiteboard.

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Feedback Capture Grid is an extended Plus or Delta variant. With two additional fields for open questions and new ideas, this method helps to collect feedback and, at the same time, to arrange and organize it. The clear advantage of this technique is in its systematization and visualization and it is therefore easy for most first-time users to understand. Basically, one sheet of paper and a pencil for each participant is enough, and possibly a whiteboard to list the results. So it can be used almost everywhere. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Hand out a sheet of paper (A4 or A3) and a pen to each participant/team member. Each participant follows the next steps. Step 2: Divide the sheet into four equal quadrants. Quadrant top left = PLUS. Mark this with a plus sign and note positive feedback here. Quadrant top right = DELTA. Mark this field with a delta sign and record change or improvement suggestions here. Quadrant bottom left = QUESTIONS. In this quadrant write open questions, i. e. questions you have realized must be asked but that do not yet make the answer clear.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: soft pencils

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Feedback Capture Grid

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Can be used well as cascade process The Feedback Capture Grid is especially useful for very large groups. Once the method has been explained and the participants have prepared and filled in their sheets, it is possible, using the same system, to place small groups together and then assemble them to form a whole.

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – https://betterlesson.com/lesson/resource/ 3105058/feedback-capture-grid (April 2017)

Field Notes

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description Documenting impressions from observations, interviews, experiences or focus groups is an integral part of Design Thinking. Field Notes are commonly used for this purpose. Typically, in the observation phase of Design Thinking and Lean Startup Innovation, project participants conduct interviews and simple observations. This phase is an attempt, for example, to discover unsolved problems and unsatisfied needs. Within projects, on the one hand, there are individual pure observation days or a variant where the project participants carry small notebooks with them over a certain period in order to be able to take notes at any time. The practical experience of many teams has resulted in the following six general recommendations, which facilitate and improve working with Field Notes. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates forecasts and derivations Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Recommendation 1 Capturing the first impression As a team, record your first impressions straight away when entering an observation situation. These can be

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smells, noises, moods, orders, behaviours and much more. Recommendation 2 Accurate records Write and draw thess impressions as accurately as possible. Record concrete actions, interactions, conversations, designs, experiences in detail. Recommendation 3 No generalization Avoid generalizations in the context of Field Notes. These are made during data evaluation, but not in the field. Recommendation 4 Match aspects Make sure that you cover the same topics in the Field Notes as in the observations and interviews – objects, people, interactions and so on. Recommendation 5 Pay attention to emotions Field Notes become more informative if you also record emotions and moods of people, especially during actions or reactions. Recommendation 6 Bring in personal impressions In addition to the pure and concrete facts, you should also incorporate your own impressions and assessments of respective moments. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons

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Field Notes

Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: notebook People: experts Moderation: pens

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Convert notes to documentation in real time It is recommended that you convert your notes into an accessible transcript/document, if possible straight away or on the same day. Then all impressions are still fresh and the documentation becomes more substantial.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fieldnotes (April 2017)

Five Human Factors

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Five Human Factors method is about studying the physical, cognitive, social, cultural and emotional factors that make up a complete customer experience. The Five Human Factors support customer observations in the field during the observation phase of an innovation project. If we grasp the five factors in a structured way and think them through in detail, we gain a target-oriented, deep understanding of the customer experience. This holistic observation increases the likelihood of finding unresolved problems and unmet customer needs that demand an innovative solution. The method breaks down a customer experience into its individual components in order to better understand them. Then the entire customer experience is reassembled in order to clearly understand the cause–effect relationships that lie hidden within it. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Prepare the observation work Design a form in which you can record all answers to your questions and all observations according to the Five Human Factors. Also provide all the tools you need to support your interviews, such as clipboards, camera, pen, recording device, etc. Step 2: Carry out your interviews Observe your target group and involve people in an exciting conversation. Observe what people do, what objects

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they use and touch, in what environment everything happens, the information they interact with. Make a note of all observations on your form. Step 3: Look through Five Human Factors glasses 1. Physical: How do people interact physically with their environment? What do they touch, what do they push, pull, open, push, carry? 2. Cognitive: How and what meaning do people give to the things they interact with? What do they read, study, decide and execute? 3. Social: How do people relate to other individuals in their environment or group? Is interaction formal or informal? How do you negotiate and make plans and decisions together? 4. Cultural: Which norms, behaviors and values do people share in the observed experience? How do any existing norms, behaviors and values manifest themselves? 5. Emotional: How do people express their experiences, feelings and thoughts? What are the feelings that are to observed? Happy, neutral, sad, angry, excited, frustrated … Step 4: Describe the customer experience comprehensively Scan all notes for surprising observations in the five factors or for accumulations and contradictions. Discuss and document all findings in the team and try to uncover exciting unsolved problems or unsatisfied needs. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high

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Five Human Factors

Complexity for the participants: rather high Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Technique: recording device Technology: PC or notebook Technique: printer Tool: clipboards Tool: notebook Technique: camera

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Willingness and diversity It has been known for years that especially when detailed field observations have to be made, two things are decisive as success factors in order to arrive at efficient and good results. On the one hand, the willingness of colleagues to carry out observations and, on the other, diversity in the team of observers. Only if observations are carried out with goodwill and enthusiasm as well as through very different glasses can great discoveries be made.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

FlowBoard 1. 2. 3. 4.

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The FlowBoard serves for process and quality optimization in operative teams, both in commercial and in non commercial environment. The principle behind it is the visualization and simple resolution of small and tiny problems that are accepted under normal conditions and remain unsolved. The idea behind the FlowBoard is based on the principle of the Problem Solving Board as it is used within Kaizen at Toyota and many other manufacturing companies. The difference here to that classic Board is visual representation in the form of four colored areas for the process steps and limitation to pure idea development and implementation. The FlowBoard system was developed by the Düsseldorf company NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates early prototypes Creates more knowhow growth Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates plans and prioritizations Identifies existing weaknesses Handling One FlowBoard is installed per team, with a maximum of 20 people. During daily routine meetings, small problems of team members are logged on the Board and a solution is sought within the team. The problem sheet, together with suggestions for solutions, travels through four color codes, which stand for the following areas, until a successful solution is found:

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Problem description. Proposed solutions. Test phase. Successful solution.

All successful solutions are released for organizationwide use so that other people/areas with similar problems can quickly participate. This results in a positive scaling effect, which can lead to clearly measurable cost and time savings. For example, if one person saves five minutes a day by using a small solution, ten people save almost 17 hours a month. The special advantage of a FlowBoard is that problems are solved by and through taking personal responsibility. This strengthens team spirit and motivation within the group. In addition, it usually does not generate any processing effort within other departments, which is normally required for problem solving. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind actionism – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Recommended resources Finances: implementation budget

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FlowBoard

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Coaching phase Like all new tools, the FlowBoard needs several months to establish itself within work routines. In addition to introductory training, teams should be intensively coached, especially in the initial phase. – Preferred areas of application Experience has shown that the FlowBoard is particularly efficient in production and technical areas, as problems can often be solved with your own skills and manual work-arounds. The higher the proportion of IT within work processes, the more difficult it is to find a simple solution in a team.

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

FlowTeam Method

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Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The FlowTeam Method is a principle of working that allows innovation teams to function simultaneously with a set of rules and the necessary freedom for creativity. It was developed by Martin Gerber, a Swiss physicist, and US scientists. An essential feature of the Method is so-called “Flow Flower” which is the basic principle of an efficient scheme. Martin Gerber has identified a total of 12 focus areas that are ideal for teamwork in a creative space. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates plans and prioritizations Handling FlowBlume is used in the first focus area, so-called FlowTuning. Within a FlowTeam meeting, the following building blocks are used to support the work process: Input, output, meaning, resources. In principle, it is about seeing the project as a process that converts any form of input (customer feedback, ideas, requirements, etc.) into output (documents, objects, solution sketches, etc.). This requires certain resources and motivations (connections of meaning). A FlowTeam uses FlowBlume to prepare each meeting or work segment and provide focus/priority on the process. A FlowTeam can be recognized quite quickly by the large number of flipcharts, Post-its and sketches hanging on the walls. The elements of the Flowblume are always worked on in parallel and the team is updated daily by short coordination presentations.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Space is very important FlowTeams require many wall surfaces and mobile surfaces (e. g. metaplan walls and whiteboards) for the visualization of planning and progress, as well as different work areas in order to function individually.

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FlowTeam Method

Identified sources of the method Book – Innerinnovation, B. Buck, U. Buck (LiteraturVSM – September 2014)

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Web – http://www.flowteam.com (April 2017)

Escape Method

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Escape Method is an excellent aid to learning the thinking behind and thought patterns of lateral thinking in general. In order to gradually reach new and radical thought corridors, you should try out the Escape Method. What is it all about and what should the user do? Escape? It is easily explained. The user should run away from worn-out patterns of thought, everyday things that have become habit, or fixed occurrences and, so to speak, take a detour to arrive at new, cross-functional, different solutions. This sounds complicated at first, but in fact it isn’t. After all, the only thing the user has to do is take a step sideways to look at the problem or challenge from a new perspective. One from which, ideally, the problem has never really been considered. It is very interesting what this does to the problem and the final result. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The steps to apply the Escape Method successfully: Step 1: Define the given problem and create a uniform level of knowledge. Step 2: Keep the main idea, which seems logical and normal to everyone, transparent.

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Step 3: Make a (mental) sidestep and look at the problem detached from the main idea. If the mental sidestep does not work and the problem is visible, take also physically a step to the side. Step 4: Record the ideas that come to mind through the sidestep. Step 5: Assess the consequences for the problem associated with these ideas. Step 6: Select the most interesting sidestep ideas and develop these thoughts with further innovation methods. Example (based on De Bono), slightly outdated, but ideal for understanding: – Phone booths cost the same everywhere, and there’s only one phone available at a time. What if …? – there were more expensive phone booths (then perhaps they would always be free for important calls)? – there were two telephones per booth (if one telephone is defective, the other could be used, or you could use the other phone while waiting for a callback)? Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Escape Method

Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Preliminary exercises can help It can be very helpful to introduce this method with a preliminary exercise, which provides a sense of security for making the sidesteps and creates acceptance of this new approach.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – De Bono’s Thinking Course, Powerful Tools to Transform Your Thinking, E. de Bono (Pearson Education Limited – Oktober 2006) Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005)

Force-Fit Game

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Force-Fit Game is an intuitive creativity technique that works with stimulus words. The aim is to enter into discussion of problems with unexpected and unrelated terms in order to stimulate lateral thinking, gain new perspectives and develop new solutions. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling First, two teams of equal strength with two to eight participants each are formed. Then a problem is described or a question is formulated, such as: “How can we double our turnover?” Each team comes up with three to five terms that have no relation to the problem described and are chosen intuitively. The first group now names an emotive word as one of the terms. The second group has two minutes to establish a relationship to the problem and to find a solution – this solution is written down, for example, on moderation cards. If the group finds a solution, it gets a point and the roles are reversed. If no solution is found, the first group gets the point, stays in the same role and calls another new stimulus word. In the end, the group with the most points wins. Afterwards, an evaluation or initial enrichment of the solution approaches can be carried out, if the results allow

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it. For this purpose, it makes sense to appoint a minutetaker to record the ideas and a referee before the Game begins. Advantages: The Force-Fit Game enables unusual cross-connections and opens up unconventional solutions. Disadvantages: The Game requires abstraction and inventiveness. It is therefore not suitable for all occupational groups. In addition, not all solution ideas are helpful, so many ideas must be produced in order to obtain one really useful one. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: A4 sheets Tool: recording device Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Tool: stopwatch Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Force-Fit Game

Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Also good for loosening up This method is very goodfor loosening up and effective against the “food coma” after a lunch break. It is quite active and creates lots of fun with teams competing against each other. – Prepare cards You can also prepare stimulus words for cards beforehand; these are then drawn at random by the teams.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.engagementlernen.de/docs/Force-FitSpiel.pdf (April 2017)

Notes

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Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.dart-consulting.de/fileadmin/user_upload/dart-consulting/training_service/kommunikation-anregen/Kreativitaet._Zufallsanregung. _-_FORCE_FIT-SPIEL_-_DART_Training_Services.pdf (April 2017) Web – http://www.hannover.ihk.de/fileadmin/data/ Dokumente/Themen/Innovation/150813_Kreativtechniken.pdf (April 2017)

Forced-Relationship

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Forced-Relationship is an intuitive idea-finding technique that goes back to the British author Charles S. Whiting. Similar to the Force-Fit Game, Forced-Relationship works with so-called stimulus words and fires the imagination with unusual combinations of terms. Forced-Relationship can be used to focus in particular on the areas of product and service innovations. Trigger words or Impulse words are either related or non-related products and processes/services. With the aid of the Forced-Relationship technique, new approaches to solutions can be found, especially for imprecise questions and problems. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling First, the participants think of and note all products that are (technically) similar to each other. (Another variant uses technically-unrelated products as stimulus words.) Two of the listed products are then freely combined and related to each other in terms of content. Through free association and variation, unconventional solutions and innovative product ideas can be found. In the field of product innovation, Forced-Relationship makes it possible to quickly make unfamiliar connections and very reliably leads to unexpected approaches to problems.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Interdisciplinary teams bring advantages As is often the case, interdisciplinary teams create a certain advantage here. This is especially the case in the collection of related products and product ideas, because in those situations purist experts can be restricted by their tunnel vision. – Prepare cards You can also prepare stimulus words for cards beforehand; these are then drawn at random.

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Forced-Relationship

Identified sources of the method Web – http://kreatives-management-hamburg.de/2-uncategorised/23-prozessbezogene-kreativitaetstechniken-von-e-h.html (April 2017) Web – http://creapedia.com/wiki/Forced_Relationship (April 2017)

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Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

Foresight Scenario

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description With Foresight Scenario you create offers, solutions and concepts on the basis of predictions about different possible future scenarios. Ideally, the method provides holistic solutions and concepts that contribute to future developments that are in the planning stage. In some cases, these solutions and concepts even serve to actively trigger trends and thus these are the first to profit from them. The Foresight Scenario converts trends into scales and then combines them into classic 2x2 matrices. Thus, in the quadrants of the matrices, possible exciting future scenarios are created for whichever solutions and concepts can be created. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates key questions for idea generation Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Selection of trends First, create a list of trends that may be relevant to your organization or industry in the future. Use current trend

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databases for this purpose. Then decide on the two most important trends. Step 2: Create a 2x2 matrix Now translate each of the two selected trends into a from/to scale. Example: Scale 1: “Young people spend more money” to “Young people save more”. Scale 2: “There is more money for schools” to “There is less money for schools”. Step 3: Design one scenario per quadrant For each quadrant of the 2x2 matrix, design and describe a detailed future scenario. Give this scenario a memorable title as well. In addition to the textual description, the scenario can also be enriched with images or sketches. Step 4: Create solutions and concepts in each quadrant You can now either create new concepts that best fit into the quadrants and create an impact there, or you can add existing concepts from other tools. Let yourself be surprised by which existing concepts fit best in each quadrant. Step 5: Combine concepts Now try to integrate concepts from the individual quadrants into more complex and synergistic or holistic concepts. Step 6: Describe the concepts comprehensively Create a detailed description of the found concepts and share and discuss them in your team. Which scenarios and concepts are most likely in the future? How could we adapt the found concepts if other scenarios arise? What other optional concepts do we have? Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) 449

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Foresight Scenario

Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Technique: Internet access Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Technology: PC or notebook Moderation: pens

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Foresight Scenario dashboard From my experience, the method unlocks its greatest potential when you create multiple 2x2 matrices and work with an entire Foresight Scenario dashboard. Ideally, creative work will result in concepts that fit sensibly into several matrices. The more that fits, the higher the probability of success of the concept.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Form Formation

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Form Formation is a Brainfloating technique (according to Harald Bream) that attempts to activate the entire brain and overcome conventional mental boundaries with multisensory stimuli. A task is approached with logic and physical creative phases such as forming, kneading shapes and/or drawing in order to release new ideas. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The task challenge (e. g. creating a service, a product, an advertising message or similar) is displayed in a clearly visible position in the room. Materials required for drawing and forming shapes are provided. Step 2: The participants try to use all their senses in engaging with the task. They begin to draw, knead or shape with both hands. Then they turn the question into its opposite (see Headstand technique), move into the target group and give free rein to their thoughts, associations and ideas. During this creative mental work, the purposeless process of drawing and forming is continued with their hands. Step 3: The counter-arguments found are then examined in more detail. What’s the background? What are the underlying needs and how can they be met? All thoughts and feelings are allowed here. The participants write down the most important ones as keywords and try to illuminate their idea(s) from all sides.

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Step 4: After each note they draw or knead or form shapes again. The participants associate the terms with feelings: What triggers a term and how does it happen? While they trace the terms with all their senses, their hands continue to draw and shape. Step 5: In the next step the body is challenged. The head takes a break, and the participants try to represent their found concept or value with their own body and understand it with all their senses. Step 6: The participants are now challenged to uncover further aspects of the task, to formulate these as questions and to answer them concretely. Facts contained in replies should be identified as meaningful characteristics. Step 7: Finally, the task definition is placed in the middle of the room. The participants arrange their results (notes, sculptures, drawings, etc.) around it. They now have the job of finding connections between or a superordinate structure to their results. It is important that they always listen to their body in order to check the effect of the result on the task. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: soft pencils Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: scissors Moderation: paper Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Room: sufficiently large room Room: creative and inspiring workspace Room: table tops Tool: craft kit Tool: modelling clay Tool: painting tools

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception Experiences – Use caution in very conservative cultures Especially in traditional, conservative corporate cultures, participants should be prepared for the method in order not to overtax them.

Identified sources of the method Book – Brainfloating – Im Entspannungszustand spielerisch Ideen finden, H. Braem (mvg Verlag 1989) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/w/index.php5/Formbildung (April 2017)

Framework Visualization

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formation. This could be a sketch, a diagram or a drawing. Point out that this is a first draft. Step 2: Each participant gives their presentation to the others and explains it. Subsequently, the most interesting elements and aspects of the individual visualizations are transferred to a common, larger representation. If the group wishes, several drawings can also be created.

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description An important prerequisite for a successful innovation process is a clear common understanding of the core problem. This can be achieved with a graphical representation such as Framework Visualization. The method is particularly suitable for small groups (three to four people). It can be carried out without previous knowledge, but diagnostic thinking and the ability to visualize increase the quality of implementation.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Room: table tops Moderation: paper Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: pens Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper People: moderator/trainer Room: wall surfaces Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination

Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Give each participant a blank sheet of paper, ideally in a slightly larger format (A3) and a few pens. Step 1: Each participant creates a visual description of the facts from their perspective and with the available in-

Experiences – Simple and difficult The moderator should have experience of the method. Support can be very helpful in defining parameters. Once these are in place, the framework is easy to develop.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

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Framing and Re-Framing Here a simple “importance ray” (scale) from “nice-tohave” to “indispensable” can be used. Step 4: Question these top three insights with a focus on identifying and understanding the underlying causes of the assumptions. It is important to gain a basic understanding of the points and not to find The Truth. (Tip: Use the 5-W Method/ask “Why?” five times.) Step 5: Select the five most interesting and exciting “Why?” answers and reformulate them into new questions. These are your new starting points for Brainstorming.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description Framing and Re-Framing are ideal if you want to gain one or more fresh perspectives on the existing question in order to generate new ideas and solutions. You will consider your initial problem from an alternative viewpoint and thus new ideas and search directions will arise, which automatically leads to other solutions, because you gain a new perspective on the question. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Write your initial problem/question on a flipchart or whiteboard, clearly visible to the team. Step 2: Now, as a team, compile all the assumptions about this issue. Theseshould be deduced from the job position, be understood as given, and represent what the team has set itself to achieve (either in documented form or mentally). Step 3: Prioritize insights according to importance and dedicate yourselves to the top three. 454

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: flipchart People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: pens Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: post-its People: diverse mix of individuals

Framing and Re-Framing

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Supports a better perception Experiences – Experienced moderator an advantage

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Book – Images of Organization, G. Morgan (Sage Publications, Inc – Mai 2006)

At first, this method probably appears quite easy to implement, but to get the real benefits out of it an experienced innovation coach/ moderator is an advantage. Since several discussion methods are often built-in here, you have to be careful to stick to the topic, have fair discussions and keep an eye on the time.

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From … To Exploration Step 5: Develop new perspectives, possibilities and future scenarios for each key aspect, based on the assigned trends. Enter these in the To column. Step 6: Finally, team members should discuss with each other how the new perspectives found can become new ideas and solutions for their challenges.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The From … To Exploration technique helps transform current perspectives based on habits into new perspectives based on trends. The method helps, on one hand, to better understand a current challenge, and on the other, to develop new perspectives and solutions during the analysis itself. In addition, it helps to use the knowledge of trends effectively and specifically to find the solution to the challenge. Many teams make the mistake of looking at trends very generically. Time and again, From … To Exploration provides a helpful focus for the innovation project. In addition, new search directions are also continually produced. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates forecasts and derivations Handling Step 1: The central tool of the method is a table with four columns:Key Aspects, Trend, From and To. Step 2: All identified key aspects of the current challenge are entered in the row headers of the table. Step 3: Subsequently, trends are identified for each key aspect that currently affects it or will affect it in the future. The trends found are entered in the corresponding column. Step 4: Describe the prevailing perspectives, rules and habits for each key aspect in the From column. 456

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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From … To Exploration

Experiences – Great potential for long-term use Teams that use the method as a continuous innovation tool over the project period are opening up ever greater potential in the area of trend knowledge and trend derivation.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Function Structure

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration)

Step 3: Splitting a General Function Into Sub-functions – Which subfunctions are directly related to the core (general) function? – Subfunctions can consist of processes or activities. – Subfunctions should be described by a verb with a noun. – Subfunctions should be broken down until they no longer be divided. – Ideally, subfunctions should contain a customer need or sales expectation. Step 4: Generate possible solutions (design options) for the sub-functions. – Use different creative techniques and ask questions. – Use other methods (e. g. Morphological Matrix) to combine the solutions. Step 5: The new options found in step 4 will be connected to the original challenge and discussed.

Description The Function Structure method aims to harmonize the technical requirements of a product with design and new design wishes. This is achieved by breaking down the challenge into subfunctions and then developing attractive and natural-looking functions for a flawless product. Various design concepts translate technical requirements into design parameters. It is clear that these two influencing factors for solutions using this method can never be seen independently of each other and are ideally applied in conjunction with the Axiomatic Design method.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Handling Function Structure should be applied in the following steps: Step 1: Clarification of the original design problem – What is the overall intention or function of the design? – Place the design problem at the centre of attention. Step 2: List inputs/outputs of this core function – Place the inputs and outputs around the core function and evaluate them using the variables material, energy and information.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location People: experts

Function Structure

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Involving engineers

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Identified sources of the method Book – Design for Lean Six Sigma, A Holistic Approach to Design and Innovation, R. Jugulum, P. Samuel (John Wiley & Sons – Mai 2008) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009)

This method works particularly well with very competent engineers.

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Value Analysis

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Value Analysis, often also called Function Analysis or Functional Cost Analysis, was developed around 1947 by the American engineer and then GE purchasing manager Lawrence (Larry) D. Miles. The initial focus was on reducing material costs at GE’s Baltimore plant. With the help of Value Analysis, cost expenditure for a product functions in relation to benefits. For the product functions expected by the customer, the lowest costs should be determined, but the quality, reliability and marketability of the product should not be negatively affected. Today, Value Analysis is understood as a management method or problem-solving system in the context of innovation. The aim of the Analysis is to achieve a fundamental reduction in costs and to avoid unnecessary costs as well as to increase or augment the value of an existing product or service or one that is still being developed. The starting point of the analysis is the so-called Value, which can be calculated as the quotient of function and benefit: Value = Function ÷ Benefit. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions

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Handling Value Analysis has been defined, systematized and described in various standards (DIN 69910, DIN EN 1325, DIN EN 12973, VDI 2800). Your organization is based on four system elements – method, management, human behavior and environment. System elements interact and influence each other. It ultimately depends on this overall system whether optimization goals are achieved or not. A work plan is developed for implementation, which is divided into the following six basic steps according to DIN 69910 and VDI 2800 of 2000: 1. Preparation of the project 2. Analysis of the actual state 3. Definition of the target state 4. Development of solution ideas 5. Selection of the best solution 6. Implementation of the solution More recent descriptions according to DIN EN 12973 and VDI 2800 of 2010 include ten basic steps: 1. Preparation of the project 2. Project definition 3. Planning 4. Collect comprehensive data for the study 5. Function analysis, cost analysis, detailed goals 6. Collecting and finding solution ideas 7. Evaluation of the solution ideas 8. Development of holistic proposals 9. Presentation of the proposals 10. Realization Advantages: Value Analysis is a general problem-solving method that can be applied to objects of any kind. In addition to cost reduction and value enhancement, it can also lead to time savings, process or product optimization, employee motivation, increased creativity, improved collaboration and increased know-how. Disadvantages: Value Analysis is a complex method that requires holistic, system-oriented thinking and experts in order to arrive at reliable findings and promising solutions. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Value Analysis

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: moderation cards in different colors People: experts People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team

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Tool: recording device Room: flipchart Room: pinboards Technique: camera Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Well suited for engineers The method is quickly accepted and understood by engineers and also fits well into their task environment. Why is this so? The creative method has a clearly described procedure, which is even described in DIN standards. Technicians and engineers know and accept these standards.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Buch der Kreativitätstechniken, E. Boos (Compact – November 2010) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wertanalyse (April 2017) Web – http://www.wirtschaftslexikon24.com/d/wertanalyse/wertanalyse.html (April 2017) Web – http://www.business-wissen.de/hb/elemente-derwertanalyse (April 2017) Web – http://schoeler.com/pdf/Wertanalyse-verstehenundrichtigeinsetzen.pdf (April 2017)

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Future Fruit The more scenarios you create, the more options you create. The more options you have, the more chances you have to come across an undiscovered business idea or to have the rescue ready in case of disaster. The highlight: By actively designing future scenarios, you get a sharper view of the present. There is a good chance that you will discover something to improve your current offering and stay ahead of your competitors.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description With Future Fruit, you design possible future scenarios for your business in order to be prepared for any eventuality. One thing is certain: We are all moving inexorably towards the future at a speed of 60 minutes per hour. But we do not know exactly what this future will look like. It’s worth taking the time to let your imagination design a whole number of future scenarios. You will be able to harvest the fruits of this work in the future – Future Fruits! Sometimes a look into the past helps you to open up the future to a certain extent. The example of the oil catastrophe triggered by the Exxon Valdez accident shows what can happen if you do not (or only one-sidedly) deal with the future. In March 1989, the tanker crashed off the coast of Alaska. There was, however, only one scenario for such a case – and unfortunately that did not work. For two days, government and business were paralyzed. Employees, communications, technology and chemicals were in no way properly coordinated or prepared, so Alaska’s biggest oil spill sadly became reality. In 1889 Henry Heinz went bankrupt because he had bet on a single future scenario with the purchase of a huge cucumber harvest. A few years later, though, he was back in business: this time with “57 varieties” and as many strategies as products for good and bad times. You may have a rough idea of what the mediumterm future will bring to your industry – but at the same time you will be surprised by small-scale changes that happen in the short term and right in front of you. Only if you have played through as many scenarios as possible will you be flexible enough to react creatively and decisively. 462

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates forecasts and derivations Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Decide on a specific, already identified, strategic problem or challenge for your company. Step 2: Name a particular decision that must be made in relation to it. Step 3: Identify the forces (economic, technical, product-related, competitive), etc.) that have an influence on the decision. Step 4: Invent four to five future scenarios based on the identified forces. Use all available information to create completely different, plausible scenarios. If possible, visualize these scenarios on large paper formats, for example in Mindmap style. Step 5: Develop real stories from the scenarios. Each basic story can now be further varied by shifting the forces. Change the forces: “Interest rates are rising”, “A supplier is getting out”, “The need for my product is disappearing”, etc. Combine the models until you have described every possible consequence of your decisions over the next five years. Step 6: Search for business ideas within each scenario that will help you meet your challenge. Then examine the relationships between the individual scenarios and actively search for new ideas.

Future Fruit

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use

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Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination Experiences – Serious and frivolous As serious as the scenarios are (and should be) that the team designs (see Implementation), fun should be had as well. In a relaxed atmosphere, creativity flows more naturally. So you should also encourage team members to express and pursue completely exaggerated, silly or irrational future plans.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Future Quickies videos), 30 minutes of reflection/discussion and 30 minutes of the supporting program. Good timing for a series of four to six events is once a month. The best periods are marginal times, or example, in the early morning or late afternoon, when the number of participants will be highest. The short format allows employees to participate without sacrificing the evening completely. Therefore, the events should also take place on the company premises.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description Future Quickies is a serial in-house lecture format with subsequent discussion, in which short, entertaining looks into the future are taken. For each Future Quicky, viewers receive a summary on a selected topic. Possible topics are, for example, trends such as: Robotics, Urban Mobility, Smart Cities, Smart Farming, Sharing Economy and others. Following the lecture, the audience will be asked to make aprojection of their future branch/area of work and identify possible opportunities. The task of the Future Quickies format is to gain distance from day-to-day business by looking into a possible reality and, at the same time, to obtain sparks for future ideas. The format was developed by the company NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH and is available under license to companies as well as associations and societies for on-site events. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling A Future Quickies event usually lasts about 90 minutes. Of these, 30 minutes are made up of a lecture (including

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Associations and clubs can use the format in a modified form in which two lecture packages are combined (60 minutes plus discussion). Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Convinces rationalizers – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Future Quickies

Recommended resources People: experts Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Topics from outside the industry preferable In order to stimulate lateral thinking, topics that are not the focus of a company have proven to be particularly fruitful for discussions. For example, “The Sharing Economy” with the Association of Undertakers or “Robotics” with a health insurance company.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

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Five-finger Check Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The Five-Finger Check is a quick, uncomplicated method to test whether all participants of a workshop understand the task equally. As a moderator, you can use it to query a consensus on a topic in just a few seconds without greatly interrupting the flow of work. If it turns out that there are major differences of opinion here, the moderator can intervene immediately. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Ask participants to what extent they feel that all members of a group have the same understanding of a topic. They should hold up a number of fingers to show whether they are completely in agreement (five fingers) or completely in disagreement (zero fingers). If there is agreement, you can let the group continue working. In the event of major deviation, you can interrupt and try to resolve the discrepancies. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Weakens debating

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Explain the method in advance In order to query the status of the group without interruption, you can briefly explain the method at the beginning of the workshop and try it out. So all you have to do during the session is call “FiveFinger Check” and name the topic. The participants then show their assessment and the workshop can continue. – Good for large groups This method is mainly helpful in large groups, because in smaller ones disagreements are usually addressed and clarified more quickly.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://gamestorming.com/games-for-any-meeting/five-fingered-consensus/ (April 2017)

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Porter’s Five Forces Model

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Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description Porter’s Five Forces Model is a classic business model for analyzing industry structure and competitive situations. Not only is it still valid, it can also be used within the innovation process. The Model was developed to assess the average attractiveness or profitability level of an industry. It creates a benefit in the following situations: – The participants are not aware of the risk of the existing business model. – the current situation should be considered in detail at the start, or – the model is known to the participants and a quick introduction is possible.

Handling Michael E. Porter’s Five Forces Model can be used at the beginning of the innovation process, for example to define the target corridor for the upcoming innovation work. Even if an idea already exists, the Model can help to sharpen and improve your offeringover the competition’s. The five dimensions of the Model are: 1. Intra-industry competition Describes the intensity of competition between the established players. High competition leads to lower yields. 2. Negotiating power of suppliers Is particularly relevant if there are only a few companies which manufacture/deliver the required products. 3. Bargaining power Customers can compare prices and thus demand lower prices and/or higher quality. 4. Threat from new entrants With low barriers to entry, new players can enter the market very quickly. 5. Threat posed by substitutes If alternative products with a better price:performance ratio are available, the willingness of the customer to pay a higher price decreases. The Five Forces are presented in the workshop (with an example if necessary) and the participants collect views on the individual points, for example in group work or open discussion. Not all forces have to be mined to the same extent. The exercise can last 30 minutes to two hours. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Sharpens common direction

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas for new markets and new business models

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

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Porter’s Five Forces Model

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Use in Design Thinking In principle, the Five Force Model can also be used in Design Thinking, for example in the understanding phase or in protoyping. The method is used to advantage if the participants already know the Model and currently work with it. For all others, I recommend use of one of the visually-oriented Design Thinking tools.

Identified sources of the method Book – Competitive Strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors, Michael E. Porter (New York Free Press – 1980) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014)

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formulated too vaguely or that the underlying topic is not yet clear enough. You can rethink this and start again afterwards. Do not set expectations too high – finding a perfect idea is possible, but not guaranteed. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Five-Minute Thinking method can both identify concrete solutions and show where the problem still needs to be sharpened or a topic needs to be narrowed down. According to inventor Edward de Bono, it is important that you precisely adhered to the time for each section. Even if a minute is often perceived as being very or too short a time for concentrated thinking, it can actually feel like a long time. In addition, it is primarily intended for thinking, i. e. not for writeing down ideas developed. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling In Five-Minute Thinking, there are three steps: 1. Set goal and task to solve (one minute). 2. Expand and explore (two minutes). 3. Contract and conclude clearly (two minutes). Phase 1 Lasts one minute and deals with the actual question. After this minute, a task should be set or you should concentrate on a task that precedes the further phases. Phase 2 Gives you two minutes to discuss different known and new solutions. Any micro-method can also be used to support the idea generation process. Phase 3 A further two minutes are reserved for evaluation of the ideas generated. After this phase, there should be a concrete approach to a solution that can then be taken further. If the group has not found an ideal solution after these five minutes, it is possible that the problem has still been

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: clock Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Tool: stopwatch Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Experiences – When time is running out If the specified minutes are not sufficient, this is an indication that the problem has not been sufficiently defined. – Moderator must pay attention to time The five minutes must be observed. Otherwise, the entire method becomes spongy and the results softened. Therefore, it is important that the moderator ensures that the time is strictly adhered to. – Method must be clearly explained before starting Before you start, you must clearly describe the technique to participants and not discuss its timing or sense. It’s the only way to make it promising.

Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005)

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Gallery Walk pants can leave questions on their colleagues’ flipcharts that might be useful during the Gallery Walk. Step 4: Idea finding 2 After perhaps 20 minutes of the Gallery Walk, each participant returns to their flipchart and starts a second idea-finding phase to enrich and further improve their existing ideas. Step 5: Presentation After completion of Idea finding 2 phase, all flipcharts are presented to the plenum one after the other and the best ideas are selected for further project phases.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Gallery Walk method goes back to Horst Geschka and is a creativity technique that combines the advantages of individual and group work in a simple way. The participants first work out their ideas on their own flipcharts. This is followed by the enrichment phase with a “walk through the gallery” and presentation of the final idea charts. This is intended to awaken associations in the team so that they can collaboratively develop ideas. The advantage of this method is that the creativity of all participants is stimulated by pictorial representations and thus innovative solutions are produced. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The Gallery Walk involves the following steps: Step 1: Preparation of the room For each participant, a separate flipchart with a selection of colored markers is set up in the room. Step 2: Idea finding 1 All participants develop solutions to the challenge in individual work on their flipcharts. Text and sketches as well as color should be used. Step 3: Gallery Walk After perhaps 20 to 30 minutes the individual work is interrupted and the participants wander freely through the room to look at every other flipchart and draw further ideas and inspiration from them. As an option, partici-

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents the bunker of ideas and secrecy – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: sufficiently large room

Gallery Walk

Room: flipchart Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Especially good for team building The Gallery Walk method shows time and again that it also has great potential in the field of general team building. For example, by openly looking at and using the ideas of colleagues, the “Not invented here” syndrome is weakened and team spirit and trust are strengthened. This also applies in particular when innovation teams from several traditional departments have to come together and rearrange themselves.

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Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Methoden der Produktentwicklung, W. Engeln (Oldenbourg Industrieverlag – Oktober 2006) Book – Praxiswissen Innovationsmanagement: Von der Idee zum Markterfolg, O. Gassmann, P. Sutter (Carl Hanser Verlag 2013) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Gamification 1.

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3. Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Gamification has become an integral part of innovation workshops. Playing is basically another word for learning – just look at children. Everything they do as an expression of themselves is playful – and they learn everything they need to survive in our society. Essentially, we all love to play – it is just dragged out of us over time. Work is work and play is play, that’s what we are taught in school. However, each of us knows from our own experience that the things that were especially fun remain in our memories most other things fade away. Some have retained playfulness – perhaps especially the creative types who know how to “go with the flow”, namely how to pursue a task with enthusiasm and forget everything else around them. And how to reach their destination so quickly. When this state is achieved in the job, it is obvious that satisfaction is particularly high and results are particularly good. Gamification is the integration of game principles in applications and routines of everyday work and innovation. Successful game mechanisms, which regularly captivate millions in the form of online games, are transferred to the job in Gamification. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Principles and mechanics which should be observed when using Gamification and which spur on and contribute to the achievement of goals:

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5.

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Make status visible Bring transparency into the progress of your own work and thus boost motivation to continue. Time limit certain tasks A puzzle or task must be completed in a certain time. Often a pure training idea is behind this, so that it can make sense to let individual quests build on each other. Excellent not only for individuals, but also for teamwork. Announce goal in advance The necessary transparency (“What do I get out of it in the end?”) encourages the participant not to lose sight of the goal. Give positive feedback Assessment after but also during the task is important to support the learning factor. Negative feedback should be omitted in this phase. Make clear the deeper meaning of the task The deeper meaning of the task should become clear with the goal of what is to be achieved, so that motivation is accordingly at a high level. Use the power of the community Working together on solutions promotes communication among participants, allows the them to make contacts and motivates them to reach the solution together. Concentrate on the essentials Information provided should build on itself and not distract from the essentials with details. This avoids excessive demands on participants.

The principles are measurable with the following: Experience points, high scores, progress bars, rankings, virtual goods or awards. Very important: The fun factor must not be – the dose must fit the company and the culture. Freedoms must be given. The result: monotonous processes become interesting. Bored employees are motivated. Results get better. Communication among each other is stimulated. Fun at work increases. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Promotes appreciation – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Gamification

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Spur to action

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

The technique causes stupid processes to be relaxed, encourages better performance, and increases the fun at work. Even the smallest Gamification mechanisms awaken the player in us and the playfulness in our work.

Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012) Web – http://www.harvardbusinessmanager.de (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification (April 2017)

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Give-and-Take Table

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The more complex an innovation project (or organizational structure), the more an overview of the various links between the people involved is lacking. These can be tangible relationships, such as who is doing what with whom, or the motivations between the individual actors. The Give-and-Take Table quickly illustrates these links. Here further, not so obvious, connections come to light. Conditions that are taken for granted but are not clear are resolved and made visible. Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates more agility in the team Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling First, create a complete list of all those involved in the project or part of the organization. Enter these participants once in the same order in a table in both the first horizontal line (titled “To”) and the left vertical column (titled “From”). In the intersection in the upper left corner write the word “Gives”. Now you can describe in each field the action from giving to taking. Be sure to write the interaction down in one direction only. Allow enough time for the participants to discuss and resolve misunderstandings during the relationship capture process.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action – Promotes the agility of the participants – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens debating – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Give-and-Take Table

Experiences – Preparation and follow-up Especially if the table is to describe a more complex system, it can be helpful to determine some background information in advance. It is quite possible that this may also be necessary while working on the table. Allow participants sufficient time so that the finished table is as honest and complete a description of interactions as possible. – Also suitable for motivations Not only can actual work be shown with this table, but also motivations between participants. In those cases a little more discussion is required, for which you should schedule time accordingly.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://action-painting.org/definition/ (April 2017) Web – http://www.naturwissenschaften.ch/topics/coproducing_knowledge/methods/give_and_take_matrix (April 2017)

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Brain Integration Exercise distant. Then they look at the tip of their index finger and slowly paint a large horizontal figure in the air with it. During the movement, the eyes remain directed at the index finger and follow it in its movement. The participant thus draws the horizontal figure eight (8) not only with their finger, but also with their eyes. The exercise is performed three times drawing left around and three times right around.

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The term “Brain Integration” refers to specific methods from kinesiology that stimulate the flow of information and the networking of nerve cells in the brain and thus make creativity and positive learning developments possible. The basis for creativity is the networking of the nerve cells in individual functional areas, the networking of those areas with each other. In particular, moments of “relaxed tension”, in which the brain does not work at full speed, but is pleasantly stimulated in the background, can produce undreamt-of creative ideas. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling More than anything else, cross-movement exercise of the extremities stimulates the flow of thought, leads to more integration and enables freer access to reservoirs of knowledge. Here are two concrete exercises: Exercise 1 Crossover movement (elbow–knee) Participants distribute themselves around the room, so that everyone is at least one arm’s-length from anyone else. They all stand up straight and each lays their left palm, relaxed, on the back of their head. The left elbow now pointing forward is led to the right knee. At the same time the right knee is led to the left elbow, so that elbow and knee meet in front of the body at abdominal height. The exercise is then performed with the right elbow and the left knee. This exercise is repeated five to ten times, alternating sides. It is important that the movement is as slow and relaxed as possible. Exercise 2 Lying eight Each participant extends one arm forward at head height, as if the index finger were pointing to something

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Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Good warm-up exercise This exercise is ideal before an idea-finding session or after a lunch break to “wake up”. – Laughter with tongue movements In the first exercise you can also stretch out your tongue to the left or right and let your eyes look to the right or left in opposite directions. The latter guarantees a laugh and produces even more relaxation in the group.

Identified sources of the method Person – Kathy Wigge, wisuell wigge.kommunikation, Wuppertal

Business Model Stress Test

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Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description Many companies are characterized by intensive innovation activities – which, however, do not fall on fertile ground. This is often due to the fact that the business model(s) used by the company have simply become outdated and weak. In today’s fast-moving and complex times, business models in particular must be adapted to the constantly changing market situation. With the Business Model Stress Test an initial assessment of your own business model can be made. The business model is an often-underestimated field of innovation and a good breeding ground for new innovative products and services. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates more innovative organisations Generates forecasts and derivations Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Set a regular interval (for example twice a year) to question and assess your business model. Step 2: Edit the following six factors of your business model using the help questions. In most companies, these factors are treated similarly or even equally (and often negligently) – and the business model once adopted is never touched again. If one or, even better, several of the adjusting screws are turned at the same time and the existing model is courageously questioned and changed, a clear competitive advantage can be achieved relatively quickly, for example by opening up completely new markets.

Customer Benefit – What does the customer get from our product? – How else can our customers satisfy this need? 2. Market Segment – How can our current market segment be described and defined? – How has this market segment changed in the last five years? – Which trends will probably change our market segment in the future? 3. Source of Revenue – How and in what form and manner do we earn our money? – Are there currently other forms of making money? 4. Dealing with Your Technology – Is our technology in any way protected from competition (licenses, patents …)? – Could we better protect our technology by changing our business model? 5. Form of Distribution – Which sales forms and channels are we currently using? – Which sales form would be a good supplement or better alternative? 6. Revenue and Cost Structures – What are our main revenue and cost structures today? – How have our main revenue and cost structures changed over the past five years? Tip: You will also gain special insights by having different teams carry out the Stress Test and then comparing and discussing their results. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application

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Business Model Stress Test

Complexity for the moderator: rather medium Complexity for the participants: rather medium Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: paper in flipchart size

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Not only for management The Business Model Stress Test reveals its true potential when management carries it out together with employees, preferably also from different teams and hierarchical levels. The quantity of different points of view also brings efficiency here.

Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012) Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Design Impulses

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description With this Brainfloating technique (also known as Gestaltspiel or Bodystorming), according to Harald Braem, new creative solutions are not only created mentally, but also phsically generated in a holistic manner through the integration of experiences and physical movements. By slipping into a problem or task, the participant takes on a role and can identify with the problem’s components. Using all the senses, the task can also be experienced physically, so that an inspiring approach to new, different ideas can emerge. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: First, a representation of the challenge is placed in a clearly visible position in the room. Step 2: Participants are now asked to feel their way into the task, i. e. to slip into the role of the problem object themselves. This breathes life into the task. The aim is to let them become an object with its own qualities and abilities. Step 3: Participants try to identify with their role and move through the space. They perceive the environment with all their senses and detect movement. Exaggerations are permitted, because they help to sensitize the senses. It is important that the participants remain focused. Step 4: Participants now give their role figure a name and let it resonate in them. If necessary, the name can be changed so that it chimes with the respective individual. Here, too, it is important to find out which movements the name triggers.

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Step 5: The role is given an even more precise profile, with each participant drawing up a curriculum vitae and giving a brief presentation of their character. Enrichment through experiences, values, associations, sensations, drawings or the like are welcome. Step 6: After the profile and environment have become clearer, the participants are asked to give their figure other contexts. Which connections, similarities and differences are recognizable? From which areas or systems does the figure originate? Which groups do they belong to, which connections do they make, what is their destiny? The participants check whether the insights gained from this step can be embedded in the profile of their character and whether they make it more meaningful. Special attention is always paid to physical movement. What impulses are triggered and what significance do they have for the character? Step 7: Participants leave their role and return to the original task. They now check to what extent the character they have created with its characteristics and experiences fits the initial task. Are there original or appealing elements? To what extent can developed characteristics, features and other details be applied to the original task as an idea and how do they affect the target group? All findings and useful ideas are adapted and reformulated according to the task. The experiences and movements from the role play help to generate fresh ideas and create unique messages. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards Room: sufficiently large room Tool: clipboards Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

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Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Pay attention to the group composition Depending on its members, this method can quickly polarize individuals, be ridiculed or reduce the motivation of the group. Pay close attention to who is in the group and how they respond to the method. You should be an experienced moderator who is able to set a good example in performing this technique.

Identified sources of the method Book – Brainfloating – Im Entspannungszustand spielerisch Ideen finden, H. Braem (mvg Verlag 1989) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/wiki/Gestaltimpulse (April 2017)

Goldfish Bowl

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prepared questions and keep it running. It is the task of the observers to listen carefully and to write down the individual discussion points, statements and results. Step 7: After 15 minutes the participants change roles. Then there is another discussion, for example about another topic. Step 8: At the end of the discussion rounds, volunteers report their observations based on their notes and discuss their impressions.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description The Goldfish Bowl method is particularly suitable when participants from multidisciplinary teams who are not yet familiar with the views of other participants come together, or when team members are not used to listening to each other and react straight away to what is said. Implementating this method strengthens the ability to listen and brings the group closer together. Above all, it is a training exercise in observation. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling Step 1: Think about a topic before the meeting and write down questions about it. It should be suitable for group discussion. Step 2: Choose a room where there’s plenty of space, move all the tables out or to the side. Step 3: Create an observation sheet for each participant with two columns and four rows. In the cells of the first column, write the headings Point One to Point Four. Write the word “Statements” in the header of the second column. Step 4: Arrange the chairs so that they form two concentric circles. The inner circle is for the players, the outer for the observers. Step 5: Participants receive an observer or player status. Each receives a pen and a handout. Then the participants sit down in the appropriate chair circles. Step 6: Introduce the topic and let participants discuss it for 15 minutes. You can initiate the discussion with the

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action – Promotes appreciation – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: A4 sheets Tool: pens Room: circle of chairs Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Moderation It is important to point out at the outset that this is an observation exercise. What is said in the inner circle is less important.

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Goldfish Bowl

Identified sources of the method Book – Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, S. Kaner (John Wiley & Sons – Juni 2014)

Notes

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Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Graphic Recording

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Handling Graphic recorders are usually freelance and are booked individually for each event. They need a large area inside the event room where they can make their drawings. Depending on the type of event, it is preferable that the results drawn are immediately visible. This should be taken into account in spatial and procedural planning.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Graphic Recording refers to visual/graphic accompaniment of workshops, meetings, conventions, conferences and major events. The individual acting as the Graphic Recorder (or Visual Facilitator) tracks spoken words and converts them into images, drawn texts and symbols in real time. The drawing takes on a form of documentation without actively intervening in the event. As a rule, large pictures similar to paintings are created in the course of the illustrating process, which possess great symbolic power. During workshops and meetings, the drawings often appear in the shape of a mirror and thus have a passive influence on discussions within the group. Drawn summaries help to structure, focus and identify key messages. In this context Graphic Recording can be called a source of inspiration. Visualizer David Sibbet says he helps people “see what they mean”. Generated output Creates posters Creates early prototypes Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates lists of opportunities and risks Identifies existing strengths Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources People: experts

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Graphic Recording

Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Once Graphic Recording, always Graphic Recording Groups that have worked with Graphic Recording usually don’t want to do without it at subsequent events. It is not uncommon for the drawn results to be taken to the business premises at the request of the participants and hung up there.

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Identified sources of the method Web – http://momik.de/graphic-recording/ (April 2017) Web – http://www.ifvp.org (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Facilitation (April 2017)

Guess Map

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description Guess Map, also known as Future Map, is a method for generating possible overall scenarios based on the joint assumption of a number of events (e. g. tipping points). The approach is based to a large extent on the idea that a group of people bring together parts of their findings relevant to forward-facing development and integrate them into a picture of the future. The method thus essentially follows the logic of swarm intelligence and the open exchange and discussion of subjective (expert) knowledge. Due to the dynamic effect of actual developments on the future picture assumed at the starting point, the method requires recurring review and adjustment of the original assumptions. In the chaining process, this often leads to interactions with other overall scenario sections of the plan. In use, the group learns to adapt to unexpected events as side effects and, ideally, step by step its socalled Future Readiness. See also the opportunity-response model. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Handling The method can be performed digitally as well as analogously. The simplest and at the same time more effective method for a discussion within the framework of an in-

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novation workshop is the analogous variant. The following steps are to be followed in the execution: Step 1: Specify the time period for which an overall scenario is to be created (for example, 2017 to 2042). Step 2: Prepare core questions for which the participants are to assess so-called tipping points, which are considered relevant to an overarching overall question (for example, in the context of strategy development for a car manufacturer: “When will a range of 500 kilometers for electric cars be marketable for the mass market?” Step 3: List up to 30 questions in the above form on prepared maps. Step 4: Prepare a timeline (with the time period defined above) on brownpaper with sufficient space for gluing rating points and adding short information and text (the brownpaper can be hung several meters along a wall). Step 5: Number and distribute adhesive dots (with fewer questions also possible by using colors). Step 6: Invite the participants to pin their (expert) assumptions to the points of change/questions on the timeline. The result is different mapping images. With relatively homogeneous assumptions of the group on individual points of change, the probability of a correct assumption appears relatively high. The scenario can be included as an assumption in strategy development. With relatively heterogeneous assumptions of the group on individual points of change, the probability of a correct assumption appears relatively low. At the very least, the different perspectives (including individual outliers) should be discussed to decide whether a singular perspective may be more relevant than the group assumes. In this form, an overall scenario of future events that are relevant for the group (or, for example, a company) is created step by step. From this, in turn, measures and priorities can be derived that need to be anchored in organisational strategy. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

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Guess Map

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper

Notes

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Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Experiences – Switch off lemming effect It is important to ensure that there is no lemming effect during the gluing process. To do this, it may be helpful to set the point position (time) on a prepared A4 sheet beforehand. In individual silent work, all participants first fill out these sheets and then openly transfer their individual results onto the collective result. This prevents any influence on their contributions from being exerted. The actual Guess Map (Brownpaper) is the focus of further workshops and an excellent basis for discussions.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Future Matters AG – Uster Organisation – innogy SE – Dortmund

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HIT Matrix –

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description HIT stands for Heuristic Ideation Technique and was invented and described by Edward M. Tauber. The idea behind this is to combine the product and product characteristics of two (or more) completely different products and to create completely new approaches for a new product. This novel approach often provides a springboard for new ideas and inspiration and is therefore used very specifically in the early phases of idea generation, but also in idea enrichment. It increases the shared team creativity and often meets multiple customer expectations. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The following fundamental steps must be carried out: Step 1: Identify existing products or product features – Determine which own or third-party products are used for comparison. – Care should be taken to ensure that these are deliberately very different. Step 2: List of characteristic components – Which features and components should be considered? – Which are similar between the two products? – The selected components should not be described in too much detail. Step 3: Creating the HIT Matrix – The characteristics of product A should be listed in the header column from left to right.

Those of product B should be listed in the first column from top to bottom. – Then the respective pairs should be listed in the intersecting cells. Step 4: Qualification of ideas – Check, evaluate and discuss the exciting pairs found. – Unsuitable (i. e. not new) pairs should be deleted. – Some pairs should not be excluded too early just because they have technical or other limitations – the limitations may not exist at later dates. Step 5: Selection of ideas – Select the pairs that are most likely to represent a potential (new) solution. – These potential solutions should then be set out in a separate list for further investigation. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper

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HIT Matrix

Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Younger sibling of the Morphological Matrix Those who love the Morphological Matrix should also try the HIT Matrix.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Applications and Innovations in Intelligent Systems XII, A. Macintosh, R. Ellis, T. Allen (Springer – Juni 2008) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009)

Hall of Fame

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Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Produce ideas and insights by relating your challenge to the words and thoughts (quotes) of the great thinkers of world history. Create your own Hall of Fame of favorite quotes. Consult the great thinkers, leaders and most successful entrepreneurs (real or imaginary). Famous quotations contain the seeds and principles that can be applied to a variety of challenges. If you have sown this seed in your field of work, it will soon bear fruit in the form of ideas. To begin, you first need – surprisingly – quotes … Some famous collections are Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations or Edward’s Dictionary Of Thoughts, but there are other sources, and the Internet is also good for finding quotes, although selecting the right ones takes more effort. Also search books, biographies, the Bible, the Talmud, newspapers, magazines, comics, movies and television programs. Create your own classification system for your finds. Here are some suggestions of who you could consult: Ben Franklin, Bill Moyers, Mark Twain, Clarence Darrow, Rupert Murdoch, Geoge Patton, J. F. Kennedy, Dorothy Parker, W. Somerset Maugham, Winston Churchill, Sherlock Holmes, Diogenes, Ralph Wado Emerson, Andrew Jackson, Sigmund Freud, Peter the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, Pearl S. Buck, Adlai Stevenson, Albert Schweitzer, Jesus Christ, Julius Caesar, Plato, Shakespeare, Aristotle, Robert Frost, Eugene O’Neill, Aldous Huxley, Sun Tsun, Thomas Jefferson … Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration

Handling Step 1: Create your own personal Hall of Fame: Collect characters – real or fictitious – that seem inspiring to you. Step 2: If you are facing a challenge, consult your Hall of Fame, choose an individual from it and one of their quotes. This can be remotely related to your challenge – but is not absolutely necessary. Step 3: First of all, think about the quote yourself. Write down all the thoughts that come to mind – regardless of your current challenge. Let MANY thoughts flow. Strive for quantity. Avoid premature judgments. Combine and duplicate your thoughts. Step 4: Find your most promising idea from the results list. Rephrase it in the sense of the challenge. Step 5: Take five to ten minutes – only to allow ideas to emerge from previous thought processes. Alternatively, follow these steps: Step 1.1: Create your board of directors. Make a list of three to five successful entrepreneurs, visionaries and innovators you admire. Imagine always having the experience and knowledge of Thomas Edison, Douglas McArthur, Alfred Sloan Jr, Lee Iacocca, Thomas Watson, John D. Rockefeller, Bernhard Baruch, Sam Walton, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Ted Turner etc. at your disposal. Step 1.2: Make yourself a board listing names or a photo collection with pictures of your role models – placed in a clearly visible position, this reminds you of the knowledge of these people available to you. Step 1.3: Read all about the people on your “Board of Directors”: biographies, magazine articles, reviews etc. Step 1.4: Make notes about exciting episodes in their lives: How did your role models deal with resistance? What creative techniques have they used to overcome problems? What secrets did they have? What made them unique? Create a folder for each person. Step 1.5: If you are facing a challenge, consult your Board of Directors. Ask questions like, “How would Henry Ford have solved this problem?” Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

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Hall of Fame

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room Technology: PC or notebook Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Positively non-specialist inspiration

When as a trainer you put together a “Board of Directors” with a client, it is helpful to deliberately suggest names and role models that have nothing to do with the industry or environment of the person being advised. Changing the perspective and broadening the horizon is always worthwhile in order to come up with completely new ideas.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Heart, Hand, Head

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Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description No matter how innovative and progressive products may be, successful market launches will hardly be possible without engaging with the customer and their relationship to the product. The method Heart, Hand, Head helps in a playful way to gain this perspective (or better, these perspectives) clear. It clarifies simply and precisely the different levels that have important roles for customers: Emotion (= heart), benefit (= hand) and mind (= head). By dealing with these three levels, problems or needs that have not yet been discovered become visible and possible contradictions are more easily resolved.

Handling Approach the three points with simple questions and work out the answers with supplementary methods (Brainwriting, Brainstorming, Silent Conversation, etc.). The first question is: “What triggers this product (this process, this service) at the emotional level or what should it trigger?” The emotions that are an important factor in acceptance by the customer are queried here. This question can provide solutions for the design, the address and also various features. The second question tragets the practical benefit: “What makes this product (this process, this service) meaningful and helpful to the user?” This illuminates purely functional features. Here it quickly becomes clear what is important and necessary for use, which functionalities strengthen or diminish the customer’s desire to use it and where there is still room for improvement. Finally, you should ask about the purely intellectual advantages and disadvantages of the idea: “What makes this idea meaningful and practical?” Here you can look at the product neutrally and intellectually and consider the purely factual benefit for the customer. Collect all information in, for example, a blank grid or Mindmap. Then discuss all results in context and make further decisions. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low

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Heart, Hand, Head

Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: post-its Moderation: paper

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Take time Especially with larger groups, there will always be participants who represent one or another “organ” very strongly and who have difficulty opening up to other perspectives. Therefore, give the group enough time to discuss individual questions and work out answers. Usually the participants mentioned slowly enter this world of thought levels and make helpful contributions. – Prepare example The method is simple, but sometimes participants have a mental block understanding the procedure. At the start, give a brief, clear example to increase the success of this method.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Hit List

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Hit List is a method designed by Jiri Scherer, and it can be described as an orientation technique. It is used to define criteria and parameters at an early stage of the idea process to identify a future viable idea or solution. Generated output Creates defined target corridors Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling Step 1: First, create a table with two columns and three rows. This can be done digitally or on a brownpaper on a pinboard. The rows of the table are labeled as follows: “Mandatory”: This line later contains the criteria to be fulfilled in any case. “Wants”: This line later carries the criteria that are desirable parts of the solution. “Wow!” This line carries unexpected aspects or desires. Step 2: Then the criteria and aspects applicable to the task at hand and a defined goal are entered in the second column. Step 3: This Hit List can then be used as a template for a later selection process. It also makes sense to always have this project list in full view of all participants. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Pay attention to the flight altitude For teams using this method for the first time, it is often observed that the altitude of the aspects and criteria mentioned is either far too generic or far too specific and detailed. Neither extreme is helpful in the selection of ideas. However, after a little practice and a bit of experience most teams come up with good formulations for innovation.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Hype-Cycle Checkup Phase 4 The Path of Enlightenment The product no longer appears in the media, and although it is currently not for sale, some companies are experimenting with version 2.0. Currently example: Virtual Reality. Phase 5 The Plateau of Productivity If the product is a real innovation, consistent technical development leads to market maturity. Currently example: Tablet-PC.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Hype-Cycle Checkup helps to very efficiently compare your innovation work with current trends and draw valuable conclusions. Understanding the Hype-Cycle helps to grasp which innovations will prevail. There is always excitement about technical innovations among experts and customers – this hype obviously always goes through the same curve, in five phases. Every company wonders whether, how and when its product will be received by consumers. Even the largest companies, for example, Facebook or Bing, wonder what will happen and which product will be “the next big thing”. The Gartner Research Institute produced the model of the hype surrounding technical innovations in 1995. The analysts discovered the following five phases: Phase 1 Technology Trigger The product launch generates attention, but there are more myths about the product than experience of it. A current example is Video Search. Phase 2 The Summit of Exaggerated Expectation The hype is at its peak. The first defects become visible. Currently at the peak of exaggerated expectation is 3D Television. Phase 3 The Valley of Disappointment The product does not meet expectations. A currently example is Microblogging.

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Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates forecasts and derivations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Nobody knows what the future will bring. Nevertheless, try to use the Hype-Cycle to predict where your idea will be in one, two, and five years. Step 2: Use the five phases to check where you currently are in development. Step 3: Use your understanding of the five phases and amplify the effects. – Technology Trigger: Generate as much attention as possible. – Summit of Exaggerated Expectation: Observe. Communicate! What is the pinch point for customers? – Valley of Disappointment: Gather your insights and critically question whether you have the financial and technical resources to tackle the next phase yourself. – Path of Enlightenment: Develop your 2.0 and 3.0 versions. – Plateau of Productivity: Sales, marketing! Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Hype-Cycle Checkup

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Experiences – Promoting realistic assessments

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Supports a better perception

The point of this Checkup is that a company’s management itself assesses where its products currently stand within the Hype-Cycle. Therefore it is important that the trainer critically questions the assessments again and again: “What indicates that this is a real innovation?” “Are there exaggerated expectations?” “What shortcomings do you see?”

Identified sources of the method Book – Mastering the Hype Cycle: How to Choose the Right Innovation at the Right Time, J. Fenn, M. Raskino (Harvard Business Review Press – September 2008) Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013)

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Hypothesis Matrix

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description First and foremost, the Hypothesis Matrix does not aim at finding ideas for problems, but rather at helping to better understand them through the analytical processing of facts and to show the connections lying within them. The resulting findings are to be used to find further solutions. Therefore typical use of the Matrix is the analysis of interdependencies and the uncovering of relationships and interactions between two complex facts. Examples of questions: – How do the design elements of a packaging A affect the buying behavior of a certain target group B? – Which of given production conditions, A, cause the appearance of a certain production defect, B? It makes sense to have the statements on the individual elements of A and B checked and augmented by as many experts as possible. This increases the likelihood of having a wide range of information in the Hypothesis Matrix from the very start, much sooner than it would be if it were created by only one problem solver. The analysis not only considers simple observations, the findings of a Hypothesis Matrix can also be made by a precise description of relationships. This approach increases the complexity of the Matrix over time, as well as the number of possible hypotheses for a given question. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data

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Handling Step 1: In order to identify new relationships between problem areas A and B, a variety of different hypotheses are made about these areas, which can be based on wellfounded expertise as well as completely hypothetical and speculative ideas. Step 2: The hypotheses found are collected axially symmetrically both in the column and row headers of a table. Step 3: Now comes the hard work. All hypotheses must be compared to the opposing pairs to determine whether there are relationships between the problem areas. If these are feasible and probable, the intersections are marked accordingly. Different clusters occur. If necessary, further analyses should be carried out at a later stage. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Hypothesis Matrix

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Known advantages The Hypothesis Matrix forces the problem solver/s to consider the facts from many different aspects and leads to insights that can be the basis for new solutions.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004)

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I like, I wish, how would it be if …

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The feedback method “I like, I wish, how would it be if …” helps and motivates teams to give open and structured feedback on ideas and to formulate them. The method is just as suitable for small groups as it is for large ones. Through the feedback slips – which happily are distributed and prepared in advance – all participants first write down their feedback and then read it out in a sequence determined by the moderator. For large groups, not everyone has to read aloud – maybe only those who want to. An example could be: “I like the interactive presentation of product ideas through role-playing games. I wish we could get the audience more involved next time. How about we practice this in advance?” Ideally, the individual sentences should build on each other. Thus feedback is gathered and at the same time suggestions for improvement. In addition, you reduce duplication or the protective statement: “That’s what I wanted to say.” Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Handling Step 1: Prepare the feedback slips with the start of the three sentences (“I like … /I wish … /How would it be if …”) and possibly distribute them among the chairs before the beginning of the workshop. Step 2: For the feedback round on the ideas let the participants fill out the slips of paper. Five minutes should be long enough. Step 3: Have the notes read to you one by one. With large groups, it is not necessary for everyone to read their feedback. Step 4: Allow participants to respond to the feedback to implement or plan suggestions straight away. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Weakens debating – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer

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I like, I wish, how would it be if … Tool: specific worksheets Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: soft pencils Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination

Experiences – Remember the structure Especially for newcomers to this method, the moderator should pay close attention to the structure of the sentences, i. e. the exact wording, and have them corrected if necessary.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

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Idea Grid element of such a classification in the Grid is immediately intuitively understood. The Idea Grid allows you to: – identify niches in the existing market – discover a new need – design an advertising strategy – reposition your product

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Idea Grid helps to determine the potential market for a product by classifying it in a coordinate system. The quadrants of the coordinate system query aspects such as price as well as thinking and feelings. We tend to see a complex structure as a whole or a unit. We speak of a “good deal” or a “stable market” and overlook the reality that it is in fact a network of individual aspects. It is necessary to separate the individual processes in order to understand their relationship to each other. The Idea Grid is perfectly suited to this process. Richard Vaughn, Research Director at the advertising company Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB), developed the FCB-Grid in 1978. The parameters he defined are: high commitment (expensive products), low commitment (inexpensive/ordinary products), thinking (products with rational/numeric connotation) and feelings (products that satisfy emotional needs). The four FCB grid quadrants of this coordinate system are: 1. Top left: high engagement/thinking. 2. Bottom left: low engagement/thinking. 3. Top right: high engagement/feelings. 4. Bottom right: low engagement/feelings. Place your product in the Idea Grid by exploring both the product itself and its potential market. For example, a life insurance policy would be placed top/left, while an insecticide could be displayed bottom/left and fancy dress bottom/right. Once the product has been placed in position, you have a good basis for generating new ideas. The graphic

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Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Draw a coordinate system as described (see diagram). Step 2: Position your product in one of the quadrants. The point that you mark does not need to be in the middle of the field. Instead, make an evaluation and visualize where you see your product at the moment. Step 3: To gain ideas, reposition your product: – Draw it as close as possible to the challenge you want to meet. – Or draw it as far away as possible from the competition you want to differentiate yourself from. – Or leave it in its original position and try to be more aware of the perception of the product as the customer. Step 4: Keep your analysis simple and clear so that it can be expressed in a few lines. If the representation in the coordinate system requires a lot of explanation, it loses its significance. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Idea Grid

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Individual and group work The classification of a product in the coordinate system should be done intuitively. This is why working with the Idea Grid is also well suited for working in a group. Each participant should first make a classification on their own. Afterwards, comparisons and discussions can take place: Are the assessments similar or different? Thus potential for the market can be worked out creatively and realistically.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Web – https://www.semrush.com/blog/the-fcb-gridwhat-it-is-and-how-it-works/ (April 2017)

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Ideal Solution Step 5: Independent formulation of an ideal solution without having the alternatives available. Step 6: Comparison of the list of alternatives with the ideal solution. Step 7: Finding the alternative that is closest to the ideal solution.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description With this technique, it is important to have a clear idea of which solution is ideal for a given problem or challenge. This means that, in addition to a previously established list of possible alternatives, there is also always the ideal solution on which these alternatives can be based or measured against. The great advantage of this methodology is that you do not prioritize, evaluate and select each individual alternative per se, but check which alternative best corresponds to the predefined Ideal Solution. It is important to first formulate the list and then the Ideal Solution. This ensures at an early stage that no item on the list is too close to the ideal and is not just a compromise, or that the apparently best alternative is selected, but the choice is one that has most in common with the ideal. The list of alternatives should be as objective as possible and should not influence the definition of the Ideal Solution. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The Ideal Solution method should be performed in the following steps: Step 1: Formulation of the challenge/problem and creation of a uniform understanding. Step 2: Finding alternatives to and ideas for the challenge/problem. Step 3: Prioritization of alternatives. Step 4: Ignoring the list with the ideal solution.

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An example (following de Bono): Possible uses of a plot of land in a small town: – parking space – residential buildings – park – playground – open market with stalls Ideal Solution: As many people as possible should benefit from this and life is made more pleasant. When examining the list of alternatives, it becomes clear that the park best meets these requirements. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart

Ideal Solution

People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Web – http://www.psychology4all.com/dmtechs.htm (April 2017)

Experiences – Ideal solution cannot be identical to alternative There can be no ideal solution identical to an existing alternative solution. If this is the case, there is undoubtedly an overly dominant group member who wants to put htheir alternative in the foreground.

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Idealog Process

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The Idealog Process is an innovation macro-method or a comprehensive process model for controlling innovation, invention and change processes. It was developed and published by Michael Luther about 2006. In its complete scope the model consists of four main phases – orientation, generation, optimization and implementation – which are supported by four further intermediate phases. The derivation from and proximity to the Wallas model can also be clearly seen in this macro process. Luther has defined tools and rules for all phases. Generated output Creates implemented ideas Handling The following section deals with the phases and intermediate phases of the Idealog Process with their essential working steps. The intermediate phases between the main phases are intended to provide good preparation forfollowing phase or to tune in to it correctly, and also to rework a completed phase purposefully. Intermediate Phase 1: Preparation This is about the spatial, participant and media-related preparation of the next phase. Main Phase 1: Orientation In this phase it is a matter of “arranging the compass”, as Luther describes it. The essential steps are: – solve the problem – determine the goal of the process – define the criteria – formulate the right questions 504

Intermediate Phase 2: Incubation Incubation is about letting the results of the preliminary phase take effect. This increases the probability of spontaneous solutions (flashes of inspiration), etc. arising. Main Phase 2: Generation The generation of as many ideas as possible and the creation of an idea pool are at the center of this phase. The essential steps are: – gather ideas – connect and continue thought-provoking impulses – Develop new ideas – Enter new territory, think laterally, spin Intermediate Phase 3: Separation This phase separates generation from optimization. You should consciously clear your mind for the next phase. Deliberate distraction with other activities is one method of separation. Main Phase 3: Optimization In the optimization phase, the wheat is separated from the chaff and only the best raw ideas are further enriched. The essential steps are: – view and sort proposals – prioritize and select favorites – strengthen raw ideas – design concepts Intermediate Phase 4: Comparison In this interim phase, the aim is to make conscious comparisons as to how the current state of results relates to the formulated objective. Thus, very important focusing takes place again before the actual implementation of ideas. Main Phase 4: Implementation Since innovations and good solutions only exist if the best ideas are also implemented, the implementation of the ideas now follows. The essential steps are: – schedule tasks – organize resources – accompany the implementation of results – Sum up success and insights

Idealog Process

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees

– – – – – – – –

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Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Ideatoons – Idea Icons Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Sign language and symbols: Ideatoons helps to create new ideas by developing and using abstract symbols instead of words. Although written language has evolved from images and symbols, this does not automatically mean that modern written language must be superior on every occasion! Not least, the introduction of symbols (icons) was a great leap forward in the modernization of computer user interfaces. When we learn to use visual thinking and verbal thinking equally, a creative window opens for us. Our thinking becomes more flexible when we look at visual and verbal thinking like a rubber glove that is red on the outside and green on the inside. Turning the inside out does not only mean changing the color, but also making it to fit the other hand. Symbols are a visual language that was consciously used by a trio of architects as a creative technique for the invention of new building designs. This language consists of a number of abstract symbols that you yourself invent as substitutes for words. Drawing talent plays just as small a role as the creative quality of the picture. Simply draw the individual aspects of a challenge on moderation cards and play around with them. Ideatoons is a tool that enables you to express and understand your challenge in a different and new way. Constantly rearrange the cards in relation each other. The symbols and the resulting patterns help you to gain a deeper insight into the given situation. If your imagination can no longer be stimulated by words, try picture language.

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Handling Step 1: Divide your challenge into individual aspects/attributes/areas/topics. Step 2: Now describe each identified attribute with an abstract graphic symbol. Draw each symbol on its own postcard-sized moderation card. Write the corresponding term on the back of the card. The sign that you invent can be as simple or as complex as you want. You can group the individual aspects into parameters that then have their own color as moderation cards. Example: “Product marketing” could be divided into four parameters: Packaging, shipping, advertising and sales. All individual aspects of “Packaging” could be drawn on red cards, “Shipping” aspects on yellow, “Advertising” on green, and “Sales” symbols on blue moderation cards. Step 3: Place the cards on a table so that the symbols are on top and the corresponding terms are hidden. Move, shuffle and place the cards in random arrangements. Use your subconscious and let the cards fall “their own way”. Step 4: Search for ideas and thoughts that fit your challenge. Make free associations. Think through the newlycombined symbols connections to each other. Write down the most promising and provocative ideas. Step 5: Add new symbol cards when you’re stuck at a dead end. You may want to start a whole new set of Ideatoons if the symbols don’t inspire you. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Ideatoons – Idea Icons Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: table tops Moderation: moderation cards in different colors

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Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better perception Experiences – Encouraging the cautious, slowing down the artists In an Ideatoons session, I once had to slow down a talented draughtswoman: she painted detailed maps with great skill, while other participants (“I can’t really draw!”) just stared, discouraged. It helped to repeat the instruction that the method it is actually more about symbols made with a few strokes – about sketches. Even quite crazy drawings can be inspiring when combined afterwards! In the drawing phase, tempo and flow also play a role.

Identified sources of the method Book – IdeaToons – Ein Konzept für Kreativität, C. P. Fries-Henrich (Grin Publishing – Mai 2012) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Ideas and Mindset Propaganda Center Step 1: Identifying and furnishing the room. Step 2: Establishing the rules for use and organizing the process. Step 3: Briefing the employees on equipment. The Ideas and Mindset Propaganda Center can be set up with digital tools (computer, printer, etc.) or it can be purely analog (screen printing unit).

Innovation phase P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The Ideas and Mindset Propaganda Center is a specially designed room where the company’s employees produce and print posters, and then distribute them throughout the company. In principle, two types of posters can be made in the Center: 1. Idea Posters These are posters that represent new ideas and are intended to make them known within the company. The posters promote the ideas and the possibility of taking part in further development or enrichment. 2. Motivational Posters These posters show your own sayings or quotations and are intended to positively influence the mindset of the organization in the direction of renewal and innovation. The Ideas and Mindset Propaganda Center is, in either case, a strategic tool that works both for the promotion of concrete ideas and the promotion of an innovation culture. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates posters Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Basically three essential activities are connected with the Ideas and Mindset Propaganda Center: Designing the posters, printing the posters and distributing the posters. The following steps are generally necessary to set up this strategic tool: 508

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room Technology: PC or notebook Technique: camera Technique: Internet access Technique: printer

Ideas and Mindset Propaganda Center

Technique: screen printing unit Finances: implementation budget Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Management mandate required Experience shows that an Ideas and Mindset Propaganda Center is an extremely effective tool for a company to promote a culture of innovation. At the same time, however, experience also teaches that such centers can only be realized with the very highest management mandate.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Idea Quartet Step 3: Pparticipants discuss the ideas for a short time, select the best idea and put it aside. Step 4: From the remaining ideas, the winner of the round selects a “Lucky Loser” card and puts that with the winning idea. Step 5: This is repeated until there are no more cards in the hands of the participants. Step 6: Now all winning cards are placed face up in the middle of the table and the participants assemble new, integrated ideas from four cards at a time.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This technique combines idea finding and idea selection in a playful way. The method was conceived in 2013 as part of the innovation management of RWE Effizienz GmbH (now Innogy SE). A common problem with classic Brainstorming or Brainwriting methods is that initially only preliminary ideas or individual sparks are recorded. The Idea Quartet playfully leads participants to the combination of four ideas (cards) and thus to the first integrated idea concepts. The first round can also be played with problems instead of ideas for consideration. Inexperienced groups should be supported by a moderator. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling As in a quartet-style game, four participants receive 8 or 16 idea cards. Step 1: Everyone writes down one idea per card for the challenge discussed (these can be generated spontaneously or taken from an idea pool). Step 2: Then each participant plays an idea in turn (they place the card on the table in a clearly visible position) and briefly explain it.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: table tops Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Tool: sweets, brainfood Moderation: pens

Idea Quartet

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – innogy SE – Dortmund

Experiences – Good method to create overall concepts from many ideas This method is very well received when experienced idea teams need some variety or could make use of existing idea pools. This means you can generate new ideas with the game or add value to ideas that come from another method or pool. With a bit of snack food in the middle, you can create a relaxed creative circle. – Idea Quartet cards help The game works even better if you don’t use simple moderation cards, but specially-made quartet cards. The game atmosphere makes you engage even more.

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Immediate Idea Help – –

additional employees can easily be synchronized into the process the fast results increase personal motivation

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Immediate Idea Help is a simple, structured and efficient idea generation process consisting of four main steps. It was developed in 2010 by Benno van Aerssen. The technique is especially helpful when it comes to generating ideas in ad hoc situations or with untrained innovation teams. Those from structure-loving cultures particularly like this method. Participants experience immediate assistance, and are spontaneously and purposefullyled in four steps to many good ideas. Immediate Idea Help unfolds its effect on the basis of participants following these principles: 1. Collecting all the information about the challenge before the start of brainstorming. 2. Using lateral thinking. 3. Combining at least two creativity techniques and linking the results. 4. Using incubation phases and working in several small steps. With this combination they significantly increase the number and quality of ideas and thus also the probability of generating a really good idea. The combination of the two creativity techniques Headstand technique and Brainwriting pool in particular is extremely productive for inexperienced teams. Added value for project teams: – guaranteed ideas – even for untrained teams – immediately usable without previous knowledge – suitable for product and process innovations – problem-solving competence is developed constructively – team intelligence is effectively harnessed – many useful ideas are quickly generated

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Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling All participants receive an Immediate Idea Help implementation handout in A3 sizeo. This manual is designed to enable motivated, brain-friendly and sustainable learning. The A3 format ensures that all information is clearly displayed. It is also recommended that the handout be displayed on the wall of the meeting room. Step 1: All participants read the handout and reflect on the process of Immediate Idea Help. Five to ten minutes awill be sufficient here. Step 2: Now the participants work through the four main principles of the method, one after the other. A brief reflection on the results should take place after each working phase. Particularly important is also step 6 in each of the main steps, “Visibly secure”. This step means that all results and ideas are always visible to all participants on pinboards or on the walls of the room. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens the inner censor

Immediate Idea Help

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens Room: pinboards People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Good for inexperienced moderators Inexperienced moderators in particular like to use Benno van Aerssen’s Immediate Idea Help and visual handout.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

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Ideas-Tennis

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description In the creative method Ideas-Tennis, the aim is to ensure that previously expressed ideas are taken up by the other workshop participants and ideally further refined and enriched. So, as in a tennis match, you throw the idea again and again and try to counter and reflect on it – no matter how sophisticatedly or creatively it was played. The method works best if you answer quickly and without thinking too much and thus (so to speak) return the ball quickly. Many good ideas have emerged from this approach, as participants can get involved quickly and are very motivated in the ideas dialogue. It is best to use the method in pairs, but it also works in larger groups and ultimately produces a very acceptable quota of ideas. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling For Ideas-Tennis proceed as follows (according to Scherer/Brügger): Step 1: Ideally, the workshop group should form as many subteams of two people as possible, as in tennis. Step 2: The problem or challenge is clearly and transparently defined. The wording of the question should be phrased very positively, for example: “How could we …?” Step 3: One of the two team members opens the idea generation. Step 4: The other team member expresses an idea based on the first one and throws the ball back, so to speak.

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Step 5: This game continues until one of the two does not find a new association or idea or until a given time limit is reached. Step 6: A time limit between five and ten minutes should be chosen, depending on the complexity of the problem. Example (according to Scherer/Brügger): Question: “How could we make our theater more profitable?” A: “We’re handing out flyers on the street to attract more visitors.” B: “We’re doing a performance on the street.” A: “We do free performances.” B: “We no longer finance ourselves through admissions.” A: “We finance ourselves through advertising.” … And so on. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as topic memory Tool: recording device

Ideas-Tennis

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Do not stop too early

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2007)

Often the really good ideas only emerge after a long exchange of shots, when both partners have brought security into play and all their basic strokes have been used up. The match should definitely be brought to this phase of the game, because there is a high probability that the “winners” or “killers” are lurking here.

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IdeasSedCard

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The IdeasSedCard is a tool (worksheet in A3 or A2 landscape format) for idea enrichment, idea characterization, early prototyping, idea testing and idea evaluation. It was developed by Benno van Aerssen in 2013. The IdeasSedCard was created while working with the innovation method Design Thinking. With that technique the IdeasSedCard is used in the phase of idea enrichment and early prototyping or testing. It can also help people and teams who work in corporate cultures in which ideas are always finalized too early and too short-sightedly – or in which idea enrichment generally does not work. Experience has shown that too many good ideas are left behind. In addition to being used in innovation projects, each employee can also use the IdeasSedCard individually to increase the probability of their own ideas being heard by their supervisor and colleagues. Probably the greatest benefit of the IdeasSedCard is that it integrates colleagues in the creation process of your own idea and thus provides the necessary inside perspective on the concept. This tool therefore also contributes to the development of innovation culture. People who are part of an idea creation process suffer much less or not at all from “Not Invented Here” syndrome. In general, the IdeasSedCard seeks to discover how other people perceive ideas – it does not demand a valueless yes/no decision from readers. In this early test, it is important, for example, to uncover misunderstandings that are still inherent in the idea – to make mistakes early or to discover them early.

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The IdeasSedCard is usually an A3-sized form and is provided as a Word document by the verrocchio Institute. The author of the idea only has to fill in the description and title field – all other fields are then edited and filled in by the readers of the IdeasSedCard. The form sheet contains the following fields: – title/name of the idea – description of the idea – five characterization elements – realization timescale – quick visual assessment – anticipated obstacles

Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Execution: Working with the IdeasSedCard involves the following five steps: Adaptation, Filling in the description, Hand-

IdeasSedCard

ing over to the reader, Editing by the reader and Evaluation. Step 1: AdaptationBefore the IdeasSedCard is used, the five characterization elementss must be adapted to the given project and the goals set adjusted. The point is to ask other people about five important characteristics of the idea in order to find out whether they interpret and perceive the idea in the same way or differently. In our example, “Idea type”, “Target group compatibility”, “Competition”, “Innovation type” and possible “Implementation partnerships” are queried. Each element at least two and a maximum of four values per question. Step 2: Filling in the description The author of the idea describes it alone or in a team of two or three colleagues. In this field everything is permitted that serves to give a precise understanding of the idea: text, image, collages, etc. The aim is to create a description that is clear, free of misunderstanding and communicates the benefit/s of the idea beyond doubt. In addition to clarity, care must be taken to ensure that the description is also an enrichment of the original idea. With added details and sub-concepts, the underlying idea is able to be further improved. Step 3: Handing over to the reader As soon as the description is finished, the form will be given to other people to test the idea. This can be through one-to-one sharing or through an IdeasSedCard gallery. The reader/tester is told what is expected of them and what they have to do: – Read the description. – Put dash in each of the five element fields in order to show they have been understood. – Put a cross on the timeline to indicate their assessment of the implementation time. – Put a cross in the quick visual assessment field to show your vote. – Contribute possible suspected obstacles in the bottom left field. – Sign the edge of the form to record their contribution. Step 4: Editing by reader If the IdeasSedCards are arranged in a gallery, every tester is now asked to read and edit each IdeasSedCard. Experience has shown that three to five minutes per IdeasSedCard should be allowed for. Step 5: Evaluation When all testers have read all IdeasSedCards, evaluation can begin to select the best ideas. However, even the ideas with unexpectedly good results can be improved and enriched on the basis of the findings.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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IdeasSedCard

Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – A3 or A2 format

The IdeasSedCard should have at least an A3 landscape format – many teams also switch to A2 after a time for complex ideas. Then you can also add some particularly good explanatory sketches.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – Vverrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Idea Blueprint

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description With the help of the Idea Blueprint, an initially vague idea can be described in more detail and further defined. The outlined idea is supplemented and further developed after initial definition by the team. The Idea Blueprint is completed in seven steps and offers a structured enrichment of an idea. It is therefore particularly suitable for the further development of concepts, but is not a typical creativity technique. Augmentation of ideas in particular is underestimated in many innovation processes, and it is often only in this phase that the big ideas emerge.

Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions

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Handling Step 1: The title of the idea is written in the upper middle of a sheet of paper. Step 2: To the right of the title, the scope (for example: Which departments?), the type of idea and the origin of the idea are noted. Step 3: To the left of the title is a description of the inspiration for this idea and what related ideas already exist. Step 4: Below the idea title, a box called “Definition of the Idea” is drawn, which is filled later in Step 6. Step 4 mainly includes the description of the components of the idea. This box is drawn under “Definition of the Idea”. Step 5: A box called “Examples and Companies” is inserted below the description of the components. Examples of the components of the idea are described here. Step 6: Now the box “Definition of the Idea” is filled with a detailed description of the idea, with clear benefits listed. Step 7: Below “Examples and Companies” a further box, “Development and Implementation Possibilities”, is added. Enriched ideas are listed here. Sequence frame: A group of two has 15 minutes to fill in the Idea Blueprint. The result is then presented to the other participants. Criticism is expressly permitted in order to make the idea more tangible.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

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Idea Blueprint

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Variation desirable As with so many methods available in the context of innovation, it is also desirable here to extend and adapt the method itself. The boxes can be adapted and the method can be integrated, for example, into the Brainstorming process.

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

Idea Cluster

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Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Idea Cluster is a tool designed by Benno van Aerssen that is used to quickly and efficiently add value to and further develop initial solutions and ideas. The Idea Cluster is always used when initial ideas have been generated from a first idea generation round, within a project or in a workshop. Typically, preliminary ideas and initial solutions often exist as individual sentences or statements on moderation cards or pinboards. Since, as is known from many years of experience, these preliminary ideas are still far too imprecise and rough for evaluation or any decision, they must be enriched and further developed. It is important at this point that the enrichment process is very efficient and target oriented. Too little enrichment at this early stage is usually just as inefficient as too much elaboration. It is important to find a good balance here. The Idea Cluster and a few important parameters create the conditions for just such efficient idea enrichment. The essential parameters for the Idea Cluster are that: – It is developed by two people. – Ideally, one of the two is the creator of the initial idea to be enriched. – It is developed on flipchart paper. – Colored markers are used. – The team of two has a maximum of 30 minutes to create it. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions

Handling Step 1: Clarify the preliminary idea Both people in the team discuss the preliminary idea to be enriched with the aim of getting an initial shared and clear idea of what the preliminary idea entails. Step 2: Clump ideas Now further ideas are sought or created together, which can be clumped/combined with the previous idea to create a better, detailed idea. These additional ideas can originate from an already existing idea gallery or can be newly imagined. Step 3: Create idea clusters In order to create the Idea Cluster, the preliminary idea is first written or glued to the middle of the flipchart sheet. Then, in a joint creative process, in Mindmap style, all enrichments are noted or drawn on the sheet. Enrichments can be: – A memorable and catchy title for the enriched idea – The additional combinable ideas – A clear, unmistakable description of the features – Sketches that contribute to further rapid understanding – Solution to customer’s problems using this idea – Additional gains for the customer from the idea – Trends that this idea addresses – Additional USPs and benefits for your company that result from the idea – Possible important facts Step 4: Idea presentation/Idea gallery Typically, the resulting Idea Clusters are presented individually within a team or viewed, discussed and evaluated in an idea gallery.

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Idea Cluster

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Experiences – Maximum 30 minutes An essential success lever for this tool is to strictly limit the creation time to a maximum of 30 minutes. A little pressure won’t hurt most creative work phases, but experience clearly shows that Idea Clusters in which much more time was invested never really got better – after all, it’s about initial efficient enrichment and not about detailed project elaboration.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Idea Culture

Description Idea Culture refers to a cultural style that is characterized by a high number of new ideas in all processes and task areas of the organisation. It represents a special variant of an innovation culture. Idea Cultures are particularly dominant in start-ups and young companies, as they are primarily concerned with the rapid and uncomplicated further development of a core entrepreneurial idea. Within an Idea Culture, ideas are evaluated independently of the rank and task of the idea provider. This leads to high individual performance by employees and reduction of status awareness and hierarchical structures. The output of an Idea Culture is creative, fresh ideas and unusual solutions even for small problems of day-today business. The term “culture of innovation” is closely related to the term “culture of ideas”, since they share almost all characteristics. In contrast to an Idea Culture, an Innovation Culture exclusively describes striving for new business and product ideas in order to increase the market success of an organization. Seen in this light, a culture of innovation is part of a culture of ideas. In addition to innovations, Idea Cultures also strive for cost, process and workplace optimization. The effects of a lived culture of ideas are: 1. High competitiveness. 2. Leaner and more efficient processes. 3. Reducted operating and production costs. 4. High employee satisfaction and motivation. 5. Decreased sickness rates. 6. Improved internal and external communication. 7. Reduced internal resistance. 8. Increased ability to work in a team. 9. High competence in problem solving. 10. Improved crisis resistance.

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Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates early prototypes Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas plus initial funding and feasibility studies Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling A prerequisite for the introduction and establishment of an Idea Culture or the building blocks of a culture of ideas is the creation of necessary freedoms and the transfer of responsibility to all employees. In addition, tools, spaces and resources must be provided to inspire and visualize ideas. A culture of ideas is always part of an overall culture. In addition, there must be a culture of structure and automation that favors high productivity. These two forms influence each other within the overall culture and each is augmented through the influence of the other cultural part. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces permanent opponents – Convinces rationalizers – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens debating – Weakens living in the past – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome – Weakens overly extrovert team members

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Experiences – past Cultures of ideas and innovation need role models in top management who exemplify lateral thinking. If this is not the case, the usual service according to the rulebook is quickly resumed.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf Web – www.unternehmenskultur-magazin.de, Lorenz Forchhammer (April 2017)

Marathon of Ideas

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Marathon of Ideas plays with the different phases that occur over the timespan of dealing with problems. It makes targeted use of the long-term and tiring form of dealing with a single topic “at a stretch”, just like a marathon. Users should slowly think their way into a state that promotes particularly creative solutions, or where the generation of such solutions becomes a matter of course in mechanics. Creative phases are usually referred to as different points in time when the process changes. Some sources, for example, suggest that after seven to twelve minutes into a process of generating new ideas, a slackening sets in. Once the usual most obvious ideas have been mentioned and written down (key phrase: visibly secured), from this point onward the brain falls into a certain state of inertia. You can usually get past this state with creativity techniques. A large number of these are focused on lasting 30 minutes. In the extreme method discussed here, these 30 minutes are exploited many times over.

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this at a neutral location, such as a hotel or seminar room. The workspace should be very spartan, so that creativity can arise only from the participants themselves or from communication between them. Once the problem has been clearly formulated, the 24-hour idea generation begins. The goal is to reach the 1,000 ideas mark in 24 hours. This method cleverly uses group dynamics and various phases such as fatigue, irrelevance or boredom that arise during the process to generate masses of ideas. The feeling of “simply wanting to finish” greatly encourages creativity. The goal is either to collect 1,000 different ideas and complete the task prematurely, or to use the whole 24 hours and generate a maximum number of ideas. The method works in the same way as a marathon or extreme endurance sport. Ideas are recorded on index cards in the form of individual sentences. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents the bunker of ideas and secrecy – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Handling In a first step, it is important to have identified a clear opportunity space, i. e. a thought corridor or specific problem area. Once this is done, the Marathon method can begin. It requires the team (of up to eight people) to work on the task for for 24 hours. It is advisable to do

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room People: diverse mix of individuals Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Staying firm – supreme discipline Concentration will definitely decrease over time and the method will therefore suit the really hardy people. From the outset it makes good sense to present the Marathon of Ideas as requiring supreme discipline that only a few can master. In the end, as in a marathon, there should be a generous reward – for example, a group breakfast.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – KOPFSPRINGER GmbH – Düsseldorf

Idea Profile

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submissions and can be expanded into a companyowned idea pool. The clear form makes it easier to understand and evaluate ideas. Rejected ideas can be important at a later stage and can be used again. Disadvantages: In the case of numerous idea submissions, the Idea Profile can generate a lot of documentation and administration. Information content can vary greatly depending on the quality of the selected template. When ideas are evaluated, there is a risk of subjective judgment. Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Idea Profile is a uniform template for the documentation of (business) ideas. It serves to record and describe ideas and to check them for chances of success and realization. In this way, employee ideas can be collected and expanded into a central pool of ideas. In addition, the Idea Profile can also be used outside the company to conserve spontaneous and promising ideas. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The Idea Profile is essentially divided into the areas of problem, solution and evaluation. Structure your Profile as follows: Step 1: The name of the idea, the idea generator, serial number and date of submission. Step 2: Short description of the output problem. Step 3: Presentation of the idea (describe your idea in five to ten sentences plus a sketch). Step 4: Benefits and advantages of the solution (name three to ten positive arguments for your solution idea). Step 5: Risks and vulnerabilities of the solution (criticize your solution and suggest how possible vulnerabilities could be fixed). Step 6: Evaluation of the idea (formulate your personal assessment in two to three sentences).

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources Technology: PC or notebook Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Advantages: With the help of the Idea Profile, ideas can be recorded in a uniform and structured way. The Profile is versatile and easy to understand. It ensures the quality of idea

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Experiences – In paper form, the Profile is even stronger You can use a file template (Word or similar) for this sort of profile. Further, such profiles can be successfully turned into entire walls of ideas. These can ensure a great deal of participation and acceptance in publicly accessible places within companies.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Kreativitätstechniken, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2007) Web – https://www.inf.uni-hamburg.de/de/inst/ab/ itmc/research/completed/promidis/instrumente/ ideensteckbrief (April 2017) Web – http://www.innovations-wissen.de/index.php? id=80 (April 2017)

Idea Competition

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Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The aim of an Idea Competition is to tap external sources that support idea generation in the early phases of the innovation process. An Idea Competition is an invitation by a private or public organizer to the general public or a specific target group to submit thematic ideas within a specified time period. This technique strengthens the image of your company, i. e. the brand. Opening yourself up to the outside is likable. The only exception is companies that are strongly based on a brand image of luxury and exclusivity, where you have to think carefully about the form in which an Innovation challenge is implemented. In this phase, the topic of competition should crystallize further. The proposals submitted are usually evaluated by a panel of experts, awarded prizes and then used to develop new, alternative solutions. In general, Idea Competitions can be classified according to the two dimensions of task specificity and degree of elaboration: The specificity of the task rated the content framework provided by the organizer. A competition with a high degree of task specificity has specific and detailed requirements for the final result, which limits the scope for ideas. Calls for tenders with low task specificity give only rudimentary guidelines and allow participants greater creative development opportunities. The advantage of this method is the self-selection of the participants. The open call for participation often leads to the appearance of people with special needs and/or solution knowledge who represent a great enrichment opportunity for the company.

Handling Step 1: Reflection and conception. First of all you have to be convinced of the advantages of such a competition. So be aware of the benefits that an open innovation competition offers you. What do you want to achieve with this type of competition that you cannot get elsewhere? Step 2: Define your target group. You should start marketing your event two to three months in advance. Perhaps you would like to ask yourself the following questions: “Who is our target group?” “Which participants do we want to address?” “Are they students (maybe even from a certain subject), partners of your company, fans/customers or scientists …?” Step 3: Set an attractive prize/earnings for the best ideas. The prize in an Idea Competition is often not even the most important motivation for creative minds who want to participate in open innovation. Nevertheless, you should think carefully about the prize, who is taking part in the Competition, which direction the ideas take and much more. In addition, you should consider whether only the best idea or innovation receives a prize, whether there can be several winners or whether there are winning levels (typically first, second and third place). Step 4: Define the conditions of participation. This is about the concept and the specific conditions for participation in the Competition. Some examples of helpful questions to ask yourself: Do you have to register for the Idea Competition? How does the registration work? By e-mail, on a website …? When is the registration deadline? Is there a maximum number of participants that can register? Do the participants have to fulfil certain requirements (e. g. be a student)? Should the participants prove that they meet the requirements? If so, how? How are ideas submitted? Step 5: Actively address your participants by marketing the competition imaginatively. Design the advertising for your exchange of ideas to appeal to the target group. For example, it should become clear how the participants themselves benefit from the event. Step 6: Create an action plan. At an early stage you should use the time until the Competition by planning the phase after its completion. Un-

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fortunately, it has often been observed that the results of such competitions have disappeared. Good business ideas have been postponed or never implemented. This is prevented by precise planning of the further processing of ideas. Ask yourself questions like: How do you work with the winners? Where and in what form will that cooperation take place? How do you keep the community created by the Competition active? Who will be involved in the implementation in addition to the winners and the company? Step 7: Assemble the jury. Basically, the bigger and the more diverse the jury, the better. The Community principle of open innovation should also be applied here. Step 8: Actively moderate the Idea Competition. An Idea Competition is always about using the power of the many. As event moderator, you give participants the freedom to be creative and propose solutions to problems. Further, the moderator sets the tone on the day of the Competition and ensures an efficient and well-run event. Even if there is no event as such (e. g. because everything is digital and online), there should be a moderator role (e. g. on virtual platforms, in e-mail communication and so on). Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Prevents the bunker of ideas and secrecy – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer People: experts People: administrators Finances: implementation budget Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Identification of innovators It is advisable not to underestimate the identification of external innovators who have special solutions and/or needs knowledge, who could be of enormous importance to the organization. – Not Invented Here Syndrome As many external ideas typically arise during Idea Competitions, internal organizational barriers to the integration of this external knowledge can occur and have a negative impact on the exploitation of the proposed solutions.

Identified sources of the method Book – Der Ideenwettbewerb als Methode der aktiven Kundenintegration, D. Walcher (Deutscher Universitätsverlag – Februar 2012) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

Identification Method

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Strictly speaking, the Identification Method is a role play in which the aim is to change perspective, to look at the challenge, the solution or simply the problem from the viewpoint’s of another person. It is often sufficient to simply change desks, departments and business units in order to take a different perspective from one’s own. Another step in the value chain can also make sense if the whole is viewed from the supplier’s or customer’s perspective. Just “look over the shoulder” of that person and think about what you get from that perspective of considering the problem. The method is also ideal for taking a close look at individual process steps and viewing them from all sides. You should do this with the smallest process units if possible. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The implementation of the method according to Mencke is as follows: Step 1: All individuals and objects involved in/affected by the problem are listed. Step 2: The people or objects most relevant to the question are selected from the list. Step 3: One after the other, individuals slip into corresponding roles and try to describe and empathize with the respective perspective.

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Step 4: New ideas emerge from the individual perspectives and feelings, from which solutions are developed that do justice to all those involved and affected. Advantages: – Also suitable for individual work. – The different perspectives systematically develop a complete, transparent picture and prevent a onesided assessment of the question. Disadvantages: – The result depends on the choice of roles and the know-how that the participants can bring to the role. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Tool: recording device Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Ideal for product development The method is ideal for product development because the perspective of potential users (customers) is taken early on.

Identified sources of the method Book – 99 Tipps für Kreativitätstechniken, M. Mencke (Cornelsen Scriptor – April 2006) Book – Soft Skills III, Deutscher Manager-Verband (vdf Hochschulverlag AG, Band 3)

Image Sorting

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Image Sorting is about experiencing – with the help of prepared images – people’s thoughts, attitudes, feelings and opinions about a specific aspect or idea within a project. It happens repeatedly during several phases of an innovation project that the opinions and feelings of external individuals are questioned. Image Sorting makes a lot of sense in the innovation process, especially for elements known as soft aspects or aspects that are linked to emotions. With pictures, you will find that thoughts, attitudes, feelings and opinions can usually be captured and documented more quickly and clearly than with words alone. With Image Sorting you can also easily detail nuanced and extreme sensations, which are often not mentioned on the soundtrack (e. g. due to fear, embarrassment, taboo, etc.). Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates forecasts and derivations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling Step 1: Determine the aspect to be examined Based on the current project status, create a list of ideas, properties, functions or aspects that you want to examine with Image Sorting. Step 2: Define the questions Identify the pictures and define the questions with which you want to confront the participants. They first look at a picture of the idea or object to be explored and then answer questions or make choices such as: – “Which of the images in front of you best describes the feelings the ideas trigger in you?” – “Choose ten pictures from all those in front of you that describe the optimal environment for our idea.” Step 3: Choose the images Based on the questions, you can now research suitable images. You can also access the results of methods such as POEMS. Use stimulus image packages, image databases and Google image search. Step 4: Invite participants Now select relevant participants and invite them to Image Sorting. Step 5: Implement Image Sorting Carry out the technique. As well as answering your questions, participants should also look for pictures that answer the question and sort them into a group. Participants can work individually or in small groups – test what works best. Always meticulously document the results of each session with a videocamera. Step 6: Make calls Ask the participants about the results of the Image Sorting, why they chose the respective images, how they themselves relate to the images, and whether they have previous experiences related to the images. Step 7: Analyse results Now convert all chosen images and answers of the participants into documents that are easy to understand and distribute within the team. Then discuss the results as a team and derive insights for further development of the project or ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

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Image Sorting

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Tool: impulse pictures Technique: camera Tool: recording device Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Overcomes language barriers as well The method also works particularly well across cultural and linguistic boundaries, as often exist with international teams.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Image-ination

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Using pictures is an important tool to enable new associations and to increase lateral thinking. With the Imageination method, fresh ideas for a concrete problem can be developed in a short time through the use of images. It is particularly suitable for small groups of five to seven participants, but due to the prior selection of the pictures a certain preparation time is required. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Before the meeting, put together a collection of pictures. You can take photos or, for example, choose images from magazines, catalogs, etc. The images should not contain any text. What is important is not that the pictures are particularly atractive, but that they are as varied and diverse as possible. Three to five pictures per participant are recommended. Step 2: Place a large sheet of flipchart-sized paper on a table. In the middle, write a description of the topic, up to three words long, on which new ideas are being sought (example: “Winning new customers”). Step 3: Place the images face down around the sheet of paper. Give the players some stickers/cards. Step 4: Explain the goal of the game: To think as openly as possible and to go beyond what you already know. Give an example: hold up a picture and make possible connections. Step 5: Now it is the turn of the participants. They select any picture, turn it over and write down as much as possible about how it could relate to the topic. For each

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sticky note, one idea is written down, and then the note is pasted onto the sheet around the topic description. The participants have five minutes to do this (silent work) and choose another picture as soon as they have finished with an image. Step 6: Then let the participants arrange the ideas into groups according to content and select a picture/photo that reflects the whole idea of each group. Under the picture/photo the participants should write a short title. Step 7: If there is more than one group, the individual groups present their collections with pictures/photos and titles. Step 8: Discuss with the whole group what influence the titled pictures/photos have on how the participants think about the topic. Together, make a list of activities that could follow the ideas generated. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: table tops

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Moderation: glue Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Experiences – verrocchio Stimulation Package Instead of cutting out images from magazines, the method can also use the verrocchio stimulus image package, which offers a readymade selection of different, inspiring images. For me this shortens the preparation time enormously. – Reference to previous ideas Participants who are not experienced in innovation often raise the objection that the ideas created this way cannot be implemented. In those cases, please note that these are often so-called preliminary ideas, which must be further enriched in the second step.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Imaginary Brainstorming

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Step 4: Feedback on the original problem – Is the idea transferable? – Are there any changes? Step 5: Reflect on results and solution ideas for the original problem.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Imaginary Brainstorming method, invented by Arthur F. Keller, is still far less well known today than famous sister, the original Brainstorming. This is particularly astonishing because it offers some specific advantages over Brainstorming (e. g. it is impossible to stick to ideas that keep coming up) and thus promotes creativity and inventiveness. The trick in Imaginary Brainstorming is to leave the usual paths of thought by radically reversing the fundamental factors influencing the idea environment and thus activating the imagination. Only at the end of the method are the ideas gained checked to see whether they also fit the original problem. However, this mental sidestep only works really well if the “alienated” problem is as far away as possible from the original problem in order to leave prefabricated thought patterns. Therefore, the “alienated” problem chosen should also be very surreal and unreal. The seemingly senseless Brainstorming through this sidestep may seem strange at first, but our brain is always able to provide feedback for the actual problem. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The following procedure should be followed for Imaginary Brainstorming: Step 1: Define the problem in its original state. Step 2: Alienate the problem and transfer it to a new state. Step 3: Brainstorm on the alienated problem.

Example (after Schlicksupp): Problem: Visitors are interested in the heat pump exhibit at the trade fair. Problem situation: for example, visitors are adults with a specialist education. Problem situation alienated: for example, visitors are elephants. Change question and feedback. “What could we do to interest elephants in our booth?” Idea: Capture bulls and bring them up to speed or simulate trumpet calls from elephants. Translating ideas into solutions for real problems: for example, hiring a specialist on heat pumps or creating distinctive features to “lure visitors to the stand”. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location

It is advisable to work on the alienated problems with as many different questions as possible in order to achieve the greatest possible horizon of ideas.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004)

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Experiences – Work through several variants

Start Moving – – – –

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description This technique uses the activation of thinking through physical exertion. In connection with a task, new approaches to familiar questions emerge. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling Form small groups of two to three people and ask them to take a walk. In the course of the walk, three questions about a task are to be asked and the results are to be written down. Sample questions: “How was it before?” “What’s it like today?” “What about tomorrow?” “What’s the case?” “What’s wrong with that?” “What do we need to settle?” You should choose where to walk so that the groups can devote themselves in detail to answering the questions. Too much distraction should be avoided. Likewise, effort is to be welcomed. For example, a hilly walk in the woods, a path along the beach or through dunes, or a cross-country hike over a rolling landscape are ideal. You should give the groups sufficient time for discussion. For example, many groups that do not normally work together in a team need to get used to the process at the beginning and have a chance to chat informally. Give clear instructions for the walk and for answering the questions:

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How should the answers be collected (e. g. keywords, notes, drawings)? How extensively should the questions be discussed? What is the maximum and minimum length of the walk? How length of time, if any, should be invested in the discussion of a question?

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: clipboards Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: soft pencils Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception

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Start Moving

Experiences – Combine with Multisensory Idea Development (MSI) In combination with other tools from MSI, this simple technique achieves a very high level of efficiency. The more senses are involved, the better the results are in developing ideas.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Seminare, Trainings und Workshops lebendig gestalten, A. Lienhart (Haufe Lexware 2015)

Industry Diagnostics

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Industry Diagnostics method uses Michael Porter’s Five Forces Framework to better understand an industry and identify opportunities for innovation at an early stage. Once you have identified the key aspects of an industry, you can assess its current health. Wherever weaknesses have developed in an industry over time, there is always a great opportunity for new concepts to penetrate. The five forces being analyzed here are: 1. The threat of potential market entry by new competitors. 2. The threat of substitution by other products and services. 3. The power of customers and users of products. 4. The power of the suppliers of your own industry. 5. The intensity of competition between competitors. The extended version of Porter’s Five Forces are the Six Forces, which additionally include the complementors of an industry into the system. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Generates lists of opportunities and risks

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Handling Step 1: Collect all the data required by the method and display it in a large, clear, visual format – see figure. Pinboards with brown paper are a good choice. Step 2: Walk through your visualization and evaluate the influence of all identified forces on your industry. 1. Potential new intruders Ask yourself help questions like: – Who could be new intruders in our industry? – What are the entry barriers for these intruders? – How vulnerable is our industry to new intruders? 2.

Substitute products/services – How willing would our customers be to switch to new offers? – How vulnerable is our industry to new substitutes?

3.

Power of customers – How strongly do customers dictate the nature of our industry’s products and services? – How big is the influence of customers on prices and other parameters of the products?

4.

Power of suppliers – How dependent is the industry on these suppliers? – What influence do suppliers have on the design of products and services?

5.

Competitors – How exactly is the rivalry between competitors characterized? – Is the competition driven by technology, price or service? – Is the rivalry completely cross-industry or are there variants?

Step 3: Now identify the organization’s response mechanisms to these forces. Are they procedures, budgets, plans, processes, marketing, etc.? What mechanisms does the industry use to perceive change and create responses? Step 4: Discuss all insights gained and try to derive opportunities and innovation fields for your company. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements 541

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Industry Diagnostics Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain Weakens debating

– – –

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Technique: Internet access Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Display clearly If you clearly display the bulletin board with the data where it can be viewed and used by many colleagues, even more usable potential will develop over time.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Initial Opportunity Map

Step 2: Create an axis cross-based coordinate system from two dimensions and enter, for example, the offers of your competitors or complementors. Step 3: Discuss the Initial Opportunity Map with your colleagues and try to identify areas that represent possible innovation spaces (i. e. empty or sparsely filled areas). Step 4: Understanding and creativity phase follows – for generating new offers for identified potential innovation spaces. Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description As a visual tool, the Initial Opportunity Map provides an overview of, for example, industry participants and the resulting innovation fields that could still be filled. This Map helps to identify possible innovation search fields. In addition to two dimensions, which form the central cross, trends are also embedded in the Map. It shows your organization in relation to others and thus supports the detection of possible innovation opportunities. Typically, this tool is used in the early phases of innovation projects. The method helps to answer the central, frequently asked question: “Where is a worthwhile field of innovation?” Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Handling Step 1: Identify the two key dimensions from which you create the Map coordinate system. It is helpful to consider, for example, trends that influence the probable future direction of the industry. Of course, more than just two dimensions can be found. In this case it is recommended that you work with several cards in parallel. Dimension axes could be: – Virtual to analog services – Free offers to paid offers – Anonymous sales channels to individual personal approach – Analog offers to digital offers – Industry standard services to new, unusual services

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper

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Initial Opportunity Map

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Take your time … and be sure to make multiple axis crosses. The combination of axes labels in particular can suddenly lead to very exciting fields of innovation. Take your time, therefore, to combine axes and discuss them as a team.

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Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Innovation Evolution Map

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Innovation Evolution Map is a strategic tool that shows how the innovations of recent years and the economic development of organizations relate to each other. The ups and downs of your own organization as well as competitors and their innovations can be directly compared using the Innovation Evolution Map and thus help you to gain exciting strategic insights. Much different additional data can be overlayed in the Innovation Evolution Map. In this way, many interesting correlations can emerge that helps to better assess and align your own innovation strategy or an upcoming innovation initiative. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates lists of opportunities and risks Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Specifying the innovation period Specify which period you want to examine. If you want to work in a very strategic way, long periods of more than ten years make more sense. If you would rather assess a current innovation initiative better, then perhaps periods of three years are advisable. Step 2: Collect the innovation history Now research the innovations of the organizations or industries you want to investigate and compile them in a history. Consider both innovation successes and innovation flops.

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Step 3: Collect comparable data Identify and collect key data from companies that you want to compare with the innovation history. These can be data on turnover, returns, market share, stock market price or similar. Step 4: Create a visual map Enter the companies, innovations and comparative data along a timeline. Use different to create a clear picture. Step 5: Derive insights Now discuss the Innovation Evolution Map with your team and try to derive insights for your projects or strategy. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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Innovation Evolution Map

Recommended resources Technique: Internet access Technology: PC or notebook People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Room: wall surfaces Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Many teams lack the wider view Many teams and smaller organizations sometimes live too much in the here and now and forget the broad strategic view. As a result, innovation opportunities are very often missed. Likewise, the strategic view prevents you from falling into familiar innovation traps. The Innovation Evolution Map reliably helps you to take a strategic view and to recognize opportunities and traps more easily.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Innovation Landscape

Step 4: Visualize the value table as a three-dimensional terrain graph. The number of innovation types found at a given time forms the vertical axis of the graph. Step 5: Discuss the results and the map with your team and try to discover new opportunities for innovation within it. Teams that use this method as a strategic tool hold regular Innovation Landscape meetings. In order to generate even more added value, the innovations found can also be correlated with current trends, for example. This very often results in exciting derivations for new fields of innovation in the future. Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Innovation Landscape allows you to map innovations and their growth in an industry. With this tool you get indications of where innovation opportunities currently exist or are emerging in an industry. It is especially useful in the understanding phase of Design Thinking or as a general Innovation strategy tool. The Innovation Landscape creates a three-dimensional map of an industry’s innovation activities and helps to identify patterns and opportunities within them. The patterns found help teams to lead goal-oriented discussions and to identify goal-oriented innovation search fields. The visual representation also allows you to gain knowledge very quickly, especially when the total amount of data is very large or complex. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Handling Step 1: Work with your team to identify the industry and data sources you want to search for innovations. Step 2: Define the search terms and the period (this can be several years) you want to search. Step 3: Carry out the search and translate the results to a value table. The axes of the value table can be, for example, time and innovation types found.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Experiences – Additional benefit permanent update The Innovation Landscape offers an exciting additional benefit if you update the map continuously. This allows movements to be detected at an early stage and the map functions like a scanner that can be used strategically. Some teams use this tool to examine and scan several industries in parallel.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Innovation Matrix Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Sharpens common direction – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Innovation Matrix is a quickly applicable Idea Evaluation method. It divides a larger number of ideas into a four-quadrant matrix and thus facilitates quick decisionmaking. The method is also suitable for inexperienced moderators, the authors having provided a template to download. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Prepare the Innovation Matrix on a large sheet of paper. The authors have made the matrix available for download as a PDF file, but you can of course also recreate it on a flat sheet of paper. The vertical axis shows whether the idea means a substantial or an incremental change for the organization. The horizontal axis shows whether the idea is aimed more at reducing costs or at increasing revenue. Of course you can also use your own designations. Ideally, you will have previously received a whole series of ideas, but now you need to analyze them with the Innovation Matrix. To do this, take each idea individually, discuss it with the group and sort it into one of the four quadrants. If you have not changed the axis designations, you will probably find that the discussion is not about the usual topics, such as feasibility. This will make the discussion more open and solution oriented.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: post-its Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Innovation Matrix

Experiences – Courage and assertiveness Essentially, the ideas at the top of the Innovation Matrix are those with a greater impact on the organization. Sometimes it happens that participants only select ideas from the lower part for further processing. In that case it may indicate a lack of courage on their part which should be addressed by the moderator.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Design a Better Business, P. van der Pijl, J. Lokitz, L. K. Solomon (Vahlen Verlag – Juli 2017)

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Innovation Performance Radar – –

simple, self-realizable comparison measurements … and so on.

The IPR measures innovation capability over 18 subareas, which are divided into three clusters: Cluster 1: Cultural level. Cluster 2: Operational level. Cluster 3: Strategic level.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description With the Innovation Performance Radar (IPR) you can efficiently, visually and in a target-oriented manner analyze the current innovation or renewal capability of teams, departments, business units and entire organizations. In addition, the IPR offers the power to support an organization on its way to a perpetual transformation capability and to maintain clarity about the current state of development at all times. This tool is distributed exclusively by experts accredited by the verrocchio Institute. The Innovation Performance Radar offers: – a ten-year experience base – a tested and helpful measuring structure – a simple working environment – a strong visual result (we look in the mirror!) – great clarity for derivations and target-oriented measures – efficient and accurate measurement

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In each of the 18 subareas, four measurement points are queried: know-how, tools, resources and experience. The verrocchio Institute offers organizations a socalled verrocchio Radar Day (VRD) to measure innovation capability. This eventverrocchioserves to analyse the current innovation and renewal capability of teams, departments, business units and entire organizations very efficiently and purposefully within one day. The IPR and its visualization of results are compatible with all innovation initiatives and development measures that may already be running within the organization. The Innovation Performance Radar, developed by the verrocchio Institute, accompanies the participants throughout the day. At the end of the VRDverrocchio there is great insight and visual clarity about the current state of the innovation or renewal capability of the team,department or organization. On the basis of the clarity created, the main corridors for action will also be formulated on the day in order to measurably increase the capacity for innovation or renewal. The VRDverrocchio can be booked as a day at the verrocchio Institute. For its long-term commitmentsVerrocchio, the dayverrocchio is an integral part of the Institute’s cooperation. At fixed times, we measure the development of our clients’ ability to innovate. As the verrocchio Institute always acts as a neutral authority during measurement, those responsible for current innovation development initiatives within the organization should also be present at the Radar Days and assist during measurement. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling Step 1: First, the working corridor and the flight altitude of the measurement are determined using the three fields at the centre of the Innovation Performance Radar:

Innovation Performance Radar

1. 2. 3.

Mandate or object of the measurement. Aim of the measurement. Strategy in which the measurement is integrated.

At the foot of the IPR worksheet the legend records the date, individuals involved, responsible person and next planned Radar Day so that the measurement can always be correctly located. Step 2: The team now determines which areas of the IPR are to be surveyed and measured. The following measurement packages have proven themselves: 1. Complete: The complete IPR is queried in order to measure the innovation capability comprehensively. 2. Ring: Only one or two circles on the Radar are requested here. For example, the know-how ring to measure only the knowledge in the 18 sub-areas. 3. Cluster: Here only one or two of the clusters at Cultural, Operational or Strategic level are used. Step 3: The measurement is now carried out by querying the four measuring points of the focused sub-areas of the IPR and marking them with corresponding colors (PostIts in 48 × 48 millimeter format). Step 4: After the measurement, the results are discussed in the team and it is determined in which area/s further development should be initiated. Afterwards, appropriate measures for the further development of innovation capability are decided and implemented. Step 5: With a further identical measurement after a period of six months, for example, the team reflects on whether the measures implemented have led to the planned further development. The repeat measurement can now be carried out strategically and cyclically over and over again. Tip: We recommend that the Innovation Performance Radar be clearly displayed in the team environment after a measurement and that copies of the IPR be sent to each team member. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents unreflected action

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: post-its Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Great time saving In addition to the clarity of a team’s ability to innovate, which this tool accurately represents, there is another effect worth mentioning, which has been demonstrated over time in almost all applications. The method saves time: it considerably shortens the time required for discussion and reflection – as well as that required to find and define targeted measures. Organizations report time saving effects of 50 percent and more.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Innovation Sourcebook Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating – Weakens living in the past

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description Find inspiration by studying innovative offers, innovative companies and innovative people. Develop an interactive central database for innovations and best practise from your studies. The benefits of the Sourcebook are: Identifying best practise, organizing information for easy access, enabling comparisons and providing inspiration and derivations for new innovation opportunities and initiatives. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates forecasts and derivations Handling Step 1: Develop a definition for the word “innovation” that fits you and your strategic goals and is accepted 100 percent by all people involved. Step 2: Search for successful innovations that fit your definition. Search in all directions, times and industries. Step 3: Create a table for your Innovation Sourcebook in which you enter all innovations found. Create different columns such as category, name, description, strategic advantages, etc. Step 4: Work through the table at regular intervals and examine similarities and differences between the different innovations. Try to identify and distill strategies that are found in many innovations. Step 5: Use your Innovation Sourcebook for your own inspiration. For example, conduct regular Sourcebook reviews and reflections with your teams.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Technique: Microsoft Excel Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Suitable for trainee projects Some companies have had very good experiences with placing the development of an Innovation Sourcebook in the hands of trainees.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Innovation Digging –

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constantly generates valuable predetermined break points and milestones through transparent documentation. offers the possibility of formulating key figures on the basis of which the entire idea generation process can be calculated and controlled.

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The method used by Tamer Kemeröz and Benno van Aerssen for a “systematic excavation of ideas in the valley of hidden search fields” – Innovationdigging – answers the painful questions: “Where should we start with the search for ideas?” and “How can we quickly get inspiration for new fields of innovation?” The method works with search field tables and is inspired by the Morphological Box. Innovation Digging is the first method of its kind and defines the new generic term for aligning creative forces. With this technique you systematically increase the probability of both continuous (incremental) innovations and disruptive (radical) innovations. Innovation Digging: – works for individuals, teams and entire companies. – increases the probability of innovation. – finds hidden search fields. – reduces the costs of searching for ideas and innovations through a simple, measurable and structured process that systematically bundles the creative forces in the company. – offers a systematic and structured approach for idea generation and innovation generation. – ensures fast results and prevents moments of frustration. – increases the efficiency of brainstorming and lowers the costs that arise from aimless discussions and constant resynchronization of teams. – increases team motivation and bundles forces, since nobody has to worry that their search field will be overlooked.

Handling An example of and procedure for a product search field matrix follows. It describes how product developers innovated a fully automatic coffee machine using Innovation Digging. Step 1: Briefly describe the area or challenge you want to search and write this as a question about your search field matrix. In this case: “What innovative functions can we add to our fully automatic coffee machines?” Step 2: Create a table on as large a sheet of paperas possible, a flipchart, a pinboard, or in Excel. Step 3: First, label the vertical axis (that is, the row headers of the table). Here, for example, you can compile the contact points (touchpoints) of your customer with the product (the labeling of the vertical axis with the touchpoints is the classic variant, which you should always use first). Later many other designations can be added.). The touchpoints run best over the entire life cycle of the product. Name each line with a contact point – preferably in the order of its typical appearance. Touchpoints are typically defined by verbs or descriptive actions. In our coffee machine example, we noted the following contact points on the vertical axis: (1) Unpack, (2) Set up, (3) Fill with water, (4) Meter coffee quantity, (5) Add coffee, (6) Switch on machine, (7) Brew coffee … (x) Serve coffee, (y) Dispose of machine. Step 4: Now label the horizontal axis (i. e. the column headers of the table) – for example, define the user dimensions for the product here. Benefit dimensions are typically comparative adjectives that describe a benefit. In our coffee machine example, we noted the following useful dimensions on the horizontal axis: (A) Faster, (B) Safer, (C) More environmentally friendly, (D) More compact, (E) Simpler, (F) More hygienic, (G) More entertaining, (H) More valuable, (I) Cheaper. Hint!

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Innovation Digging

Always try to incorporate completely “absurd” or “crazy” dimensions of use (for example, Funnier, Louder, More erotic …), in order to generate especially fresh ideas. The rather absurd dimensions of use in particular generate the all-important hidden search fields, which can develop into gold standards. Step 5: Now look at which search fields have emerged on your search field matrix – you will find known, suspected, new and quite surprising fields. Use your finger to point at the different search fields and say the resulting word combinations in your head (for example, “Cleaner, More fun”, “Easier to unwrap” and so on). Be inspired by the search fields for your new ideas. Hint! The search field matrix does not necessarily have to be created on a pinboard. It works almost everywhere and even spontaneously: on beer coasters, napkins, clipboard, pinboards, flipcharts and, of course, as an Excel spreadsheet. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens debating

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Tool: specific worksheets Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Also quick and dirty Innovation Digging is also suitable for quick and dirty applications. Gladly in collegiate blocks or also on napkins.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

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Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationdigging, B. van Aerssen, T. Kemeröz (Books on Demand – Mai 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

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aging and marketing with which, among other things, ever new new customers are continuously won. Instead of seeking customers and a means to an end, fans and a certain attitude to life are created. Before the realization of a new idea, an Innovation Boutique always asks themselves: “Is this product different from existing products on the market and does it represent a clear added value for the user?” And: “Are we staying true to our product philosophy?”

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Innovation Boutiques are companies that achieve brilliant sales with a limited, well thought-out and “top” product portfolio strategy and stand out from the competition. They invest their entire innovative strength in a few, very thoroughly selected products. This procedure can be traced back to a well-known principle: The more choices a person is offered, the more difficult it is to make a decision and the more dissatisfied thay are their decision. Innovation Boutiques ensure that people are spared the agony of choice, as the range is pre-selected and kept to a minimum. The offers in the range do not differ fundamentally from each other and always hit true fans right in the heart. A further important principle of the Innovation Boutique method is that, in addition to the initial concept, many thousands of ideas, passion and attention to detail play the most important role during the development process. They are given the time that many processes in other companies do not provide to create a truly unique and high-quality result. Last but not least, this passion and meticulousness is also applied to accompanying measures such as pack-

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012)

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Innovation Coaching coaches are currently available and companies can easily contact them. Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The aim of Innovation Coaching is to improve the problem-solving and innovation skills by providing solutionand goal-oriented support to employees through a coach who specialises in innovation. The innovation coach accompanies the employee or the team in a professional context during the innovation process and tries to improve the innovation ability and inventiveness of the employee/s, taking into account their given resources. To do this, employees are advised through direct feedback during the innovation situation, without the coach actively intervening. In order to use this technique, you need information about the current problem-solving behavior and innovative ability of the employees as well as a trained coach. The advantage of Innovation Coaching over other knowledge transfer methods is that once trained, employees generally improve their ability to innovate and also further develop their mindset towards innovation. For some years now, training courses for innovation coaches have been offered in Germany, so innovation

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Handling Innovation coaching is offered in different formats and with different focuses. The predominant format is team coaching, whereby individual coaching is also available. In addition, there are innovation coaches who are more focused on knowledge transfer and others who are involved in real innovation projects. When selecting a suitable innovation coach, it is essential to know one’s own coaching needs and to compare them with the coach’s core competencies. In innovation coaching, the following main caochings are known: – Increasing creativity and inventiveness – Establishment of free spaces and creative work areas – Development of multidisciplinary teams and working methods – Development of innovative mindsets – Development towards agile iterative working methods – Creation of target-oriented management mandates – Introduction of macro methods such as Design Thinking – Increasing the ability to evaluate and filter ideas – Search for innovation fields and potentials – Development of innovation strategies – Development of innovation cultures – Use and work with trends – Reduction of friction losses in innovation projects – Innovating in crisis situations – Innovating in Change – Development of prototyping competencies

Innovation Coaching

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens living in the past – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome – Weakens the inner censor

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application

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Complexity for the moderator: rather high Complexity for the participants: mainly low Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Experiences – Pay attention to expertise In addition to their innovation expertise, innovation coaches should also have verifiable team coaching experience.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Innovation Culture Checkup

– – – – – Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description A first step towards an “innovation culture” is a definition of the term itself, which is understood equally by all participants. Experience shows that this is usually not clear at the beginning of innovation initiatives. The verrocchio Institute’s Innovation Culture Checkup provides some questions that help to reflect and measure innovation culture in your own organization. Generated output Creates more innovative organizations Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Create a Checklist with the following questions by adding a scale from zero to ten per question. Answer the individual questions for your team or the entire organization by placing a cross on each scale. Innovation Culture Checkup questions: – Innovation capability is regularly measured by the organization. – Diversity (e. g. age, field of study) is a criterion in personnel selection. – The ability to innovate is a criterion in the assessment of potential. – Inspiration is regularly provided from knowledge areas outside the industry (e. g. by external speakers). – The R&D departments cooperate with universities/ universities of applied sciences. – Innovation and creativity techniques are part of management qualification. – When selecting managers, importance is attached to: broad general education and wide range of interests, 558

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high analytical competence, high social and communication competence, ability to change perspectives, need to question things and ability to persuade other people to share their knowledge. There are processes for the identification and selection of innovators. There are special training programs for innovators. There are special networks for innovators. A change proposal enjoys a natural advance of trust. It is acceptable for employees and managers to sit together for a few hours and brainstorm, without the immediate feasibility of the idea being in the foreground. Target agreements serve as incentives for improvement, not for control. The administrative regulations support trust in employees (e. g. working hours based on trust, unrestricted use of the Internet). Teams are deliberately put together with a view to promoting innovation (e. g. interdisciplinarity). Workplace design promotes the exchange of knowledge (e. g. open architecture, coffee corners). Employees whose innovation projects have failed are clearly well treated. Small innovations are also in demand. The employees’ scope for decision-making and action is appropriate. The employees know the importance of innovation for the company. The company management emphasizes the importance of innovation and is noticeably committed to this topic. There are incentive systems for innovation that go beyond the company suggestion system. The transfer and use of knowledge is supported by systems (e. g. intranet, knowledge databases). The topic of innovation is a systematic component of target agreements. There are organizational platforms and instruments for internal entrepreneurship (e. g. intrapreneurship programs, skunk works, internal venture capital). Internal best practises are actively sought and marketed internally. Internal media regularly report on innovation and change processes. Critical aspects of innovation are also openly addressed in internal media. There is networking between planning of research and development and possible impact on human resources.

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There is early discussion about required competencies and resources, so that precautions can be taken in good time in personnel planning. Employees are fully aware of future changes in the business so can act on their own initiative.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day)

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Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – As a homework assignment A very efficient tactit is to give workshop participants the help questions as a homework assignment and to reflect on their answers together in the team after a few days.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Vverrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Innovation Model – “Incremental vs. Disruptive” Handling Clayton Christensen recommends that you do not ask yourself “How can I earn more money?” but “Have I missed a development?”. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Description In this Innovation Model the authors Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler explain the difference between sustainable innovations (Incremental improvement) and Disruptive innovations and why small companies often overtake large companies with innovations. Harvard economist Clayton Christensen has investigated why virtually all groundbreaking innovations have been missed by industry leaders. His work is regarded as a milestone in business administration. Christensen distinguishes between two types of innovation: sustainable innovation (also called incremental improvement methods) and disruptive innovation. In the former case, existing products are improved in order to be able to sell them at a higher price. In contrast, disruptive/destructive innovation creates new products that are typically simpler, faster or cheaper. Established companies usually try to improve their successful products – even if these performance improvements were not required by the customer. Christensen describes this as “overshooting” – the management of the manufacturing company does not even know why their product is popular and ignores customer needs during the innovation steps. While the established company is still focusing on the upper market segment, a disruptive innovation emerges from a previously unknown company and throws a completely new product onto the market. Soon the overlooked innovation gains market share and replaces the leading product. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: “I don’t know whether things will get better if they change. But it has to be different for it to be good.” Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Produces more motivated and innovative participants

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Innovation Model – “Incremental vs. Disruptive”

Experiences – What would I do if …? Management, engineers and developers in an established company are naturally often very busy with the further development of their own product. There is a danger of being too much in love with your own methods. In order to open up the perspective for a possible disruptive innovation, ask questions such as “What would a startup do in our place?”, “Is there a cheaper, better solution than a noble version of our previous product?”

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Identified sources of the method Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013) Book – The Innovator’s Dilemma. Warum etablierte Unternehmen den Wettbewerb um bahnbrechende Innovationen verlieren, C. M. Christensen (Vahlen Verlag 2011) Publikation: Bachelorarbeit- Entwicklung eines Innovationsportfolios als Instrument einer ausgewogenen Produktstrategie: Kombination unterschiedlicher Innovationsstrategien zur ausgeglichenen … Werten und Kompetenzen des Unternehmens, M. Grützner

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Inspiration from the Future Step 4: After the film, present your respective points, prioritize them according to their potential and complexity, and draw out new questions for Brainstorming your current challenge. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens living in the past

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Inspiration from the Future is about being motivated by what is to come and using this inspiration for the current challenge. In order to mentally look far ahead and to recharge your ideas batteries, watch a science fiction film on your own or in a team or read science fiction novels or comics. Films that have been around for years or decades in particular offer exciting perspectives on how people saw the preview of the world back then and what might have become reality. Films such as the Star Trek series, Space Patrol Orion, The Jetsons and all James Bond films provide interesting food for thought and inspiration for setting new goals and framework conditions. And, by the way, it is also a good way of assessing team development. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Get one or two suitable films (or enough books/ comics) and enough chips, popcorn and chocolate. Step 2: Create a cinematic atmosphere with a projector and a large screen. Step 3: Make a note of the points you notice and find inspiring during the film. Distinguish between “Then new – Today already (somehow) implemented” and “Still does not exist – solve the following problem.” 562

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Technology: projector and laptop Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: pens People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Tool: sweets, brainfood Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

Inspiration from the Future

Experiences – A day in the library As an alternative to movies, you can also spend a day with the team in a big library and retire to the science fiction shelves. Browsing through older books can be a lot of fun and encourages even more team communication than with films.

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – http://kopfspringer.com/2017/01/20/science-fiction-als-innovationstreiber/ (April 2017)

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Intent Statement Use the following help questions to arrive at an Intent Statement that clearly indicates your goals and wishes: – Who are the customers? – What are their needs? – What are our odds? – What new value propositions can we create? – What are the principal risks? Step 5: Specify and publish Now define the Intent Statement and publish it for all stakeholders of the initiative.

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Intent Statement is a declaration of intent for innovation, which is prepared on the basis of identified innovation opportunities and search fields in order to provide clarity and orientation for all those involved at the beginning of an innovation project. However, the first Innovation Intent Statement is always provisional and may be adjusted by the results of the understanding and observation phases of the project. A clear and comprehensive Intent Statement at the beginning of an innovation initiative helps in many areas: a clear understanding of objectives, quick alignment, efficient project recruitment, target-oriented motivation and much more. Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Handling Step 1: Review of the identified innovation opportunities View the known innovation opportunities in your company resulting from other methods or projects. Try to weigh innovation opportunities according to their potential. Step 2: Clarify the relevant innovation opportunities Use the following framework questions: – Limitations: What are the limiting factors in this opportunity? – Intentions: What are the goals of each opportunity? – Hopes: What would we get out of this opportunity? Step 3: Determine position Through detailed discussion, determine what the strongest opportunity is and make it your starting point. Step 4: Form your Intent Statement

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Experiences – Get help Inexperienced teams should definitely seek the help of an experienced innovation coach. A badly formulated Intent Statement can cause great friction losses.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Interest Groups Discussion

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Write down or save the findings in a form that colleagues can easily access and quickly assess as an overview. Step 5: Draw a conclusion. Summarize your results and rate the search. Step 6: Share and discuss. Now you can share and discuss all the results and with others jointly derive insights for your current project.

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description An Interest Groups Discussion will provide detailed understanding of the latest developments in a particular subject area, the diversity of perspectives and the current trends. The method is a good way to get very close to people and topics. In concrete terms, this means primarily using online forums and comments in your online presence to gain insights. Essentially, however, the method is one that produces fast results and easily processable data. Generated output Target and focus groups Creates key questions for idea generation Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Handling Step 1: Identify appropriate forums. Use various online search services and start looking for online forums relevant to your topic. Also create an overview of the forums, including links. Step 2: Prioritize. In each forum identify the main focus of individuals’ exchanges. Identify the focal points that are relevant to you. Step 3: Dive in. Now go deeper into the identified focus topics. Read current and historical contributions to the discussion. Take part in the discussions yourself and ask questions. Step 4: Order your findings. Take a targeted look at the discussions to find accumulations, contradictions, gaps and surprising contributions.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Technique: Internet access Technology: PC or notebook Technique: Microsoft Excel Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception

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Interest Groups Discussion

Experiences – Diversity matters The key to success lies on the one hand in the diversity of the forums reviewed and on the other hand in the continuity of the observations.

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Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Intrinsic Motivation

tives, there is a good chance that you will have highlymotivated employees who will be happy to take the company forward. Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description When people do something because they are enthusiastic about it, it’s fun and it matches their values – so the motivation to do it comes from within, it’s Intrinsic Motivation. This form of motivation is particularly valuable or necessary in order to drive great and radical innovations. The activity itself is the motivation, in contrast to Extrinsic Motivation, in which the drive comes from outside, for example through rewards, pressure or expectations. You can motivate employees in two ways: give them tasks they love (Intrinsic Motivation) or tasks they hate, supported by incentives they love (Extrinsic Motivation). Only the first of the two motivations is suitable when it comes to creative tasks; for the second, the task is mastered exclusively with diligence and discipline; passion and joy – the source of creative ideas – fall by the wayside. If a company works exclusively with Extrinsic Motivation, for example with monetary incentives, the employees will only work according to the rules; they will be demotivated at some point. Creative tasks in the working environment are attractive and desirable for many people; a suitable work space strengthens the motivation. If people are additionally motivated by individual and well thought-out incen-

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Promotes appreciation – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012) Web – http://www.intrinsische-motivation.eu/#intrinsische_motivation (April 2017)

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Ishikawa Diagram

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Ishikawa Diagram or Cause–Effect Diagram is a well known and accepted method for collecting the potential causes of a current problem. The Ishikawa analysis serves to present all ideas within the team in structured Brainstorming in a clear, graphic way. The methodology helps to prepare an in-depth analysis of the root causes of the problem. Individual ideas on causes and relationships between them are presented. The aim of the Ishikawa Diagram is to visualize problem-relevant factors and their cause–effect relationships systematically and clearly. For this purpose, all conceivable causes of problems – classified according to the groups man, method, material and machine, and possibly also environment – are recorded in a fishbone diagram and weighted by the participants according to their relevance to the problem. In order to create an Ishikawa Diagram, you need to identify vulnerabilities in advance. The advantage of this method is the holistic view it takes of the problem, which avoids a one-dimensional view and opens up the possibility of easily involving several people or groups in the problem analysis. The easyto-learn method provides a good understanding of the problem and its possible causes. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Drawing the central fishbone Create the Ishikawa Diagram by drawing a large fishbone with the head to the right represented as an extension of a straight line. The problem or goal is formulated as a question in the head. The question is formulated as pre-

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cisely and specifically as possible. The head (the theme) is determined by the individual bones. The head is thus the result of the bones. Step 2: Drawing the side bones The categories of the causes of the problem are now added to the central line or bone as connected lines. Here the categories man, machine, material, method, environment and measurement have proven valuable. Alternatively, management can also be added. This is referred to as the six or seven Ms. In very specific and individual tasks, of course, other names for the individual bones can also be used. In special marketing challenges you will be familiar with the categories product, price, place of interaction, person, process or similar. Step 3: Create content on the bones With the help of supporting creativity techniques such as Brainstorming or Brainwriting, the individual bones are now provided with content. Subcategories to the main categories are typically attached to the main arrows in the form of smaller arrows. If further details are available for the subcategories, these are also attached to the small arrows with even smaller arrows. This results in ever finer distinctions, also known as herringbones. Important note! Begin to fill the individual bones with causes only. Be careful not to include any solutions in the Diagram. In this step it is important to establish only the causes of the problem or challenge. Help questions for filling in the bones: A very helpful technique is the 5 Why? Method. As children often demonstrate, statements are actually “Why” questions. However, here this always happens at least five times. Thus, the basic causes of a problem are obtained relatively quickly. It is always advisable to have as diverse a group of participants as possible. This promotes consideration of different points of view for a common problem. The help questions listed below are only examples of key questions, as these can often be found in commentary and literature on the subject. Basically, you should always create your own help questions for editing the Ishikawa Diagram. Questions about device measurement (instruments that monitor process performance): – Is the measurement relevant to the problem? – Do improvements also show up in the measured value? – Is the measuring equipment calibrated?

Ishikawa Diagram – – –

Does the measuring equipment have the correct resolution and is the measurement accurate? Are there differences in the results when different people measure or when time and space change? Are the measuring points and measuring methods sufficiently defined?

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Questions about the bone environment/s (external influences (environment) that affect the process): – Are there environmental influences on the process (temperature, humidity, light conditions, noise, vibrations)? – Are the environmental influences stable or are they constantly changing? – Are there certain environmental influences at certain times (light at the beginning or end of the day, etc.)? Questions about the bone material (components that are transformed from input to output): – Are there specifications for the materials and information used? – Does input into the process in the form of material and information meet defined specifications? – Are there fluctuations within or outside the defined specifications? – Is the process for creating materials and information used stable and within specifications? – Is handling and treatment of material defined and is this definition met (transport, storage, use, shelf life, environmental influences)? – Are the material specifications sufficient for the process? – How are input controls for materials and information handled? – Has input material or information been changed? Questions on category of people (people who influence the process): – Are there specifications for the execution of the process? – Do all employees have the same specifications? – Is all necessary information available to employees? Were different languages and countries of origin taken into account in the preparation of information? – Has the employee been instructed in the correct execution of the process? – Has the employee understood the individual process steps and can they carry them out independently to the required standard?

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Are there control steps in the process in which defined quality criteria are checked? Are there fluctuations in the execution of the process steps? Are there fluctuations that can be traced back to employees? Is the combination of task, responsibility and competence sufficient?

Questions on the device/machine (devices used in conversion from input to output): – Has the capability of the machine been proven? – Is the machine capable of delivering the desired process results? – Are there any specifications for the maintenance of the machine and have these specifications been complied with? – Are there any instructions for handling the machine and have these been demonstrably observed? – Are there fluctuations in the process result of the machine? What could be the reasons for these fluctuations? – Are there environmental influences that affect the machine? – Does the process result deteriorate over time or do the results remain constant? – Are there controls or instruments on the machine that can be used to control and influence the result? Questions about the Gräte method (productive or formal methods that convert inputs into outputs): – Has the process capability of the process been demonstrated? – Were the influencing factors on the process taken into account when defining the process and were appropriate control mechanisms installed? – Has a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) (Process, Production or Design FMEA) been performed and its findings implemented before the process came into effect? – Are the processes documented and do they correspond to reality? – Are there corresponding pilot processes for the process and have their results been verified? – Do all process participants have the same understanding of the overall process and its sub-processes?

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Ishikawa Diagram

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate

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Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Room: wall surfaces Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Go large This applies to the Ishikawa Diagram, especially for technically complex problem analyses: the bigger, the better. Contexts simply become visible more quickly. Use as large an area as possible to create the Diagram. This also makes it easier to repeatedly add additional markers or content.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Organisation, M. Schulte-Zurhausen (Vahlen Verlag 2002) Book – Organisation, D. Vahs (Schäffer Poeschel 2015) Book – Projektmanagement, H. Corsten (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2008)

Job Scoping

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Step 4: Find explanations that justify the solutions to the focus problem The perspective should be broadened and overarching opportunities included. Step 5: Find new projects that arise from the opportunities from the justifications Refer to these justifications and develop as many projects and solutions as possible. Step 6: Determine possible new project focus It then becomes more tangible and feasible. Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Job Scoping method helps to illustrate innovation opportunities in a targeted and effective way. In the process, various possibilities are developed to achieve the upstream goal. If the field is defined too narrowly, the focus is expanded to find out why it makes particular sense to pursue a particular innovation project. Special attention must be paid to how the problem or challenge is described, because this influences whether approaches to solutions continue to move within the same solution horizon or whether innovation projects take a step forward. Because Job Scoping creates the opportunity to move the development initiative in a completely new direction, the method should be applied very early in innovation projects. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The steps to using Job Scoping in a targeted way: Step 1: State the current focus challenge The well-formulated focus problem should be placed in the middle of the observation. Step 2: Identify barriers Find the problems that are most likely to prevent the solution to the focus problem. Step 3: Find corresponding problem solutions What solutions could help overcome these barriers?

Example Challenge: Reduction of inventory in a warehouse Barriers: – Customer request difficult to predict – Timing constantly changing – Warehouse full of unfinished products Solutions to the barriers: – Target planning based on customer profiles and sales of product lines – Develop daily fixed time schedule – Identification system for products that are phased out Overarching reasons for the negative situation regarding the challenge: – Stock not optimized and without reference to customer complaints – Excess capital New projects/tasks/opportunities that arise from this: – Fixed warehouse management system – Reduction of accounts/cost centers to release tied-up capital Re-check the focus of the tasks: – Consider customer perspective and controlling aspects Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents wrong granularity – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Job Scoping

Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: moderation cards in different colors

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Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Ideally prepares for the realization processes The various analyses applied to the idea provide important information for the subsequent implementation and realization processes.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Book – The Little Black Book of Maintenance Excellence, D. T. Daley (Industrial Press Inc., U. S. 2008)

John Whitmore Checkup

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E – environmentally sound – be environmentally friendly A – agreed – be fixed by unanimous agreement R – recorded – be official Hint! If the requirements for an innovation goal are not fulfilled, inter alia the following things happen: If a target is not reachable, frustration spreads. If a goal is not challenging enough, it offers no motivation and is not pursued. Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description Has your innovation goal been chosen correctly? This question is very often asked by teams, and rightly so. In the case of mistakenly or incorrectly adjusted targets, it quickly becomes apparent that the subsequent innovation work will not produce the desired results. The John Whitmore Checkup reliably helps to adjust and tune chosen goals to achieve the desired effect. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling The John Whitmore Checkup works both for endpoint goals such as “We want to become the market leader again by 31 December 2022 with new service ideas” and for permanent goals such as “We want to consciously reflect and strengthen our innovation capability every day”. Write your goal on a piece of paper and align it step by step with John Whitmore’s requirements for strong innovation goals. The 14 requirements (SMART PURE CLEAR) are: S – specific – be specific M – measurable – be measurable A – attainable – be attainable R – realistic – be realistic T – Time phased – be finished on time P – positively stated – be positive U – understood – be understandable R – relevant – be relevant E – ethical – be ethical C – challenging – be challenging L – legal – be legal

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Great self-coaching In my opinion, this tool is above all a great self-coaching tool for teams taking their first steps towards innovation. The discussions about the formulation of the 14 individual requirements automatically show a team its general strengths and weaknesses.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Decision Book – M. Krogerus, R. Tschäppeler (Profile Books LTD 2008)

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CPCT Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description With the CPCT method, information on a topic can be collected in a fast and unusual way. The approach is quite deliberately different from conventional ways of collecting information. CPCT collects and analyzes the properties of a topic in four categories. This gives the participants a comprehensive picture of the knowledge available in the room. CPCT is based on the game The 4 Cs by Matthew Richter. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more know-how growth Handling Step 1: Draw a large table with 2 × 2 fields on a large white surface, e. g. a pinboard. Step 2: Label the fields: Components, Properties, Collaborators and Tasks. Add a picture to each category. Step 3: Explain to the participants that the method is about visualizing everything they know about the topic. Three minutes are available to think about a strategy for collecting information. Five minutes are allowed to gather the information and three more minutes to analyze and organize it. The information should also be collected from as many people in the room as possible. Step 4: Start a cycle and pay attention to the time. If they go over time, interrupt the teams. Step 5: At the end of the cycle, participants report on the results of their groups. After all the results have been presented, ask further questions and join the group discussion.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Individual categories With CPCT it is not important to usethe four predefined categories exactly as described. You can also use other categories that better fit your theme. Ideally you should discuss these categories with the group. It is important that these are understandable, relevant and constructive for everyone.

CPCT

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Web – http://www.designgames.com.au/4cs/ (April 2017)

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KJ Method Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The aim of the KJ Method is the systematization and structuring of individual information. The method is named after the Japanese anthropologist Jira Kawakita and has therefore established itself mainly in Japan. Above all, it helps to better understand more complex problem areas. It is often used to formulate scientific assumptions, to solve technical challenges and also in the conception of advertising and design. The method follows a systemic analytical approach, since it tries to capture all relevant problem elements, to represent their relationships in sub-structures (sub-systems) and also to uncover the connections between the sub-systems more transparently. Due to the wide variety of alternatives in its application (individual or team), it is rather complex and relatively time-consuming. The KJ Method can also be used to create excellent “big pictures” of problem areas, which illustrate the overall complexity of the issue and show possible solution directions more transparently. The advantage of this method is that, in addition to groupings of problem elements, it also reveals relationships and dependencies. The prerequisite, however, is that the users have knowledge of technical details. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data

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Handling The first step is to record as much individual information as possible about a problem on small cards (about 50 to 200 cards). However, the number is not predetermined and can therefore vary greatly depending on the degree of complexity of the problem. These cards are first spread all over a table and then grouped so that those with the same information content are put together and placed under a deck card with a thematic classification. These cards are given category names to summarize several aspects of the problem. Also the respective card jumps with the deck cards are grouped into larger clusters if necessary. The number of remaining card blasts should now be reduced to a manageable size. To determine how the different categories of the problem interact, relationships and dependencies between them are examined and represented visually. These relationships and dependencies are deepened and solidified by creating links between subordinate aspects (individual maps) of the categories. In this way, a multitude of new insights are gained and problems and hypotheses are formulated. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

KJ Method

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes People: diverse mix of individuals People: multidisciplinary team Room: sufficiently large room

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Room: pinboards Room: wall surfaces Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Experiences – Overview through clusters Individual teams and groups love the clustering and structuring of elements and are usually very receptive when the chaos of a multitude of cards creates an overall picture, which becomes manageable and describable. In the next steps, clustering helps to prioritize problem areas. – Advantage: Get an overview By displaying all problem elements and their correlations in one large diagram, it is easy to get an overview of all relevant issues. This would not be possible if the overall system and subsystems were considered independently and individually.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Camera Study Step 5: Record findings and formulate derivations or new key questions for the innovation project. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces rationalizers – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Camera Study is often used in the observation phases of Design Thinking and Lean Startup. With this technique, people are simply given photo or video cameras for a certain period of time. They are then asked to take pictures or small films of certain parts of their lives and to supplement these with brief notes. In the age of smartphones, of course, they can do this easily. Camera Studies are suitable for many innovation processes, mainly when the innovators are not always able to carry out the observation phase themselves and when their presence would influence behavior. Example: Participants take a picture of each meal and note the location and mood. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Check and distribute cameras to participants in the innovation project. Step 2: Create and hand out an information sheet to participants. This should describe the objective of the investigation, including the situations that interest you. Step 3: During the study, stay in contact (by e-mail, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.) with participants and regularly remind them of the task. Step 4: Collect cameras and pictures after a few days or even weeks, make available/print them and (ideally) discuss them with participants. 578

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Technique: camera Moderation: notebook People: diverse mix of individuals Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: pinboards Room: wall surfaces Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Camera Study

Experiences – Quantity before quality This method, in a similar way to some other creative techniques, depends on the number of ideas, i. e. the number of images. The more different images you can evaluate, the more insights you can gain. Therefore smartphone images are often sufficient.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Design Research: Methods and Perspectives, B. Laurel, P. Lunenfeld (Mit Pr – Januar 2004) Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

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Kano Model

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Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) 4. Description The aim of the Kano Model is to map the product requirements of customers as accurately as possible. In 1978, Professor Noriaki Kano (born 1940) deduced from analysis of customer requirements that these can be of different kinds. The Kano Model makes it possible to record the wishes or expectations of customers and take them into account in product development. The categories basic requirements, performance characteristics and enthusiasm characteristics are measured. To illustrate this, we will take the car as an example: one of the basic requirements is that the car can accelerate and brake. The customer only notices these characteristics if they are not fulfilled. On the other hand, engine performance is immediately understood by the customer. Components such as optional extras and special design elements are perceived as features of enthusiasm. The first step is to determine customer requirements, for example by means of a focus group survey. Next, a Kano questionnaire is generated to describe the problem to be solved. Finally, the questionnaire must be evaluated and the results interpreted. In order to map the Kano Model, both a representative customer group and a good customer–manufacturer relationship are required. The advantage of this method is that customer wishes are categorized during product development. The Kano Model distinguishes five levels of quality: 1. Basic characteristics that are so fundamental and self-evident that they only become clear to the customer when they are not fulfilled (implicit expectations). If the basic requirements are not fulfilled, dissatisfaction arises; if they are fulfilled, however, no satisfaction arises. The increase in benefits com-

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pared to differentiation from competitors is very small. Car as an example: safety, rust protection. Performance characteristics are real to the customer, they eliminate dissatisfaction or create satisfaction depending on the extent of fulfillment. The car as an example: driving characteristics, acceleration, service life, fuel consumption. Enthusiasm features, on the other hand, are benefitgiving features that the customer does not necessarily expect. They distinguish the product from the competition and generate enthusiasm. A small increase in performance can lead to a disproportionate benefit. The differentiations from the competition can be small, but the benefits enormous. Car as an example: special extras, special design. Insignificant characteristics are irrelevant for the customer both in presence and absence. They cannot therefore create satisfaction, but they do not lead to dissatisfaction. Using the example of a car, this could be for a specific customer group: Automatic transmission, sunroof. Rejection characteristics lead to dissatisfaction if present, but not to satisfaction if absent. Car as an example: rust spots, expired HU.

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits and needs Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Kano Model

Handling The evaluation of product characteristics according to the Kano Model takes place in several steps. Step 1: Creation of the questionnaire Two questions are described in the questionnaire for each customer requirement. The first question follows the formula: “If the product fulfilled the XY requirement, how would you feel?” This type of question, called a functional question, is opposite to the dysfunctional form: “If the product didn’t meet requirement XY, how would you feel?”, which is asked immediately afterwards. All questions offer five predefined answers: (1) I like it this way, (2) It has to be that way, (3) I am neutral, (4) I can live with it and (5) I don’t like it. Step 2: Review of the questionnaire The questionnaire is first checked internally before it is filled in by the customer. All participants search for phrases that are unclear, spelling mistakes and confusing instructions. The questionnaire is then answered by team members (or external staff) who try to put themselves in the customer’s shoes. With the help of the feedback collected, the questionnaire may then be adjusted. Step 3: Maintenance of the questionnaire The maintenance of the questionnaire includes some optional points, which help in its creation and further development. The selection of the addressed clientele as well as the selection of real customers as test individuals are just as much a part of this as the selection of the medium used (telephone, letter, e-mail, fax …). Further, the creation, maintenance or adaptation of the completion instructions is part of maintenance. The dispatch and recording of copies sent to customers also belong to this area of responsibility. Step 4: Processing the results An evaluation matrix is created for each of the question pairs. The classification of customer requirements is based on the answers given to the functional and dysfunctional questions. Subsequently, the results of all customer requirements drawn from the survey are entered in a results list. Step 5: Analysis of data The data collected can be used for several purposes: better understanding of requirements, prioritizing requirements, distinguishing market segments, and assisting with design decisions.

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The requirements evaluated using the Kano Model can then be used directly for product planning. An example could be Release Planning, which defines which requirements should occur in which release version of the product (for example, all E and O requirements in version one, all A requirements in version two). Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Experiences – Work accurately The Kano Model works best when you use it with real precision and discipline.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Technisches Management, S. Seibert (Teubner Verlag 1998) Book – Messung der Kundenzufriedenheit; in Kundenorientierte Unternehmensführung, K. Matzler, F. Bailom (Gabler Verlag – 2004) Book – Innovationsmanagement für technische Produkte, W. Eversheim, E. Baessler (Springer – November 2002)

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Card Technique

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This method was originally developed at the end of the 1960s by Metaplan in Quickborn, Germany, to facilitate talks and negotiations. It is also suitable as a Brainwriting variant for Brainstorming ideas. The advantage of the Card Technique is that each participant actively participates in the process. In addition, the task is clearly visualized through the use of moderation cards and the structuring of solution approaches is simplified. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling The Card Technique is divided into the following four steps: Step 1 Preparation: Depending on the number of participants, one or more metaplan boards are needed for arranging large, clearly visible idea cards created according to defined criteria or topics. The cards can have different colors and shapes to distinguish between the contents. However, it is advisable not to use too many colors in order not to increase complexity unnecessarily. Different shapes can be cut from colored cardboard. Participants are asked to describe the cards clearly and with short sentences. Step 2 Problem Analysis: Together with a moderator, the participants develop a concrete and goal-oriented 582

task in the form of a question. This could read as follows: “How can we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Holy Father?” or “We want to celebrate the anniversary of our company so that it becomes an unforgettable experience for our employees and customers.” The task to be worked on is written on a flipchart so that participants can always see it. Step 3 Idea Collection: Each participant notes their ideas for the task on his their cards, with only one idea per card. Depending on the complexity of the task, the time limit is set at 15 to 30 minutes. If cards in different colors and shapes are used, the respective meanings of the colors must be determined beforehand. For the example, with the anniversary celebration these could bes: Color: green; shape: cloud; meaning: ideas for the content of the celebration (tombola, raffle, buffet, etc.). Color: yellow; shape: oval; meaning: organizational and formal issues (date, duration, invitations, etc.). Color: red; shape: rectangle; meaning: reservations and aspects to be considered (costs, number of guests, effort, etc.). For groups that have not yet worked with this technique, color structuring should not be used for the time being so that spontaneity is not blocked. Step 4 Evaluation: After the moderator has collected all cards, they present them individually and clearly attach them to the metaplan boards. Now the sorting and grouping of the cards can begin. The use of cards in different colors and shapes facilitates the moderator’s work, as thematic sorting is easily done right from the start. If uniform cards are used, additional moderation cards with generic terms such as Design, Organization, Reservations or Alternatives should be created. Group discussions can be used to determine the ranking of the individual cards within the main themes. Based on the ideas noted and the structure developed, a concrete concept for the task can be developed in the next step. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating

Card Technique

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Tool: clipboards Room: pinboards

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Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Tool: recording device Tool: sellotape Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Scissors available If there are no different card shapes, you can simply cut them with scissors.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Buch der Kreativitätstechniken, E. Boos (Compact – November 2010) Organisation – Metaplan Deutschland GmbH Book – Handbuch Moderation: Konzepte, Anwendungen und Entwicklungen, J. Freimuth, T. Barth (Hogrefe Verlag, Göttingen 2014) Book – Kompetent führen: Wirksam kommunizieren, Mitarbeiter motivieren, W. Pelz (Gabler Verlag 2004)

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Catalog Method Step 3: The similarities found are then transferred to the question or challenge, which ideally results in new ideas for the question.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Curiously enough, the Catalog Method is a one that probably everyone has already used, more or less modified, for themselves or in their company. After all, who doesn’t often find themselves leafing through competitors’ brochures and leaflets or simply looking at their products and services on the competitor’s website and comparing them with their own product range? Exactly this process forms the basis of the method, and all further steps are based on this principle. There is, however, one major difference that significantly improves the application of the method and distinguishes it from the description above. The technique is much more efficient and, more importantly, has much higher quality ideas if you do not think about all the offerings of the competitor, but instead make a random selection of offers. This special trick is an essential element of the Catalog Method. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The following procedure is recommended for carrying out the method (according to Mencke): Step 1: Two completely different products are randomly selected from any number of catalogs. Step 2: In a Brainstorming session (or any other ideafinding technique), the similarities of these two products are highlighted.

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Advantages: – A very simple and motivating method, because you can see the result quickly and transparently, without having to make mental detours – Can also be carried out by one person or used as preparation Disadvantages: – If the selected products are not able to be adapted to the problem, it takes a certain amount of time until you can achieve the first results. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens overly long meeting times – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Room: creative and inspiring workspace

Catalog Method

Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Tool: periodicals Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Identified sources of the method Book – 99 Tipps für Kreativitätstechniken, M. Mencke (Cornelsen Scriptor – April 2006) Book – Kreativ managen, Ein Leitfaden für Unternehmer, Manager und Projektleiter, G. Winkelhofer (Springer Verlag 2006)

Experiences – Select catalogs from other industries It is essential to move as far away as possible from your own product range in order to achieve the most valuable degree of novelty of ideas generated. – Observe the random principle It is imperative to observe the principle of chance in order not to bring about pre-controlled idea generation.

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Key Facts Step 4: Clustering, sorting and organizing the key information identified according to categories and types, for example in meaningful tables. Step 5: Summarize the key information and deriving a coherent argumentation that corroborates or disproves the aspect under investigation.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The aim here is to collect reliable key information in order to substantiate or justify the targeted innovation search field. Key Facts gathers concise and accurate information from reliable and up-to-date sources that substantiate the relevance of the innovation search field. Key information can be of a statistical nature or published opinions and research results from proven experts. The aggregation of key information helps teams to create a good justification basis for their innovation search field. The benefits of the method are the creation of a fact foundation, promotion of quick and early discoveries, as well as support in defining search fields. Key Facts provides relevant vital information and areas for further research. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Handling Step 1: Identification and definition of the aspect to be substantiated. Step 2: Identification and researching of reliable sources around the aspect to be substantiated. A source list is created here. Step 3: Carrying out broad research in the identified sources.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Recommended resources Technique: Internet access People: multidisciplinary team People: experts

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Experiences – Far too many false starts Precise and adequate research of reliable key information is criminally neglected in many innovation projects. This results in many false starts and flops. Good research usually represents a significant investment. Many teams are led into innovation dead ends, especially without key facts in emotionally-charged Design Thinking and Lean Startup projects.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Keyword Bibliometrics

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description Keyword Bibliometrics is about finding out about the dissemination of ideas and innovation topics in publications and databases, for example to prevent the accidental repetition of existing ideas and technologies at an early stage. The Keyword Bibliometrics method generally works like a search engine. Here, previously defined search terms are used to track down the existence and dissemination of ideas and innovation topics in large databases and publications. Bibliometric searches and analyses are generally performed in special databases. These databases can easily be found through universities and libraries. Academic libraries often also offer additional advice. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Handling Step 1: Identify the relevant keywords for the database search. It is important that the keywords are as contextspecific as possible. Keywords that are too broad or generic usually produce too many or too imprecise results. Step 2: Discuss and set the time window in which you want to search. Depending on the search target, it is extremely important to discuss the search time window. Sometimes it can be helpful to examine how a topic has spread over the last 50 years. In most cases, however, it

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is important to understand exactly whether the topic has current relevance or critical mass. Step 3: Combine and link your search words. In almost all databases it is possible to link search terms with logical operators like “and”, “or” or “not”. With links you will find, for example, exciting overlaps of a topic in different branches and industries. Step 4: Analyze the search results. Try discovering patterns in search results to discover the impact of an idea on different aspects of the topic. Ask yourself questions such as: “In which article was the idea mentioned first?”, “Which articles refer to which sources and authors?”, “Has the idea under investigation changed over time in the articles?”, etc. Step 5: Summarize the search results; this is best in a visual format, and discuss the results with the entire team to gain targeted insights. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants)

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Keyword Bibliometrics – – –

Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Technique: Internet access Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – The “Deep Internet” … a treasure.

The databases of the “Deep Internet” – the non-public Internet – are real treasure chests. This search starts with the databases of the patent offices and continues through all library databases worldwide. Once you have learned to find and search these databases, you will almost always benefit from them. Don’t let them scare you, searching them is easier than you think. Many teams have already explored these mines of information.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Click Path

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Click Path method intensively stimulates the user to think laterally. It can be used very successfully for personal training of innovation skills. It exploits the enormous amount of information available in digital reference works such as Wikipedia. The method was developed by Prof. Dr. Nicolas Burkhardt. The positive accompanying effect of a Click Path is the building of extensive general knowledge. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The user chooses two terms from a reference book. The first term (for example, “hydraulics”) represents the starting point of its Click Path. The second term, which is also chosen at the start (for example, “Mayflower”) represents the target term, which has to be reached. Hint! It is important to ensure that both terms are sufficiently well known that they actually appear in the reference work and are accompanied by a definition. Now the user begins their Click Path. They read the explanatory text for the term “hydraulics” until they reach a link that, from their subjective point of view (lateral approach), brings them closer to reaching the target concept.

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Of course, detours are unavoidable, especially at the start. For the next term chosen (for example, “mineral oil”) they repeat the process. This continues until the target term is reached after a few clicks. A Click Path could follow an example from Wikipedia: Hydraulics – Petroleum – Pennsylvania – United States Constitution – American Citizenship – United States of America – Mayflower. Interesting qualities of this method are the expansion of knowledge for the user and the fact that there is an unlimited number of lateral solutions per Click Path. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Technique: Internet access Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

Click Path

Experiences – Enhance lateral thinking using time pressure

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – KOPFSPRINGER GmbH – Düsseldorf

People find the method inspirational as soon as they start working with it. It is, however, more a training exercise than a creative technique for use in workshops, etc. Playing Click Path under time pressure is a great way to enhance lateral thinking. For example, three minutes to get from A to B. Training for speed reading and fast cognitive decision-making is also provided in this way.

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Bang Effect

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Bang Effect is not itself creative technique, but a very good complement to others. The focus of this technique is to loosen up and open up the team by randomly selecting participants and terms using randomly bursting balloons. The presence of many inflated balloons in a meeting room and their repeated loud bursting brings an unusual environment and a changed perception into the meeting and creates a relaxed atmosphere. Dissenting voices claim that boring moderators prevent participants from falling asleep. I myself always enjoy the moment when the children’s birthday impression turns into efficient and creative work. The Bang Effect should be used as a method of loosening people up and supplementing various other techniques. It is especially well-suited to the evaluation phase. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling All participants should comment in turn on a particular aspect of a challenge, process or product quality. Terms and the speakers should be randomly mixed. Both analysis and Brainstorming can be to the fore here.

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Step 1: For each participant entering the meeting room, the moderator creates one (or more) notes with their names and then attaches them to a balloon. The balloon is inflated and all named balloons are hung up, for example, on a pinboard or clothesline. Step 2: The moderator also creates a note for each aspect or term and then proceeds as in Step 1. These balloons are hung up separately on another pinboard. Step 3: After all participants have entered the room, a name balloon and a term balloon are burst with a freely chosen procedure. This can also be done very sportively by throwing darts (the safety of participants always having priority). Step 4: A randomly-chosen participant must speak about a randomly-chosen term, or describe their point of view or experience, or even hold a brief Brainstorming session. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Bang Effect

Recommended resources Tool: balloons Tool: clothesline Moderation: cards approx. 10 × 10 cm Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Fast and cheap The Bang Effectproduces good results quickly and cheaply, and is an extremely useful technique when combined with other methods.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

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Buckle-Monster Technique

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description This method functions according to the principle of the slowly developing folded monster created by two or more people: Take a piece of paper. The first person draws a monster head at the upper end, without the game partner/s being able to see it. The paper is then folded so that the head is covered and the paper is passed on to the next player. They draw a monster’s upper body underneath the foldline, then also make a fold and hand the paper to the next player, who in turn draws the monster legs, and so on. At the end the sheet of paper is unfolded. Every time a funny and mostly unexpected result comes to light. The aim of the method is to use the different perspectives of the participants on one and the same problem and to create a multi-layered solution that inspires further ideas. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Creates visualized ideas, terms, themes Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants

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Handling Step 1: The problem/question is clearly formulated byconsensus of the group. Step 2: Participants are divided into small groups. Step 3: Individual groups are assigned topics under which headings they are to approach the challenge in group work. When it comes to the development of a product, for example, these headings could be: – Product design/color – Technical features – Emotional added value – Marketing and sales strategy – Name Step 4: The groups work out their individual solutions using Brainstorming (Post-its), visualization (collages, drawings), quick-and-dirty prototypes (modelling clay, Lego, handicraft materials) and so on. Step 5: At the end of the session, all individual group results are displayed to the whole team. A product can be created whose generation is extraordinary, a development that would never have been achieved in the normal way of doing things. Something new can emerge from partly incongruous characteristics – lateral thinking is stimulated. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces rationalizers – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium

Buckle-Monster Technique – – – – – – – – –

Complexity for the participants: rather medium Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: soft pencils Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Moderation: glue Moderation: post-its Moderation: scissors Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: pinboards Room: table tops Room: chairs

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Room: wall surfaces Tool: craft kit Tool: colored pencils Tool: sellotape Tool: modeling clay Tool: pipe cleaners Tool: periodicals Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Excellent creative technique To practice with both small and large teams. There are always some good results – and a lot of creativity for progressive ideas. A great team tool.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

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Button Brainwriting Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Button Brainwriting method is a variant of Brainwriting. It reduces the fatigue factor when explaining the ideas generated. Often these are read out in turn and the participants do not listen properly because they are already mentally preparing their own contribution. Button Brainwriting retains the basic idea, but eliminates the drawback of walking in a fix order, making the Brainwriting format more exciting for everyone involved. The element of chance ensures that no one knows whether they will be next. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The moderator clearly writes down the question or challenge (for example, on a flipchart). The participants write their ideas on cards (see Method Brainwriting). The first to come forward to explain their contribution/idea receives a button. When thay havefinished, that person selects someone who has not yet spoken and gives them the button. This continues until everyone has made a contribution. A second variation is that the participants write their idea and their name (or initials) on the cards. The cards are then dealt to the left for a few seconds, until everyone has someone else’s card in their hand. Then each participant calls the respective names on the cards and those individuals explain their idea.

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Universally applicable The Button variant can be used not only for Brainwriting, but also for all formats in which each participant makes comments in a group situation. This often leads to rambling thoughts and decreasing concentration in the non-speaking participants. The fact that you don’t know if you’re going to be next keeps attention levels high.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Collective Notebook

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Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Collective Notebook, invented by Charles Clark, is a creativity tool that belongs to Brainwriting and Association techniques. The conception of this method has evolved from the following conditions: 1. Experts should be involved in the Brainstorming process, but it is not possible to assign someone at the correct time or in the right place (for example, different workstations, field service assignments, different shift times). 2. In everyday organizational life, thinking and working creatively is often very difficult. Studies have shown that most really good ideas come from outside the work environment. These cases are actually represent a special form of Brainstorming in which the mutual stimulation to produce ideas does not happen when the participants are together. In circumstances which for certain reasons do not permit group work on finding ideas, the Collective Notebook can be used as a written Brainstorming method. The idea-finding process then takes much longer. Two to four weeks is not uncommon. At a joint meeting, the ideas are then viewed and evaluated. This method is particularly useful when a team needs to find ideas but cannot work in the same place at the same time. However, this technique is also suitable for collecting additional ideas, which often arise from relaxation after a creative meeting, in an incubation phase or as flashes of inspiration.

Handling Each participant receives the instruction to record their ideas and thoughts in writing for the given challenge over a given period (often two to four weeks). For this purpose, a notepad or notebook is used, which contains a description of the challenge on the first pages. The notebook is available at a central location in the company or department. Often participants are also obliged to view the notebook daily and sign in, even if they are unable to contribute a new idea or further development. The basic steps in this method are: Step 1: Preparation – Formulate problem – Select participant – Prepare notepads/notebooks Step 2: Implementation – Use notebooks and write down ideas, thoughts and suggestions – Spontaneous entries – Daily entries and daily sighting Step 3: Summation and Evaluation – Evaluate: compare summaries – Review notes – Develop basic proposals for problem solving – Create concepts in joint group meeting Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

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Collective Notebook

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: notebook Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – No influence The big advantage with this technique is that the team members do not influence each other. Neither is it necessary for the team to work together on the problem. The ideas can be collected over a longer period of time as they emerge. – Discipline required The method takes a very long time and is really only efficient if all participants continue to workl with the challenge and the notebook every day – this requires very good discipline and also good time management. – Variant with own notebook As a variation on the original method, each participant receives a personal notebook as a daily companion. The participants should then carry the notebook with them at all times, if possible, in order to be able to record spontaneously arising ideas. – Include introverts Even very quiet and rather introverted employees can become involved in this method and can thus also give free rein to their creativity. This often leads to ideas that would otherwise not make it into the process. – Critical reflection is called for The result of the circling notebook always be re-examined and critically appraisedto correct early problems in understanding.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013)

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KommuniKARTio Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description With the team game KommuniKARTio, from the Metalog company, the focus of learning and reflection lies in the area of imagination, perception and communication training. Benno van Aerssen: “Without good imagination and functioning, detailed communication, an idea will never become an innovation.” Many people believe that their colleagues reject their ideas because they don’t like them – but in most cases they just have a very bad copy of this idea in their head. To create an exactly identical image of the idea in the brain of a colleague, usually takes more effort than you think. In particular, a 30-second Elevator Pitche produces only incomplete images of an idea. Speaking in metaphors and with detailed descriptions, which are additionally given emotion and passion, is required here. KommunikARTio provides a valuable service within innovation work. It is a very important experience for all participants when they realize that their words for describing a simple plastic part do not lead to the objective. The special efficiency of this game is achieved by eliminating the sense of sight – all participants play with their eyes blindfolded. The term “KommunikARTio” is made up of the words for communication, art and cart. This learning scenario bundles together a large number of subject areas. As with a riddle, the group is confronted here with a problem that can only be solved with the art of communication. KommunikARTio is a real treasure chest for communication professionals.

Handling The participants sit in a tight circle with their eyes blindfolded. The trainer takes two of the 30 plastic pieces from the KommunikARTio set and distributes the remaining ones among the players. The task is for the group to determine, together, the color and shape of the two missing plastic parts, exclusively through verbal communication. The moderator merely gives information on color; if a participant holds up a card, they call out the color. Depending on the size of the group and the desired level of difficulty, KommunikARTio can also be carried out with fewer colors or shapes (plastic pieces). Instructions are included with the game. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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KommuniKARTio

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: circle of chairs Tool: the game KommuniKARTio Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

Notes

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Experiences – Can also be used with small groups The game can easily be used with small groups. You can adjust the number of plastic parts used with minimal effort.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – METALOG® training tools OHG – Olching

Competence Fair

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interesting idea. This creates an atmosphere of respect, and the people who have introduced it increase their motivation at work. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents unreflected action – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems Description The Competence Fair can be carried out recurrently in companies to gain transparency about hidden competences, passions and interests of employees. Especially when conducted against a background of strategic innovation initiatives, the effectiveness of the method is very high. The core idea is that many employees in organizations have competences, knowledge and passions that they do not use in day-to-day business, as there is only a limited transfer possibility with professional tasks. At the Fair, however, skills acquired through hobbies, for example, are presented in order to enable later transfers to everyday work. For example, a pronounced passion for collecting stamps can have relevance to everyday professional life in archiving, or an employee’s grasp and understanding of coding and gaming in the private sphere can also be used directly within the company if, for example, questions of digitization are involved. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Handling To prepare for the Competence Fair, employees are informed of it in advance and encouraged to present their skills. As part of the event, the volunteers are then allocated slots (e. g. for stage performances) or spaces (e. g. for Fair-style variants) in which they can present their skills. The other employees can ask questions and have the talents/interests explained to them in more detail. The positive accompanying effect – besides the original uncovering of hidden potential – is of a cultural nature. People often feel much more self-confident in their area of competence and experience positive feedback from an

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Pay attention to diversity in the fairground The diversity of the fairground makes it special. By clarifying at the outset how important every competence is and that therefore everyone is welcome, the Fair opens up to the extraordinary. According to the concept of a fair, it only becomes interesting when there is something to marvel at. It is advisable to have a fairground director who pays attention to the appreciation, moderates well and guides spectators through peculiarities.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – KOPFSPRINGER GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Component Analysis are not permitted: – Software. – Parameters of components such as speed or humidity. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description Component Analysis is suitable as an analysis tool for complex problems and also serves as a first step for TRIZ function analysis. This technique is part of the TRIZ toolbox and helps to divide a problem into different abstraction levels and to select the right one to analyse it. TRIZ (the Russian acronym for “Teoria reschenija isobretatjelskich sadatsch”, meaning “theory of inventive problem solving” or “theory for the solution of inventive problems”) describes the theory of inventive problem solving and refers mainly to mechanical–technical questions. It uses very logical, rational, technical language and thinking and thus represents almost the antithesis to the user-centered language of Design Thinking. However, the tools used in TRIZ can also be used in a less orthodox manner and for non-technical purposes. A system contains a multitude of elements and influencing factors. The following components are permitted when using this method: 1. In Technical Systems: – Elements that have a mass, such as a feather, a handle or even a table. – Fields that enable interactions and interactions between components, for example a magnetic field. 2.

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In Non-technical Systems: – Separable elements, such as a department, a person. – Fields can be transferred elements like culture, etc.

Handling Step 1: Develop a hierarchical tree structure of your system, from the top level to several levels of detail, and list the individual components of each level so that they form a logical whole. Step 2: Now select an abstraction level which is useful for your problem, which you want to examine more closely and which you would like to analyse with a TRIZ function analysis if necessary. Tips: Objectively there are no right or wrong levels of abstraction, yet there are indications which levels might make sense for your question: – a level that is too high (too abstract) could be too wide and too vague, and thus too intangible to be of use. As a consequence, this would mean that the ideasgenerated in the next step would have an extremely broad spread. – A level of abstraction that is too low could cause you to lose yourself in small details, and the ideas in the next step could be insufficient to solve your problem. Basically, it makes sense to consider similar components as one component, especially in technical systems. For example, if a system has several springs, you can consider them as one compound spring. In human systems with, for example, several people in a department, it can be useful to look at these people individually. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Component Analysis

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper

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Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: post-its Moderation: paper Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Attention: complex tool Detailed preparation is necessary for successful work with this technique. It is very complex and should be handled carefully.

Identified sources of the method Book – 40 Principles: TRIZ Keys to Innovation, G. Altschuller, L. Shulyak, S. Rodman (Technical Innovation Ctr – Dezember 1997) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – TRIZ / Tips- Methodik des erfinderischen Problemlösens, B. Klein (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2007)

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Kondratieff-Cycle Checkup

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Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Knowledge of the Kondratieff Cycle helps you to assess your idea in relation to the great waves of the world economy. The Russian economist Nikolai Kondratieff observed change processes in the world economy, which take place in long waves. He put revolutionary basic innovations and far-reaching historical events such as wars into context. Kondratieff describes the beginning of every wave an invention that changes production and society as a whole. For 40 to 60 years, investments are then made in that technology and there is an economic upswing until the production method reaches its limit, there is no growth and another basic innovation marks the beginning of the next cycle. 1st Kondratieff Cycle: Invention of the steam engine; innovations in the textile industry (UK). 2nd Invention of the railway; steel (UK). 3rd Electrical engineering; chemistry (Germany/US). 4th Automotive industry; petrochemicals (US as world power; climax of industrial society). 5th From the industrial to the information society (after the oil crisis). 6th Healthcare market; biotechnology; psycho-social sector; environmental technology. Note the cycles and triggers of the wave’s up and down motion in the graph. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas for new markets and new business models 604

Generates forecasts and derivations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Check the position of your product or idea in relation to the current Kondratieff Cycle. Step 2: Are you “selling” something floating on the current wave? Or do you have sales problems because the timing is not right and your idea is more in line with the last or upcoming wave? Step 3: If you are working with a product that has little or nothing to do with the innovations of the current Kondratieff Cycle, consider why it is or will be successful in the market anyway. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Kondratieff-Cycle Checkup

Experiences – Assessment and positioning It is almost always worthwhile to include the Kondratieff Cycle in a conversation about innovation in a company. At that point, simply reflecting on it can be helpful. Talk about waves and timing. What events can trigger change?

Identified sources of the method Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013)

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Book – Die langen Wellen der Konjunktur: Die Essays von Kondratieff aus den Jahren 1926 und 1928, N. Kondratieff, E. Händeler (Marlon-Verlag – August 2013) Book – Der sechste Kondratieff: Die neue, lange Welle der Weltwirtschaft, L. A. Nefiodow, S. Nefiodow (Rhein-Sieg-Vlg Nefiodow – Mai 2014) Book – Kondratieffs Gedankenwelt – Die Chancen im Wandel zur Wissensgesellschaft, E. Händeler (Marlon Verlag 2011)

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Context Plan

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Context Plan is used at the beginning of an ideas workshop to take a closer look at the environment surrounding a topic. This makes it possible to act more deliberately and with more foresight. In 45 to 90 minutes the team creates several pictures of the situation in flipchart size. Headings are freely selected.

Step 3: Write the words “Political Factors” in the top left corner of this sheet and “Economic Climate” in the top right corner. Step 4: Write the heading “Developments” on the two sheets to the right and left of the middle sheet and draw large arrows in the direction of the middle sheet. Step 5: Draw an image representing your customer(s) on the lower middle sheet and label the image “Customer Needs”. Step 6: Draw large arrows pointing up to the right on the lower left image and label the image “Technical Factors”. Step 7: Draw a storm cloud with a question mark on the lower right image and label the image “Uncertainty Factors”. Step 8: Explain the method to the participants, show the flipchart sheets and start discussing any one of them (except “Developments”). Enter all results of the discussion at the appropriate place. Step 9: Continue to the next category until all sheets (except “Developments”) are filled in. Step 10: Let the group define the two “Development” categories in more detail through a quick survey. These can be online developments or demographic aspects of the environment. If the participants have agreed on two aspects (for example, by hand signals or a points vote), write those aspects in the spaces next to the word “Developments”. Step 11: Continue collecting content. Step 12: Summarize with the group what came out of the session and ask participants to share their experiences in the creation of the “Development” categories. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success

Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: At the start, six flipchart sheets are hung in two rows and three columns on the wall (or pinboard). Step 2: A representation of the company or topic is drawn on the top middle sheet. Alternatively a picture can be glued on. You can label the image, but mainly try to use pictorial representations.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

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Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: poster Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Experiences – Moderation is important Continuous moderation is necessary for the Context Plan method, otherwise the group loses itself very quickly in side issues. This is where intervention and using group dynamics has to be employed again and again, for example if the group focuses too much on the internal context. – Preparation recommended It makes sense to research the topics to be considered and ask participants questions before the meeting. This makes notation of each category easier. However, the flipchart sheets themselves should be filled from the discussion of the participants, not from the moderator’s own opinions.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Continuous Improvement Process –

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The aim of a Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) is to achieve continuous and incremental improvement of production processes and product, process and service qualities through appropriate teamwork. CIP is a method that has been known about for many years and is often controversial. Depending on many factors, there are just as many CIP projects that achieve good results and those that fail miserably. Based on the well-known Japanese Kaizen philosophy, this method does not aim at a radical but a continuous incremental improvement. The first step is to decide in team rounds what should be improved. In the next step, the actual and target states are described using key figures. Once existing problems have been described and evaluated, the causes of the problems can be searched for. Subsequently, solution ideas are collected and evaluated in order to select those suitable for solving the problem. After a decision has been taken, appropriate measures are implemented and level of success is checked. The advantage of CIP is that, in addition to process optimization and the associated cost and time benefits, it also awakens employee skills such as creativity and commitment and improves the corporate culture. Known characteristics of a Continuous Improvement Process are that it is: – Primarily a mindset that all employees must deeply internalize. – Always characterized by a multitude of measures, which implemented quickly and unbureaucratically in everyday life. – Unlimited in terms of application focus; products, services, processes, activities, technology, workplace – everything in an organization can be improved. – Not scheduled, it is to be understood continuously. 608

Makes use of many different methods and tools; the decisive factor is the effect, not the procedure. Central operating principles are: Sorting out, avoidance, cleanliness, tidiness, order, simplicity, and standardization, as well as defining and adhering to rules. The “Continuous Improvement” mindset was significantly influenced by Toyota and the Toyota production system. It has been widely used since the early 1990s with Lean Management and under the Japanese term “Kaizen”. CIP is usually distinguished from innovation management or company suggestion schemes, which rather refer to a formally-defined process in the respective company. In contrast, CIP measures are implemented more informally and virally. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Continuous Improvement Process

Experiences – It must be actively exemplified From experience we can say that CIP only works if it is actively exemplified by all managers in an organization. CIP is always closely interwoven with corporate culture.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Der kontinuierliche Verbesserungsprozess: Methoden des KVP, S. Kostka, C. Kostka (Carl Hanser Verlag – November 2008) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Concept Extraction Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Concept Extraction thinking technique enables the derivation of further possible solutions from an initial idea. Often the first “final” ideas from a Brainstorming session are unsatisfactory. In this case, it helps to move a little further away from the actual question and to look at the principles behind the ideas generated so far. Once the principles – or concepts – have been identified, they should be applied and abstracted, and further ideas should be generated on this basis. The solution for more and better ideas is to think in concepts.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: post-its

Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Handling Step 1: Brainstorming on a specific question. Step 2: Filtering and clustering the resulting raw ideas. Step 3: Working out which basic concepts are behind the individual ideas. Step 4: Extracting the concepts and generating new ideas in another Brainstorming session.

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Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Identified sources of the method Book – Denkmotor: Nichts ist gefährlicher als eine Idee …, C. Brügger, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2014) Web – http://interviewonline.ch/artikel/vergessen-siebrainstorming!.html (April 2017)

Concept Fan

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Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description The Concept Fan is a very helpful instrument for supporting participants in a creativity process with goal-oriented thinking. The basic idea of this method is that each idea requires not only a suitable concept and a certain route to reach the goal, but that the latter can be reached in very different ways. This technique uses the ability of the human brain to jump in all directions, from one idea to the next. The route to take is understood to be the rough direction that should lead to the goal. Concepts in this context are the different ways to reach the goal, in the given direction. All approaches are ideas that can be part of a concept. The Concept Fan also allows you to jump in front of the initial idea and either see it in a new context or detour around it and still reach your goal.

Handling The Concept subjects resemble a Mindmap in a way. At the beginning or in the middle there is an idea or possibly already an enriched concept. Further to the right there is a destination somewhere that is to be reached. If you then ask yourself how this idea can be implemented, new approaches emerge that are linked to the idea and the goal. It is possible that these approaches may not be feasible at first or may not lead to the desired results. Then you can ask what use the basic ideais at all. In this way, different benefits and points on the plan are created before the actual ideas. Each one of these points now offers the possibility of generatiing a new, differently stored idea of how to reach your goal. In this way, a map with different ideas is successively created, which leads to concepts and connects routes towards a goal. The appropriate route can be selected for the respective situation. At any time you can return to any point and from there pursue alternative paths and ask yourself questions about benefits as well as implementation. Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: soft pencils Moderation: paper

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Experienced moderator necessary This method only works if the moderator has got to the core of and understood the mode of action of the Concept Fan. – Clear explanation prerequisite for success This method is difficult for participants to understand at the first meeting. Therefore, the moderator must explain it to them clearly and in detail.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

Headstand Method

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Yes – you read it correctly: With the Headstand Method things seem a little crazy or unusual. Because together with your team you reformulate your challenge and twist it into exactly the opposite. You literally turn the problem upside down to generate new perspectives and ideas. Without writing anything down, you become animated and creative. Because it’s fun to think about what doesn’t work, what goes wrong or which measures never solve a problem. The Headstand technique works immediately and is especially good for inexperienced teams. In the first pase, those measures and events which would prevent the achievement of a desired result, or as many weaknesses in an idea as possible, are collected. After this “destructive” phase, solutions to the identified obstacles and problems are sought. The rules of regular Brainstorming apply to both phases. The advantage of this method compared to normal Brainstorming is that you first identify the cause of a problem (things that prevent a desired result) and then solve it. This kind of approach to problem solving generates different and new ideas. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Turn your challenge upside down. Rephrase your challenge or problem into its opposite. Rebuild the sentence from scratch. Example challenge: “What do we have to consider in order to create a successful concept?”

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Example for the Headstand Method: “What do we have to do in order to fail with the new concept?” Hang the reformulated challenge on a pinboard so that everyone can see it. The advantage of reformulating: Paradoxically, we know very well what is not working and why. We see mistakes, stumbling blocks and problems much more clearly than solutions. Try this out quickly by asking yourself: “Why don’t we get the desired result in meetings?” Well … can you think of anything? If a problem is carefully reformulated into its opposite, the Headstand Method always works – especially with inexperienced teams. Step 2: Collect “How not to” ideas. Ask each team member to think of ideas and write them on cards. Everyone writes by themselves – there is no talking: Brainwriting. One card should be written for each idea. Allow about ten minutes for this step. Step 3: Cluster and sort the negative ideas. Do you notice that the team is writing fewer and fewer cards? Then it’s time to bring the ideas together. Collect the cards in the middle of the table, read them aloud and discuss a systematic order for the ideas, for example by category. It’ll be fun, you’ll see. Because with the Headstand Method the most absurd ideas come to light and that creates a good mood. Step 4: Save results in clearly visible manner. Save the ordered ideas of the Headstand Method on a pinboard for the next step. The goal is to have the results of all steps permanently in front of you. Step 5: Turn the ideas around. The next step is to turn the generated “negative ideas” back into positives and to use them as direct sources of inspiration for the “right” ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Careful reformulation Pay attention to a precise reformulation of the task. When reformulating a problem for the Headstand Method, note the following: Avoid including negative terms in the sentence, such as “not” or “small”; use new and strong verbs; hange the sentence structure; be clear; formulate extreme and vivid scenarios. – The right working atmosphere Moderate team behavior and provide inspiration. Ensure a calm and relaxed working atmosphere in advance. Your team should not be disturbed during the writing process. You should also stop too many conversations. You’ll see, the writing will happen all by itself. – Gentle moderation Moderate the map ordering by clustering without dominating your team. It is important to find a system that everyone understands and will continue to use.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Erfolgsfaktor Innovation, H.-K. Wahren (Springer – November 2003) Book – Kreativität im Projekt, H. Kellner (Hanser Fachbuch 2002) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014)

Force Field Analysis

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description As a strategic method, Force Field Analysis allows the user to recognize positive and negative influences on a challenge or intention and thus to better define the core questions that lead to the goal. By applying this method, strengths are identified that are worth building on and weaknesses that should be reduced are identified.

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Handling Step 1: Describe your challenge, intention or goal. Write it at the top of a large worksheet and draw a table with three large columns below. Step 2: Now describe an ideal scenario as the heading of the left-hand column of the table – what your activities might look like with regard to your ideal goal. Step 3: Now describe a negative scenario, i. e. a catastrophic outcome associated with your goal, as the heading of the right-hand column of the table. Step 4: The middle column should be given the heading “Influencing Factors”. In this column write the central influencing factors that can take the situation in either a positive or negative direction. Step 5: Now give a negative description (right-hand column) and a positive description (left-hand column) for each influencing factor in the middle column. Step 6: Then mark the direction in which the forces of the influencing factors point in this case. Accordingly, the arrow indicating the force field points to the left or right. Step 7: You can use this overview to make decisions about how to proceed: – Build on your strengths. – Minimize your weaknesses. – Sdd further positive influencing factors in order to identify opportunities for success. Hint! Limit the influencing factors in the middle column to the core elements of the challenge in order to identify the main forces.

Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates plans and prioritizations Generates forecasts and derivations Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces permanent opponents – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium

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Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Focus on the core elements This method offers the possibility of identifying very far-reaching influencing factors. However, it is helpful to focus on the core elements to achieve this.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Creative Block

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Creative Block is a simple creativity technique that makes it possible to develop and record ideas on the spur of the moment. It can be used by a single person, but also by a duo.

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Step 2: In a second area, describe how you would know that your problem has been solved. Step 3: Write down three to four ideas on how to make the problem worse. For example, how can you ensure that you are guaranteed not to reach your goal? Step 4: Change of perspective: Consider in which other areas of life a similar problem has already been solved (for example, nature/bionics, film, theater, sport). Write down two or three ideas. Step 5: Write down the names of contact people or departments with whom you would like to discuss your idea. In particular, those with a high level of know-how, but also those who have not yet heard of the problem. Discuss the problem and your ideas with these people (for example, over a cup of coffee). Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Formulate the question you want to work on and enter it in the upper left area of the Creative Block.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Experiences – Permanent creative help The Creative Block is a nice tool for regularly finding your own ideas. For example, it can be placed permanently on your desk and can therefore be used quickly if required.

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Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

Creativity Slider

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Creativity Slider analyses a problem in its entirety and resembles the Morphological Box (developed by the Swiss, Fritz Zwicky). A complex overall problem is subdivided and in comparison to the latter, the individual subproblems are dealt with directly. The method is quick to use and usually takes no more than 20 minutes. Before that, however, the Creativity Slider tool must be constructed. This involves some handicraft work and usually requires the template found in the author’s book.

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Step 2: Cut out the tool, the Creativity Slider, according to the description in the book Creability by Martin J. Eppler. Step 3: Specify parameters that could help solve the problem. Examples of parameters are: Color, size, surface, distribution channel, and so on. Step 4: Write all possible variants of each parameter underneath it. Example sales channel: Online, shops, agents, and so on (list a maximum of five variations per parameter). Step 5: Now move the individual parameter strips up and down and note down three to five different combinations on a sheet of paper or flipchart. Step 6: If the solutions found do not meet expectations and the combinations do not give rise to new ideas, try step 3 and 4 again and look for another three to five combinations. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Define the problem in a general way and clarify it in one sentence. This will give you more options for solving the problem.

Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: scissors Tool: DIN A4 sheet Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Digital version The Creativity Slider can also be used in a digital version. The company “Let’s focus” offers a software-supported slider under the name “Ruler”. Note, however, that the moderator should have gained experience with the operation of the tool before performing the test.

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Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

Creative Process after Graham Wallas

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Creative Process after Graham Wallas dates back to the 1930s and can probably be described as the mother of all creative and innovation processes. The sociologist Wallas put forward theses that were based on the assumption that ideas do not somehow come about by chance. He then carried out various investigations and observations and finally developed the very first comprehensive model for the creative process. Over the years, Graham Wallas’s original model developed into further and (partly) more detailed models. If you look at macro methods such as Design Thinking or Lean Startup, you will find great similarities between the techniques. Tip! In our opinion, everyone who is or wants to become active in the innovation business should deal with all leading macro methods. The similarities hidden in these methods are the key to good basic understanding and successful innovation work. The model after Wallas Phase 1 Preparation and preparation phase The aim here is to collect all relevant information, even rudimentary information, which could be useful for the creative solution to the challenge. Phase 2 Incubation and maturation phase

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Our brain simply needs time to think of creative solutions to a complex and multi-layered problem. Therefore, in this phase, the subconscious is deliberately given time to create solutions and to “brainstorm”. Phase 3 Illumination phase This is the phase or time of flashes of inspiration, “Aha!” moments and “Eureka!” exclamations. Ssimply put, it is the time when ideas appear in your mind’s eye. Phase 4 Verification phase So that ideas, especially good ideas, can become reality, the phase of testing, selection, development and elaboration of ideas follows. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Implementation usually consists of reflecting on this master model in order to make the right choice of a suitable modern macro process for the team on the basis of your findings. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – Very good as first learning step In order to introduce people to innovation and creative processes and to quickly provide clarity and insight, it is a good idea to first discuss the Graham model and then, for example, the Design Thinking process. The team then reflects and discusses the similarities and differences between the models.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – The Art of Thought, G. Wallas (Solis Press 2014)

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Creative Roulette

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Creative Roulette uses the fascination that gambling, like the famous game roulette, has on people and is a kind of idea gambling. The method makes particular sense for the development of ideas for non-complex problems in very diverse groups, for example from different departmental areas. Groups that are open and curious about new forms of collaboration will enjoy it. Creative Roulette is used to develop new ideas.

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Creative Roulette requires two dice, four coins or chips (which can also be four ten-cent pieces, for example) and the Roulette template. The steps in detail:

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Step 1: Explain the question for which ideas are to be developed and make sure that all participants have understood it correctly. Step 2: Now distribute the templates to the participants, so that each gets “their own roulette table”. Each participant defines the outer fields (even – odd, red – black) with their own idea categories (for example, short term – long term, realizable and so on) on sheets of paper; these categories must be opposing ideas. The question for the participants is: “In which direction would I like to develop solution ideas?” Step 3: participants exchange their sheets and explain the different fields to their colleague. Participants develop the ideas in the categories created by the colleague. Step 4: The moderator rolls the first number with both dice and receives a random number between one and twelve (the two results are added together). For example, if the moderator rolls a five and a four, each player must enter an idea in square nine that meets the two criteria of that square. Example: The player has set “crazy idea” as the criterion for odd and “immediately realizable idea” as the criterion for black; then they must find a crazy, immediately realizable idea and enter it in square nine. Step 5: If a number is rolled again, the participants must improve the existing idea and finalise the idea in that field. Step 6: Once all the fields of ideas have been developed, the two colleagues present their ideas to each other. The listener may put their four coins on their favorite ideas of the other person. At least one coin should be placed on an idea category that is particularly important to them. Step 7: When all four coins are placed on the other’s template, the most popular ideas are transferred to the second template (Idea Combination), including the coins placed on it. Step 8: The teams of two now consider how two ideas from the circle can be combined with each other. For this purpose, a line is drawn between the two idea combinations and the combination idea is noted on the line. The coins from the combined ideas are placed in a jackpot, won at the end by the team with the most coins. Step 9: If all teams have the same number of points (all coins in the jackpot), the they should identify their two “best combination ideas” and present them to the whole group in a short pitch. The moderator notes all ideas on a flipchart. Step 10: Finally, the moderator asks each team to agree on an idea on which all the jackpot money will be bet (of course, it must not be their own idea). The team with the

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most coins now receives all coins and is responsible for the documentation of their idea. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: paper in flipchart size Tool: coins or tokens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Experiences – Diverse teams preferred The Creative Roulette method is particularly suitable for teams with very diverse composition, for example mixed teams from Marketing and R&D, young and experienced teams. This is where the technique unfolds its full potential. – Basic trust should be present Since the method seems quite playful, there should be a basic trust in the trainer. The method is therefore not recommended for the start of a new innovation workshop.

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

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Creative Team Checkup

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The Creative Team Checkup helps to design the selection of the members of a creative or innovation team in a target-oriented way. The right people-mix has a decisive influence on the success of a project, especially in the field of innovation. Personality factors as well as age, gender, subject area and, above all, wealth of experience play a role here. A well-functioning team is a diversified unit that follows a common goal in an agile way and wants to achieve it from within. The selection of people should always be project-dependent – however, the course of the project should also be coordinated with the selected individuals. Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates more innovative organizations Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Checkpoint 1 The optimal size of an agile creative team is five to eight people. Larger groups often lose agility and manageability. Checkpoint 2 Various typing methods are available for the selection of individuals. A common one is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which evaluates eight preferences. Put together a team that ideally combines the following qualities: – extroversion – introversion – intuition – powers of observation – search behavior

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– decisiveness – gut feeling – analytics Checkpoint 3 In addition, a wide range in age, gender and experience should be apparent the subject area of the task. Checkpoint 4 The subject area and networking with individual topics should have equal mix of individuals. Marketing, sales, purchasing, production, development and especially customers play a role here. Checkpoint 5 Acceptance, trust and networking among team members also bring possible results of the creative process to the next stage. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Creative Team Checkup

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Changing leadership It has proven successful to rotate the leadership of the team within members according to the technical focus currently being addressed.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Innerinnovation, B. Buck, U. Buck (LiteraturVSM – September 2014) Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

Crossword Puzzle Technique

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Crossword Puzzle Technique is less an independent technique than a kind of vehicle to sensibly enrich another technique. It can be combined with most Brainstorming and Brainwriting variations. With all participants using the familiar crossword puzzle grid, the necessary relaxed atmosphere needed for a creative meeting is produced very quickly. In addition, it is very easy to generate competitiveness because, when filling it in, you have to proceed SUDOKU-like and mobilize all your grey cells. Due to the level of concentration required, otherwise ever-present day-to-day business very quickly fades into the background. Let your imagination run wild and also use other variants of the crossword puzzle, like the syllable puzzle. Here, instead ofletters, whole syllables are entered in the boxes. History: The world’s first crossword puzzle appeared on December 21, 1913 in the Christmas supplement of the newspaper New York World and contained 31 clues. It is said to have been invented by the Liverpool-born journalist Arthur Wynne. Wynne’s crossword puzzle contained no black fields and was diamond-shaped. In the early 1920s, the first crossword puzzles were published in European newspapers and magazines. The first crossword puzzle in a German newspaper was printed by Berliner Illustrierte in 1925. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling On a large worksheet, boxes are drawn as in a crossword puzzle. The challenge, the leading question or an aspect of it is written horizontally or vertically in the middle of the sheet. All participants now search for terms that they associate with the topic and fil in the boxes as for a crossword puzzle. These terms are then added to by different sources. One large worksheet can be used or many small ones, but everyone is allowed to work on them. Variants of this technique: – All participants work on a big crossword puzzle. – Each participant works on their own crossword puzzle. – Groups compete against each other. Whichever can accommodate the most terms in a certain time wins. – The player with the lowest number of empty boxes at the end wins. – You can not only work with single words, but also with keyword combinations. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper

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Crossword Puzzle Technique

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Thematic collections of ideas The crossword puzzle is particularly suitable for Brainstorming sessions and for the creation of topic-related collections of ideas. It can also be used for the introduction and basic analysis of a planned topic. Expectations of a topic can also be filtered out with this technique. – Competitive A simple method, which can also have an inspiring competitiveness. – Small disadvantage Certain important terms and ideas may need to be reformulated to fit into the crossword puzzle.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-WirtschaftBook – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

KultuRalley

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out speaking, they must now deal with the foreign situation and either learn new rules or “import” their own. No words at all are allowed! This gently-experienced culture shock acts like an eye-opener. Here we can experience how we feel as strangers in new surroundings and what we need to orient ourselves. Impact on obstacle effects – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Multidisciplinary and intercultural teams have a great impact on innovation, as we have known for many years. But at the same time these teams, especially when they are newly formed, often experience great friction losses that prevent top innovative performance. The tool KultuRalley in particular promotes reflection on and perception of other team cultures and thus makes a useful contribution to the development of a multidisciplinary innovation culture. KultuRalley makes intercultural communication, team development and dealing with the framework conditions of other cultures more tangible than any other team game. Cultural differences become highly visible and are intensely experienced. Explicit and implicit rules are understood in every culture. Whether it is the culture of an ethnic group or the culture of a company or department, rules determine how people live together. Dealing with foreign rules is the main topic of this learning project. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The basic procedure: It starts very simply. At each table, small teams with specially-designed dice start playing with each other. They get to know the rules. After a short time no more speaking is allowed. Now some players change tables and continue playing at a foreign table. What they don’t know, though: The rules at each table are different from those of their original table. With-

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Tool: the game KultuRalley Room: small tables Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception Experiences – Excellent in co-creation projects The KultuRalley is also great when teams from organizations come together with their customers’ teams to innovate together in co-creation projects. The KultuRalley can also provide a valuable service as an opener on the day of the event. After a short time, the relaxed and informal atmosphere that is so important for creative work is generated.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – METALOG® training tools OHG – Olching

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Customer, Employee and Shareholder Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Promotes the agility of the participants – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating – Weakens living in the past

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description Customer, Employee and Shareholder is an exercise in which the future of the company is discussed from different perspectives. The method supports the participants in a change of perspective and is particularly recommended at the beginning of an innovation process. It can also be used in Design Thinking and is based on the Stakeholder Framework by Max Clarkson (1995). Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Creates more innovative organizations Generates forecasts and derivations Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Participants will be divided into three groups: Customers, Employees and Shareholders. Step 2: Group members should slip into their respective roles and imagine their work or the company in five years’ time. They answer questions such as: “What will be important to you?” “What will you experience personally?” “What events will occur?” “Which trends will have become reality?” “What specific concrete differences will there be?” Step 3: Participants should record and explain their vision of the future. Give each group a flipchart or a brown paper. Step 4: Ask participants to work out specific topics and new possibilities. Allow sufficient time for this and record everything in writing.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: flipchart Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination Experiences – Deepening the experience is important Many participants tend to make this a superficial exercise. Well executed, it can take from one to three hours. It is therefore advisable to develop a series of questions for the individual perspectives, on the basis of which participants can work through the respective roles.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Customer Benefit Matrix

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Step 3: For each field within the Matrix, ideas are searched.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description Having many good ideas is not enough to create an innovation. The ideas must also meet the customer’s needs. In order not to miss out on customer benefits and wishes and ultimately end up with a flop, methods and tools are used that focus precisely on these elements, such as this Customer Benefit Matrix. The product or service is viewed and optimized through the customer’s eyes. The customer goes through a process to use the product or service. This consists, for example, of individual pieces of information – service, use and payment. The corresponding actions associated with these are examined under a magnifying glass. The aim is to better support the customer in carrying out these steps and thus create important added value. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates key questions for idea generation Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Handling Step 1: The process is viewed from the customer’s point of view and visualized systematically. The individual steps are sketched and entered into the columns of the Customer Benefit Matrix. Step 2: Questions are asked that seem important in terms of customer benefit. These questions are entered in the rows of the Matrix.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: table tops Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Moderation: soft pencils Room: chairs

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Customer Benefit Matrix

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception Experiences – Combination with Customer Journey You can connect the Customer Benefit Matrix successfully and efficiently with the Customer Journey to gain a broader understanding of the customer.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Denkmotor: Nichts ist gefährlicher als eine Idee …, C. Brügger, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2014) Web – http://www.akademie.de/wissen/kundennutzenmatrix (April 2017) Web – http://www.methode.de/st/Methoden/Kaeufer_Nutzen_Matrix.htm (April 2017)

LEGO Serious Play

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metaphors), which in turn usually has a positive impact on communication efficiency and team culture.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description LEGO Serious Play is a moderated process that combines the advantages of hand-brain coordination with Lego bricks and specific challenges and themes from the business world in a playful format. Serious Play is typically used in companies and teams. Through its open and active format, it promotes the development of creativity as well as new ideas and approaches to solutions. In addition, it improves communication and thus accelerates possible solutions to problems, especially in the area of process innovations. The latter characteristic in particular makes Serious Play suitable not only for strategic development projects, but also in a change or team-building context. Essentially, the following aspects can be identified as clear advantages that arise in the course of Serious Play workshops: 1. Promotes serious play creativity and innovation through the interaction of head and hands. 2. Significantly improves the interaction and communication skills of participants in a group and one-toone, since the technique of story-telling to build solution models is an elementary component of the method. 3. Incorporates the knowledge and experience of all workshop participants and brings them together in a format designed for appreciation and shared success. 4. Creates a common understanding among all participants of a workshop (and in relation to specific

Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates early prototypes Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Warm-up Introduce the participants to building by a simple challenge like: “Build the highest possible tower with the existing bricks (all have the same, limited selection of bricks in this phase). After five minutes, explain why your tower is the best and most special.” Step 2: Shortage of time to generate solution pressure. Step 3: Presentation of the models, story-telling and obtaining feedback. Step 4: Warm-up II Building according to plan in a given time. Subsequent modification of the construction result (for example, a turtle becomes an innovative company). Step 5: Presentation of the models, story-telling and obtaining feedback. Step 6: Building individual models to solve a given challenge. The challenge has to be formulated in superlative terms by the moderator (“Build the world’s best restaurant”) in order to actually yield the optimum results. Further intermediate challenges (often Disruptive Influences) during the construction phase encourage participants to optimize their models (for example, because the market now only requires delivery services). Step 7: Presentation of the models, story-telling and obtaining feedback. Step 8: Merging the individual models into an overall model that integrates at least one construction aspect from each and in which not a single component is rejected by one of the participants. The focus here is on strong consensus. This step can take a long time and challenge the participants with multiple rounds of feedback and explanation. At this point the moderator is particularly in demand.

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LEGO Serious Play

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Tool: Lego Serious Play Sets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Bottlenecks points in the process There are two bottlenecks points in the Lego Serious Play process. The first is workshop participants’ fear of playing with the Lego bricks. This is especially true for people who value their image highly and see it threatened when they indulge in play. However, this phase is relatively easy to bypass and usually disappears after a time. The second point is the subsequent merging of the individual models to form an overall model. Especially once the air has gone out of the participants’ willingness to perform, they often take too little time for this step and half-heartedly approach the overall model topic. It is important to clearly articulate the importance of this phase beforehand and to maintain tension.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

Campfire

Innovation phase P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The Campfire technique is based on the fact that people like to hear and tell stories. Often, however, participants in innovation workshops find it difficult to tell inspiring stories about their ideas and listen to others as they go about their work. Our everyday office life is characterized by presentations that try to convince with figures, data and facts. With a little practise, however, everyone manages to depart from this mode and become a story-teller. Up to 20 participants need 30 to 45 minutes for this method. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates more agility in the team Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Think of ten to 20 words or phrases that could be a good hook for a story. They should be positive or neutral things, such as partnership, business trip, opportunity … Write the words or phrases on one Post-it at a time. Step 2: Hang the notes on the wall or pinboard so that all participants can see them. Introduction: This is a “work Campfire” where participants tell stories to train their story-telling skills. Give participants three minutes to look at the notes in peace and think about a story that has to do with a word on the stickers. Start by taking the first piece of paper and telling a short introductory story. Step 3: Ask a volunteer to continue by taking another piece of paper and adding their own part of the story. Be-

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fore participants begin, they should read their word/sentence aloud. Step 4: The other participants listen carefully and write a sentence from the story on a sticky note that reminds them of a situation in their working life. Step 5: Once the story is told, the next participant can take either their own note or one from the wall of words to continue the story. Step 6: This goes on until the participants have created a narrative thread that hangs like a snake on the wall. This is the archive of Campfire stories. Step 7: Finally, ask the participants for new insights and experiences from the story. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: post-its Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Good for Co-creation Workshops The Campfire can also be used very successfully as an opener in Co-creation Workshops where participants are completely unknown to each other.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Book – Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence, Rethinking Theory (Dezember 1995)

Long-term Forecasting

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Long-term Forecasting is a creative method. Its is to develop future scenarios. By applying the method it is easier to understand user behavior and thus to develop solutions that deviate from the usual ideas. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling A team develops visions for the future over a period of ten years or more. These projections are based on current technical and social trends. The focus here is on the extent to which these trends can have an impact on social behavior and the handling of services, products or the environment. The team should be made up of people who are particularly well-versed in the relevant area, as well as those who had or have no points of contact with the area. On one hand, this results in very detailed and subject-specific views and approaches to solutions. On the other, there are also the “stupid” questions of people unfamiliar with the subject, and desires, which are so important for the development of new things and which someone who is deeply involved in the area might never come up with. In this way, problem areas and alternative solutions that have not yet been taken into account in development become clear relatively quickly. In the round, all team members are asked for opinions and assessments on a specific topic/question. Each

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member is asked to record a future scenario based on their own level of knowledge and assessment up to a jointly-defined time window (for example, “in 30 years”). The results are then made available to everyone and discussed with each other. Ideally, there will be one or more short inspirational lectures at the start or during the workshop, in which the relevant topic will be viewed from an unusual or different perspective. The outcome of the workshop should be a vision of the future; a symbiosis of the different outcomes agreed upon by the participants. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents unreflected action – Promotes the agility of the participants – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboards Technique: Internet access People: moderator/trainer Tool: trend databases

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Long-term Forecasting

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Solutions can be spun out Through the use of imagination, more concrete approaches and ideas emerge than one might think possible at the beginning.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013) Web – https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Langzeitprognose (April 2017)

Lateral Map

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Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Use the incredible potential of lateral thinking as described by Edward de Bono in his “Bible”, Serious Creativity, with the Lateral Map. The Lateral Map (an A3-sized worksheet) shows you one of the innumerable approaches to lateral thinking in specific terms – it’s about pattern change by chance. The Lateral Map can be used immediately and without training, and it makes people curious about more lateral thinking. The Lateral Map promotes your creative development process and with prolonged application, eliminates beliefs such as “I am not creative.” Lateral Map worksheet The worksheet is divided into three sections: – Lateral zone: random terms are created as lateral jump points. – Association zone: random concepts are created associatively. – Idea zone: where lateral thinking takes place.

Handling Step 1: Use a large A3 sheet on which you trace the Lateral Map as shown in the illustration. Enter your problem or challenge into the cloud in the middle of the leaf. “No idea without a problem” is a fundamental tenet of Brainstorming. Simply write your problem as a normal sentence in the cloud. In our example, the problem is: “How can we make our stand more attractive?” Tip! If you have used the Lateral Map a few times, you can sketch it yourself on any blank sheet of paper. Step 2 Write a random term in each of the four circles of the lateral zone. You should spontaneously come up with four independent terms. Step 3: Now take one after the other of the four terms and fill in the association zone for each of them. Try to quickly find four to eight associated words for each term in the circles. Now write all terms on the respective colored branch, which spontaneously occur to you. In our example of the word “vermin,” these are: – insects – spiders – pest controllers – poison – grilled locusts Hint! You are welcome to find more terms than the five mentioned here. If you run out of space, simply draw a large Lateral Map or print our worksheet in A3 size. Step 4: Now it’s off to the Idea zone. For all the terms on the sheet, answer questions such as: “What does the term have to do with my problem?” or “How can the term be associated with my problem?” Importantt! Please make sure you write down every answer. Especially note “bizarre” ideas and answers. Explanation: What is totally crazy is that our brain is always able to find an answer, even if the terms apparently are not connected in any way! Remarkable! In addition to ideas that are close to reality, as in our example: “Walls with ropes that look like spider’s webs”, bizarre ideas in particular seem to have all the answers.

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Lateral Map

These ideas are also called “basic ideas”. An example would be a “preliminary idea” such as: “Spiders are running around our trade fair stand.” Only if we dare to accept these ideas, just write them down and not evaluate them, do they unfold their potential – see the diagram. Important: The Lateral Map is only used to find ideas, not to evaluate them. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low

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Complexity for the participants: mainly low Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Collect Lateral Maps If you use Lateral Maps over a longer period to find ideas, and keep them, you will learn many exciting things about your own thinking if you look at the Maps again after some time has passed.

Identified sources of the method Organization – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Lateral Thinking – Thinking Outside the Box

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Once you have understood that being outstandingly creative is not always innate, but can be learned by everyone, you are well on your way to achieving an advantage not only by integrating creative techniques into your daily work, but also in terms of increasing your competitiveness. The development of new ideas through the power of Lateral Thinking appeals especially to managers who want to advance their company through the development of brand new concepts. Edward de Bono is regarded as the inventor of the concept of Lateral Thinking. The basis of this method is “sideways” thinking, deviating from traditional patterns of thinking. De Bono describes his idea of Lateral Thinking in a visual sentence: “As long as you dig an existing hole deeper, you can’t dig a second hole at another location.” According to de Bono (1967), Lateral Thinking (in contrast to vertical (logical) thinking) means consciously “thinking around the corner”, being “illogical” and unconventional. “This way of thinking, I call lateral thinking: the ability to break out of the prison of old ideas and develop new ones.” Most intelligent people don’t think as well as they believe they do. Instead of finding the best possible solutions, many of us think in familiar terms. Four principles guide Lateral Thinking: 1. Recognition of dominant ideas and accustomed ways of thinking. 2. Looking for other ways to look at things. 3. Relaxation of the strict control (inner censor) exercised by rational–logical (vertical) thinking 4. Conscious use of chance. In logical thinking every step of thinking must be correct; this is not so in lateral thinking. According to Edward de Bono it is important to delay and postpone judg-

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ments with Lateral Thinking, to allow information to interact anew and thus to create a free space for new ideas. Therefore, his method uses information provocatively, restructures patterns intuitively, and questions generally accepted concepts. For de Bono, the restructuring of thought patterns is necessary in order to make more effective use of existing information. We tend to break down unfamiliar situations into familiar elements. “It is disturbing to imagine how many situations are inadequately understood because the attempt to explain them is exhausted in the use of familiar patterns.” While vertical (logical) thinking presents successive logical steps, lateral thinking increases its effectiveness by showing alternative starting points. The two thinking styles are therefore not at all mutually exclusive. De Bono describes these styles as follows: “Vertical thinking drives forward the ideas that lateral thinking has produced. You don’t dig a second hole if you deepen an existing one. Lateral thinking is used to dig a hole somewhere else.” Lateral Thinking changes patterns, creates a new arrangement of information. You do not look for the correct answer, but for another arrangement of the information. De Bono recommends various techniques for overcoming dominant approaches: Reversing the focus. Using visual thinking. Breaking down a problem into ever smaller units in order to try a new composition. Intentional reversal of relationships. Analogy, transfer of relationships in one situation to another, to create easier to handle situation. Shifting attention from obvious to less significant aspects. The following overview shows a typology of vertical (logical) thinking and lateral thinking: Vertical thinking: – selective – only starts moving if there is a direction into which it can move – analytical – every single step must be right – logical – everything irrelevant is excluded – categories, classifications and identification marks are defined – takes the most probable and successful path

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Lateral Thinking – Thinking Outside the Box

Lateral thinking: – generative – sets itself in motion to find a direction – provocative – not every step has to be right – erratic – every random thought is welcomed – no specifications – explores unlikely paths

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Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Recommended resources No special resources required

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

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Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Application to all life situations

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium

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Lateral thinking is not only the ultimate way of thinking to find new ideas, it also helps at many other times to gain a broader understanding of situations and problems and to bring them to positive solutions or decisions.

Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

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Onomatopoeia

Step 4: The concrete collection of ideas remains on the pinboard and can be used in the following days to deepen and optimize the solution approaches.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Onomatopoeia is a Brainfloating technique (after Harald Braem) that works primarily with language play and the use of voice. A problem is pronounced or presented in a variety of ways. Language and sound changes trigger ideas and associations that can lead to surprising solutions. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: A recording device is provided to apply this creativity technique. The task and the associated product names or slogans are recorded and changed linguistically or acoustically. It is important that the participants overcome their shyness, let their imagination run free and let themselves go. Letters or word units can be swapped as well as rhymes, dialects, melodies, noises or altered tone sequences, rhythms and speeds. All onomatopoeic ideas are allowed and recorded. Step 2: Pens and paper are prepared for the next step. The recordings from Step 1 are listened to and evaluated by the participants. Striking words, ambiguous terms or other peculiarities are noted and collected on a pinboard. In this way, a visual list is created in addition to the auditory collection of ideas. Step 3: The visual word/image collection is now organized and provided with headings or keywords. The participants try to establish connections until solutions and ideas for the task arise.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: paper People: multidisciplinary team Room: sufficiently large room Room: creative and inspiring workspace Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Room: table tops Technique: recording device Technology: PC or notebook

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Onomatopoeia

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Interfering noises In order to limit disturbing noises from the group and to be able to concentrate on listening, the use of headphones may be suitable.

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Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.creapedia.com/w/index.php5/Lautmalerei (April 2017) Web – http://www.kreatives-management-hamburg.de/ 2-uncategorised/24-prozessbezogene-kreativitaetstechniken-von-i-l.html (April 2017)

LavaLamping

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is also important. Little by little, all the information is supplemented by an extensive description of an idea. LavaLamping requires very concentrated moderation and it is important to allow feelings and opinions of participants to be expressed, but not to lose sight of the objective evaluation.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description LavaLamping is a partial step in the process of condensing ideas within a creative process. The technique serves to critically question previously favored ideas, to re-examine forgotten ideas and to create new combinations from existing ideas. The term “LavaLamping” was coined by Nadja Schnetzler as part of her “idea machine”. The concept behind the expression comes from the assumption that some ideas rise like bubbles in this phase of an innovation process, others sink, divide, connect and create something new. The result is a combination of ideas that have not been discussed before and which may have potential for an outstanding solution. The aim of a LavaLamping is to identify about ten to 20 ideas in one to six hours (depending on the complexity of the project) that have great potential for realization. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling All ideas that have been classified as usable in the previous creative process are listed and sorted according to the previous ratings. Each participant is given the ranking and description of the ideas. In a wide-ranging discussion, pros and cons per idea are collected and possible combinations are discussed. Discussion, exchange of rationales and submission of combination proposals are expressly welcome. This phase serves to “refine” an idea. Experts are interviewed and different points of view are collected. Information about experiences in previous or similar projects

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Up and down It is normal for ideas to be discarded during LavaLamping and later retrieved. So it can happen that an unpopular idea gains popularity and is later dropped again due to the intensive discussion.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Die Ideenmaschine, N. Schnetzler (Wiley-VCH Verlag – August 2006)

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Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

Lead-user Method

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The Lead-user Method serves to actively involve product users in the innovation process. As part of the Open Innovation principle, users are selected to develop their own solutions to their problems. Lead users are individuals or companies that lead trends and, on their own initiative, anticipate the needs of the broader population. They are extremely interested in achieving high levels of benefit through solutions to their needs. Lead users are integrated into the innovation process in order to further develop existing products and identify trends at an early stage. In a conception phase, which takes place with representatives of the manufacturer and selected lead users, improvements, alternatives or extensions for existing solutions are developed. The lead users contribute their own ideas and already developed solutions. Following the conception phase, the results are transferred to a broader market. The Lead-user Method follows the Open Innovation approach, which involves customers and users in the innovation process. The providers and users jointly develop the new solutions in a cooperative process. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling Step 1: Planning and establishment of the Lead-user Process Possible questions: “What does the team look like?”, “What milestones does the project have?”, “What are the goals?”, “How should the lead users be integrated?” Step 2: Identification of needs and trends This step should involve potential lead users as well as other sources (e. g. qualitative market research). Step 3: Finding and recruiting lead users For the selection of suitable customers and users, close involvement of the sales department is the best option. In addition, searches (online, onsite) should be conducted to find individuals who have become known on the relevant topic with articles, other publications or comments. Step 4: Workshops or similar events to develop new solutions together with the lead users. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day)

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Lead-user Method

Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room People: multidisciplinary team Finances: implementation budget Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Disadvantage Trends may only take place within niche markets or individual customer groups and may not be suitable for the mass market. – Advantages Most importantly in the early recognition of customer needs that cannot be found through classic market research, and the development of innovative solutions that pick up on trends in good time.

Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement, T. Müller-Prothmann, N. Dörr (Carl Hanser Verlag – April 2014) Book – Prosumption – ein neues Konzept. Zwischen Markt und Ökologie, T. Szymusiak (Sustainability Solutions)

Lean Startup

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The Lean Startup concept describes a very efficient way to lead an idea, especially a startup, to success. The concept was co-developed by Eric Ries, who summarized his findings from his own successful companies. It is about starting a successful company or product launch with as little capital and as few processes as possible. Instead of a big concept, the goal is to bring a prototype or beta version to market as quickly as possible. In addition, the product cycle should be kept as short as possible so that customer feedback can be used to react quickly to requests or changes. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates early prototypes Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs

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Handling Lean Startup describes a learning process as a cycle in three steps: Step 1: Build (Create) Based on an initial idea, a so-called MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is created. This form of prototype has all the characteristics that are necessary to make the core idea tangible. No other properties are used. If customer feedback is later required for further properties, they are incorporated in the next prototype. It is important that the term “prototype” is understood as a simple test balloon and not as a sophisticated technical prototype as is commonly (and expensively) created in engineering. Step 2: Measure (Evaluate) In this phase, closely monitor how customers react to the prototypes and what feedback they give on them. All feedback and findings are evaluated in the next step and serve to improve the next prototype. Step 3: Learn (Understand) The most important finding in this phase is whether a fundamental change of direction is necessary or whether the existing concept should be further refined. All changes to the prototype result from the experience gained in Step 2. In the next step, a new prototype is developed and will go through Steps 1 to 3 again. It is important to go through the steps quickly in order not to remain in a concept state for too long. In special Lean Startup workshops the individual steps are often run through several times per day. Agility of participants is also a necessity for success here. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens living in the past – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

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Lean Startup

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Customer feedback It has proven useful to focus on observing and evaluating customer behavior, provided the concept allows this. In contrast to surveys, it is possible here to identify customer needs that they may not yet be able to formulate themselves (example: iPhone).

Identified sources of the method Book – Innerinnovation, B. Buck, U. Buck (LiteraturVSM – September 2014) Web – http://theleanstartup.com (April 2017)

Leading Question Synthesis

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The definition of the Leading (initial) Question is a central element in idea generation and, of course, especially in Design Thinking. If assignments or questions are too focused, the team becomes too restricted right at the beginning of the creative process. This makes the famous “look outside the box” technique very difficult. Of course, a search area that is too broad or a target that is too diffuse is also problematic. So that teams do not limit themselves or lose themselves immediately at the start of the idea process, the Leading Question Synthesis method can be used. The framework parameters are: – Do not specify a solution: The client should not specify a solution (solution request), the team should find the solutions. – Inspiration and emotion: An inspiring question also increases the emotional connection to the topic. – Set a direction: direction, don’t pretend to be the solution. This can, for example, be derived from corporate strategy. – Ask the right questions: The creation and use of a small question template supports goal-oriented discussion and development of initial questions. Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation

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Handling Step 1: Work out the possible project question with your client and discuss the background to their request. Step 2: If necessary, create and use a template to structure the question already being discussed with the client. A. “How could the object (service, product or business model, including property) be improved/changed etc.?” B. “How could XYZ (the target group of the result – not the client) reach this or that?” C. “How could you change the framework parameters/ problems (points that can influence the object) in this or that direction?” “How could you change the framework parameters/problems (points that can influence the object) in this or that direction?” Step 3: Perform iteration loops with the questions within the company and with the client. Therefore question them and revise them if necessary. Step 4: Always compare your findings with your question and formulate a “good question” as an introduction to the idea process. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Leading Question Synthesis

Recommended resources People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: notebook Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer

Experiences Good ideas always come from good questions!

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Defining questions is an art Formulating the right question is an art and really takes time. Don’t be frustrated if the process seems a bit cumbersome or slow, and keep motivating your team to keep grinding through variations of questions. Our experience shows that the effort in finding the question is reflected in the level of success of the process result. Even if the question is not well thought out, you may generate good ideas for a problem you may not have.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Letter to Grandma Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Innovation phase P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Letter to Grandma is a method that plays with the deliberate simplification of explanations of products or offers in the context of innovation projects. The participants are called upon to explain a product as simply as possible so that “Grandma herself would understand it”. In addition, the method creates pressure on the user to eliminate technical terms unintelligible to the customer, foreign words and unnecessarily technical language. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling To carry out the method, participant(s) will be asked to write a letter to a fictitious grandmother. This letter describes and explains a specific product or service that is currently under development. On one hand, it should be as promotional as possible with an explanation of the benefits and core functionalities, and on the other, as simple as possible and without unnecessary complication. The technique is ideally suited to clearly identifying and sharpening your own explanatory competence and the core of the offer (value preposition). It is very good preparation for pitches and other presentations that require general clarity.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Experiences – A real grandparent makes a difference It has proven extremely helpful to later hand over the fictitious Letter to Grandma to a real senior citizen and have it translated. In most cases there is much more potential for simplification from the emerging discussion.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.magazin-restkultur.de/design-undmuell-vom-anfang-und-ende-eines-prozesses/2/ (April 2017) Web – https://thinking-design.de/postkarte-an-oma/ (April 2017)

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents misinterpretations

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Lexicon Method

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Lexicon Method can be understood as an extension of (or being used in combination with) the Catalog Method (as well as with some other Ideafinding methods). Various scenarios are conceivable when using this method. The selection of terms from any encyclopedia, which are used as associations, inspiration or reflections on the set question or challenge, can be made either completely randomly or with obvious connections to the task. No matter which variant is chosen for the workshop, it is now (as always) a matter of creating many ideas and mentally immersing yourself in the connections in order to find and illuminate all aspects of the challenge. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The Lexicon Method is best practiced (following Mencke) as follows: Step 1: A random word is selected from any page of the lexicon and the corresponding definition is made available to all participants. Step 2: The individual elements of the explanation of the random word, e. g. structures, properties and processes, are then transferred to the original question or challenge, which ideally reboots the flow of ideas or sets it in motion – usually in the form of associations.

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Advantages: – helps enormously with well-established Idea finding processes – unlocks fixed patterns and trains of thought Disadvantages: – rather hard to get used to in the application and therefore difficult for Idea-finding newcomers Practical example (Menke): Question: Introduce a technical product for a different cultural group Encyclopedia term: Bat Example questions: – How must the operating elements be labelled? – What do they eat there? – Do people tend to work during the day or at night? – Does the device have to automatically detect the brightness of the surroundings and adjust the intensity of the lighting? Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Technology: PC or notebook

Lexicon Method

Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Adhere to the principle of chance

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Identified sources of the method Book – 99 Tipps für Kreativitätstechniken, M. Mencke (Cornelsen Scriptor – April 2006) Book – KreativIdeenFindeMethoden, Querdenken für Projektleiter, D. Prudix (Books on Demand 2013)

Participants often browse through a lexicon and search for terms. This should be prevented and every choice should be random.

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Lightless Creativity The Lightless Creativity concept offers seminars with two different angles. Type “M” focuses on method competence and method training. The participants should primarily learn and master new methods and techniques quickly, efficiently and intensively and should also be able to pass them on to colleagues within the company. With type “I”, the focus of the seminar is on finding ideas for your concrete challenges and problems. The teams bring their current challenges, as yet unsolved, to the seminar.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Lightless Creativity is a creativity and innovation workshop in 100 percent lightless training rooms. Innovation coaching in complete darkness offers a team decisive advantages: – More sustainable gains through deeper, more intensive learning. – Cost savings through faster learning: “One day of training in the dark is like three days of training in the light.” – Special team building, which develops your group further. – An unforgettable experience that will be talked about for a long time. Being creative under time pressure or on command often turns out to be difficult or impossible. Darkness provides an effective environment for Brainstorming and developing new ideas. The elimination of visual distractions stimulates the imagination and enables a free flow of ideas – it leads to concentration on the essentials and supports quick solution-finding. Lightless Creativity projects are characterized by high quality standards and are offered by Atelier für Ideen AG. In this very special environment of complete darkness, groups are always accompanied by two trainers, consisting of an innovation coach and another blind trainer. The blind trainers are qualified psychologists and can see, perceive and mirror many “invisible” details. Individual tailoring of seminars to your particular challenge is also part of the concept offered. To ensure all participants can fully enter into the new situation, Atelier für Ideen AG takes care of the complete documentation of the Brainstorming session and all training observations.

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Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Tames a disturbing group clown – Weakens the inner censor – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Turbo-charged team building After just a few minutes in absolute darkness, an exciting teambuilding effect sets in. The participants ask each other for help every second. The terms “request”, “help” and “sorry” become core words of communication. After an hour in the darkness, participants feel as if they have known each other well for many years.

Identified sources of the method Organization – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze

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Praise Cards

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Praise has a lot to do with appreciation. Appreciation for someone who has developed an idea or achieved something noteworthy. If truly-felt praise is communicated in a genuine manner, it increases the feel-good factor, the self-esteem and ultimately the intrinsic motivation (and, at best, individual performance) of the person praised. Praise can be expressed in many different ways: verbally, through appreciative gestures – or through Praise Cards. On these, which at first glance look like business cards, is printed clearly defined praise (for example, “Great Idea!”, “Fantastic!” or “First Class”). There is also an empty space in which to write the sender, addressee and reason for praise. They can be quickly filled out and provide a visible and touchable proof of strong performance. For some, the cards have the status of a small trophy. They require little effort but generate significant and sustainable results.

Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Handling An employee, Mr. Müller, has done a good job and developed a great idea. His boss, Ds. Meier, would like to praise him for this. She selects one of the pre-printed Praise Cards and enters her own name under the praise phrase. On the front of the card appears, for example: “Chapeau. Praise from: Dr. Marianne Meier.” On the reverse side, for example, she enters in the space available for this purpose: “That was a great advertising idea – well done, Mr. Müller!” The lines below round off the Praise Card: “Good people should be praised! You have just received heartfelt praise out of genuine conviction. Please consider it a lasting personal tribute.” Dr. Meier now places the card in a clearly visible position on Mr. Müller’s desk, who will probably be very happy next morning and start the day with a lot of positivity and energy. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes appreciation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets

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Praise Cards

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

Experiences – Praise for small things Praise should not only be given after great successes. It should be given in everyday life – praise should be part of every corporate culture. Quietly use the cards at times of small successes as well.

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Lottery Method

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Lottery Method is a creative technique in which the participants draw lots with concepts that are unexpected and far removed from the actual topic of the given challenge. Participants should empathize with and immerse themselves in these concepts. When developing new product ideas, it makes sense to approach them from different thematic angles during the Brainstorming process: for example, through the development of personas and target groups, the collection of characteristics or the creation of emotional values that are to define the later product. Especially in this initial phase of idea generation, “spinning” and “thinking around the corner” are important in order to generate as many aspects of the idea as possible: the Lottery Method offers a good opportunity for using these tactics. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Sequence of the method: Step 1: Each participant draws a ticket from a pool of prepared tickets, on each of which is written a subject area. Example: music, fruit, attitude to life, sport and so on.

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Step 2: The individual participant now asks themselves the question: “What would I be like if I were …?” and inserts the subject area drawn into the question. Step 3: As an answer to the question, each participant collects all the characteristics that occur to them on their subject area and writes them on one card each. Example: “What would I be like if I were music?” Answer: “Quiet, harmonious, dynamic, bright, friendly, yellow, soft, entertaining.” Step 4: The participants join together in groups (maximum five people per group). Each group draws a further lot, on which, matching the searched product, are written occasions, target groups, seasons and so on. Step 5: The group now projects this additional stimulus word onto each property set of the preliminary round. Example: You are looking for a new snack. The properties from Step 1 are: “Quiet, harmonious, dynamic” and are assigned to “athletes”. The task of developing ideas for a new snack can now be formulated in a more targeted way by including certain characteristics of the target group. Step 6: Since all participants within a group have worked out different characteristics from the same “denominator”, a broad inspirational basis is created for shared Brainstorming and thus great potential for a new product idea arises. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

Lottery Method – –

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: table tops Moderation: post-its Room: small tables Room: chairs Tool: Prepared lots Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Inspiration, when nothing works anymore Especially useful in situations where you are left with blank faces. When workshop participants can’t think of anything anymore, the Lottery Method works wonders.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info/methoden/reizwortmethode (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterales_Denken (April 2017)

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Lotus Blossom Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Lotus Blossom is a diagram-based creativity technique in which sub-themes of a challenge can always form new “petals” of the original around the core question. The diagram was developed by the Yasuo Matsumara. Lotus Blossom helps you to gain new perspectives for all individual aspects of a challenge and to further develop associations with them in growing circles – like petals, as in the diagram. The central challenge is written in the middle field. Immediately around it are eight fields, which are marked with the letters A to H. The letters are used to describe the fields. Sub-topics are written in these fields, which are systematically added to with further sub-topics, ideas and associations in the unfolding petals of the outer part of the diagram. This diagram can be drawn further outwards in the same manner – if an associated sub-theme appears so valuable that it should be further developed, the Lotus Blossom gains another petal, i. e. another diagram field. For example, we often look at an organization from a limited perspective. Like the frog in the fable that only knows its own well, until the turtle tells him about the vastness of the ocean. This is how Lotus Blossom helps us achieve 360-degree perception. The diagram opens up our perspective – away from flash photography of a single problem, towards a wide perspective of inter-relationships and connections of individual components. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration

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Handling Step 1: Draw the Lotus Blossom diagram on an A3 sheet or flipchart or brown paper. Write the core question in the center. Step 2: Write the most important components or subtopics in the surrounding fields with the letters A to H. The ideal number of manageable sub-topics is six to eight. If you have more, create another new diagram. To decide which sub-topics you should work with, ask yourself questions such as: “What are my main goals?”, “What problems are unsolved?”, “If my challenge were a book, what would the chapters be called?” Step 3: Transfer the sub-topics to the boxes with the same letters in the margin of the diagram. They now become the starting points for eight new ideas, associations or applications. Step 4: Continue the process by extending the diagram outwards. Interesting terms in the fields of individual petals become new starting points until topics, ideas and solutions are exhausted. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use

Lotus Blossom – – – – –

Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Tool: clipboards Room: flipchart Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Using large drawing areas Large pieces of paper are needed to allow the petals to keep multiplying outwards. You can therefore work more quickly on the floor rather than standing at a flipchart or a table. You can glue sheets of paper or flipchart sheets together to make new creative space for the Lotus Blossom diagram.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://thoughtegg.com/lotus-blossom-creativetechnique/ (April 2017) Web – http://www.innovationmanagement.se/imtool-articles/creative-thinking-technique-lotus-blossom/ (April 2017) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Low-tech Social Network school together” or “was mountaineering with”. Give this process some time. Step 5: As the event progresses, attendees can browse the network and add newly-discovered connections. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Promotes appreciation – Strengthens confidence in the team

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description It is important for a team to be able to work quickly during an innovation process. In particular, when teams come together for the first time, it helps at the beginning to use methods that strengthen personal acquaintance and trust within the group. The Low-tech Social Network does exactly this and reveals the already existing network between the participants. The technique also works well because the title is reminiscent of well-known social networks like Facebook and so on. It usually lasts no longer than 25 minutes and is a lot of fun for the participants. Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Preparation: Post-i’s in A5 format, markers/pencils and a wall covered with paper are required. Step 1: Give the clear instruction to participants: “We will now represent the social network that already exists in this room. We’ll do that on the wall here. But first we have to create the basic elements of the network by drawing each avatar (profile picture) you want to upload to the network. The name underneath should be your own name.” Step 2: After all participants have created their profile, ask the players to add two more “tags” that say something about why they are attending the event. Step 3: Participants are asked to “upload” their profile by placing their cards on the wrapping paper wall. Step 4: Next, everyone looks for the profiles of the people they know and draws lines with a thick pencil to make the visual connections. The lines should be labelled with information such as “friends”, “went to 664

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity

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Low-tech Social Network

Experiences – Idea: Print pictures in advance Profile pictures of participants can also be pre-printed so that they can be more easily recognized. However, this requires quite a lot of effort or the provision of all images in advance.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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MSI – Multisensory Idea Development Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The MSI principle represents the importance of sensory stimulation in the development of new ideas and the way in which they are integrated into processes in organizations. Discoveries in neuroscience show that brain activity and the ability to develop ideas depend on the intensity and content of individual sensory stimuli. If these are too weak, the brain tries to save energy by responding to stimuli with routine responses. One of the reasons for this is that less than 0.01 percent of the brain’s absorption capacity is available for conscious thinking and the development of ideas. Thus almost all sensory stimuli are directed into subconscious thinking and processed there. The result: Most everyday tasks are solved subconsciously by reinforced patterns. From brushing teeth to driving a car, the brain prefers to work without conscious thinking. Only in situations the brain considers particularly important does it use consciousness to find a solution. It is at this moment that ideas arise. The usual behavior of the brain of responding to requests with patterned reactions makes it very difficult to find fresh ideas or alternative solutions in the normal working environment and in repetitive processes. Only by changing xternal conditions and perception can the brain be animated to activate conscious thinking. If one follows the argument formulated in the MSI principle, the quality of sensory stimuli is the essential key to increasing the production of ideas. The terms “MSI” and “Multisensory Idea Development” and their definitions were coined by Sabine and Jørn Rings of the company NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH. 666

Handling When using MSI, it is particularly important to address different senses and, above all, touch. In the course of digitalization, fewer and fewer different senses are being addressed in everyday working life. Nowadays, communication increasingly takes place via the eyes (screens) and less via the ears (voice, music), touch (handshake, pencil, paper), smell (human proximity) or taste. Since touch, which includes temperature, balance and pain, covers the largest brain area of all senses, it can be used specifically to intensify the development of ideas with MSI methods. Multisensory tools such as special creativity rooms with flexible seating and working options help with this method. Moving around using pen and paper also stimulate thinking more than many assume. Essentially, any unusual stimulation of the senses is helpful in stimulating the development of ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

MSI – Multisensory Idea Development – – – – – –

Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required

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Experiences – Thinking when walking A simple and very efficient method to stimulate thinking is walking and talking. Even when using MSI creativity rooms, it is worth regularly going out into the fresh air and thinking about solutions there. Movement and changing environment are good MSI levers.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

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Making, Redoing and Undoing

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Ideas and approaches should be regularly reconsidered and critically questioned. This method helps to check individual steps, especially when developing processes or software. Making, Redoing and Undoing (the original method is called Do, Redo and Undo, which describes the individual options a little more clearly) is based on the idea that each problem can be approached in three different ways. Do (Do) gives you the option to directly redesign the step to be taken so that the problem no longer occurs. Doing (Redo), retains the first step, extends it or changes it in such a way that you acquire an alternative, in order to further address a problem. Undoing (Undo) does not change anything in the actual step, but presents the option of undoing this step. Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing weaknesses Handling First of all, it is important that you have already developed a rough or even specific process or software concept. Best Case Scenario Give the team enough time to deal with the process, the application or the idea. Once this has happened, partici668

pants should Brainstorm about which errors/problems could occur or are most likely to occur. You can and should also ask other provocative questions, for example: “What would happen if ten chimpanzees were to work with it?” or “What would happen if the product crashed or the power went out?” There will be some logical and also initially absurd approaches. This list is then the template for the second step, the worst case scenario. Worst Case Scenario Examine the points collected to see whether one of the three options solves or minimizes the problem. 1. Do: The optimal solution would be to find a way to redesign the process/application so that the problem does not occur in the first place. 2. Redo: If the path/method cannot be changed directly, team members examine whether at least one alternative action can be built in, in order to avoid the problem in that individual case. 3. Undo: If an alternative cannot be found, the possibility of undoing the problem could also be considered. All possible solutions generated should be documented and repeatedly compared with the best case scenario. Impact on obstacle effects – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Making, Redoing and Undoing

Recommended resources Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: post-its Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Room: pinboards Room: pinboard as topic memory

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Experiences – Encouragement to think of the overall context Lead the team in such a way that it always keeps an eye on the entire process, context, etc. when looking for solutions. Sometimes the problem can be solved in a completely different place or at a different time. Let’s assume that, in the case of software, it turns out that despite multiple warnings directly in the text field, users always make inadmissible entries such as names for what is actually anonymous information. One solution could be to clearly indicate when saving that care should be taken not to enter personal data such as names.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://gamestorming.com/games-for-design/doredo-undo/ (April 2017)

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Magic Nails – –

Who thinks there is a solution and why? … and so on.

Altogether the teams should be led on the following path of action: – Collecting all information about the problem. – Developing and sketching initial ideas. – Enriching and combining previous ideas

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description New perspectives! Impossible? Rethink! This creative puzzle confronts your team with an almost unsolvable task – but wait and see how your team grows and learns from it. “This task is impossible!” Participants will often react with this or something similar when you put them to the test. And it’s no wonder. Just imagine the following: 17 of a total of 18 nails are to be balanced on the remaining nail so that none of them touches the ground. This is an ideal metaphor for working with groups who find themselves confronted with seemingly hopeless situations in a real work environments and need to develop creative solutions and new approaches as a team. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The trainer puts the pedestal on the table. While placing the work order, they pushes the first nail with the tip downwards into the holder. Participants are then given time to discuss the problem and develop the solution. While the group tries to work out a solution, the trainer intervenes again and again and raises important reflection periods with the participants. Possible reflection questions: – How does the task appear to us and what behavior does this trigger in us? – How have we proceeded in the first five minutes and are there alternative better practises? – Which different types of people were visible and how is each type perceived? – Who thinks there is no solution and why? 670

With this action path the solution to the tasks becomes quite probable in a period of 15 to 45 minutes, and participants can transfer the action path and all other findings directly to their innovation projects. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Tool: the game Magic Nails from Metalog Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination

Magic Nails

Experiences – Classify observers

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – METALOG® training tools OHG – Olching

If there are participants in the team who already know the Magic Nails technique and thus the solution to the riddle, divide them into silent observers who make their comments from outside during intervention and reflection stages.

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Sketch the Problem Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Sharpens common direction

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description Sketch the Problem is mainly a warm-up exercise, which produces a first, simplified definition of the problem. In particular, it allows participants from a structured, numbers-oriented environment to enter the creative process more easily. It is not a question of intensively processing and recording the problem, but of a first approximation. This is a first step to unite the group members and make the problem understandable. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling Step 1: All participants receive a sheet of paper (A4 format) or a large moderation card. The moderator introduces the topic to the group. Step 2: Participants should now (on their own) think about the problem and create a list that can be used to explain and present it. Questions such as “Watch the problem for a whole day” can be helpful. Step 3: After a few minutes of writing time, participants are asked to turn over their paper and make a drawing of the problem as they would explain it to a colleague. This can be a simple diagram or a more complex picture. There will be no evaluation of artistic ability later, the drawing should only clarify the problem. Step 4: After everyone has finished, the pictures are hung on a wall and each participant explains what is meant by their drawing. Look for common elements and talk about differences and similarities.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Tool: DIN A4 sheet Tool: colored pencils Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination

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Sketch the Problem

Experiences – Dispel anxiety Many participants feel uncomfortable with the idea ofdrawing their ideas and presenting this drawing to their colleagues. They think, “I can’t do it.” The moderator can take away this fear by clearly explaining at the start that no brilliant artistic ability is expected, and that it is only a matter of a sketch. – Variant exhibition One variant is that participants do not describe their own pictures, but that first the group describes what the artist was probably thinking of in the sketch. Only after the other participants have described their impressions does the artist explain whether the interpretations were correct. This is even more fun and increases participants’ exchange of information.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Manual Thinking shops and its own Manual Thinking sticker sets for its customers.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Manual Thinking is a brand new tool for creative teamwork. It addresses and structures different forms of creativity, discovery, prioritization and organization in group dynamics processes. The tool promotes active and democratic teamwork and involves all participants in a joint work effort. Quiet and introverted employees in particular are effectively integrated. The technique uses foldable large-format cards (100 × 70 cm) and multiple removable stickers in various shapes, colors and sizes. The removable stickers greatly lower the initial inhibition threshold and encourage users to record and draw their ideas and contributions quickly, concisely and effectively. The evolutionary card process from the first draft to the final version, made possible by the removable stickers, is unique and fascinates all teams. The maps created with Manual Thinking speak a clear, understandable and very descriptive language. These maps, which can also be easily archived, quickly achieve significant results in any innovation project. A book on Manual Thinking was published in 2016. It contains step-by-step instructions for versatile use of the method. A large, foldable map and sticky notes of different sizes with which the participants can contribute their ideas are included in the book. The verrocchio Institute has adopted Manual Thinking as an integral part of its innovation training. In addition, the Institute offers individual consultations, work-

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Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates new knowledge and experience Creates visualized ideas, terms, themes Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more agility in the team Creates more background information

Manual Thinking

Creates more innovative organisations Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates plans and prioritizations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for agile teams – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Tool: specific worksheets Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Better quality produces better results We have noticed that the value of the cards and stickers in particular contributes to the level of focus and commitment of participants who work with the tool. Even when the results of their work are presented to colleagues, appreciation is much better with better quality cars and stickers.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Manual Thinking – Barcelona

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Marketplace

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description With the Marketplace method, organizations increase the speed of sluggish and otherwise complex decision-making processes. In addition, culture and intrapreneurship are strengthened and, if carried out regularly, a lasting affinity to calculable risk is fostered. The Marketplace method represents a simple solution for the acquisition of internal venture capital. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas plus initial funding and feasibility studies Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling To implement the method, a manageable number of decision-makers responsible for budgets are brought together at one table for a specific Marketplace meeting. Each participant receives a seat at the table if they provide at least sum X (e. g. £ 50,000) that can be freely invested on that day. In order to physically represent the available sum on the day, each participant is provided with commercially available roulette chips. The positive accompanying effect of this playful format is the development of an awareness (and appreciation) of available budget. In a first step, for example, five preselected ideas/ projects/prototypes from various internal sources of the company are presented by the moderator (pitches). An integral part of this is naming the total financing requirements, the minimum investment amount per investor,

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the share in the idea to be sold (shares) and other (financial) key figures to enable the participants to make an investment decision. On prepared boards with a number of slots corresponding to the number of ideas presented, decisionmakers can “set” their budgets after the pitches. When the required financing sum is collected, the project is launched. If it doesn’t come together, it’s rejected. Later economic successes of the idea on the market are redirected to the shares of the “shareholders” as they have bought “shares”. The method is a sensible series of crowdfinancing mechanisms (like kickstarts) and a classic roulette game, resulting in faster, more agile decisions and a lot of fun. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room Tool: coins or tokens People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards

Marketplace

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Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000)

Experiences – No preparation – no pitch decks for ideas

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

It is often asked whether it would not be possible to get advance information in order to prepare for the pitches and then make a decision with more background knowledge. However, this runs counter to the actual idea of a marketplace. The marketplace loses dynamism and pitches become obsolete. It is important here to underline the importance of intuition and venture capital.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – KOPFSPRINGER GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Action Plan –

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Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) Description With the help of an Action Plan, your team can decide in a more targeted way which activities have to be carried out when, in which order, with what effort, by whom, until when and under what conditions. In principle, only a simple table is created for the classic Action Plan, which clearly lists and organizes the planned activities. As a meaningful and very universal tool, it should also ensure that meetings lead efficiently to concrete decisions, which are also reliably realized by means of concrete measures. The fact that the Action Plan determines who will do what and when guarantees a high degree of commitment. Experience has shown that concrete, clearly communicated Action Plans also contribute to a clear perception of the innovation culture and to raising it to the same level as the rest of day-to-day business. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Handling Step 1: The moderator enters all decisions taken into the Action Plan. The decisions taken are formulated as concrete measures so that they can be implemented. Step 2: At the next meeting, the Action Plan will be rehanged and the completion of the measures will be reviewed jointly. In order for the Action Plan to deliver what it promises, the following basic rules must be observed: – The formulation of individual measures should be as precise as possible (record their objectives (=i. e. what are they for?) can be helpful, but is not always necessary).

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The column headed “Who” contains the person responsible for the measure. Only those present at the meeting may be named. Otherwise, the measure must be reformulated accordingly. The moderator agrees a (specific) date with the person in the “Who” column by which the action is to be completed or a result available. In the “Feedback” column, the type of feedback the participants will receive about the success of the measure is recorded.

Example scenario: Implementing the idea quickly. Once your solution has been planned and financed, you can implement it quickly. Experience has shown that many innovations fail because they are implemented too slowly, for example if a new idea is already technically outdated during or shortly after its market launch. Globally, today’s time periods for planning and implementing innovations tend to be months rather than years. Important points that help you to create a concrete Action Plan for product marketing: – Protect your innovations sufficiently through patents or trademarks. – Create a concrete requirement specification for your research and development department or external developer/service provider/partner. – Build up your personnel resources or reserve capacities of employees at an early stage. This also includes providing the relevant employees in research and development, production and sales with adequate advance notice of developments. Otherwise, the appointment calendar or capacity plans are usually already occupied and you have to assign and reschedule priorities. – Plan the necessary training and further education for your colleagues and employees. – Schedule required new machines, pre-products, goods or other required services with sufficient lead time. – Apply for any necessary certificates and approvals. – Create all important documents or advertising materials accompanying the product parallel to or following the development, so that you can start marketing immediately at the end of the development work (or even before). – Once the final tests have been carried out to your satisfaction and the necessary logistical preparations have been made, you should send your products to the sales department.

Action Plan –

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Specify how returns or complaints are to be handled. Set up procedures to handle errors that only occur at the customer site. Present your products. Inform your existing customers by appropriate means (direct advertising, telephone information, invitations to in-house or trade fairs). “Appropriate means” are any form of public relations, lectures, interviews, articles in trade journals and much more. Praise your innovation in public.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium

– – – – – – – – –

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Complexity for the participants: rather medium Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Valuable for small teams The classic Action Plan is frequently very helpful for small and agile teams, because they often think they intuitively have all the next steps of the project in mind and then fail because the project ends in a kind of chaos.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description A milestone in the sense of a Milestone Plan is of particular importance in the course of an innovation project or life of a challenge. Likewise, a milestone in a project is always an important goal or achievement. An essential component of a milestone is the sharp focus on deadlines and the associated communication. A milestone can basically be understood as a point in time, communicated to the outside world, by which certain tasks have to be completed. However, the Milestone Plan is also particularly suitable for communicating a project to other, non-participating colleagues and stakeholders, as it describes and communicates only the essential milestones of the project in a very clear manner. In the big picture, a Milestone Plan can complement one or more detailed Action Plans in a very useful way, and its use is actually recommended for all medium to large challenges. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Handling Step 1: The person responsible for the challenge enters all jointly-defined milestones in the Milestone Plan. The Plan can be produced with many different media, and in general is best if it is in a large, visual format. It is then decided who will receive the Milestone Plan, and when. Step 2: The Milestone Plan will be hung up again in the further meetings on the challenge and the achievement of the milestones will be ticked off. A Plan usually contains information such as: – Project start date. – Project end date.

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All important milestones such as completion dates, delivery dates, acceptance dates, review meetings, availability of prototypes, procurement dates, test dates and publication dates. References to data elements such as supplementary reports or other results.

However, a Plan and its milestones should also be characterized by important and target-oriented features that are – understandable by all colleagues. – clearly controllable. – limited to a maximum of about ten to 15 milestones in a project. – set at appropriate intervals (weekly, monthly). – reflect important events for achievement of the project objective. Example of a typical Milestone Plan: “An action plan should be developed to increase employee satisfaction.” Milestone

Description

MS-1

Detailed analysis of the actual state is available – week 1 Development of the target concept is coordinated – week 4 Requirements for changes are defined – week 6 First ideas for implementation measures have been developed – week 10 Consequences of different implementation measures are known – week 14 Measures are included in the action plan and agreed with the management – week 15

MS-2 MS-3 MS-4 MS-5 MS-6

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium

Milestone Plan – – – – – – – – – – –

Complexity for the participants: rather medium Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Clarity Clear, unambiguous and lucid communication is necessary. It ensures an equal understanding of the project objectives both by the participants and by all outside parties. Even in straightforward and short projects, the Milestone Plan is often more helpful than expected.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

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Opinion Flash Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The focus of the Opinion Flash is fast gathering and exchange of individual opinions. It involves spontaneous statements about a challenge or an idea as well as possible conflicts and problems. The Opinion Flash is only about opinions on questions asked and not about ideas, as in Brainstorming. The technique is well suited to evaluation and also for analysing a challenge or description in the first phases of a project. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: The moderator prepares questions on the challenge and its evaluation. The questions must be clearly formulated. Step 2: Question after question is put to the team round and answered in turn by each participant briefly and without digression. Each participant expresses their own opinion and does not speak of “we” or “one”, but of “I”. The fast sequence (as with a flash) is the decisive element in this method. You can set a time limit of a few seconds for answering the questions using a stopwatch. Step 3: The contributions of the participants are not commented on, but each one is logged. Note: As a variant, the Flash can also be in writing. At the end of the round, the most important statements on the flipchart can be summarized.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – The match variant A very nice variant of the Opinion Flash is one in which each participant lights a match when their turn comes. They may speak their mind until they blow out the match.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

Range of Opinions

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description At the beginning of the innovation process it is important to make clear different points of view and approaches to a topic. A good method of doing this in a structured way is to use the Range of Opinions technique. There is no evaluation of the opinions, but only clarification of the different points of view. In addition, it becomes clear whether the team is thinking in a certain direction or whether opinions differ. This creates clarity in the further course of the innovation process.

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Handling Ideally, you should have a pinboard with a sheet of paper attached, and cards or large Post-its, ready for the implementation of the method. Step 1: Use Brainstorming to search for topics for which you want to learn the participants’ points of view. Step 2: Describe the purpose of the method to the participants and explain that it is a matter of looking at the whole range of different opinions and points of view. Step 3: Position the topic labels one above the other in the middle of the pinboard or on the wall. Step 4: Ask participants to write their points of view on cards/Post-its and place them in a line to the side of the topic. Step 5: When all the slips of paper are hanging on the pinboard/wall, participants should sort them in order of similarity. This involves placing notes with similar views next to each other. Opinions that seem to be outliers are stuck some distance from the others. The sorting is carried out until everyone is of the opinion that the notes have found the right place in the assortment. Step 6: Perform the procedure in the same way for all topics. Impact on obstacle effects – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

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Range of Opinions

Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: cards approx. 10 × 10 cm

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Different opinions At the start, emphasize that all opinions, even if they seem absurd, are important and welcome. This method is not about evaluating points of view or opinions, but about visualizing the spectrum.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Meta-Plan

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this structuring makes it possible for the participants’ shared thought processes to be understandable afterwards.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The aim of the Meta-Plan method is to generate as many (innovative) solution alternatives as possible within a group. Essentially, this is a classic and very reliable visual moderation technique, the application of which leads to more efficient work with groups. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The moderation begins with one thesis, or several contradictory theses, from which guiding questions are derived. The thesis describes the topic and possible goals and is also intended to arouse the participants’ curiosity about the topic. Example: “Young customer segments are using regional retail less and less.” The processing of such a thesis is initially done with post-its. All notes, ideas, hints and questions that arise during the first discussion of the thesis are recorded on cards and then placed on a pinboard. To create a Meta-Plan, you need a trained group leader or moderator to collect the suggestions and place them on the pin/whiteboard. The cards are grouped by topic into clusters or columns. They are then provided with headings. Further ideas can be noted on cards. Using this pinboard moderation all participants are equally involved. All thoughts and the common decision-making process are visualized. The advantage of this method is that all ideas are allowed and visualized in an organized way. In addition,

Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Meta-Plan

Experiences – Classic and good At this point we would like to take up the sword again for the classic Meta-Plan technique. Even though it is very old, it has lost none of its relevance. It is fast and visual and also works in inexperienced groups.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement, Higgins, J. M. Wiese (Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag – 1998) Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser Fachbuch 2001) Book – Wissen Managen, G. Probst, S. Raub, K. Romhard (Gabler Verlag – März 2013)

Methuselah Checkup – – –

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The Methuselah Checkup acknowledges that the current senior generation consists essentially of the babyboomers and that we should consider this in product and service innovations. The fact that today, in the course of demographic change, we are dealing with a completely different older clientele with completely different values and needs to 20 years ago is often still ignored by the economy. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Handling As the older generation is a large group of users whose neglect no company can afford, the following aspects should be carefully considered and reflected upon in innovation work: – Development and implementation of Universal Design, so that both young and old buyers can be reached. – Extensive usability of design, for a wide range of capabilities. – Support a wide range of preferences and possibilities with a flexible design. – Intuitive design for easy use. Design enables and supports sensory perception.

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Risk minimization during handling through appropriate design. Efficient design that requires little effort for use. Handling should be unproblematic for any type of user, regardless of size, stature, age or gender.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Mixed age groups It is advisable to put together interdisciplinary teams, and especially mixed-age groups.

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Methuselah Checkup

Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012)

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Mind Pumping

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Mind Pumping is a kind of creative circuit training to reflect and develop your creative self-image. In the opening chapter of his book Thinkertoys, Michael Michalko describes 11 exercises to train with to become a creative person. Following is a brief summary of what each individual exercise contains and what it focuses on – more detailed instructions can be found under “Implementation”: 1. Idea Quota Demand a “target” from yourself – a minimum quota of ideas per day. 2. Getting Tone Fighter pilots say “I’ve got tone” when their radar has detected the target. “Getting Tone” in your creative working life means paying close attention to what’s happening in the area. 3. Tiny Truths This attention exercise was developed by a photographer and involves looking at a picture or photos for ten minutes so intensively that you can later retrieve details visually. 4. Dukes of Habit “Dukes of Habit” love routines and are therefore limited as problem solvers. The method helps to break through habits and thinking barriers. 5. Feeding Your Head What do you feed your brain? In this exercise, Michalko shows you how to choose which books to read and how to make good choices sensibly. 6. Content Analysis

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Conduct content analysis of advertisements, ad sheets, television programs, seminars, conferences, and radio broadcasts to identify current trends. 7. Brainbanks Create a box or folder in which you can collect advertisements, quotes, designs, ideas, questions, cartoons, pictures, etc. to inspire yourself if you have to. 8. Travel Junkie Travel! Visit shops, fairs, exhibitions, libraries, flea markets, retirement homes, toy stores or universities if you are uninspired. 9. Capturing Idea Birds Write down ideas and inspirations that suddenly appear immediately. It’s a way to outsmart your shortterm memory. 10. Think Right Work consciously to make your thinking fluid and flexible. “Liquid” means the number of ideas and “flexible” describes the creativity of ideas. 11. Ideas Log Keep an ideas log in which you systematically store ideas for your work. Sections of this protocol could be Marketing, Products, Sales, Personnel, Service, etc. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Idea Quota Demand a “target” from yourself – a minimum quota of ideas per day. When you set yourself this task, you force yourself to think actively about ideas rather than waiting for them to happen. Start by asking yourself for five ideas a day for one week. The first days will be the most difficult, but soon you will find that one idea leads to another and so the number of results multiplies quickly. Don’t be too critical and also add absurd and strange ideas to your list.

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Step 2: Getting Tone Fighter pilots say “I’ve got tone” when their radar has detected the target. “Getting Tone” in your creative working life means paying close attention to what’s happening in the area. An unexpected idea can be found anywhere – even at times and places when and where you don’t expect it – that’s why increased attention when observing the environment is so valuable. If you practice this close observation, you will gain the rare ability to look at mundane things and discover the extraordinary in or behind them. You will develop a two-layered view: you will see what others see, but also perceive what is special. Step 3: Tiny Truths This attention exercise was developed by a photographer and involves looking at a picture or photo so intensively for ten minutes that you can later retrieve many details visually. The photographer Minor White taught the method “Tiny Truths” at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Set an alarm and look at a picture for ten minutes without moving or allowing your thoughts to wander. Further, associations are not desirable here – it is a matter of capturing every detail of the picture exactly and remembering it. When the alarm goes off, turn away from the picture and recall it. Try to save the sensations of this experience. Try to remember these sensations when you return to your daily work. If you repeat both regularly, you will perceive “Tiny Truths” in your surroundings in detail, as you have practiced with the pictures. Step 4: Dukes ff Habit “Dukes of Habit” love routines and are therefore limited as problem solvers. The method helps to break through habits and thinking barriers. Create a list of your habits. These may be comfortable for you, but they prevent you from thinking freely. Do things in the future in a consciously different way to what you are used to: – Take another way to work. – Change your sleep/wake times. – Change your working hours. – Listen to another radio station. – Read another newspaper for once. – Make new friends. – Cook new recipes. – Take a winter instead of a summer holiday. – Read novels instead of non-fiction. – Drink juice during the coffee break. – Eat in a new restaurant. – Take a bath instead of a shower. – Watch the news on another television station. 690

Don’t be a “Duke of Habit”, search for inspiration in new places. Step 5: Feeding Your Head What do you feed your brain? In this exercise, Michalko shows you how to choose which books to read and how to choose them sensibly. Gore Vidal said: “The brain that is not fed eats itself up.” Feed your brain by reading: – Choose the books well in order to get as much benefit as possible from your reading time. – Write notes and annotations in your books. Mark Twain always had the books that he often read close to him: at his desk, bed, billiard table etc. – and they were all full of notes, comments and underlinings. – Read only half of a book and imagine the sequel yourself. Try to predict how the story will evolve. This was the favorite exercise of George Bernhard Shaw – it is an excellent imagination exercise. – Read guides on all possible topics; transfer the solutions to other specialist areas. – Read various magazines for inspiration. Walt Disney did just that. – When reading guides, try to anticipate the solution before describing it. This was a popular exercise of John F. Kennedy. – Think along when you read. Search for new solutions to old challenges, observe changes in the business world, trends in other countries, technological breakthroughs, connections and parallels to your current challenges. Step 6: Content Analysis Conduct content analysis of advertisements, ad sheets, television programs, seminars, conferences, and radio broadcasts to identify current trends. The author John Naisbitt developed successful trend spotting using content analysis. He had adopted the method from the CIA, which in turn had adapted it from the Allies in World War II. At that time, the later victorious powers had followed German troop movements and strategies by reading German newspapers and leaflets. – Collect advertising over a period of time and then try to identify trends and developments. – Read the local papers when you’re on the road. Which markets are growing or shrinking at this location? What business ideas arise from this? – Observe popular culture: magazines, movies, cable TV channels, pop songs – what are people interested in? Which values and lifestyles are presented? – Are you consciously aware of changes in your working environment: What is in your inbox compared to a year ago? Talk to other employees.

Mind Pumping – –

Visit trade fairs, conferences, seminars and lectures. Listen to different radio stations every week to understand different perspectives. – Study the TV schedule and download interesting programs or find them on pay TV later – so you can watch something good when you have time and are not dependent on live TV.. Your own content analysis will be more valuable to you than any expensive trend scout. Step 7: Brain Banks Create a box or folder in which you can collect advertisements, quotes, designs, ideas, questions, cartoons, pictures, etc. to inspire yourself if you have to. If you’re looking for inspiration, shake your box/tip up your folder and pick an image, text, or object at random. Associate freely and search for connections to your current challenge. Repeat the exercise if necessary. Step 8: Travel Junkie Travel! Visit shops, fairs, exhibitions, libraries, flea markets, retirement homes, toy stores or universities if you are uninspired. Take up a randomly found term or condition and let your thoughts wander. Associate freely and search for connections to your current challenge. Step 9: Capturing Idea Birds Write down ideas and inspirations that suddenly appear immediately. It’s a way to outsmart your short-term memory. Psychologists can prove in empirical tests that we can remember a maximum of five to nine pieces of information at a time. In the first seconds after we receive information, we can remember it well; after 12 seconds, the memory weakens; after 20 seconds, it is already overlaid by new information and disappears if we do not repeat or write down the content. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Watch your thoughts closely. They suddenly appear like a songbird in a tree, and disappear again when you turn to your usual work.” Catch your Idea Birds. Step 10: Think Right Work consciously to make your thinking fluid and flexible. “Liquid” means the number of ideas and “flexible” describes the creativity of ideas. Creating lists is an excellent exercise for generating ideas. Choose an everyday object and write down as many uses as possible for this item. If you can quickly name the usual uses, your thinking is already fluid; then actively look for alternative, unusual uses to improve your flexibility. Step 11: Ideas Log

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Keep an ideas log in which you systematically store ideas for your work. Sections of this protocol could be Marketing, Products, Sales, Human Resources, Service, Special Projects, etc. The CIA successfully uses Ideas Logs to keep information simple and sorted. Study your own idea protocols regularly. Check to see if any of the ideas stored in it are applicable to your current challenge. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Mind Pumping

Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Mind Pumping on the blast furnace I climbed up a disused blast furnace with an innovation team. None of the participants had made this trip before. Everyone was given the task of taking notes on the way about details that caught their eye or raised a question. So in just one excursion we applied a series of exercises that are found in the Mind Pumping method: Breaking habits (Dukes of Habit), traveling (Travel Junkie), taking notes (Capturing Idea Birds, Ideas Log), observing closely (Tiny Truths) and fulfilling a target number of ideas (Idea Quota).

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Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Mindmapping

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Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Mindmapping is far more than a creative technique, and people especially like the completefreedom it provides – it is a real jack-of-all-trades. Tony Buzan, the British mental skills trainer and author, coined the term “mindmap” andintroduced it to the world. At first glance, one might think that Mindmapping is only a socalled visualization technique, i. e. a way to make a fact clearly visible. However its possibilities are almost unlimited according to all experiences. Mindmapping is a very efficient and universal creativity, note-taking and memory technique, in which the brain is optimally used. Mindmapping greatly stimulates a person’s creativity. Many people we call geniuses today use the technique as a permanent companion in their daily lives. Conventional notes or diagrams typically use only the left hemisphere of the brain. This half (in most people) is responsible for analytical thinking. Language, logic and numbers, ordered and linear things are processed here. The right hemisphere of the brain contains the pictorial imagination. Forms, colors, patterns and rhythms are processed here. A mindmap uses the abilities of the right hemisphere in addition to those of the left hemisphere. This allows the best possible use to be made of the brain’s capabilities. Mindmapping is therefore particularly suitable for Brainstorming, but also for planning and structuring knowledge, drafting minutes, and preparing presentations, seminars and topic overviews. Mindmaps are also excellent for personal Brainstorming and note-taking of any kind, for example in a meeting or seminar, reading articles/books, creating to-do lists and especially on the phone.

Handling Mindmapping works both in group and individual application. To use the method, you can start at any time. Here are the most important rules as described in the relevant literature: – The working paper (the larger, the better) is ideally used in landscape format. – In the middle of the page a box is drawn, or rather a memorable picture or a small sketch, which represents the main topic to be addressed. Starting from this central concept or image, a line is spontaneously drawn for each deeper thought or sub-point, which neither has to be straight nor subject to other rules. – The individual keywords for the sub-items are written on this line. These words should be written in block letters to increase readability and memorability of the mindmap. – From the lines drawn in, further lines can be drawn, on which individual main ideas are further sub-divided. From these continuing lines others can again emanate or radiate. – You may also want to use different colors to increase clarity. At the same time, for example, thoughts and ideas that belong together can easily be linked by using the same color. – Additional symbols such as arrows, small pictures, painted exclamation marks or question marks and of course self-defined symbols are also desirable; they facilitate the capture of content and can help to better define or highlight individual areas.

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Mindmapping

However, you shouldn’t spend too much time on the creative work where the mindmap will be added to. This only disturbs free flow of thoughts, because you usually think faster than you write. Changes can still be made later with more drawing.

This process also has the advantage of revisiting visualized thoughts. In this way, the content can be better processed, remembered and understood, and there is a chance of coming up with a decisive idea from this redesign. At your creative and evaluation meetings, the main ideas/points of many individual mindmaps can also be recorded in a large central mindmap. In this way, each participant always has an overview of the complete situation. Since the technique essentially only records key words, each participant is also forced to get to the heart of the matter. Indeterminate elements and lengthy digressions are not taken into account and are therefore of no value to the contributor. All relevant points are recorded on the mindmap, so that at the end of the meeting there is always a complete protocol, an end product, in the form of a mindmap. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees 694

– – – – – – – – – –

Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Known disadvantages – A small disadvantage of the Mindmap method is that you first have to get used to this form of recording. In particular, acceptance by people who are not familiar with this technique is quite low. At first glance, the Mindmaps look rather confusing and nested. However, this appearance is purely formal. The content is actually always very well structured and ordered, but can only be appreciated by the people who correctly associate the keywords used. Mindmaps that are used by several people should therefore be constructed by all parties concerned. At the very least, basic agreement should be reached on the subscription of Mindmaps. – Known advantages – The main topic/basic idea/target is arranged centrally and can therefore be captured very speedily. A quick glance at a Mindmap is enough to know what it is all about. The ramifications can well represent the relative importance of a thought or an idea. A natural hierarchy and structure is created. – A Mindmap is also good at revealing gaps. Due to the graphic representation it is very easy to recognize which thoughts are already sound and which are still very little developed. – By using keywords, you can focus on the essentials while saving time (to create and read) and space (on paper). – A Mindmap is also very good for the repetition of material; the basic ideas are already understood, the key words are quite adequate for reconstruction and memory. This is particularly useful when creative or evaluation meetings go over several days.

Mindmapping –

A sheet of paper is usually sufficient for a Mindmap, and good Mindmapping software is also available as a free open source solution. – Due to the ramification technique, a Mindmap is always open to extension. – Each Mindmap looks different and very individual, so you can easily remember its shape and content. – Tip: Google Image Search If you Google the word “Mindmapping” in Image Search, you will see at a glance what variety and possibilities there are in Mindmaps.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013)

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Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Innovationsmanagement, Higgins, J. M. Wiese (Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag – 1998) Book – Organisation, D. Vahs (Schäffer Poeschel 2015) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser Fachbuch 2001) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Book – The Mind Map Book, T. Buzan (Pearson Education Limited 2009) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Mission Impossible After 30 minutes, the teams present their concepts to each other and there is a discussion about typical and unusual solutions, from which a list of potential solution steps can result. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens the inner censor

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Frequently, existing constraints have to be challenged in order to create something entirely new. With the Mission Impossible method, limitations can be overcome playfully and new ideas can emerge. To this end, seemingly unchangeable basic prerequisites are deliberately questioned. The method is particularly suitable for small groups and lasts 45 to 60 minutes. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Formulate questions that challenge existing restrictions. Examples: – How to build a house … in one day? – How to make a mobile device … without a battery? – What would a browser be … without Internet access? Participants now have 30 minutes to develop approaches in small groups/pairs that make the impossible possible. Ideally, they write down their ideas on a flipchart. They can orientate themselves on the following general questions: – Which advantages or features can result from the new requirement? – Why is this a typical requirement or condition? – Which basic components or prerequisites are in conflict with each other here? – Can the contradiction be removed or changed? – Is there anything that could happen before or after that would change the conflicting points? – Can time, space, materials, movements or the environment have any effect? 696

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Ask the right questions Formulate questions that activate both rational thinking and emotional feelings. Example: “How to manufacture a mobile device … without a battery?” This is both a technical challenge (rational) and an opportunity to improve the world (emotional). Much more energy is put into working on problems that activate both sides of thinking.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Questions of Employees

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description When several employees or participants come together, a large number of questions usually arise, some of which are predictable, but in many cases cannot be identified in advance. This method is particularly helpful for discussions on complex innovation topics, in order to gain a comprehensive picture of the existing questions in the participants’ field on one hand and on the other to establish the opportunity to answer all questions in a relaxed atmosphere. In addition, the entire team is given an idea of the different schools of thought within the group, which in turn can have a positive effect on further work. The method is very similar to the 6Ws method. However, it differs in particular in that the decision-makers should answer the questions directly and the technique is not a question of developing new ideas, but of clarifying questions in advance in order to clear the way for new inspiration. Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Write the six central question words on a wall or several pinboards: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. All participants receive Post-its or moderation cards and have the task of asking as many questions as possible within five minutes – starting with the first word –

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about the topic, the product, the service, the process, etc., and attaching them to the corresponding position on the wall/pinboard. Then you should sort and group the questions before giving those decision-makers responsible the opportunity to answer them. It is not necessary to answer all the questions, the main focus should be on the those that have been mentioned most frequently and those that have not been mentioned often but seem important and relevant. Repeat this procedure for the other five questions. Alternatively, you can first search for questions for five minutes and then concentrate completely on answering these. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents financial and resource traps – Sharpens common direction – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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Questions of Employees

Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: Post-its Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: pinboards Room: wall surfaces Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Experiences – Write down all questions – advantages If, as moderator, you suspect that the answering of questions by the decision-makers is tedious and complex, you should first have the participants write down all questions. It can also be advantageous in this context to call the decision-makers to the group only after all questions have been written down and sorted. Then individual participants are not the focus of uncomfortable questions, and the questions are always presented as group decisions. – Direct answering of the questions Another alternative is to answer the questions immediately, without waiting for all the questions to be pinned up. While this may interfere with question-finding, it may also encourage new questions to arise from the answers.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://gamestorming.com/games-for-any-meeting/help-me-understand/ (April 2017)

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Bringing Hour – Show and Tell Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Some people may remember this method from their childhood. Participants bring a favorite item to school and tell others why it is important to them. Show and Tell can also be used to generate ideas if participants use the object to talk about a specific topic or problem to be solved in the innovation process. The method increases creativity and often makes it easier to explain your own ideas.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: paper in flipchart size

Handling Step 1: A few days before the meeting, remind participants to think of an item they would like to bring with them. This object should be related to the theme of the event, but must remain secret before the event, so that participants do not know which objects the others will bring with them. Step 2: Write the topic of the meeting on a flipchart and draw a picture of it. Step 3: The participants now explain in turn why, in their opinion, the object they brought with them represents or refers to the topic. Listen carefully and pay attention to emotional undertones. Draw a simple picture of each object presented on a sheet of paper and write down its most important features. Step 4: At the end, summarize what you have heard and give the participants time to let the insights have an effect on them. Discuss what concrete ideas have emerged for further processing.

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination Experiences – Dealing with criticism Participants who do not focus on creative activities in everyday life sometimes react with criticism to the Show and Tell method. Statements like, “We’re not in Nursery school, after all” or similar can endanger the whole process. This can be avoided by explaining the purpose of the exercise in detail beforehand. Example: “Trust is an important basis for working together on ideas. Trust develops the more we know about each other. Since most people don’t talk about themselves in detail, as an open exercise Show and Tell can do amazing things here.”

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Momentum-Matrix Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) Description The Momentum-Matrix draws its analogy from physics and helps in an innovation project to sensitize participants to the quality of implementation. The idea of momentum is revealing the forces confronting the progress of movement in the innovation project. This Matrix can be used like a diagnostic tool. It can thus prevent the danger of ideas not being implemented at an early stage if momentum is not maintained. According to Michailidis, eight different types of Momentum are distinguished: Optimum Momentum, Chaos, Slow Growth, Boot Strapping, Stagnation, Busy Work, Good Intentions, No Momentum. The momentum type has a bearing on three variables that influence the total momentum of an initiative or project. Variable 1: The resources invested in the implementation. Variable 2: The speed at which work is carried out. Variable 3: The direction in which the initiative is going.

Handling With the help of the Momentum Matrix, analyze the current momentum of your innovation project. Step 1: Create a Matrix with four columns; the number of rows depends on the number of solutions found. Now analyze the solutions found line by line and estimate the current state of the project with regard to the three variables of the Momentum Matrix. For example, you can enter a “+” or “–” in the respective field for the evaluation. Step 2: Derive measures for improvement and implement them. Tip! Repeat the diagnosis of your initiative every few weeks and months to get a feel for the level of implementation progress. See the explanatory picture describing the different scenarios. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents unreflected action – Sharpens common direction – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period 700

Momentum-Matrix – – – –

Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – From idea to implementation What is the probability of implementation? Which impulses contribute to the implementation or create only actionism that is not target-oriented? This simple tool is a great help in thinking about implementation progress within the group.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

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Moodboard Step 2: As a team search for inspiring pictures, statements, materials, texts, etc. that fit the topic and pin/ glue them on a pinboard or whiteboard. Step 3: Work with and on the Moodboard over a longer period of time, be inspired by and learn from it. This can lead to new guiding questions for idea generation.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Moodboards are used in the innovation phases exploration and ideation, early prototyping and testing. They can also be found in communication and design sciences. In the style of a large collage, images, text, articles, materials, statements and even video sequences or objects are compiled in order to bring them into a sensory, tangible form at a glance. Moodboards therefore represent complex facts and findings that could not otherwise be presented in this way. Moodboards should always be in the (visible) vicinity of the project team, especially in the exploration and ideation phase, in order to serve as a source of inspiration and be supplemented at any time. The focus is always on mapping the environment and perspectives of customer or user groups. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: With your team select the subject area and the point of view for a Moodboard.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Tool: impulse pictures Room: wall surfaces Tool: periodicals Moderation: glue Moderation: scissors People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Room: sufficiently large room Tool: colored pencils

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Moodboard

Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Can also work online

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Digital Moodboards like Pinterest or similar can support globally distributed teams in their work.

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Morphological Matrix by specialist groups. It is also to be regarded as a very powerful and complete tool and brings the security of not overlooking any or few elements of the problem area. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The primary goal of the Morphological Matrix (similar to the Morphological Box) is to obtain a comprehensive overview of the problem and gain corresponding insight. Thus, the method is also suitable for challenges with high complexity. In principle, the Morphological Matrix also consists of parameters and characteristics. However, the main difference to representation in the Morphological Box is that the expressions are inserted either in the header or lead column of the Matrix. Consequently, solutions are not represented by a line, but always consist of a specific field, namely the one in which the parameters and characteristics meet. This approach offers the following advantages for the search for problem solutions: – The known solutions can be entered in advance. – Solutions that have no relevance or make no sense are excluded. – Empty fields for which no solutions are yet known show up clearly and can therefore be processed with higher priority. These advantages make the Morphological Matrix not only suitable for the search for solutions, but also help in the process of problem solving by showing more clearly where the focus of a search within a company should be directed. It is advisable, in particular, to bring together experts in the field to set up the Matrix. This also results in a recommended separation of the conception phase from the elaboration phase, since non-experts should also participate in the elaboration. The creation of a Matrix can therefore take several weeks and should be carried out

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Handling The following steps should be followed: Step 1: Analysis and description of the problem area. Step 2: Finding ideal problem describing parameters (less rather than more). Step 3: Listing characteristics. Step 4: Defining irrelevant fields (also called zero fields). Step 5: Labeling fields in which already known solutions can be determined. Step 6: Fixing interesting fields for concentration of solution-finding in these problem areas. The Morphological Matrix also allows the further subdivision of parameters and expressions for the detailed description of problem areas. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Morphological Matrix

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination

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Experiences – Limitation of parameters and values Many groups find it difficult to agree on a final list of parameters and values. There’s always the fear of missing something important. Therefore, this phase should be restricted by a time limit. – Exclude fields For reasons of time and effort, the consistent “exclusion” of zero fields is advisable and strongly recommended.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009)

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Morphological Box –

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description According to its inventor Fritz Zwicky, this creativity technique is intended to provide a “total solution” to a given problem. The technique first breaks down a problem or challenge into individual parts, which are then recombined and reassembled in a variety of ways. The term “Morphological Box” is somewhat misleading; a kind of morphological grid is used. The term can be interpreted according to general understanding (including quotes from Schlicksupp) and derived from Greek as: – studies of form, shape and structure – order produced according to certain criteria – interdisciplinary methodology – integral, comparative approach The method allows the creation of a variety of ideas, especially for product improvements, updates and product reformulations, by systematically breaking down complex issues into delimitable individual elements (problem parameters), varying the shape of the individual elements and combining shape variations to create new, overall solutions. Necessary experience: Thorough knowledge of the field of activity is a prerequisite. In order to fully exploit the possibilities of the method, in-depth application experience is highly recommended. However, modest morphologies can also be successful in initial experiments. Since finding the parameters from experience is perceived as the most difficult step, more tips are as follows: – The parameters must be logically independent of each other so that they can be freely combined. – The parameters must be able to apply to all conceivable solutions and not only be valid for a subset of the problem.

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The parameters should have conceptual relevance and describe not insignificant details of the solution sought.

The creation time for complex morphologies can be very long and can take several days or even weeks. The aim of the Morphological Box is to develop new problem-solving approaches. For this purpose, a problem is split into sub-problems, sub-functions or process steps (parameters), which are written alongside each other. Ensure that the individual parameters are independent of each other and can be operationalized. In addition to the individual parameters, values of this characteristic are then noted. In this way, a Matrix is created in which all combinations of parameters and possible characteristics are recorded. By considering different combinations of characteristics of individual parameters, new ideas for the design of problem solutions can be found. In order to create and use the Morphological Box to its full extent, the problem must first be analyzed in detail and broken down into its sub-problems or components. The sub-features must be modular and independent of each other. The advantage of this method is that it is particularly suitable for dealing with a complex constellation of problems, where an overall solution results from the combination of different individual solutions. Building a suitable Morphological Box requires the user to have sound technical knowledge of the problem area in question, without which, in most cases, they will quickly fail. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The Morphological Box offers the possibility of showing the totality of conceivable solutions to a given problem. For this purpose, the variable design elements (parameters) of potential solutions must be set up. They are arranged as a lead column of a table. After each parameter, all conceivable concrete execution options (values) are listed. Individual solution alternatives are created by selecting any characteristic from each parameter line and connecting these with each other (by lines). The underlying principle of solution formation is therefore systematic combination. A “Box” in the spatial sense only arises if the morphology consists of three parameters arranged in X, Y and Z directions. However, this is not especially recommended for real work.

Morphological Box

Let us now consider a concrete example: Our challenge: “For some time now, customers have been complaining about the poor quality of the hinges on our garage doors. The squeaking that begins after a few weeks is particularly criticized.” First of all, it is important at this stage not to get into too narrow a view of the problem, such as “How do we improve the gate hinges so that they work noiselessly for years?” Looking at it from a distance, the task can be extended as follows: “How do we develop our door construction in such a way that the door can be opened and closed noiselessly for years”.

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By combining the individual expressions (in principle) of each parameter, new solutions can be synthesized (assuming that all parameters have been collected with all expressions, all conceivable solutions are now also contained in the table). Step 5: Now all conceivable new combinations are connected by lines and thus made visible. Step 6: The solutions favored by individual group members are evaluated in a joint process in the evaluation phase (naturally also using other techniques and methods).

We first collect the parameters that represent our gate construction in its entirety. For instance: – Material of the garage door. – Type of door opening. – Material of the door frame. – Type of lock. Now we create the Morphological Box and add all possible values to the parameters. After determining the possible combinations, the Morphological Box may look like this: Parameter

Variation 1

Variation 2

Variation 3

Variation 4

Door material Type of door opening Frame material Type of lock

Aluminium

Plastic

Wood

Ceramic

Roller door

Segment door Plastic

Wing door in rails Wood

Flap door with hinges Ceramic

Snap lock with key

Belt straps

Zip lock

Aluminium Snap lock

The basic sequence of the machining steps can be represented in this way: Step 1: Situation description First of all, the task and the initial situation must be described in great detail. Step 2: Determination of the parameters of the problem Parameters are the characteristics that appear repeatedly in all solutions and can be designed differently. Help questions for finding the parameters: “In what features (characteristics, properties, components) can conceivable solutions differ?”, “Which solution components allow different designs?” Step 3: Arrange the parameters In the corresponding columns of a prepared table. Step 4: For each parameter, every conceivable value is searched for and entered in the parameter line.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a weak management mandate

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Morphological Box

Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Known advantages A well-developed total solution system can provide valuable insights into all innovation potentials within the scope of the task. The method should be applied more frequently to targets that are of fundamental importance to the user in terms of innovation. Another advantage of this method is that it is particularly suitable for dealing with a complex constellation of problems, where an overall solution results from the combination of different individual solutions. – Known disadvantages In the case of initial application or lack of expert knowledge, there are often incorrect definitions of the parameters or inconsistencies at the characteristics level. – Increase solution set through competitions Individual teams and groups respond above all to competition to develop the highest possible number of assigned characteristics for a given number of parameters. Therefore, appropriate competitions should be encouraged.

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Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012) Book – Creative Problem Solving for Managers, T. Proctor (Routledge – November 2013) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Organisation, D. Vahs (Schäffer Poeschel 2015) Book – Problem Solving For Results, W. Roth (Routledge 1996) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser Fachbuch 2001) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

Motorboat

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are or can be disrupted. The aim should be to find potential for improvement and approaches for new functions. Participants then have about ten minutes to think about and write down disruptive elements for the “boat”. They then attach these features to the anchors with, for example, Post-its and describe their thoughts if necessary. Use this image with other techniques to highlight the various factors in action and develop improvements.

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description In an idea development process there is always the danger of becoming enthusiastic about some important elements (functions, design, etc.) and losing sight of inadequacies or immaturities. With the Motorboat method the approach is sharpened. Here the focus is placed on those components that are in need of improvement or which may prevent success. The image of an anchored motorboat has great resonance with participants and helps them to identify braking, hindering aspects of the innovation process. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Draw a boat at the top edge of flipchart paper, pulling several anchors behind it. Allow plenty of space for the underwater view and hang this drawing in the meeting room so that it is clearly visible. Christen the boat with the name of your project or idea or a descriptive name for the product/service. Write a question about the “boat”, for example: “What characteristics can prevent our customers from making a purchase?” or “What bothers me about the new product?” Before the collection of disruptive properties begins, explain in detail to the participants that it is not a question of finding as many disruptive elements as possible. It is important to find out exactly which characteristics

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: post-its Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size

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Motorboat

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Do not deal with the solution to the problem As moderator, make sure that participants focus only on identifying problems. The problem solution should and must be carried out separately using other methods. This is because in most cases additional information is needed or other stakeholders are required to contribute. In addition, other features can be found that may be of marginal importance or resolved with little effort. – Specify “speed” An extension of this method is to write down how the improvement could affect the “speed” of the boat in addition to the disruption factor. Search for suitable speed indicators for the product, e. g. number of sales, number of clicks, shelf life, etc.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – https://info.obsglobal.com/blog/2014/01/speedboat-technique (April 2017)

Multiple Perspectives

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Step 4: Using and playing with three different roles or identities is effective. Step 5: The resulting new formulations should be integrated into one. Example (based on Scherer/Brügger): If you are looking for a birthday present for a friend, the friend should be viewed from different angles. Napoleon: “What gift would impress the whole world besides my boyfriend/girlfriend?” Clown: “What gift would make my boyfriend/girlfriend laugh?” Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The small but nice tool Multiple Perspectives is a very simple but effective opener for a creative workshop. In addition to a lot of fun and a relaxed atmosphere, above all it provides a guide and opening for the following Brainstorming. Initial inspiration is generated and the topic is playfully examined with great imagination by looking at the challenge and existing problem through the eyes of a certain person or particular role (e. g. clown, Napoleon or doctor) in order to develop new (multiple) perspectives. It is important to make sure that there are no limits to the views expressed and to give free rein to free association. After a certain period of acclimatization, the first interesting ideas and thoughts are already generated. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The following steps are recommended for the Multiple Perspectives method: Step 1: Formulate the existing problem yourself (as moderator) and make it transparent. Step 2: Have a certain role in the fantasy (for example, doctor or Napoleon). Step 3: Transfer of the problem to the perspective of the person or role and reformulation.

For the roles and identities it is recommended that you create a basic set of about 20 to 30 alternatives which can be accessed again and again. The better the exercise with the role, the easier it is to formulate a different perspective. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: pens Moderation: paper 711

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Multiple Perspectives

Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Ideal for activating innovation in inexperienced teams The technique very playfully introduces inexperienced teams to the topic of Brainstorming and succeeds straightaway through fun, but also through broadening perspective.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2007)

Multitasking Dilemma

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Recommendation 2 Specify one weekday per month on which you will not read or reply to any emails. Recommendation 3 Do not check any emails on Saturdays or Sundays. Recommendation 4 Apply the Three-Day Rule three times a year: After three days without using the Internet you start to relax a bit. Your sleep gets deeper and your ability to listen improves. Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description On one hand technical achievements increase our work efficiency, but on the other often distract us. The Multitasking Dilemma model helps to manage time and focus innovation projects in our digital world. Research has shown that we visit an average of 40 different websites in the course of a working day and switch between programs on our computer 36 times per hour. We consume three times as much information as we did 30 years ago. Every time we receive the signal that we have received an email or SMS, our brain releases dopamine on which we become dependent over time. That’s why we’re increasingly seeking this distraction. Every time we interrupt our work, we have to reorient ourselves afterwards, which costs us time and energy. Undoubtedly, digital helpers have advantages: Route planners improve our punctuality. Thanks to email and Skype, we work from anywhere, and social networks are marketing tools. However, distraction reduces our productivity. In the implementation of this technique you will find four recommendations to effectively avoid digital distraction without completely abandoning it. Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates more innovative organisations Handling Recommendation 1 Read and reply to emails for only one hour at the beginning and end of your working time.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Multitasking Dilemma

Experiences – Collection instead of distraction: Music! My experience actual recovery always happens when we consciously perform an action without being distracted (collection instead of dispersion). This works excellently for active music listening, making music together and practicing. There are numerous studies that prove how healthy this is for our body and mind: heartbeat and breathing calm down, the ability to concentrate improves and general well-being and joie de vivre increase. I make this observation again and again with non-musician participants in creativity workshops: People who have picked up a musical instrument for the first time and renounced any other (digital) distraction for several hours or a day have quickly become creative … and happy (see, for example, Team-In-Time).

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Die Multitasking-Falle: Warum wir nicht alles gleichzeitig können, D. Zack, N. Bertheau (GABAL Verlag – September 2015) Book – Multitasking: Wie man die Informationsflut bewältigt, ohne den Verstand zu verlieren, T. Klingberg, B. Wirtjes (C. H. Beck 2008) Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013)

Murder Board

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Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Murder Board is a valuation technique. The CIA developed this method for use by critical teams to develop good ideas, uncover weaknesses and prevent useless ideas from being presented. Find people from your environment you trust and ask them to criticize your idea as viciously as possible. This group will be your personal Murder Board. You need feedback to save yourself from a belly-flop with your concept or product. Getting feedback from different people gives you varied, unbiased perspectives on your idea. So you can change or improve your it if necessary, before you sell or present it. You may or may not accept the proposals – the ultimate decision and responsibility lies with you. The targets of the Murder Board are to: – Filter out worthless ideas. – Disclose all negative aspects of an idea so that corrections can be made before the final presentation. – Give feedback. Over the decades, the CIA’s Murder Board has protected the Agency from gross and sometimes embarrassing mistakes – not least in attempts to destroy Fidel Castro. The CIA itself adopted the method from its predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which had already successfully used a similar system during the Second World War. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Handling Step 1: Say your idea out loud. Tell a trusted friend or associate about it. Reporting in detail helps you to gain clarity about your idea, to make its strengths shine and to uncover weak points. You need a counterpart who is not afraid to say, “The emperor is naked”. You need that honesty to get ahead. Step 2: Write down your idea in detail. Write a proper request to the people you are asking for feedback, if necessary with graphics and illustrations of your idea. In written form, make sure you have already prepared your goals, conclusions, doubts, what inspired you to come up with the idea and why you are asking people to evaluate it with you. Give reasons why you want to use a Murder Board: Would you like to determine the value of the idea? Discover strengths and weaknesses? Compare it with competing products? Define market opportunities? What else? Your request should include the questions for which you are seeking answers. Keep in mind that the questions themselves will stimulate creativity in the Board participants. Emphasize that you want feedback so that you can make a decision regarding production/publication. Useful question categories can concern: Needs, costs, marketing, feasibility. Step 3: Put the Murder Board together. It can consist of friends, relatives and co-workers. You are looking for people with a creative mindset or expertise in your field. The perfect feedback person has a good imagination, intelligence, and is cold-bloodedly objective. Find as many people as you need and speak to them individually. Give everyone your written request and look carefully at their suggestions and criticisms. Check it out. Save your judgments for later. Step 4: There are many ways to evaluate feedback. Whether you choose a qualitative or quantitative approach depends on the idea itself and the analysis path you like. If you like a mixture of approaches, you can use the following eight-factor approach, for example. Here you ask the participants to award points subjectively. This quickly and clearly shows you the strengths and weaknesses of your idea from the point of view of the Board participant. In the eight-factor approach you can ask them specific questions about aspects of the idea:

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Murder Board

Did I communicate the idea completely and comprehensibly? (0 to 20 points) Are you interested in the idea? (0 to 20 points) Does my idea have good market potential? (0 to 20 points) Has my idea come at the right time? (0 to 5 points) Do you think that I have the competence to implement the idea? (0 to 10 points) Is it a good application of my personal strengths? (0 to 10 points) Does my idea have a chance against the competition? (0 to 5 points) How unique is my idea? Unique selling point? (0 to 10 points)

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application

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Complexity for the moderator: rather high Complexity for the participants: rather high Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Be brave In Europe, and even more so in Germany, there is often a need to present something finished or perfect. This results in a reluctance to expose something half-finished to criticism from others. A trainer should therefore always encourage their client to present their idea or product to a number of reliable participants on a Murder Board before production/publication. Point out the advantage of receiving suggestions for improvement free of charge and being protected from expensive mistakes.

Identified sources of the method Book – Murder Board Paper: For All-Purpose Problem Solvers, Business Strategists, Crime Busters, and Mystery Writers (The Productive Luddite 2011) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

NABC Pitch

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mitted. Note the description of the problem, the explanation of your idea, the benefit for the customer and the unique selling points of your idea. Step 2: Present your idea to the tester(s) and ask directly for brief feedback. Step 3: Think about the following aspects during preparation and follow-up: – What problem does this idea actually solve? – What is the prototype and how does it solve the problem? – How does the customer receive the prototype? Innovation phase P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The NABC Pitch is a short and concise presentation of a new idea that is very similar to the Elevator Pitch. With both methods you should have presented your idea to one or more people in about 30 to 60 seconds; ideally you should have “sold” it. The mnemonic NABC stands for: Need – Approach – Benefit – Competition, which should provide the framework for the presentation of ideas. Need: “What is the customer’s need, what problem should be solved?” Approach: “How should the problem be solved, or the need covered?” Benefit: “What value does the customer get with the solution from this idea?” Competition: “What are the unique selling propositions of the idea compared to other existing ideas/products?” The advantage of the NABC pitch is that testers can quickly understand the core of the idea and give their feedback. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Handling Step 1: Create an NABC pitch to describe your idea briefly and concisely. In principle, any medium is per717

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NABC Pitch

Recommended resources Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: notebook Moderation: pens People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Notes

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Experiences – Good for the early stages and in a dynamic environment The NABC Pitch is particularly suitable for low-detail prototypes or early-stage ideas where tests are often conducted in a dynamic environment, such as on the road. A long explanation with many details would take too long and would discourage many testers from participating.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHiLAJGDGt4 (April 2017)

Negative Conference

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Advantages: The Negative Conference is particularly suitable for developing unique selling points. By paying special attention to a worst-case scenario, it becomes clear which aspects are particularly important and what must be avoided at all costs.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Negative Conference is an intuitive method for finding ideas, also known in the literature as a reversal diagram. Classical Brainstorming is turned upside down, because this is not about finding new, constructive solutions, but about searching for further problems, weak positions and points of criticism. Possible incidents, difficulties and negative aspects may also be invented and/or exaggerated in their effect. In further steps, classic Brainstorming takes place in order to ultimately develop possible solutions or unique selling propositions. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The Negative Conference essentially consists of four steps. Step 1: Participants collect problems that should or can be changed. Step 2: Then a problem is noted in a diagram. This can also be the central point of a mindmap. Step 3: Classic Brainstorming is used to decide which further problems will exacerbate or at least preserve the respective problem. The new problems found are now also recorded in the diagram or mindmap. Step 4: Finally, ideas are developed on how the problem can be solved or minimized. In this context, a catalog of measures and a checklist for prevention will also be developed.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team People: diverse mix of individuals Tool: recording device Room: sufficiently large room Room: flipchart Room: pinboards Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Negative Conference

Experiences – Loosen up with a headstand The Headstand Technique is very good for warming up and loosening up before implementing this method.

Identified sources of the method Web – https://www.akademie-management.de/managementjournal/-/blogs/52-kreativitatstechniken-iii-dienegativkonferenz (April 2017)

Notes

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Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativkonferenz (April 2017) Book – Veränderungen erfolgreich managen: Ein Handbuch für interne Prozessberater; T. Bartscher, J. Stöckl (Haufe Lexware – Februar 2011)

NetScouting

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carried out by native speakers of the region in their own language. NetScouters need a clear briefing. Here examples are a great help for understanding and clarity. And always specify the time available for the search. Information to be collected per search hit: 1. Screenshot of the respective page. 2. URL of the respective page. 3. Content details and/or description of the search hit.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description NetScouting is a form of online topic research in the course of a creative and innovative process. NetScouting collects information, examples, backgrounds and suggestions that can be found on Internet pages. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Generates lists of opportunities and risks Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling NetScouting or research on the Internet is a task for experts due to the extremely large amount of information available. These people should be familiar with your field of expertise and know the important forums and organizations to research. In addition, the experts should have the appropriate technical expertise for searching the Internet. For this technique, kKnowing search engine addresses is not enough. There is a wealth of tools with which, for example, social media platforms or selected types of documents on the Internet can be searched and summarized. Language also plays an important role. Research should be conducted in English at a minimum and in all languages relevant to the task. For example, if you are looking for an Asian market, it is essential to have the search

The evaluation of the results and summary is carried out by the idea manager. These are passed on to the idea team for condensation and inspiration. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: experts

Experiences – Consider filter bubbles Popular search engines and social media portals form a profile for each visitor, according to which individual content is compiled. Two people on two different computers will receive different results because of the time, the operating system used or their location. This knowledge should be incorporated into the evaluation of “objectivity” of the search results.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Identified sources of the method Book – Die Ideenmaschine, N. Schnetzler (Wiley-VCH Verlag – August 2006) Web – http://blog.hypeinnovation.com/how-to-integrate-trend-scouting-with-innovation-management (April 2017)

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Network Innovator Checkup –

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UPS and Toshiba: The two companies have a contract under which Toshiba customers will be able to return their defective laptops in the US to UPS logistics bases for repair.

Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Network Innovator Checkup is one of the Ten Types of Innovation macro method (also described here). The second of the Ten Types of Innovation describes innovative cooperation between companies. The Network provides and shares companiess resources and sales channels. In today’s networked world, no company can or should be able to do everything on its own. Network Innovators create ways in which a company can share processes, technologies, offers and sales channels with others. In this way, an organization can capitalize on its own resources and at the same time use external assets for its own purposes. Network Innovation can also help executives mitigate the risks associated with new offerings. The collaborations can be temporary or long term and can even function between sworn rivals. The Network Innovator also includes open innovation and cross-innovation approaches. These have helped companies to include individually chosen organizations or even the whole world in the solution of a challenge. Other examples are the creation of secondary markets (where alternative consumers are found) and franchise systems in which foreign companies can use their own brand names, resources and content for a license fee. Successful Networks in practise: – GlaxoSmithKline: GSK maintains several co-innovation relationships. In 2011, the company joined WIPO Re-Search, a collaboration of private and public organizations developing drugs for tropical diseases.

Handling Use these questions to check whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) works on the basis of a potential Network: Step 1: Does the company work with other companies or surprising partners to make new offers? Step 1a: Does this create a decisive shift – away from the ordinary? Step 2: Does the company in turn offer its processes, brand names, sales channels or facilities to other companies for use? Step 3: Has the company entered into unusual partnerships – especially from completely different industries, which at first appear to have no relation to its own product? Step 4: Are there any cooperations with competitors? Step 5: Does the company cooperate with suppliers or customers in order to further develop, test or market its own offering? Step 6: Does the company use open innovation approaches? Step 7: Does the company find alternative customers via secondary markets? Step 8: Does the company involve other entrepreneurs through franchising? Step 9: Is there a Network with other companies that shares and exchanges employees and workforces? Step 10: Is there a Network in which expertise or patents are shared? Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

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Network Innovator Checkup

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period

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Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals No special resources required Experiences – Study other companies In order to create good ideas for Network Innovations, it is worth taking a close look at the strategies of as many and as many different companies as possible that are already generating sales through a clever Network.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

Network of Abstraction

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Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Network of Abstraction is a complex method and is used in particular for complex challenges in order to identify the right problems. The method was developed by Marino Basadur and looks at a problem from an abstract and action-oriented perspective. Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Handling In essence, the Network of Abstraction is about finding new questions by using “What for?” for more abstract questions and “What’s stopping me?” for action-oriented questions. With this method you then work out new questions as well as the original question. Step 1: Write your central problem as a question on a moderation card or Post-it. The question formulation should be written as an open question. Step 2: Now answer in the upper direction and ask yourself, “Why do I want …?” Answer with simple but complete sentences. Step 3: Reformulate this answer into a question, write it on a card and pin it to a pinboard, for example, above the original question. Step 4: Work your way down and answer the question, “What’s stopping me?” This answer is also reformulated into a question and attached below the original question. Step 5: In order to ensure that both questions make sense, ask verification questions: – “Suppose we had … Would that help us reach the upper answer?”

“Is one reason we haven’t reached the upper statement yet, that we haven’t reached the lower statement yet?” Step 6: If these verification questions refer conclusively to the two question-answers and can be answered with Yes, then connect the questions with an arrow. The arrow points in the direction of the answer. Step 7: If you answer a test question with No, then you know that the position of the question is not correct and must be moved to another location. You will find the correct position by answering the test question with Yes. Step 8: Expand the exercise by deducing from your initial question: “What else …?” or “What’s stopping me?” and go through Steps 3 to 7. Step 9: Step by step, you will develop a comprehensive, close-knit Network of Abstraction around your initial problem. Step 10: Now take a close look at your problem Network and check which you should or really want to solve. Using this systematic preparation of problem questions you may possibly recognize the key problem that can positively influence all others. Hints! – The method can be used alone or in a group. – Derive questions down and up until the answers become too abstract or too detailed. – There may be individual questions within the Network of Abstraction that are so interesting that it is worth formulating your own separate question Network. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use 725

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Network of Abstraction

Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: post-its Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboards Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: cards approx. 10 × 10 cm

Notes

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Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Yes – but … This method helps all those who are looking for a good reason to not have to do something. With this technique you should not give up. The exciting result will be that the question behind the question can be identified as a brake pad. The Network of Abstraction can also be applied to individuals.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Simplex System, B. Min, (Basadur Applied Creativity 2002)

Nine Windows

344

Generated output Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description With this method it is possible to look at a newly-conceived idea or solution from nine different perspectives. In this way, the view is directed beyond the pure product idea to its opportunities and risks, and these are successively evaluated. A grid or table is created that is divided three by three, i. e. into nine fields, Nine Boxes. The perspectives of the horiziontal axis deal with the past, present and future, while the vertical axis deals with the supersystem (superordinate system or angle), the system itself and the subsystem (subordinate system or angle). The intersections of these fields are then examined in more detail with regard to the idea, solution or challenge. This allows a more comprehensive examination of the idea, which ideally reveals the actual innovation opportunities.

Handling The application of the following steps is recommended: Step 1: Preparation of the matrix with the Nine Windows, so a total of nine boxes Step 2: Definition and filling of the central box – The central box should always be the (product) idea at the intersection of the system and the present. – The boxes can be labelled with pictures and words for better description and identification. Step 3: Identification of the super- and sub-system in relation to the product idea – For identification purposes, help questions can be asked, such as: “Which larger system surrounds the system or object?” or “What could upgrade the system?” Step 4: Determination of range for the past and the future – These dimensions are fixed in front of and behind the central box. – Again, help questions can aid correct labeling of the boxes. Step 5: Completion of the remaining fields/boxes of the matrix Step 6: Unlocking innovation opportunities – The focus on real innovation opportunities is simplified by this method. Example: The central box contains a product as it is currently used, for example, a pen for writing. In front of and behind it is recorded what happened to the pen before (for example, it was delivered packed and stored) and what will happen to the pen afterwards (it will be stored again or recycled or disposed of). This is exactly how the subordinate and superordinate systems are viewed. So, for example, in the “superordinate” system: “What do I need in the vicinity of a pen (paper, desk)” or for the “subordinate”: “What does a pen contain (spare parts, nib, etc.)?” Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

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Nine Windows

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Notes

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Experiences – A very transparent and structured method.

Identified sources of the method Book – Successful Problem Solving. I. E. Seed (Cogentus Consulting Ltd. 2016) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009)

Not Kansas

345

Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing weaknesses Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description With the Not Kansas creativity technique, you can undertake fantasy journeys or enter guided imagery scenarios. With this technique, you can send your subconscious on journeys where you can find ideas in unexpected places. “Toto, something tells me we’re not in Kansas anymore” – Dorothy in “The Wizard Of Oz” (MGM, 1939). Perhaps it is true that the last adventures possible today are those of our imaginations. With fantasy travel you can send your subconscious on a journey. If the stories are well-designed, they offer opportunities for discovering or seeing things for yourself. These stories leave room for questions. In them you can see behind objects, open doors or look into empty mineshafts. If you have prepared your own questions about your challenge well, before starting the journey, you will be able to envisage scenes at these fantasy places that you can associate with later. Before the exercise, start by formulating and writing down your questions as objectively as possible. Meditate on the questions for a while. Relax. Be calm. Immerse yourself in a private inner retreat and breathe evenly. Then make a voice recording of it beforehand to listen to during the exercise. Leave pauses at the relevant points where your subconscious should provide you with mental pictures. Three fantasy travel scenarios are stored under “Files”; two longer ones, “The Dakotas” and “Storm”, and a short one, “The Three Doors”. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration

Handling Step 1: Relax. Be calm. If necessary, use a common relaxation technique. Step 2: Ask your subconscious a specific question about your current challenge. Write down the question and ask yourself for symbols and images that will help you master your challenge. Step 3: Embark on a fantasy journey (guided imagery journey). For example, you can use “The Dakotas”, “Storm” or “The Three Doors” from the files. Step 4: Accept the messages your subconscious sends you. Don’t censor anything. The stronger your trust, the more freely images flow and the more likely they are to contain content, meaning and truth. Step 5: Let your imagination run wild to allow the images to appear as clearly and vividly as possible. Quickly capture the images in words or drawings. Step 6: When confusing images arise that have nothing to do with the challenge, focus on others you can see. You are a girl guide/boy scout, who discovers and pursues the promising track, ignoring all false signs. Step 7: Search for patterns, relationships, qualities and solutions. Use the messages, images and symbols as starting points for free association. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation

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Not Kansas

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity

730

Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Ambience It is important to create an atmosphere free of criticism. I like to support such an atmosphere by playing music during the fantasy trip. I offer about four different audio examples beforehand and ask the participant what they find inspiring and relaxing at that moment. This interaction alone helps to break down inhibitions around this unusual activity.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

OMIPC

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Imagination = Imagination Only make this mark when imagination is needed for your challenge. Only in this case can creative techniques be used afterwards. Passion = Passion

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The OMIPC technique supports selection of the right topics for subsequent processing. At the beginning of an innovation project there is often the question of the right starting point. The OMIPC selection criteria help to identify the most promising topics and thus increase the probability of success in subsequent process. The method can be used in a team as well as individually. It is a good complement to the “Wishful Thinking” method described by Florian Rustler in their book The Little Handbuch of Innovation Methods. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Create a list of challenges that could be considered for editing. Evaluate the challenges using the criteria below to identify the most relevant topics. Go through your list of challenges and mark each criterion that fits the topic. If the criteria O(wnership, M(otivation) and I(magination) are fulfilled, the challenge can be considered for idea generation. P(assion) and C(hampion) are therefore reinforcing elements only. The criteria in detail: Ownership = possibility of influence This criterion is used if you or your team have influence on the topic (at least partially). Motivation Use this marker if you want to edit the topic. If you are not interested in the topic, please do not mark it, because it will also be difficult for you to develop solutions for it.

If you are burning with enthusiasm for the topic, mark this item. Courage and staying power can serve as important boosters in advancing an innovation project. Champion = Change driver An implementation driver is a supporter within the company (ideally in management) who has a great interest in the implementation of an idea. They can decisively advance the project. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents unreflected action – Strengthens confidence in the team

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart

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OMIPC

Moderation: paper circles Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Application examples It would be nice if we could raise the profile of our offers. OMIPC This topic would definitely be an opportunity to work creatively. It would be nice if we could speed up the production process. OMI This issue can also be considered. Since there is no champion who has already communicated that they want to push this topic forward, it could sink into everyday life again. Therefore, it would be important to find a driver for the topic. It would be nice if I could change the German star system. MI This topic certainly needs creativity, but it is a big enterprise with limited influence. It would be nice if we could go to Greece for a week this year. OMPC This topic does not require a creative process. It’s enough just to do it.

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Visualize criteriaStickers provide very vivid visualization of the criteria, or they can be easily sketched on round moderation cards.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

Object Brainstorming

347

Step 1: Let the participants examine the objects and play around with them for a while. They will probably develop ideas about how something new might work, look or feel. Step 2: After a certain time, participants exchange ideas, document them or consider subsequent steps. The exercise can be done with a real problem or as a preliminary exercise or creative warm-up.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Objects that can be touched have a special meaning in creative processes and often facilitate creative thought processes. Objects are good starting points, especially when it comes to free association like Brainstorming. Object Brainstorming uses this knowledge and provides new ideas for the further development of objects. It can also be ideally used as a preliminary exercise in an innovation process to stimulate participants’ creativity and create the right working atmosphere. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Before the exercise, you should collect a number of items that you want to bring with you. Functional objects with which “something can be done” are ideal. These provide better inspiration. The following items work well: – kitchen utensils – tools – operating instructions – functional packaging and dispensers (such as soap dispensers) – bins – sports gear – toys and games Object Brainstorming starts with a question. Example: “How will the next generation of [the items] work?” Using the question, ask participants to think further about an existing problem or to invent something new.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes the agility of the participants – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Object Brainstorming

Experiences – Number of items Instead of using several items, only one can be used. While a large number of objects will allow participants to develop very different ideas,they will think more deeply about a single object. This can be a useful exercise for the subsequent creative process.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Objectivity Checkup

348

Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Objectivity Checkup model invites you to be curious and critical in the understanding and analysis phases of complex innovation projects. Critical of studies, slogans and statements about what is allegedly “objectively true”. Criticism of objectivity is driven by radical forward thinkers who conclude that scientific objectivity is an ideological construction. Their starting point is the assumption that whoever strives for objective knowledge tries to describe the world “as it really is” – without pursuing political or economic interests. Accordingly, research results should also be free of claims of power and the social conditions under which they originated. Among others, the philosopher Donna Haraway considers this assumption impossible. If you agree with the objectivity critics, the description of the world is never value-free. As an example, the authors Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschäppeler cite depictions of prehistoric people: “Even children’s books pass on the image of mammoth-hunting men. More unspectacular forms of food procurement are neglected. In fact, these representations originated in the 19th century, when hunting was prestigious. The by no means neutral-objective image served to strengthen the position of power of the family breadwinner and warrior.” Doubting objectivity means not asking what is right or wrong. The question of of what is true or untrue should rather be asked differently: “What is considered true?” and “Who benefits from it?” Where the claim of “truth” is made, then, the question should be asked: “What are the conditions under which this truth is produced?”

Handling Recommendation 1 Always deal critically with facts and statements in innovation projects – this applies to outside statements, as well as your own, which claim to be “true”. Recommendation 2 Stop believing every study. Stop believing slogans (“Capitalism needs growth” etc.). Recommendation 3 Stop believing that there is something that is “objectively true” – you will always find someone who can prove the opposite with a study. Recommendation 4 Begin to be curious – with the positions of others and with your own. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

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Objectivity Checkup

Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Notes

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Experiences – Practice on real situations I have read articles from daily newspapers, with a team, to check their objectivity. We asked questions like: “Who benefits from this statement?” and “Under what conditions/with what background was the article written?” We then moved on to the company’s current projects and asked similar questions.

Identified sources of the method Book – Objektivität, L. Daston, P. Galison (Suhrkamp Verlag 2017) Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013)

Offering Activity Culture Map

349

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Makes complex cause–effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description With the Offering Activity Culture Map we can discover innovation opportunities and search fields with a change of perspective between offer, action and culture. The Map uses three perspectives to discover new opportunities for innovation: 1. Current offer, product or service with its functions and features. 2. Actions that people take with and around this offer. 3. Cultural context in which people take advantage of this offer. The Map significantly expands these perspectives. With this tool, we see our offer or idea not only as a collection of functions and characteristics, but also as something that connects people, their actions and their culture.

Handling Step 1: In the middle of a sheet of paper or onscreen, describe your offer or idea with all its functions and features. Step 2: Draw a circle around your offer and start at the next circle level to record all actions that people perform with your offer. These can be individual or culturallydriven actions. If, for example, your offer is a book, the following actions could be recorded: – Writing notes during reading. – Discussing the book with friends and acquaintances. – Give the book away. – Etc. Step 3: When you are finished with actions, draw another circle and start to capture the cultural context in this outer circle. The following questions can help to open up the cultural context: – How do different population groups use our services? – What are the common beliefs around our offer? – What are the prevailing cultural trends around our offer? – What are the opinions and values surrounding our services? Step 4: Now discuss the completed diagram with your team and try to identify and synthesize unresolved problems and innovation search fields. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens living in the past

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Offering Activity Culture Map

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception

Notes

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: post-its

Experiences – Multidisciplinary power The Offering Activity Culture Map has a particularly big impact and opens up myriad potential innovation search fields when it is created with multidisciplinary and very diverse teams.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Open Hardware

350

Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Open Hardware or Open Source Hardware (sometimes also Free Hardware) refers to primarily electronic, inexpensive and universally applicable hardware components that are manufactured according to freely available construction plans. The movement and idea are close to the Free Software, Open Source and DIY Movement. Open Hardware components are mostly offered via Internet sites. This method offers a simple, fast and cost-effective way to build prototypes (with a focus on sensors and actuators) of electronically or digitally driven ideas. The best-known platforms are probably ARDUINO and RASPBERRY PI. These were originally designed for the Do-ItYourself community, but in the meantime more and more (large) companies are using this technique as an opportunity to create early and efficient prototypes of ideas and gain insights from them. One of the advantages of Open Hardware platforms is that a large number of devices are compatible and that even with little knowledge of programming languages, systems can be built and tested relatively easily and quickly. Since standard components can be used, which are connected via plugs, calculations for resistors and circuits and soldering of boards are not necessary. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates early prototypes Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates lists of opportunities and risks Identifies existing strengths

Handling Step 1: Familiarize youself with different platforms and possibly test them out before working with others. The LITTLEBITS website, for example, could provide a good “entry level”. Step 2: Be brave and simply try building your own hardware product. Ideally, you should do this within a small team. Step 3: You do not have to combine or connect all existing modules immediately. Start small and celebrate your first successes straight away. Step 4: Approach additional colleagues and/or customers in enough time to generate feedback and thus potential improvements. Step 5: Incorporate the feedback into your prototype and repeat Step 4 until you have an insightful result that will take you into product development or market research or … to get in the car. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use

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Open Hardware

Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: table tops People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: notebook People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals

Notes

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – https://www.arduino.cc/ (April 2017)

Open Innovation –

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Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The term Open Innovation refers to companies opening their innovation processes to the outside world. The aim is to use the added knowledge to increase innovation potential. There are basically three different forms of Open Innovation: 1. Outside-in: The ideas come from outside and are used in the company for innovations, for example, through paying license fees. 2. Inside-out: New processes have already emerged in the company, which are, for example, outsourced by founding a start-up. 3. Cooperative: ideas are developed together, and through cooperation processes between manufacturer and supplier can be optimized. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling There are different approaches and methods to implement Open Innovation in the organization. Frequently used are the following: – Idea competitions, which (as a rule) are controlled via an online platform: This method is often used to integrate student teams or end customers from the consumer sector in the innovation process.

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Toolkits (for example, in the form of development environments): These are issued to customers and users so that they can use them to develop new solutions. Cross-industry Innovation: In this approach, similarities between actors and problems in other areas are sought and the solutions developed there are applied to your own problem. Lead-user Model: Classically, this model is oriented towards customers who are already very advanced in the use of the product and ahead of the mass market. In the context of Open Innovation, lead users may also come from other markets with similar problems. Open Innovation communities: Here products, services and business models are discussed virtually, often accompanied by a moderator from the organizing company.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources No special resources required

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Open Innovation

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Open Innovation and corporate culture The introduction of Open Innovation often involves overcoming many of the difficulties associated with the existing corporate culture. Questions such as “What knowledge can we share?”, “How do we bring external and internal innovators together?” and “What happens to ideas?” must be answered in advance to ensure clarity. Otherwise the probability of a false start for the project is very high.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Kommunikation als Erfolgsfaktor im Innovationsmanagement, A. Zerfaß, K. M. Möslein (Gabler Verlag – Juni 2009) Book – NOT INVENTED HERE cross-indistry innovation, Vullings & Heleven (BIS Publishers 2015)

Open Space –

– – –

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The goal of Open Space is the rapid development of solutions and change aspects for a complex or conflict-laden topic. Open Space is a large group process in which 20 to 1,000 people work on a topic or a problem solution. The Open Space technique was developed in the US by Harrison Owen around 1985 and is now used worldwide. The website www.openspaceworldmap.org counts entries for 125 countries around the world and hundreds of registered open space followers. Since its inception other similar large-group methods have been developed, such as BarCamp, which is often more strongly organized online and has more to do with the Internet community, or the very low-threshold Marketplace method. For this method, participants meet within the framework of the Open Space conference to discuss a relevant topic on which people would like to work together. First of all, the main topics are proposed and selected within the plenum, according to the principle of self-organization, and then more deeply analysed in smaller working groups. Any topic proposed by a participant and considered important in the context of the overall theme can be dealt with, provided that the participant takes the discussion in hand and other interested parties are found to work on the topic. For an Open Space conference, only a sufficiently large conference room and smaller rooms in which the individual working groups can meet needs to be available. The advantage of this method lies in the fact that the varied experiences, competences and observations of the participants are bundled together and in this way diverse project and solution ideas can arise. Open Space always has a general theme. Suitable topics have one or more of the following characteristics:

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Urgent: It gets under the skin of participants, it concerns/touches/affects them, and the solution should have been here yesterday. Broadly laid out: Room for new ideas and creative solutions. Complex: There are many different ideas and routes to success, it cannot be solved by one person. Important: Of central importance for the future of the system.

An Open Space often lasts two to three days, the classic form two-and-a-half days. Depending on the topic, a shortened version of just one day can also be successful. If an Open Space lasts several days, the last half-day is used for evaluation and, if necessary, action planning. Working groups for implementation have often already been put together at the conference and first steps agreed upon. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling An Open Space consists of the following eight individual steps on the day of the event: Step 1: Introduction Step 2: Collection of concerns Step 3: Marketplace Step 4: Group work phases Step 5: Sharing Step 6: Planning of measures Step 7: Conclusion Step 8: Documentation In order to ensure the quality and lasting effect of the event, there should always be a detailed preparatory process with the client beforehand. Special service providers who are familiar with this format should also be recruited. The classic Open Space rules are the following: 1. Those who are there are exactly the right people. It makes little sense to think of those who do not participate or are currently involved in other working groups. Only those who are there have enough energy to participate and are willing to invest their time and energy in the Open Space theme. That proves they’re the right people. 2. Whatever happens: It’s the only thing that could have happened.

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3.

Open Space

At Open Space events, everyone has the chance to get involved according to their abilities and become part of the result. However, everything that could have been different did not happen and was therefore meaningless at the time of the event. Participants are invited to concentrate on what they can discuss, plan and actually get going. It starts when the time is right. It can always happens that members of a working group appear earlier or that some of join later. What is important is not necessarily punctuality, but most importantly the time when there is enough energy in the group to really work together. This can also mean that working groups end earlier if they have already sufficiently collaborated on the agreed topic, or go on for longer if there is an exciting discussion towards the end.

The fourth principle is also derived from this: 4. Past is past – not past is not past. The law of two feet. The law of the two feet is the central expression of the principle of self-responsibility of the participants and the voluntariness of participation. If a topic is no longer productive for a participant, it is expressly allowed, even desired, that they honor the group with their absence. Everyone should only remain in working groups for as long as they consider it useful and can contribute. This law can also be used to put frequent speakers and self-promoters in their place – but in our experience this is only necessary at very few events. Bumblebees and butterflies If participants apply the law of two feet and take it seriously, it can lead to two typical manifestations of Open Space events, which we metaphorically call “bumblebees” and “butterflies”. Bumblebees buzz from group to group and form a bridge between themes through frequent group changes. They “fertilize” the working groups, like bumblebees do flowers, with knowledge and insights from discussion rounds in which they previously participated, and thus contribute to networking. Butterflies flutter and pause, are more frequently to be found at the “non-stop break buffet” and other places ofseeming inactivity. At these places, however, something can happen that leads the way: Butterflies often put their heads together at the buffet and discuss crosssectional topics or evaluate their previous experiences. Findings from these discussions can then be used later in other working groups. And Finaly

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The well-designed architecture of Open Space conferences ensures that knowledge and insights can be successfully networked. A constructive and inviting atmosphere promotes this goal. In this respect, the following applies to the participants: keep your eyes open, you can always count on surprises. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens living in the past – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: especially suitable for large groups ( > 50 participants) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room People: experts Tool: recording device Finances: implementation budget

Open Space

Experiences – Open Space and Open Innovation Especially in the fields of Open Innovation or Co-creation, the Open Space format always produces great results.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Book – Das große Workshopbuch, U. Lipp, H. Will (Beltz – März 2008) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Handbuch Methoden der Organisationsforschung, M. Freitag, S. Kühl, P. Strodtholz (VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften – April 2009)

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Opportunity Response Model

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description This Model enables simple analysis and illustration through an overlapping graph of the innovativeness and economic responsiveness of a company to market opportunities The X-axis usually shows the time (t) that is needed to seize a market opportunity in the specific company. On the Y-axis, the potential of a market opportunity is illustrated on one hand and the competitive position of the company on the other.

time. The reason for this lies in the large number of competitors who gradually become aware of a market opportunity over time and try to exploit it as soon as possible. As a result, the opportunity itself becomes smaller as the market is already distributed among providers and the first competitors have positioned themselves. The second curve now shows the potential of the specific company to react to the identified market opportunity. In a similar way to the first curve, it is course case-specific and therefore different. If your own company’s ability to exploit an opportunity is flat, it will only hit the curve of market opportunity late in the X-axis timeline. Relatively weak responsiveness becomes apparent. In order to increase this and thus gain a competitive edge earlier by taking advantage of the market opportunity, it is necessary for your company’s curve to increase as steeply as possible. This creates an earlier point of intersection with the market opportunity, and a competitive advantage can be realized. The modification of the curve usually succeeds through specific competence build-up in the area appropriate to the market environment. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Generates plans and prioritizations Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling The Model is suitable for illustrating your own ability to exploit given market opportunities. These are usually illustrated on the Y-axis by a downward falling curve over 746

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

Opportunity Response Model – – –

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: paper in flipchart size

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Experiences – Important as proof of need for advice Above all, the model should be a basis for discussion of what needs to change. Most businesses and individuals need to become more agile to respond more quickly to opportunities. It is therefore well suited as a building block for presenting the need for advice.

Identified sources of the method Publikation – Opportunity Response model, P. Mc. Manners (Henley Business School – 2015)

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Opus Method

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Opus is a rating technique in which the feedback giver sorts cards with pre-printed statements into four different sections of a box, allowing them to express their opinion quickly. The Opus technique is the result of a consumer survey carried out by the Swedish company TerraFirma AB. An overwhelming 92 percent of respondents voluntarily answered the questions from the company, which has to do partly with the ease of use of the system and also with the simple fact that Opus is fun. On about 100 cards are statements on the investigated topic, on which feedback is sought. The participant reads each individual card and places it according to their opinion in a section of the answer box. The sections of the answer box are titled “I agree”, “I partially agree”, “I disagree” and “No opinion”. You can use Opus with any number of participants working one after the other, and everybody with the cards and the box, and obtain a good mood picture of how your idea or product is likely to be received. The technique is found in Michael Michalko’s book Thinkertoys in the chapter “Murder Board”. Generated output Generates forecasts and derivations Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling Step 1: Make an elongated box. External dimensions: approx. 40 cm × 10 cm, height approx. 1.5 to 2 cm. Inside, divide the box into four compartments of equal size. Step 2: Design the box to be attractive both inside and outside, so that it invites you to join in. Step 3: On the lid attach the titles of the four compartments: “I agree”, “I agree partially”, “I disagree” and “no opinion”. Step 4: Make 100 cards that fit into the compartments of the box. Step 5: Label the cards with statements like: “I think my product is superior to the competition because …” “The benefit is …” “I can make it at the production cost of …” “People will buy it because …” “The best marketing for this is …” “The funding will work this way: …” “My product will solve the following problems: …” “I expect the following results: …” Step 6: Ask participants to give you feedback by sorting the cards into the box. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons

Opus Method – – – – – – – – –

Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: box with 4 compartments Moderation: cards approx. 10 × 10 cm

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Tip for trainers Situation: A company’s management would like to have a picture of the mood of its employees on a particular topic. When I recommend Opus in such a case and carry it out with the company, I offer two types of assistance in preparation: Production of a suitable box system and development of questions together with the management. The success of the feedback technique depends on the quality of the targeted questions.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Web – http://web2.onoffice.de/kunden/terrafirma/7/ files/nwuni.pdf (April 2017)

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Osborn Checklist

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Osborn Checklist is an old but still very powerful method named after its inventor, Alex Osborn. It serves as a kind of guide for a systematic, almost forced generation of ideas. With this technology, the focus is mainly on product and process innovations and it always gives you the good feeling that you have not forgotten an essential aspect in the Brainstorming process. The Checklist was first published around 1957 and to this day has not lost any of its validity. The Checklist has proved particularly useful in the further development of existing solutions, products or processes. It is also very helpful as a follow-up technique for Brainstorming or Mindmapping. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling All questions on the Osborn Checklist acan be processed alone or in a team, in the given or arbitrary order. Working on a question can in turn be combined and supported with all Brainstorming techniques.

No.

Approach

Question

1

Another use

Are there alternative uses?

2

Another use

Are there alternative uses when it is adapted?

3

Customize?

What else is like this?

4

Costumize?

What other ideas/uses does it inspire?

5

Costumize?

Are there parallels in the past?

6

Costumize?

What can I copy?

7

Adjust?

Who can I imitate, what can I imitate?

8

Change?

New twist, direction, new twist?

9

Change?

Other meaning, color, movement, direction, sound, smell, shape, form!

10

Change?

Give it other shapes, dimensions!

11

Enlarge?

What can I add?

12

Enlarge?

What happens over a longer period, cycle, timeframe?

13

Enlarge?

Higher frequency, more frequent occurrence?

14

Enlarge?

Stable, firmer, stronger?

15

Enlarge?

Higher?

16

Enlarge?

Extend?

17

Enlarge?

Thicken?

18

Enlarge?

Add additional value, increase value?

19

Enlarge?

Additional component, ingredient, ability?

20

Enlarge?

Duplicate?

21

Enlarge?

Multiply?

22

Enlarge?

Exaggerate?

23

Shrink?

What’s removable?

24

Shrink?

Shrink?

25

Shrink?

Compact, condense?

26

Shrink?

Miniaturize?

27

Reduce?

Flatten?

28

Shorten?

Shorten?

29

Slim down?

Slim down? Lightweight construction?

30

Reduce?

Skip?

31

Reduce?

Rationalize, make more streamlined?

32

Shrink?

Split?

33

Reduce?

Understate, devalue?

34

Replace?

Who instead?

35

Replace?

What instead?

36

Replace?

Different ingredient, mixture, other composition, fuel?

37

Replace?

Different material?

38

Replace?

Different process, dismantling, different manufacturing?

39

Replace?

Different power, power source?

40

Replace?

Different place?

41

Replace?

Different approach?

42

Replace?

Different sound, tone, different voice?

Here is a typical version of the Osborn Checklist:

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Osborn Checklist No.

Approach

Question

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Rearrange?

Component exchange?

44

Rearrange?

Different scheme, decor, model, different appearance?

45

Rearrange?

Different layout?

46

Rearrange?

Different order?

47

Rearrange?

Reverse cause and effect?

48

Rearrange?

Steps, process, tempo change?

49

Rearrange?

Sequence, change grid?

50

Reverse?

Positive and negative regrouping?

51

Reverse?

What about the opposite?

52

Reverse?

Bridging from behind?

53

Reverse?

Turn it upside down?

54

Reverse?

Roles or tasks?

55

Reverse?

Wearing an old hat?

56

Reverse?

Turn the tables?

57

Reverse?

One use to reusable? Reusable to disposable?

58

Reverse?

What about a mixture, an alloy, a selection, a collection?

59

Reverse?

Combine units!

60

Reverse?

Combine intentions, applications!

61

Reverse?

Combine demands!

62

Reverse?

Combine ideas, approaches, partial solutions!

In order for the Osborn Checklist to reach its full potential, however, there are two things to consider: 1. in addition to the initial help questions provided above, you should still create your own help questions. On one hand, this gives you a better idea of how the Checklist works and, on the other, brings you a little closer to the essential character of your own challenge. 2. It is essential to always work through the entire Checklist and with sufficient time and thoroughness per question. Experience has shown that the questions that feel too difficult or pointless hold the greatest potential for new ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Headstand technique included Experienced users can also be guided to creative design by the Approaches (column 2). The processing of all questions should provide complete coverage of different perspectives. The Osborn Checklist also includes the Headstand technique for some questions. – Known advantages – nothing will be forgotten The Checklist is a great help in finding ideas, especially for inexperienced teams. No essential questions are ignored.

Identified sources of the method Book – 99 Tipps für Kreativitätstechniken, M. Mencke (Cornelsen Scriptor – April 2006) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Heureka, ich hab’s gefunden!: Kreativitätstechniken, Problemlösung und Ideenfindung, M. Schröder (Springer Campus – Juni 2006) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, H. Backerra (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2007) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, M. Nöllke (Haufe Lexware – Februar 2015) Book – Manual Thinking, L. Huber, G. J. Veldmann (GABAL Verlag – August 2016) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014) Book – Praxisorientiertes Innovations- und Produktmanagement, K. Gaubinger (Gabler Verlag 2009)

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Osborn Checklist

Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

Notes

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Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

PESTEL

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The PESTEL analysis is one of the most widely-used and well-known strategy tools. It enables the user to classify the market environment of an organization from a macroeconomic perspective. This in turn makes it possible to derive probable developments and their effects on the company. PESTEL is therefore an excellent basic method for sound decisionmaking at management and project level. Generated output Creates more knowhow growth Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling The PESTEL method is based on six different influencing factors, the initial letters of which give the method its name. Using the PESTEL method, users accordingly shed light on political (politics), economic (economy), social (socio-culture), technological (technology), environmental (ecology) and legal (law) factors. Since all these elements can potentially influence a company and its strategic decision-making, ideas, projects, etc. are analysed to establish the potential effects of those same factors. For political influencing factors, the user asks themselves questions in relation to the state organization in which the project/company concerned is/will be active. This raises questions about stability, prospects, economic order and so on. For economic influencing factors, the user deals with fundamental questions of economic development such as economic growth, demographics, inflation rate or unemployment rate.

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In the context of socio-cultural influencing factors, the user analyses the social environment. For example, they look at questions of education, social order and cultural or religious issues. Language, values and norms also play a role here. In terms of technological influencing factors, the user analyses technological development (for example, by looking at expenditure on research and development or by looking at the spread of information technology). In the ecological context they consider location-dependent environmental factors such as natural resources, climate, infrastructure or emissions. The legal analysis part deals, for example, with the prevailing constitution and case law, including specific legal areas such as competition or anti-trust law. Of course, not all influencing factors are relevant for every decision. However, the model offers a very good basis for structuring a relatively holistic view of situation-specific, relevant, influencing factors. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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PESTEL

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – PESTEL as a basis for group discussions The method is also suitable for use by groups with different technical expertise. Discussions in areas such as politics or technology often require in-depth knowledge, however PESTEL seems to offer muchadded value in these situations because the process makes it possible to structure thoughts without forgetting anything. As some things will only be recorded as bullet points, a large sheet of paper (or even better, a whiteboard) is helpful for later additions or further discussion by the group.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Macroenvironmental Analysis for Strategic Management, L. Fahey, V. K. Narayanan (South-Western – Juli 1986) Book – Marketing Management, K. L. Keller, P. Kotler (12th edition, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River 2006)

PMI

357

How you query the individual points is up to you. You can divide participants into three groups (as preferred) or have them all collect points one after the other. The one important thing is that you only allow a short time (three minutes) for consideration per point and then have the results presented to another person.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description PMI, according to de Bono, is a very simple and very effective method for reviewing and rethinking prejudices, existing points of view or first impressions. PMI stands for Plus, Minus and Interests. Through structured concentration on Plus points, Minus points and Interests, your own convictions are not strengthened, but rather individual characteristics of an assumption are collected and thus observed in a valueneutral way. It will then be much easier to make a decision/evaluation on the basis of an assessment that will very often be more rational than before the use of PMI. A point can be classified under both P and M, since there can be two points of view for an argument. Further, iInterest refers to all those points that cannot be classified either positively or negatively. At the start of the process the following sentence may be helpful: “It would be interesting to know whether …” The method is based on the EUI method (Agreement, Disagreement, Irrelevance). The difference is that PMI highlights the characteristics of the idea, while EUI focuses on importance for the team. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Handling First, Plus points are collected for a proposal, an idea or a topic. Then you gather the corresponding Minus points. Last but not least, you note the Interests or Interesting points. If all points are available, you can ask the participants for their opinions.

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PMI

Experiences – Plan method for recording points beforehand As moderator, think about how you want to capture the three points in advance. Otherwise the process will seem too disordered for the participants. – Note time The restriction of three minutes per point is important in order to avoid discussions and grandstanding.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

POEMS

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The POEMS method is used to study People, Objects, Environment, Messages and Services within a specific context. POEMS is an observation framework that allows the observer/researcher to understand the five elements both independently and within a coherent system. With this technique you can, in particular, look beyond the core object to be observed (for example, a product) and recognize in which relationships – with People, Objects, the Environment, Messages and Services – it is related to a broader context. Observing from a wider perspective makes it easier for teams to identify overarching systems and exciting relationships. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Prepare for observation. Design a form where you can record all answers to your questions and all observations according to POEMS. Also have ready all the tools you need to support your interviews, such as clipboards, camera, pen, recording device, etc. Step 2: Carry out your interviews. Observe your target group and involve people in a stimulating conversation. Observe what people do, what objects they use and touch, the environment in which ev-

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erything takes place and with what information they interact. Make a note of all observations in your form. Step 3: Look through POEMS glasses and analyze the observations. – People: Which different people take place in the observed context (roles, jobs, names, etc.)? What are the reasons these people appear in this context? Try to capture the full range of individuals. You may also want to use a separate form for this purpose. – Objects: What are the different objects (mobile as well as immobile) that populate the context? What are the broader categories or clusters of these objects? Why do they appear in this context and what are their relationships with each other? – Environments: What are the different spaces, places and locations that form the context? What are the broader categories or clusters of these objects? Why do they appear in this context and what are their relationships with each other? – Messages: Which information and messages are exchanged by and with the participants? How are these communicated and presented? Document all information and messages. – Services: What are the unique and individual services offered in the observed context? What are the broader categories or clusters of these services? Why do they appear in this context and what are their relationships with each other? Step 4: Now describe the context comprehensively. Scan all notes for surprising observations in POEMS elements or for clusters and contradictions. Discuss and document all findings as a team and try to uncover exciting unsolved problems or unsatisfied needs. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

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POEMS

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: paper Moderation: pens Technique: recording device

Notes

758

Technology: projector and laptop Technique: camera Technology: PC or notebook Tool: clipboards Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – A good entry tool POEMS is, from experience, a really good entry tool for the observation work of an innovation project. POEMS is my tool of choice for teams untrained in observation. The broad focus of the technique is especially helpful for rather inexperienced teams.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

PPCO

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Perspective 4 Overcome Concerns – Select the most important concerns and generate about ten ideas per point to resolve them or solve the problem. From the ideas generated, select the best ones and reformulate the original idea.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description PPCO is a method for idea assessment and enrichment. It helps in looking at an idea without actually discarding it. PPCO is generally suitable for analysing and improving ideas, giving feedback to others about their work or behavior, presenting new ideas to others and convincing them of ideas. PPCO consists of four steps: Pluses (positives), Potential, Concerns and Overcome Concerns. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Put the ideas you have found to a PPCO discussion. It helps to first describe the ideas, possibly on a flipchart/ pinboard. The different perspectives are discussed. Perspective 1 Pluses (positives) – What do you like about the idea, the proposal, the work? Name at least three to five points and be honest and specific in your answer. Perspective 2 Potential – What could develop from this in the future? What possibilities do you see? Name at least three to five points, introduced with “It could …”. Perspective 3 Concerns -–Now list the concerns you see. Be sure to formulate any concerns as an open question rather than a statement, for example, “How can you avoid it becoming too expensive?”

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Promotes appreciation – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Room: flipchart Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Moderation: paper in flipchart size

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Invitation for doubters This method is an invitation for the doubter in us to be heard. Thanks to this detailed consideration of all concerns and obstacles, implementation becomes realistic.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Creative Problem Solving: An Introduction, D. J. Treffinger, S. G. Isaksen (Prufrock – 2005) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

Paired Comparison Analysis

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The aim of Paired Comparison Analysis is to compare completely different and divergent ideas and design concepts on the basis of a simple matrix. This makes it possible to select those that promise the greatest chances of success. The methodology is particularly helpful if there is little objective data available or little is known about the extent to which the idea meets the different sales expectations of customers. It can be just as effective when it comes to checking how different design concepts meet the performance expectations of customers. The method is easier to use than other matrices because it shows the relative value of the different options before deciding on a specific solution.

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Handling The following steps should be followed: Step 1: Create a clear definition: – a clear description of the solution to be sought – this ensures that many different people can work on the analysis with the same understanding and in the same manner Step 2: Different generating of and researching ideas/solutions – develop many different ideas with different techniques – give these ideas memorable titles for better identification Step 3: Create comparison matrix – the same idea is juxtaposed in the column and row headers and the intersection of the same idea is omitted – only two different ideas/solutions will be compared in this Paired Comparison Analysis – the comparison should always prefer the better one with regard to clear definition – important: make a quick decision on what is better and determine how much better (develop scale for measurement) Step 4: Consolidate results: – add up the absolute value of each idea – convert these values into percentages to make the overall results comparable Tip! The tool can be used in different situations, for example in the weighting of criteria, the selection of problems, ideas, projects or personnel. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application

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Complexity for the moderator: rather medium Complexity for the participants: rather medium Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Tool: recording device Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Technique: Microsoft Excel Technology: PC or notebook Technology: projector and laptop

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Helps to select the “right” solution

Through consistent implementation, you actually find the “best and right” solution.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Mind Tools, J. Manktelow (Mind Tools Ltd., Kogan Page)

Paper Prototyping

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Step 3: Give the team five minutes for the first trial prototype and have participants present the results to each other. Step 4: Now let the teams create a prototype of the actual challenge. Step 5: The teams present the results and then show the prototypes to the target group. They even take to the streets and gather immediatefeedback for further adjustment and development of the idea.

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Creating prototypes from paper is a very powerful tool in Design Thinking and Lean Startup and is often underestimated. The application area of Paper Prototyping is not limited to the illustration of digital formats and the user interfaces of apps, but can represent the complete analog area of our life. Simple stickers, wristbands, vending machines, household appliances, packaging … which can be brought to life with paper or cardboard. Experience shows that many users can only give relevant feedback on ideas if they put in front of them as prototypes and can also be touched. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates early prototypes Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Provide the team with sufficient material for handicrafts, such as paper, cardboard, glue, scissors, pencils and whatever comes to mind as material. Step 2: As a team leader or innovation coach, always lead by example and quickly create the first Paper Prototype – what counts here is not attractiveness, but action.

This cycle is repeated until the idea is made perfect before you. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces rationalizers – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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Recommended resources Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Moderation: glue dots Moderation: paper circles Moderation: post-its Moderation: coloured pencils Tool: periodicals Moderation: soft pencils Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: glue Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: notebook Moderation: cards approx. 10 × 10 cm Moderation: scissors People: moderator/trainer Tool: colored pencils Tool: sellotape Moderation: paper

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Make it easy Be courageous and motivate the team to design a simple Paper Prototype. Perhaps with the task: “Make an innovative little helper for your loved ones!”

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Prototyping (April 2017)

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Paper Prototyping Templates Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation

Innovation phase P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The Board of Innovation was one of the first organizations to develop a variety of paper templates to make early prototyping, especially of digital components, easier and more efficient. Paper, pen and scissors are still the best tools when it comes to developing Design Thinking, early prototypes of apps or other services, for example, and then testing them directly on users. A variety of templates are offered for free download, including prototyping screens of the current iPhone series. There are a lot of GUI elements in other files to quickly design app screens. Generated output Creates early prototypes Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Handling Step 1: Download the template files, for example, from: http://www.boardofinnovation.com/resources-tools-forpaper-prototyping/ Step 2: Print the templates in sufficient numbers. Step 3: With enough pens, colored pencils and scissors, prototyping and designing can begin – especially good for inexperienced employees with weak design skills.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: craft kit Tool: sellotape Moderation: colored pencils Moderation: soft pencils Moderation: glue Moderation: scissors Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.boardofinnovation.com/resourcestools-for-paper-prototyping/ (April 2017)

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

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Pecha Kucha seconds, so it is recommended that the slide be kept very simple and descriptive. As moderator it is important to pay attention to the speaking time for each slide in order to give all participants the same conditions. Here a large clock can help, which is set up in the room, or create self-running presentations, which automatically switch to the next slide after 20 seconds. Tell participants that it is especially important to tell a story and that the slides should not be overloaded with facts.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Ideas often fail not because of the quality of the content, but because of the way in which the idea is presented. The Pecha Kucha method provides a fast, structured way of presentation, which is particularly advantageous when time is limited, or when many ideas simply have to be presented in a short period of time. Pecha Kucha’s premise is that with a presentation, information can be conveyed quickly and in condensed form, if the number of slides and the time allowed per slide is limited. With Pecha Kucha these are 20 slides and 20 seconds’ presentation time per slide. Pecha Kucha can be used in the innovation process as an exercise or as a format for the presentation of ideas. The method creates a lot of fun and dynamism for a working group. Pecha Kucha (Japanese for “chat”) began as an event in Tokyo where designers shared their ideas. The format was developed by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham. Many similar formats have been added since then, such as the Ignite technique. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Participants prepare a presentation of their idea or solution (for example, with PowerPoint or Keynote) and make sure that no more than 20 slides are used. It should be possible to explain the contents of a slide within 20 766

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Technology: projector and laptop Tool: stopwatch

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Pecha Kucha

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Experiences – Variant: PowerPoint-Karaoke If, as moderator, you notice that participants have difficulties with presentation situations, for example they appear to be insecure or present ideas too exhaustively, you can integrate a Pecha Kucha exercise sequence. You can use PowerPoint-Karaoke, a Pecha Kucha variant where the contents of the slides are unknown, to practice. The participants only see the contents when they appear in the picture. After 20 seconds, the next slide is displayed automatically (or manually by the moderator). Give participants the feeling that they cannot do anything wrong to dispel possible fears.

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Change Perspectives Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description With this technique facts and situations are considered in an unusual way. As a result, you will receive instructions on how to change a product or service in order to make it attractive to buyers and users. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Handling Define the roles of those individuals who use the product or service. Describe them as empathetically and comprehensively as possible. Personas or Empathy Maps are a great help here. Assign roles to individual workshop participants and ask them to describe their (virtual) experiences and expectations from the perspective of each role. Persona characteristics in the form of sample descriptions can also help here to make actions and decisions understandable. You can also produce these descriptions in a simulated sales conversation in which another participant mimics the salesperson.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Avoid statistics The smallest number of customers correspond to the statistical average. Every human being has corners and edges that also play a role in decision-making processes. Take these into account and consciously build them into the user roles.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

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Perspective Diagram

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In the next steps address the Positive and Negative Expectations. As the moderator, you should record all points in key points, but refrain from noting the name of the key point generator.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Perspective Diagram visualizes the group’s level of knowledge on an innovation topic and thus creates a good basis for the next steps in problem definition or idea generation. It uses four dimensions: Previous Knowledge, Open Questions, Negative Expectations, Positive Expectations. The procedure is similar to Jim Rough’s Dynamic Facilitation method. A large sheet of paper is used for the visualization, which can be easily viewed by all participants, for example attached to a pinboard. Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates lists of opportunities and risks Handling Step 1: It is best to use a flipchart or brownpaper and divide it by a diagonal cross into four fields, which you name with the headings Previous Knowledge (top), Open Questions (bottom), Negative Expectations (left), Positive Expectations (right). Step 2: In the middle of the cross stick/write the task. Step 3: In an individual phase, each participant draws the Perspective Diagram on an A4 sheet and fills it out for themselves. Step 4: As a team, fill in the large Perspective Diagram. Start by asking each participant one open question. Write the answers in the corresponding field. Then record the Previous Knowledge of the participants.

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: Post-its Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Behavior of the moderator when collecting information As the moderator, make sure that the perspectives mentioned by participants are taken literally and that no interpretation flows into them. Otherwise, this will very quickly lead to criticism from participants and diminishing motivation. – Groups that do not know each other If the group members do not yet know each other, there is a high probability that there is not yet enough trust to tell each other negative experiences, for example. In this case it is advisable to change the headings. Use “Negative Expectations” instead of “Negative Experiences” and equivalently “Positive Expectations” instead of “Positive Experiences”. This makes it easier for participants to share their information with the new group.

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Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014) Book – Balanced Scorecard – Schritt für Schritt, P. R. Niven, R. S. Kaplan (Wiley-VCH – Juni 2003) Book – Werkzeuge des Wandels: Die 30 wirksamsten Tools des Change Managements, Heiko Roehl (Schäffer Poeschel – März 2012)

Phoenix Question Checklist

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Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description Phoenix is a question checklist developed by the CIA to encourage its employees to look at a challenge from as many angles as possible. You may remember the television detective Columbo, played by Peter Falk. Columbo’s success in solving criminal cases lay in his way of questioning suspects. He asked not just one or two questions, but a long series of questions. To ask a single question would be like hoping to understand a wheel by examining a single spoke. Only the sum of all spokes plus tyre and hub make up the complete wheel. Only the consideration of all elements results in an understanding of the whole. The entire Phoenix Question Checklist is found in two parts in the implementation of this method. Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates key questions for idea generation Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Generates plans and prioritizations Handling Step 1: Write down your challenge/problem. Isolate the core question and commit to finding ONE answer – if not THE answer – by a specific date. Step 2: Edit the Phoenix Question Checklist for your particular problem:

Why is it necessary to solve the problem? Which advantages do you have from the solved problem? – What are the unknowns? – What is it you don’t understand yet? – What information do you have? – What is NOT the problem? – Is the information sufficient or insufficient? Or superfluous or contradictory? – Could you make a drawing of the problem or plot it in a diagram? – How can the problem be defined? – Can you separate the sub-topics of the problem? What are the relations and relationships of the subtopics to each other? – Which constants of the problem are unchangeable? – Have you encountered this problem before? – Have you ever seen this problem in a modified form? – Do you know of a related problem? – Try to remember a similar problem that has a similar unknown in it. – Try to find a similar problem that has already been solved. Can you transfer the solution? – Change the question of the problem. How many ways can you redesign the question? Can you generalize? Or specify? Can the rules be changed? – What are the best, worst and most likely cases you can imagine? Step 3: Edit the Phoenix Question Checklist as it affects your plan: – Can you solve the whole problem? Part of it? – What would be your preferred solution? Can you imagine it figuratively? – How much of the unknown can you determine? – Can you deduce anything useful from the information you already have? – Have you already used all the information available to you? – Have you included all existing assumptions in your analysis? – Can you separate the problem solution into individual steps? Can you verify the accuracy of the individual steps to investigate? – What creativity techniques can you use to generate ideas? How many possible creativity techniques can be applied? – Can you see a result? How many different types of results can you see? – How many different paths have you taken in trying to solve the problem?

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What have others done? Can you intuitively grasp the solution? Can you check the result? – What should be done? How could it be done? – Where would it be done? – When should it be done? – Who would do it? – What exactly do you need to do at this moment? – Who will be responsible for what? – Can you use this problem to solve another problem? – What is the special originality of this problem that makes it unique? – Which milestones can best mark your progress? – How will you know that you are successful? Step 4: Write down the answers: Request further information, solutions, ideas for evaluation and analysis. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens living in the past – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Room: flipchart Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Keep moving A special feature of Phoenix is the large number of questions that confront a team. When leading a group working with the Question Checklist, it is important to keep participants fresh so that they do not get tired after a while. This can be done by dividing the team and working in several short blocks of 30 or 45 minutes, for example. This leads to several deadlines, at which points a subgroup undertakes to answer certain questions or even “find the solution”.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Phoenix Checklist: Turning Complex Problems into Simple Solutions, J. Campbell (Campbell & Company Publsihing LLC 2014) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Photoshop Prototype

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Step 4: Use these findings to enrich your idea or possibly completely redesign it. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user)

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams

Description This is another form of rapid prototyping, i. e. early prototypes with low resolution. Situations ideas, concepts or use scenarios are represented by simple photo montages. The aim of a Photoshop Prototype is to show the underlying basic principles of a concept, with few words, by means of manipulated photos. These pictures then help deliver new insights, enrichment and feedback about the idea.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Generated output Creates early prototypes Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Create or search for a suitable picture that shows your idea, situation or concept. Step 2: Use an image processing program (Photoshop or similar), the image programs supplied with your computer or simply Microsoft PowerPoint to manipulate and enrich the image with your thoughts/plans. Step 3: With these pictures present your idea to other people and collect their feedback, suggestions and additions.

Recommended resources Technique: camera Technology: projector and laptop Technology: PC or notebook Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Perfection not required Similar to other rapid prototype methods, a perfectly manipulated image does not have to be created at this point. This could even have a negative effect, because respondents will be too “intimidated” and get the feeling that “everything is ready anyway”. Therefore, using Microsoft PowerPoint can be quite sufficient. In addition, you should not invest too much time here, since the idea will most likely have to be changed afterwards – it will continue to grow.

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – http://www.creativebloq.com/ux/rapid-prototyping-using-photoshop-cc-51411816 (April 2017)

Pivoting

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The term “pivot” comes the Lean Start-up model of Eric Ries. It refers to the necessary adjustment of the strategic orientation of a start-up, whereby the corporate vision is not itself called into question. Pivoting refers to the significant strategic change of course of a young company to make it more successful. But even long-established companies can use these pivots to generate innovations. A pivot can be triggered by customer feedback, tests, competitive situations or generally new market conditions. There are different types of pivots. – Zoom-in pivot In this case, what was previously regarded as a single characteristic for a product becomes the total product. – Zoom-out pivot In the opposite situation, sometimes a single feature is not sufficient to support an entire product. With this type of pivot, what was considered a total product becomes a single feature of a larger product. – Customer segment pivot In this pivot, the company realizes that the product it manufactures solves a real problem for real customers, but that they are not the kind of customers for which it was originally intended. In other words, the product hypothesis is only partially confirmed, the right problem is solved, but for different customers than originally expected. – Customer demand pivot After getting to know your customers extremely well, it sometimes becomes clear that the problem you’re trying to solve doesn’t really matter to them. However, due to this familiarity with the client, you often discover other related problems that are important and can be solved by your team. In many cases, these related problems only require a small price correction on the existing product. In other cases, a completely new product is required. This is again a case where the product hypothesis is only partially confirmed; the target customer has a

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problem that needs to be solved, but not what was originally expected. A famous example of a company Pivoting is the Potbelly Sandwich Shop chain, which today has over 200 shops. It all started with an antique shop in 1977; the owners began to sell sandwiches because of the number of customers in their shops. Soon they had taken the pivot to a completely different line of business. – Platform pivot A platform pivot refers to a change from an application to a platform or vice versa. Normally, start-up companies that want to create a new platform start by selling individual applications for their platform, the so-called killer app. Only later does the platform help third parties to break through as a way to create their own related products. However, this order is not carved in stone and some companies have to perform these pivots several times. – Business model pivot This pivot uses a concept by Geoffrey Moore, who observed that companies generally follow one of two main business models: high margins, low volume (complex systems model) or low margins, high volume (throughput volume model). The former is often associated with business-to-business (B2B) or corporate sales cycles and the latter with consumer goods (although there are notable exceptions). In a business model pivot, a startup changes the model. Some companies are shifting from high margin, low volume to mass market (for example, Google’s search application); others, originally designed for the mass market, have required long and costly sales cycles. – Value-added pivot There are many ways to realize the value a company creates. These methods are often called monetization or yield models. These terms are far too restrictive. The idea of monetization is based on the premise that it is a separate feature of a product that can be added or removed at will. In fact, value creation is an essential part of the product hypothesis. Changes in the way a company creates value can often have far-reaching consequences for business, product and marketing strategies. – Growth apparatus pivot In this type of pivot, a company changes its growth strategy to seek faster or more profitable growth. In general, but not always, the growth apparatus requires a change in the way value is created. – Channel pivot In traditional sales terminology, the mechanism by which a company brings its product closer to its customers is called a sales channel. For example, packaged

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Pivoting

consumer goods are sold in grocery stores, cars at dealerships and company software (with far-reaching adaptations) by consulting and specialized service companies. The specifications of the channel often determine the price, characteristics and competitive landscape of a product. A channel pivot is the realization that one and the same basic solution could be distributed over another channel with greater effectiveness. Whenever a company abandons a previous complex distribution model and sells directly to its end customers, a channel pivot is underway. Precisely because of its destructive effect on distribution channels, the Internet has had a damaging impact on industries that previously required complex distribution channels, such as newspapers, magazines and books and they have changed their models to embrace the web. – Technology pivot Sometimes a company discovers a way to achieve the same solution through completely different technology. Technology pivots are much more common among established companies. In other words, they support innovation, achieve growth-enhancing improvement and maintain their existing customer base. Established companies prefer this type of pivot because not much changes. The customer segment remains the same, the customer problems are the same, the value creation model is identical and the distribution partners are the same. The only question is whether the new technology leads to a higher price and/or higher performance compared to the existing technology. Generated output Creates a vision or future scenario Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents wrong granularity – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens living in the past

776

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Management mandate required If pivoting is not used in a start-up but in an old-economy company, it is to be classified as a strategy method and will not lead to success without an appropriate management mandate. The use of pivoting can quickly trigger great fears and resistance without an appropriate mandate.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, E. Ries (Crown Business 2011)

Platform Plan

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Open for partners A platform should also always be attractive to partners who, over time, can map their own services and offers on it. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Platform Plan combines individual digital ideas or solutions in an integrated platform concept. The successful platform principles and features are used. Even if we don’t intend to actually create a platform or a portal, this method greatly helps in looking at each idea from a slightly different angle – the platform angle – and in discovering opportunities for possible interesting combinations and integrations. A Platform Plan means thinking in terms of a holistic way of offers in which customers can benefit and satisfy their needs in a wide variety of ways. The following platform success principles should always be part of the Plan: Clear core with fixed options A platform should always have a clear functional core with fixed basic options. In the example of Facebook this would be core functions like Create, Connect and Share. Recurring users The offer of a platform should always be designed in such a way that users have a great interest in returning again and again and in deepening or intensifying their activities. Others do the work In a successful platform, it should not be the platform operator who generates the content benefit. Many other users and partners should be responsible for the content.

Handling Step 1: In a team, discuss and develop the essential characteristics that drive the success of a platform and keep them in a visible position. Step 2: Among your ideas, offers and solutions, identify those that have the potential to form a platform core. Step 3: Use the well-known platform principles to put the selected ideas through their paces or improve them. Step 4: In this step stress your ideas with the typical features a platform should have: Networking, active engagement, sharing, scalability, business collaboration, trustworthiness etc. Step 5: Design a Plan for the platform implementation. Details such as strategy, milestones, necessary partners, technologies, risks, investments, etc. should be listed here. Step 6: Share and discuss your Platform Plan with all key stakeholders and sponsors and discuss the next steps. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application 777

369 – – – – – – – – –

Platform Plan

Complexity for the moderator: rather high Complexity for the participants: rather high Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Notes

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Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – A must for digital transformation The Platform Plan is an indispensable tool in all innovation projects in which digital transformation plays a central role.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Plus or Delta

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Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Tames a disturbing group clown – Weakens debating – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description As in the “I like/I wis/ How about if …” method, the Plus or Delta method classifies feedback into categories, thus sorting it – and allowing more constructive discussion. The only difference here is that there are two categories. Under “Plus” you collect the positive feedback points the team has noticed and which shouldbe happily retained. Under “Delta” you will find points that should be reconsidered or even changed in the future. One advantage of this method is its universal applicability, i. e. it can be used for ideas, activities, prototypes and marketing measures. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Depending on the composition of the group, prepare and hand out small Plus or Delta slips of paper for each participant (this can help with new teams or those with alphas, as initially everyone is equally involved). Step 2: Give each participant five to ten minutes to fill in their slips. Step 3: Have each participant present (read) their points and place all of these in a clearly visible position on a central flipchart. Step 4: After all participants’ points have been recorded, you and the team will formulate the next steps. “What do we do now – what do we do differently or stop doing?”

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: A4 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Make sure everyone delivers One of the main tasks of the moderator is to ensure that the method is applied consistently with all team members.

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Plus or Delta

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

Notes

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Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Point of View – Stakeholder Analysis

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description With this technique, different points of view of the various stakeholders are taken up on the question to be dealt with in order to gain new insights. Especially when you want to develop new concepts or business models, it can be very helpful to put yourself in the shoes of the various stakeholders, to record their possible opinions and needs and to present their interrelationships. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling Step 1: Write the core question in the middle of a brown paper or whiteboard. Step 2: Brainstorm with your team to identify as many stakeholders as possible for the topic in question. Step 3: Position all stakeholders (on Post-its) around the core question. Step 4: Add the respective needs and points of view of the stakeholders and draw lines between them that, in your opinion, represent direct or indirect connections (direct connection = solid line/indirect connection = broken line). Step 5: Label the connecting lines with meaningful words that characterize the relationships between parties. The point here is to document the positive and negative perceptions of stakeholders. Step 6: Work as a team to derive conclusions and insights from this overall picture.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location People: diverse mix of individuals Moderation: post-its Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Point of View – Stakeholder Analysis

Experiences – Three-meter trick helps Once you have created the stakeholder analysis on the Brown paper, with the team step back three meters and view the overall picture from a distance. Frequently, connections become clearer and insights strengthen.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Planning Poker

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players with the most extreme differences justify their respective cards (pay attention here to the pure reasoning of your own opinion; it should not be discussed). Step 6: When the parties have exchanged their reasons for their choices, ALL participants pick up their cards and the group goes through Steps three to five again. It can happen that the opinions of others may have strengthened or changed. If extreme differences persist, have the idea evaluated later or by another group. Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Planning Poker is a playful way to bring different opinions to the table and to identify different opinions in order for team members to get in touch with each other. Especially in smaller evaluation groups (four to eight participants), ideas can be discussed for a long time or the alpha-male/female of the round often simply makes the decisions. Planning Poker quickly makes individual opinions visible, reveals differences and at the same time has a playful component. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Prepare five “poker cards” (often the size of standard playing cards) for each participant in the round, which should represent the numbers one to five. Step 2: Now present an idea to be evaluated and briefly answer participants’ methodology questions (only these questions should be clarified – there should be no discussion held or opinion expressed). Step 3: Ask each participant to place one of their cards face down in front of them. Here one counts as “idea not good at all” and five as “idea very good”. Step 4: After all participants have put down their cards, ask them to turn them face up. Step 5: Now look at the individual values together. You now know how the idea is to be evaluated as a group, in a unanimous vote. If there are different opinions, let the

Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Tool: playing cards Moderation: post-its People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team

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Planning Poker

Room: table tops Moderation: cards approx. 10 × 10 cm

Experiences – Convert playing cards to Planning Poker cards You can easily use a normal card game and stick Post-its with numbers on one side.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Identified sources of the method Organization – innogy SE – Dortmund Web – https://www.meinspiel.de/planning-poker-logogestalten-drucken-kaufen?gclid=CK7C6ri2_tICFY0A0wodDJ8G2g (April 2017)

Notes

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Popular Media Scan

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Step 5: Summarize all results and findings and discuss the new possibilities and opportunities that arise. Impact on obstacle effects – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens living in the past – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description The aim of the Popular Media Scan is to discover and understand current key cultural phenomena by taking a broad look at what is published and reported in important media. With the Scan, new areas for research and new innovation search fields can be discovered at an early stage. The primary benefits of the method are: clarifying the cultural context, recognizing patterns, providing directions. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Creates more background information Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Generates forecasts and derivations Handling Step 1: Identify global topics related to your current project. Use a Mindmapping session, for example. Step 2: Start the search for information related to the identified global topics. Use websites, magazines, libraries, TV shows, etc. Step 3: Search for patterns and similarities. Filter all your information by patterns to track emerging trends. Step 4: Also look for adjacent topics where the identified trends may also play a role.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Technique: Internet access People: multidisciplinary team Technology: PC or notebook Finances: implementation budget Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Popular Media Scan

Experiences – A continuous exercise Experience has shown that you can only truly exploit the exciting potential of the Popular Media Scan when you use it continuously. – Pass on results In order for the Popular Media Scan to generate a good cost:performance ratio, it is essential that results are passed on to all of the company’s innovation projects and initiatives.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Post-it

374

Step 5: Once all the notes have been stuck on the focal point, participants structure the ideas together and reposition the Post-its as required, for example, in the form of a diagram. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description This variant of Brainstorming uses popular Post-its. A big advantage of this method is that no special resources are needed, because usually Post-its or other stickers are freely available in every company. And since they stick to most surfaces, you don’t need pinboards or whiteboards, but can stick the notes to office walls, doors, glass panes and other things. In addition, participants should work in silence, so that everyone can concentrate on their own ideas. Only when the completed notes are glued to the wall does everyone deal with each other’s ideas. Then they have the opportunity to take them further them with additional concepts. Post-it is a very good technique for starting an innovation session. It quickly generates many results and makes them immediately visible in a structured way. Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: First, the task or problem is defined in writing and clearly displayed. Step 2: Each participant receives a sufficient number of stickers and a pen. Within a given period of time, participants write on the stickers in silence and without interaction with others. Step 3: When time is up, participants present their ideas and stick them to the designated area. Step 4: If further ideas arise from those presented, the originals can be supplemented afterwards.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: wall surfaces Moderation: post-its Moderation: soft pencils

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Post-it

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Experiences – Big Post-its help Although the method works with all Post-it sizes, it makes sense to use the largest possible, so that all ideas are easy to read. – Deliberately use unusual surfaces If at all possible, do not use pinboards, etc. Completely covering windows, corridor walls and office doors gives this method the special charm of spontaneity and serendipity. It adds a fun element and motivates participants.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://gamestorming.com/core-games/post-up/ (April 2017)

Poster Session

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and possibly magazines or other handicraft items. Give the groups 20 minutes to create their posters. Participants should pay attention to the following guidelines: – The poster must comprehensively describe the idea without a need for further explanation. – Pictures should be used primarily; words may be used occasionally for labels. Complete sentences and sections entirely of text are not permitted.

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Poster Sessions are very popular at scientific conferences to present research results briefly and concisely. Anyone interested can gain a comprehensive picture of a project in just a few minutes and then research further information. In the innovation environment, posters have an equally important function. They force participants to channel their thoughts and ideas and condense them into a few images. In addition, pictures are usually many times more meaningful than written text or verbal explanation only. Poster Sessions can quickly convey ideas to everyone involved in a very short time, but can also reveal weak points or new problems. Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Especially when ideas have been worked out in several groups, posters are a very helpful means of makeing them clear to other teams. Each group receives sufficient materials for a poster or posters. Ideally, this should be the size of a pinboard poster. Items include different colored pens, paper, glue,

When designing the poster, participants should ask themselves the following questions: – “Why is this important? Especially if you look to the future.” – “What is the essence of the idea?” – “How does this idea work?” The posters will not be presented afterwards, but the other groups will have sufficient time to view them. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Promotes the agility of the participants – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for agile teams – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants)

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Poster Session

Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: glue Moderation: glue dots Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: paper Moderation: poster Moderation: post-its Moderation: scissors Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: pinboards Tool: craft kit Tool: colored pencils Tool: sellotape Tool: painting tools

Notes

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Tool: orange color, adhesive tape, etc. Tool: periodicals Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Reconciliation In order to get a mood picture of the posters, you can have the ideas evaluated at the end using adhesive dots or other evaluation methods. – Do not allow discussion Try to prevent discussions in front of the posters and make sure that all participants can view and rate them in as friendly a manner as possible.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://scrum-master.ch/agile/index.php/19-katretrospektive/75-menu-main-retrospektive-phasengenerateinsides-postersession (April 2017)

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Power of Ten

Step 2: With the team record all the restrictions and characteristics of the question that can be fundamentally changed. Step 3: As a team select the most interesting restrictions/ properties and enlarge or reduce them. Step 4: Rethink and reformulate your initial question on the basis of the new findings.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Power of Ten method can be used both in the Brainstorming phase and in the analysis phase. The actual problem is considered by a multi-stage reduction or enlargement, and thus you acquire new points of view and new leading questions arising from them. The Power of Ten can bring new momentum to a team, especially when it feels it is not getting anywhere with an idea. By considering restrictions associated with the problem/ task, one can increase or decrease them and gain new insights. For example, there is usually the restriction, “Budget for implementation”. We could consider what solutions might look like if we had £ 10 million for implementation – or what if we had only £ 50? Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements

Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination

Handling Step 1: Write the initial question on a whiteboard clearly visible to everyone.

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Power of Ten

Experiences – Think in extremes! It really helps to gain new perspectives, angles or insights if you formulate and think of the enlargements/reductions in extremes. “What if we sold most in the world?” “What if we didn’t have a budget at all?”

Notes

792

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – https://dschool-old.stanford.edu/groups/k12/ wiki/faf1d/powers_of_ten.html (April 2017)

Pre-mortem

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description With the Pre-mortem method, it is possible to discuss future problems of implementing ideas in advance in order to formulate appropriate counter-measures. It is not an idea evaluation technique, but allows you to consider underestimated risks, some of which may still be present as blind spots. Especially with important innovation projects, it is advisable to think about all problems before implementation and to work on them systematically so that they do not lead to complications in the first place. A Premortem is carried out by the project team which is also involved in the creative and solution-finding phase. The method can be used once or several times during the course of the project. Generated output Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Fiasco: Look at the future of your challenge solution as a group. Imagine that the it failed terribly. Get participants to describe the scenario in detail. The closer the situation gets, the more likely they are to find alternative solutions. Step 2: Now ask yourself the question, “What could have been wrong?” Each participant in the group is given a few minutes to record their assessment of possible reasons for failure on moderation cards. They can let loose

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their intuition and write down everything that goes through their head. Step 3: Everyone presents their reasons and places them together on some point of focus (for example, a pinboard). There will be no evaluation of participants and everyone will have the opportunity to present their cards. Step 4: Identify the most serious reasons for failure: The biggest causes or problems are identified jointly. This can also be done democratically, for example, by scoring points. Step 5: Solution ideas: The stumbling blocks identified now generate a multitude of ideas on how to avoid the problem. The best options are then determined from wide range of observations. Step 6: Adjust the original plan: The ideas found in Step 5 are incorporated in the original plan. Important! Don’t get lost in unnecessarily detailed discussions. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) 793

377

Pre-mortem

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Notes

794

Experiences – Anticipating failure The Pre-mortem method can be used in a very playful way and brings participants closer to the “joy of failure”. However, the aim is to learn from possible mistakes.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

Prescriptive Value Web

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The Prescriptive Value Web can be described as a network of system-dependent value inter-relationships. Through the value flows between stakeholders it shows how the system/organiZation will react if the present idea/concept is implemented. This tool helps to make predictions about who within the system will benefit more from the new idea and who will benefit less. On the basis of the results from this technique, measures can be very efficiently derived which help to communicate and also implement an idea in a system in a target-oriented way. In the Prescriptive Value Web, stakeholders are represented as nodes of a network. The arrows between the nodes represent the values/benefits that flow between the stakeholders when the ideas are implemented. Values that are displayed in this network can be money, information, status, time, resources, raw materials, customers or anything else that can flow as value between stakeholders. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Create a list of all stakeholders for each concept/ idea you plan to implement. This includes customers, departments in your own organization, partner organiza-

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tions, competitors, suppliers, dealers or relevant authorities. Step 2: Develop and describe all conceivable value streams that arise when your concept/idea is implemented in your organization. Feel free to do that in the form of a list. Step 3: Sketch the Prescriptive Value Web. Start with the stakeholders that you may record as individual circles on a brown paper. Insert the individual value streams in the form of arrows between the relevant stakeholder circles. Please pay attention to making clear, unmistakable and specific designations, especially of the value arrows. Step 4: Compare this map with earlier value maps or observations you may already have from your project and analyze what can be derived from them. Step 5: Discuss your Prescriptive Value Web with colleagues from other teams. Try to submit it to stress tests with different perspectives and questions and check its relevance. Then draw out the challenges that are necessary to turn exactly those ideal value streams into reality. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Prescriptive Value Web

Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Be specific It is absolutely crucial for the success of this tool that the values drawn as arrows between the stakeholders are described very specifically and concretely. So not like this: Time So yes like this: Approximately five hours more per week for idea generation.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Pretotyping 5.

6.

7.

Innovation phase P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description In contrast to classic Prototyping, which is used in technical product development, the term “pretotyping” refers to the innovation-oriented form of the technique with fast user feedback. Pretotyping is a word created by Alberto Savoia and is composed of the terms “pretend” and “prototype”. While classic prototypes are usually very time-consuming and costly, Pretotyping is all about finding out as quickly as possible whether there is any customer benefit at all with the idea. To establish this it is sufficient to give the potential customer just the feeling of using the product. In this way, you quickly receive feedback as to whether a product or service makes sense or needs to be changed.

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Now before later It saves a lot of time, moneyand commitment if you find out early which is the right way and which is the wrong way. Agreement before rounds of talks Sitting in a circle and talking is fun, but should always lead to concrete agreements and plans. Facts before opinions Precise statements from users and market figures are clearer than the exchange of opinions and assessments.

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

Generated output Creates early prototypes

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Handling Alberto Savoia describes the pretotyping perspective in a Pretotyping manifesto: 1. Innovators before ideas To turn a good idea into an innovation, you need innovative people. 2. Pretotypes before product types Product ideas must be tested quickly. 3. Acting before talking Empirical tests provide more insight than lengthy planning. 4. Simplicity before functionality It makes sense to map only the essential features in the Pretotypes and to add all additional features later, as these may not be needed at all.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) 797

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Pretotyping

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – Enlist technicians Particularly in technical product development, people tend to plan long term and work towards a perfect prototype. When it comes to innovation, this is often a disadvantage and must be avoided by the person in charge. It has proven successful to enrich innovation groups with a high proportion of lateral thinkers in key engineering positions.

Identified sources of the method Book – Innerinnovation, B. Buck, U. Buck (LiteraturVSM – September 2014)

Notes

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Principle of Disruptive Innovation 4. 5. 6.

Establish the product on the market by generating pioneer and other customers. Replace the old technology with the new one by taking over the market. Establish the product on the market; the product becomes a basic commodity.

Generated output Creates more innovative organisations Produces more motivated and innovative participants Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Disruptive Innovation refers to the decline of a technology or an entire industry with the creation of a better, more efficient successor. New achievements and inventions are often referred to as fashion, smiled at by current market leaders – but only until the changes in their industry take hold and leave the “old heroes” out in the rain. Well-known examples of companies and brands that did not take change seriously enough are Adlerwerke, Triumph, Olivetti and Olympia, all successful typewriter manufacturers who slept through the start of the computerized world. Or Agfa, Fuji, Polaroid and Kodak, whose death blow was digital photography. Or Grundig, AEG and Telefunken, who were caught off guard by the advent of the digital age. Innovations with the potential to change the market are characterized by the fact that success or failure cannot be predicted. Furthermore, these developments often do not come from their own industry – and therefore usually arise suddenly and from surprising directions. By that point, the industry experts are usually no longer in a position to turn the tide. For this reason, it is all the more important to deal with the topic of innovation and change left and right outside of the box as early as possible. Analyze and reflect on known and proprietary innovations with the following six Principles of Disruptive Innovation: 1. Ask the right questions to understand customer needs – visible and hidden. 2. Have the courage to make a decision: Don’t hesitate too long; approach a solution to a problem at the right time. 3. Define a clear price: make the product interesting for a certain group of consumers and thus generate the first buyers.

Impact on obstacle effects – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Reflection is important In order to increase an organization’s ability to innovate, it is important to reflect on the Principles of Disruptive Innovation at regular intervals.

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Principle of Disruptive Innovation

Identified sources of the method Book – The Innovator’s Dilemma. Warum etablierte Unternehmen den Wettbewerb um bahnbrechende Innovationen verlieren, C. M. Christensen (Vahlen Verlag 2011) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_Technologie (April 2017)

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Web – http://www.business-wissen.de/artikel/disruptive-innovationen-die-regeln-der-branche-radikal-veraendern/ (April 2017) Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012)

Pros & Cons

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Step 5: After a certain time, the groups change camps and assemble their arguments for the new position. Step 6: The second round of discussions, with changed positions, follows. Step 7: The participants should then briefly reflect on and document their experiences individually or together.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Pros & Conts is a classic Group Discussion tool. With this technique, challenges and ideas can be discussed and debated quickly and your own position can be further developed. With this very simple-seeming, well-known method in particular, the devil is in the detail, and it requires a steady and experienced moderator to carry out purposeful discussion. Pros & Conts is particularly suitable for the evaluation and analysis of a challenge or an idea. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: The moderator presents the challenge or topic and the objectives of the meeting. Step 2: The participants are divided into two groups by any method. However, a random selection procedure is always a good idea. A pros-group and a cons-group are created. Step 3: In each group, arguments for its own position are formulated in a certain timeframe. Here, too, other helping or supplementary methods for this interaction can be freely used. Step 4: The moderator starts the discussion in which each side tries to convince the other of its own point of view.

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: flipchart Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Pros & Cons

Experiences – Moderator necessary Often the very extroverted participants take over the discussion and impose their opinions on the group. Only an experienced moderator can take control on these occasions. – Information needed This method operates by participants being able to think themselves into different positions. To enable this it is absolutely essential to provide both sides with sufficient information in advance and to ensure a relaxed and open atmosphere.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Problem Tackler – – – –

the problem is known by colleagues and described as completely uninspiring/unattractive the problem is closely linked to other negative experiences the Problem Solver simply cannot suffer or tolerate the problem giver and so on

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Problem Tackler is a tool to turn uninspiring problems into attractive challenges. This is always important if employees are to develop ideas for problems to which they have no connection. Benno van Aerssen has been working for several years on the question of why, for example, small start-up teams usually solve their problems much more imaginatively than many teams in large companies. If you examine teams and their ability to solve problems, you will naturally find qualities such as passion, commitment, motivation, agility and inventiveness. There is also, however, the other side of the issue – that of the problem itself. You can also ask yourself: “Which characteristics relate to problems that were solved creatively, quickly and successfully?” If you bring both sides together, then it is about the simple relationship between the problem and its problem solvers. If there is a good relationship between the problem and the problem-solver, then a creative solution works much better than if that relationship is a bad one, asserts van Aerssen. In other words, from the point of view of the problem solver, there are ugly, unattractive problems and beautiful, attractive problems. The Problem Tackler should start at the point where the challenge is about turning an ugly problem into an attractive one. This innovation technique helps with a worksheet and specific help questions to find the hidden core of the given problem through aversion. It is not important what caused the aversion to the given problem or when it happened. Dislike can arise from the fact that … – the Problem Solver has already processed the problem several times and has not yet been able to solve it

Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates greater clarity on a topic Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The execution or processing of the Problem Tackler method takes place in the following steps: Step 1: The problem is identified (individually or as a team) and written on top of a worksheet. Step 2: The perceived degree of the current attractiveness of the problem is displayed by a cross on a scale from zero to ten (bottom right on the worksheet).

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Problem Tackler

Step 3: Help questions in the “What for?” section are answered. Step 4: Help questions in the “What?” section are answered. Step 5: Help questions in the “What if?” section are answered. Step 6: Help questions in the “How?” section are answered. Step 7: Again, the perceived degree of the current attractiveness of the problem is represented by a cross on a scale from zero to ten (bottom right on the worksheet) and participants reflect on whether and why attractiveness has improved in the case being considered. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

804

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Strengthens team building Good results are achieved especially when the tool is used in a team context (each participant fills in the form individually and then the results are shared). Trust and a common orientation towards the problem are strengthened.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Problem Solving Tree

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tive, technical feasibility or implementation problems, or economic efficiency – depending on the object and goal of the problem-solving process. With an integrated evaluation procedure, the method is also referred to as the Relevance Tree. This technique reveals its true strength in the analysis of a challenge and in the generation of ideas. With the Problem Solving Tree, problems of great complexity can be dealt with particularly well.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Problem Solving Tree is a used, for example, to record all the alternatives that present themselves to answer a challenge and show them in an ordered form. The typical outward appearance of the method – as the name suggests – is the tree format, i. e. a hierarchically-branching basic structure. Each junction takes place under a specific aspect, i. e. according to a specific criterion for the differentiation of the investigated area. Within that process, first try to apply such distinguishing criteria, which are: – elementary, fundamental breakdown – and only in the subsequent changes those that describe less decisive differences between the alternatives. However, it is not possible to make a general statement about which classification criteria are more or less important. This only results from the special conditions of each application. In the instructions for many Problem Solving Trees, the hierarchical levels of the design criteria can also be more clearly defined, but their order is interchangeable within certain limits. Working on a challenge with a Problem Solving Tree requires well-founded specialist knowledge of the respective subject area. The involvement of laypersons in a problem-solving group is usually not very useful in the application of this method. The most cost-effective way for expert individuals or small expert groups to use the Problem Solving Tree is for overcoming complex problems. Problem Solving Trees can also be linked to an evaluation procedure in a relatively simple way. In this case, values are assigned to the individual branches, for example, with regard to the frequency of need for an alterna-

Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Creates more background information Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Basic procedure: Step 1: Presentation of the challenge to be met, Step 2: In the group, several trees at a time can be worked out for the given challenge. Development is based on a mix of purely technical statements as well as Brainstorming parts of the problem. Step 3: If you have created several trees for a challenge, in a second round try to compress them into one tree. In order to avoid very impractical “overlarge trees”, it is better to create several Problem Solving Trees in parallel or in sequence for a complex situation.

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Problem Solving Tree

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces permanent opponents – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Known advantages Problem Solving Trees are extremely versatile and provide readymade documentation of the meeting. They can be created without much preparation. – Known disadvantages Problem Solving Trees often quickly become confusing, especially if more than four or five levels of description are to follow each other and very fine distinctions are to be made between the resulting alternatives. Tip: In order to avoid such unwieldy, impractical Trees, it is useful to create several in parallel or in sequence to tackle a complex situation. – Field of application This method is particularly enjoyable when it comes to analyzing and Brainstorming process and service innovations. – Provide an overview Similar to Mindmapping, the Problem Solving Tree helps enormously in making clear the entire context of a problem and ingrasping it holistically. In addition, this makes you very clearly aware of the complexity involved and gives you a better feeling for the completeness of the analysis.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

Problem Quality

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Problem Quality method is a classic Reframing technique by Michael Luther, in which a challenge is questioned by means of a paradoxical intervention. This quickly makes it clear to the participants or problem solvers what degree of effort (conscious or unconscious) is behind the challenge and also what hidden quality it contains. Especially if a problem is already negative/emotional, determining the quality of the problem helps to define a different, better view and assessment of it. Questions such as these are used for Problem Quality: – What would someone have to do to have the problem? – What skills/circumstances are conducive to maintaining this problem? – What skills would someone need to have to create the same problem? – What does it belong to? What is the point of maintaining this problem? Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling In the case of Problem Quality, the participants, individually or in a group, become aware of the exact nature of the given challenge. This is usually accompanied by the awareness and perception that it takes some effort to create a problem and that it usually has its own particular quality. In order to apply the technique, an attempt is

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made to find at least five answers to each of the following questions: – What would someone have to do to have the problem I have right now? – How should they behave? – Which abilities actually favor the maintenance of this problem? Which abilities would someone have to have in order to create the same problem? – Which values or beliefs support this problem? – Which other personality traits, which identity, favurs this problem? – What does it belong to? What is the point of maintaining this problem? Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Strengthens confidence in the team

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper

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Problem Quality

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Perseverance In order for this tool to really help, it is essential to find five different answers to each of the help questions. This is a real mental challenge. Only those who are able to rise to it will benefit from the Problem Quality method.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Wide-angle Principle

Advantages The Wide-angle Principle produces new and diverse perspectives on a problem. It can help to question fixed assumptions or supposedly valid framework conditions. Disadvantages The assessment of whether a view is too narrow or too wide will differ among the participants. An independent coach can be useful in this situation.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Wide-angle Principle is based on illuminating an existing problem in as wide a sense as possible in order to develop new potential solutions. Both too narrow and too wide a view can lead to erroneous or false findings. The Wide-angle Principle therefore requires a careful approach. It takes advantage of the fact that more constructive ideas can be gained from a broader view of a problem rather than from too narrow a one, since valuable ideas are not excluded from the outset. In further steps, a broad perspective can then be successively and purposefully narrowed. Generated output Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Handling Step 1: The problem should be formulated by all participants. Everyone should try to shine a light on the problem from several angles. What is the problem like from the point of view of specific groups of people, from the technical, business, logistical or sales point of view, and so on? If all viewpoints are taken into account, a formulation should be found that includes all problems. Step 2: Classic Brainstorming can be used to develop solutions to the problem and to check and evaluate their suitability.

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents wrong granularity

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Central to Design Thinking The Wide-angle Principle is used in Design Thinking, which is also about understanding the customer and the user broadly and not deeply.

Identified sources of the method Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006)

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Process Innovation Checkup

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Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Process Innovation Checkup is one of the Ten Types of Innovation macro method (also described here). The fourth of the Ten Types Of Innovation describes Process Innovations that include all activities that affect a company’s products. Innovations in this area often require a dramatic shift away from business as usual. The company is enabled in the process to function effectively, adapt quickly and generate market-leading profit margins. Process Innovations are one of the core competencies of modern corporate management. They include such important assets as patents and proprietary processes that guarantee a competitive advantage for years to come. A well-known example of Process Innovation is Lean Production, in which material and time waste is reduced. It also includes process standardization (that reduces cost and complexity) and predictive analytics. The latter analyses past processes and tries to predict future results in order to help the company offer a product in line with the market in terms of design and price. A method is only a Process Innovation if itdiffers substantially from or exceeds the current standard. Since lean production has already become the industry standard, your Process Innovation can only be considered as such if the method is unmistakable or offers unsurpassed savings or efficiency. Successful Process Innovations in practise: – ZARA: The retail chain accelerated the journey of a garment from the drawing board to the point of sale to the final consumer. In just three weeks, a new design can hang in stores from Barcelona to Beirut.

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Shops are placed in high-quality locations in order to support direct contact with a fashion-conscious audience. Toyota: The car manufacturer is probably the outstanding example of lean production. Reduction of waste and further efficiency give Toyota stable market share. Hindustan Unilever: Unilever packaged products that competitors traditionally offer in bulk packs in the smallest single-use sizes for the Indian population in regions where food cannot be stored privately in product-friendly conditions. IKEA: The Swedish furniture giant produces flatpacked furniture in a uniform design without any variation per country of sale. Likewise, production and assembly with manufacturing machines are standardized in all countries, so that all internal processes are optimized.

Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates plans and prioritizations Generates forecasts and derivations Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Use these questions to check up on whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) is a potential Process Innovation: Step 1: Does the company have a core competency in manufacturing or delivering your product, service or platform operation? Step 2: Are the company’s variable costs significantly lower than those of its competitors or compared to the industry standard? Step 3: Has the company taken any noticeable steps in recent months or years to streamline its production? Step 4: Does the company hold important patents relating to a specific product, technology or process? Step 5: Has the company changed processes compared to comparable companies in the industry? Step 6: Do paths from the design of a product to its sale function differ from those of competitors? Step 7: Does the company have its own standardization of processes?

Process Innovation Checkup

Step 8: Does the company management analyse processes from the past (Predictive Analysis)? Step 9: Does management apply the results of predictive analysis to predict future results? Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high

– – – – – – –

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Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals No special resources required Experiences – Holy cows Process Innovation is one of the most difficult topics in the entire field of innovation. Especially in our Western European countries, processes are the sacred cows of companies. It is particularly difficult to really change very old and established processes. These change attempts usually wake up the immune system of the whole company very quickly and call all keepers on stage.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

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Product Performance Checkup

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ful chocolate buttons and have them printed with logos. Corning Gorilla Glass: serves a niche by making hard, scratch-resistant glass for touch screens on smartphones and computers.

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Generates forecasts and derivations Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Product Performance Checkup is one of the Ten Types of Innovation macro method (also described here). The fifth of the Ten Types describes innovations that give your product outstanding properties and functionality. This type of innovation includes new products as well as updates and enhancements that increase the value of an existing offering. All too often there is the misconception that product performance is “an innovation in itself” – it is certainly important, but at the same time it is only one of ten types of innovation and the one that is easiest for competitors to copy. Think of any product or feature – from more stable truck components to easier-to-handle electric toothbrushes, products are manufactured and imitated in an industrial race. Product Performance innovations that provide a real competitive advantage over time are the exception rather than the rule. Nevertheless, these innovations can inspire customers and bring growth to a company. Typical examples include simplification, sustainability and specialization. Successful Product Performance innovations in practise: – OXO Good Grips: Pensioner Sam Farber observed his arthritic wife peeling an apple and designed a better grip for her. Together with the New York-based company Smart Design, he created OXO, which now produces more than 850 practical household articles that have a huge fan community. And even hospitals use OXO syringes. – Dyson: built 5,000 prototypes for its Dual Cyclone Technology product until the transparent bagless system for its famous vacuum cleaner was ready for the market. After only 22 months, Dyson was the market leader in the UK. – MARS: M&M secured market share in the confectionery sector. Customers can personalize the color812

Handling Use these questions to check whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) is a potential Product Performance innovation: Step 1: Does the company offer a noticeably outstanding product that dominates the market in this segment? Step 2: Does the company’s product have special features and functions that inspire customers? Step 3: Does the company offer an innovative update or extension to its product? Step 4: Does the company produce a product that makes life easier for the user? Step 5: Are the company’s products much easier to use than those of its competitors? Step 6: Are the products specially tailored for specific users? Step 7: Do the products serve a market niche at a level unrivalled by other manufacturers? Step 8: Does the company produce a particularly sustainable product that is superior to its competitors in this area? Step 9: Has the company achieved market leadership in a particular sector with an innovative product? Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Product Performance Checkup

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals No special resources required

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Experiences – Design Thinking combination

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

The Product Performance Checkup can be used very successfully in Design Thinking projects.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

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Product System Innovation Checkup

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Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Product System Innovation Checkup is one of the Ten Types of Innovation macro method (also described here). The sixth of the Ten Types describes innovations that do not concern individual products but are characterized by the combination and bundling of several products and/or services. Product System Innovation can consist of individual products being modular, working together or being integrated. Values and benefits can also be created by establishing links between offerings that normally have nothing to do with each other. Example: In Taipei, you can shop in the subway and order groceries via the Internet using your mobile phone. These can then be removed from the cool box of a vending machine at the exit point. With Product System Innovations, you build your own benefit ecosystem that your customers will love and that is difficult for competitors to copy. The most common model of a Product System Innovation is to bundle products or to combine related offers and sell them in common packaging. In the 20th century, technology companies in particular worked with exactly such models. They have developed platforms and thus encouraged other companies to make their offerings compatible with those platforms. Other Product System Innovations are based on enhancements to existing products or combinations of services and products. It is not always necessary to produce all components of the system yourself. Successful Product System Innovations in practise: – Mozilla: The non-profit organization became famous with Firefox. The web browser is based on an open

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source platform that allows independent developers to program countless suitable plug-ins. In 2012, a total of 450 million people worldwide used Firefox. Oscar Mayer: Lunchables are packages with crackers, meat, cheese and desserts – products that are also offered individually by Oscar Mayer. Packed together they are handy snacks for schoolchildren. ELFA: In 1948 the Swede Arne Lydmar designed a modular storage system consisting of a cupboard, shelves and sliding doors. The variation and combination possibilities for customers are limitless.

Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Handling Use these questions to check whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) is a potential Product System Innovation: Step 1: Does the company produce a variety of products that are linked to each other in a unique way? Step 2: Does the company manufacture stand-alone products that can also be purchased in packages? Step 3: Does the company provide a platform? Step 4: Do other companies use Company One’s platform to sell their products? Step 5: Do other companies offer products that can be combined with Company One’s offers? Step 6: Does the function of the products of external companies possibly even depend on the offer of Company One? Step 7: Can customers make modular purchases, i. e. put together their own packages from the individual products? Step 8: Can products and services be combined? Step 9: Can the customer combine products from different manufacturers into one package? Impact on obstacle effects – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Product System Innovation Checkup

Possible extra benefits of this method – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals No special resources required

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Fast innovation successes Companies with very wide product ranges in particular benefit quickly from the Product System Innovation Checkup.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

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Product Market Matrix (after Ansoff) Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description The Product Market Matrix is a classic strategy tool. It can be used at the beginning of an innovation process to limit the search field and define the innovation strategy. The Product Market Matrix was developed by Harry Igor Ansoff. It assumes that the growth opportunities of a company are defined by its situation in the sales market and by its products. Successful growth strategies change either the situation of the product on the market or the product itself. The Matrix describes four dimensions of change: 1. Market Penetration This dimension is about increasing the share in an existing market with an existing product. This growth strategy is used very frequently. As a rule, idea generation in the innovation process concentrates on marketing or sales instruments. 2. Market Expansion The aim here is to address new markets with an existing (old) product. These can be, for example, new countries or new target groups. 3. Product Development The third dimension arises when a new product meets an old market. In this case, either the assortment is expanded or the product is replaced. This is often the case in technology industries where new models replace old ones. 4. Diversification This is a growth strategy that company founders in particular are implementing. A company offers new products on new markets, thus expanding its portfolio on several levels. Diversification is associated with great growth potential, but also with high risks.

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Handling The procedures in an innovation workshop are completely different with each of the four dimensions of Ansoff’s Matrix. Typical questions in the different dimensions are, for example: Market Penetration How do we need to change our marketing and sales process to attract more customers? Market Expansion For which target groups could the product still be interesting? Product Development What can we change about our product to make it even more relevant for the target group? Diversification Which new products/services can we develop with the existing competencies? Procedure Ideally, at the beginning of the innovation process, a discussion takes place about the direction in which the Brainstorming should go. To do this, sketch the Ansoff Matrix on a pinboard or use a PowerPoint slide. A first exercise can also consist of assigning the last innovations of the company to the different fields. In this way, a constructive statement can be made about what the innovation culture has looked like so far. If the thrust of innovation is clear, joint questions are formulated that can be used for subsequent Brainstorming. The clearer the questions formulated, the higher the quality of the ideas.

Product Market Matrix (after Ansoff)

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Involving decision-makers at an early stage When using the Product Market Matrix, at least one decision-maker should always be at the table, because this is a matter of fundamental strategic decisions. We have often seen innovation teams develop good ideas that are outside the current core business. If this is not what management wants, the ideas are doomed to failure from the outset. The Ansoff Matrix helps to gain clarity in advance and get the decision-maker on board.

Identified sources of the method Book – Erfolgreiches Innovationsmanagement, Thomas Stern/ Helmut Jaberg (Gabler – Februar 2010)

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Profit Model Checkup

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Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Profit Model Checkup is one of the Ten Types of Innovation macro method (also described here). The first of the Ten Types describes innovative Profit Models: New ways to turn a company’s offers or undiscovered values into money. Those expert in using the Profit Model show a deep understanding of what customers actually value and where new revenues and pricing are possible. Innovative Profit Models often challenge the boring, basic assumptions of an industry on the questions of what should be offered and what should be demanded for it. This makes up a large part of their strength: In many industries, the current Profit Model has not been questioned for decades. Common examples of Profit Model innovations include premium products (and thus premium prices) and auctions. For the latter, the market determines the price of a product in demand. Ideal Profit Models vary widely and depend on the industry and business context: a new entrant to the industry will design their Profit Model so that customers can try with no entrance obstacle, while an established industry leader will more likely retain customers to prevent potential brand changes. Put simply, on one hand there is an offer for sporadic purchases – sporadic and subject to a fee. On the other hand, it’s about subscriptions. A constant can be observed with Profit Models: To be successful, a Model must go hand in hand with the company’s overall strategy – perhaps moreso than any of the other nine Types Of Innovation. 818

Successful Profit Models in practise: Gillette: The shaver handle is sold below value to bind the customer to the regular purchase of more expensive matching blades (copied from computer printer/ink cartridge manufacturers). HILTI: In addition to power tools, Hilti offers a service that includes spare parts and repair for a monthly fee. Next Restaurant: Chicago restaurant boss Grant Achaz sells dinner tickets in advance. So he has capital to work with. In addition, guests are not billed on the basis of the price of the meal in question, but on the basis of the time of their visit. This makes meal times outside rush hours more attractive and increases table occupancy.

Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates forecasts and derivations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Implementation Use these questions to check whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) works on the basis of a potential Profit Model: Step 1: Does the company earn money in ways that are fundamentally different from those of its competitors or the industry standard? Step 2: For example, does the company sell a service while all other companies sell products? Step 3: Are the profit margins significantly higher or lower than those of competitors? Are there substantial differences between variable and fixed costs? Step 4: In addition to its main product range, does the company offer premium products at premium prices? Step 5: Does the company question the basic assumptions of its division, what should be offered and what should be demanded? Step 6: Are there remarkable differences between those who use the service and those who pay for it? Step 7: Does the company generate multiple returns from different social strata? Step 8: Does the business model generate fast sales?

Profit Model Checkup

Step 9: Does the company have a low capital requirement? Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period

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Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals No special resources required People: administrators Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Research teams During this Checkup your own Profit Models can be examined, as well as other companies’ strengths as role models and idea givers identified. It is worth motivating research teams to explore these subareas and, after a short time, to have interim results compiled again and again on questions such as “Does the company offer premium products at premium prices in addition to its main product range?” or “Does the company question the basic assumptions of its division as to what should be offered and what should be asked for?”

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

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Progressive Abstraction

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description With this method, new solutions and approaches are found through distance (abstraction) from the challenge, i. e. through a change in perspective or understanding. This technique, conceived by Horst Geschka, essentially pursues two goals: 1. To work out the relationship between a given challenge and the objective of the problem solver. 2. To identify the level of activity at which the most effective solutions can contribute to the achievement of objectives. Progressive Abstraction exercises a kind of control over whether the preliminary definition of the challenge covers the really essential, problematic facts or whether opinions can be found that suggest even more fundamental and far-reaching solutions. In several stages of formulation, attempts are made to advance from possibly superficial and inaccurate views to the challenge of more precise, target-oriented core definitions. Progressive Abstraction is also ideally suited to the further development and reformulation of products and services. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Handling In its simplest form, Progressive Abstraction provides for the repeated application of the question “What really matters?” to a given challenge, and to strive for answers of fundamental correctness each time. The problems of the next higher level of Abstraction are then formulated

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from these answers. Possible solutions are then worked out and the process is continued until the best possible answers have been found for the problem. Step 1: Challenge at the initial formulation level Search for solutions: Solution 1 …, Solution 2 …, Solution 3… Step 2: Critical questions put to Solution 1 …, Solution 2 …, Solution 3 … – What is unsatisfactory about the solutions? – Are there better solutions? Step 3: Answer the Abstraction question: “What really matters?” It depends on whether:Answer 1…, Answer 2…, Answer 3… Step 4: Challenge at the first level of Abstraction Solutions to Answer 1…, Answer 2…, Answer 3… Search for: Solution 1.1 …, Solution 1.2 …, Solution 1.3 … Step 5: Critical questions put to Solution 1.1 …, Solution 1.2 …, Solution 1.3 … – What is unsatisfactory about the solutions? – Are there better solutions? Step 6: Answer the Abstraction question: “What really matters?” It depends on whether: Answer 2.1…, Answer 2.2 …, Answer 2.3 … Step 7: Challenge at the second level of Abstraction Solutions to Answer 2.1…, Answer 2.2 …, Answer 2.3 … Search for: Solution 2.1 …, Solution 2.2 …, Solution 2.3 … The Abstraction cycles are run until no more Abstractions are found. Concrete example of the method: Initial challenge: How can the throughput of paper filter bags be improved? Solutions: Change of bag shape, stirring during filtration, negative pressure in the coffee pot. What’s the big deal? Answers: Increase the degree of extraction, save time. First abstraction: Which other, better method can be used to filter coffee? Solutions: Application of filter cartridges, centrifuging, other materials. What’s the big deal? Answers: Coffee drinkers want to prepare coffee quickly and easily. Second abstraction: What is the quickest way to make good coffee? Solutions: Improved instant coffee, quick heater, liquid coffee concentrate. What’s the big deal?

Progressive Abstraction

Answers: The coffee drinker would like to be able to fall back on the stimulating effect of coffee at will. Third abstraction: How can one always meet the spontaneous need for enjoyment? Solutions: New product forms – for example, good coffee in sweets. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents wrong granularity – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Known advantages Progressive Abstraction is used to quickly widen and enrich too narrow a viewpoint of a target which, for example, has resulted from years of over-definition. – Known disadvantages The method promises fast and effective results only after repeated training and under the guidance of an experienced moderator. – Adapt the question In practise, it makes sense to concretize and adapt the question, “What does it really depend on?” This so-called reframing of the question makes it possible to achieve a higher level of participation among workshop participants, as they gain better access to the target.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Promoter Model People who have great knowledge of organizational structures and internal processes help to overcome the non-permitted barrier. They often also need appropriate influential help in order to be able to flexibly transform processes and structures. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents financial and resource traps – Promotes appreciation – Sharpens common direction

Innovation phase P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description In order to successfully implement innovations, it is also necessary to overcome inner barriers. The Promoter Model helps here. By allocating roles in the implementation of innovation projects, it can also be possible to implement unusual ideas. This is because in many cases, internal resistance from individuals or groups is the reason for the failure of project plans. Most importantly, your own employees must be convinced of new ideas. One popular approach to this is to use the Promoter Model, whereby selected individuals support a project through their own initiative and commitment. Promoters are people who promote and actively support innovation projects. Promoter groups are usually selected and coordinated by an innovation manager. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Three groups of Promoters can be distinguished: 1. Power Promoters Those who carry weight in the hierarchy influence the success of innovation by overcoming the socalled “I don’t want barrier”. A particular challenge is when people with the greatest resistance are at the top of the organizational hierarchy. 2. Professional Promoters By including a professionally qualified Promoter, the non-knowledge barrier is overcome. 3. Process Promoters

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Process Promoter is very important The power Promoter is often regarded as a key person, as headwinds from top management endanger every project. However, resistance within lower and (most importantly) middle hierarchical levels is a problem that can cause a project team to despair. This requires intervention by an insider from precisely those levels who is respected and appreciated there.

Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement, T. Müller-Prothmann, N. Dörr (Carl Hanser Verlag – April 2014) Web – http://www.olev.de/p/promotor.htm (April 2017)

Prototyping

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Prototyping is the realization of a prototype in order to create a concrete image of the idea and to gain common understanding. Different quality levels and degrees of detail are possible. From fast and simple sketches to miniature images in plasticine, Lego, wire or the like. In many companies, the prototype creation phase is seen at the end of an innovation process. However, you can use simple prototyping earlier to develop ideas in good time and create better common understanding of the concept. Prototypes can be divided into three categories. Work Alike Clarification of the functional principle of the prototype or illustration of the technology. Behave Alike Clarification of a behavior that describes the product, service or business model. Look Alike Representation of the external appearance of the product. The prototype approach can also be combined with other techniques to become a more concrete idea from integration to integration. Generated output Creates early prototypes Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling Step 1: Original ideas often consist of only a few words on a card. Take this card and describe the idea in more detail. You could also drawing the idea. Take 30 to 40 minutes for this. Create several versions in order to receive confirmation for different variants. Get quick feedback from others and don’t spend too long in creating the perfect prototype. The use of this method follows the principle “Fail fast – fail cheap”. Step 2: Now introduce the different prototypes to other people and have these variants tested. It is not about defending an idea, but about examining whether the principle of the idea is understood by others. Working with prototypes follows the principle of iterative loops. Step 3: Then, depending on the type of idea, decide in which form you want to make the prototype more concrete: for example, a role-play for a service, modelling clay or wire for a model, click dummies for software, and so on. Step 4: Based on the feedback, refine your prototypes or variants. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents the bunker of ideas and secrecy – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high

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Prototyping

Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination

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Experiences – Fast route to acceptance Since Prototyping is a matter of making concepts tangible, participants are quickly inspired to build ideas using diverse materials.

Identified sources of the method Book – Design Thinking: Fragestellung, Recherche, Ideenfindung, Prototyping, Auswahl, Ausführung, Feedback, G. Ambrose, P. Harris (Stiebner – Mai 2010) Book – Design-Thinking, Innovation lernen – Ideenwelten öffnen, H. Plattner, C. Meinel, Ulrich Weinberg (mi-Wirtschaftsbuch – Februar 2009) Book – Design Thinking live. Wie man Ideen entwickelt und Probleme löst. C. Meinel, U. Weinberg, T. Krohn (Murmann Verlag – Januar 2015) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

Provocation

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The first sentence is an assertion that could be true or false, while the second sentence is merely a suggestion. The easiest way to describe PO is as a “What if …?” interpretation, so we can rephrase the statement as: “What if all professors loved their students?” Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Provocation technique is a method of Brainstorming introduced by Edward de Bono. It works by questioning existing assumptions and points of view with the help of so-called Provocations. It exists in many variations and belongs to the most important category of creativity techniques. In Brainstorming, Provocations are used to throw thinking off the beaten track by questioning existing assumptions and experiences or providing unexpected stimuli. In this way, they help to overcome institutional blindness and to make new perspectives possible. Provocations can be mere random concepts or deliberately constructed falsifications of facts or expert knowledge. Even shocking Provocations can be effective. In order to emphasize that the effect of Provocations only takes place in the mind, and to avoid confusion with the usual meaning of the word, they are also called Mental Provocations. (Mental) Provocations are never meant as statements that can be true or false. Rather, they should serve as suggestions – as stepping stones to new ideas. If they were to be treated as normal statements, there would be a risk that they would trigger unwanted discussions or meet with rejection. To avoid this, de Bono recommends announcing Provocations by prefixing them with the word “PO”. It has no meaning of its own, but instead indicates that the following sentence is only a suggestion. Accordingly, the following two statements are very different: All professors love their students. PO All professors love their students.

Handling The Provocation technique is also a valuable exercise in improving mental flexibility. To do it, observe everyday objects or occurrences, form a Mental Provocation from them and then consider which ideas or advantages could result from them. It is an important component of lateral thinking. Examples of Mental Provocations from everyday life are: – PO The rules of the game are variable. – PO The football field is hilly. – PO The dial of a watch moves, the hands stand still. – PO The snack eats the buyer. – PO The longer you call, the cheaper the call becomes. – PO The innkeeper drinks, the guests serve presents. – PO Players draw and discard their cards. – PO The Baltic Sea is filled with lemonade. – PO The rules of the game are not known to everyone. – PO The business card does not contain an address. – PO All phone numbers change regularly. The following approaches exist to win Provocations: – abandon – ideal case – reversal – exaggeration – luck – falsification One way of using the technique could be as follows: 1. choose a focus for problem solving 2. first generate realistic statements 3. develop Provocations 4. absorb the thoughts created and generate ideas 5. view ideas

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Provocation

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Promotes the agility of the participants – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Set an example With this technique in particular it is very helpful if the moderator leads the way with a good number of examples and takes away the inhibitions that participants often have.

Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreativitätstechniken (April 2017) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

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Preventive Abduction Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) Description This method is an analytical technique that is ideally used at the beginning of the implementation phase of an innovation project. It makes it easier to identify possible pitfalls at an early stage. Normally, a reflection is only carried out after a project is completed in order to discuss what went well or badly. The Preventive Abduction method places this analysis at the start of a project and thus enables timely planning. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Preventive Autopsy is ideally carried out when the idea has been developed to such an extent that the prototype and project plan have been established. All team members should be present. They are asked to take a look into the future of the project. The discussion begins with the question: “What will go wrong?” Or more pointedly: “How could the whole thing end in a huge fiasco?” It is important that risks are identified as specifically as possible, without concealing concerns. The exercise can be done in small groups, then the topics recorded on a sheet of paper. In larger groups a flipchart or a pinboard with cards can be used. When you have documented all concerns, they are sorted and prioritized. For example, the team can now develop an Action Plan to limit the most serious risks.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination Experiences – Simple to use, good results The advantage of Preventive Abduction is certainly its simple and quick application. Don’t let that fool you. The method is a very effective way to talk about potential hazards and risks. Often the participants of an innovation workshop are so convinced of their own ideas that doubts are ignored. This method can set up an.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Publication Research clopedia, myriad publications can be exciting sources of information. Step 3: Study the sources and extract relevant findings Immediately start to sort and categorize the information found. Step 4: Create a repository for your information Quick and easy tools to use at this point are certainly table-like documents in which the information appears clearly and can be quickly sorted, filtered and distributed.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description Publication Research enables you to find out what has been written and published about an aspect of your innovation context. It provides a reliable knowledge foundation, makes patterns and accumulations visible, and the knowledge can easily be distributed within your organization. Through Publication Research, we quickly gain insights into how key industry leaders and other professionals think about the dimension being considered. Typically Publication Research is very often conducted at the beginning of a project in order to establish a good knowledge base. The extensive lists of relevant information generated by this technique are also of great value to participants in other company projects in almost all cases. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Define the research topic It is important that you always start your Publication Research with topics that are too specific rather than too broad. Step 2: Identify your sources Start by searching for sources that are relevant to your topic. From books to scientific articles, academic journals and government publications to any form of ency828

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

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Recommended resources Technique: Internet access Technology: PC or notebook Technique: Microsoft Excel Tool: library accesses Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – Performance increase over time Unfortunately, Publication Research still has a difficult time in many organizations. Overall, too little research is done using good sources. In fact, project flops are frequently due to very incomplete research. Many companies shy away from the workload. In fact, however, the work:result ratio becomes significantly better and even extremely good if Publication Research is carried out continuously. The larger the database, the more efficient the tool.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Pugh Matrix Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Pugh Matrix was developed by the Scot Dr. Stuart Pugh to enable a comparison of diverse ideas and different design concepts. The aim is to evaluate various product ideas and product designs on a defined scale by examining and evaluating them under certain aspects (for example, expectations, opportunities/risks) in order to apply an objective evaluation standard. Thus it is also used, most importantly, in risk management to distinguish really good superior ideas from the less good inferior ideas by systematically excluding the less good ones. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Generates lists of opportunities and risks Handling With these steps you can create an ideal Pugh Matrix: Step 1: Determine the base or starting position of a product for the Matrix, perhaps a date. Step 2: Select the alternatives (enhancements, design changes) for a new product that are to be valuated. Step 3: Select the evaluation criteria on the basis of which the product alternatives are to be evaluated. Step 4: Use the selection criteria to generate rankings and prioritizations for the alternatives. For example, they can be ranked by the number of pluses (+) or minuses (-) for each alternative. Step 5: Examine the design concepts and check which minimal changes can be made and make sense. These new products, which have resulted from the minimal changes, can be re-entered in a new Pugh Matrix, and the step-by-step procedure repeated.

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Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Thinking in terms of minimal changes Thinking about minimal changes has to be learned. Even though companies are generally very strong on incremental improvements, there is often too much “product infatuation” to allow a change in the original product.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Web – www.burgehugheswalsh.co.uk/uploaded/1/documents/pugh-matrix-v1.1.pdf (April 2017)

Quickcheck – “Pseudo-innovations”

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Pseudo-innovations are innovations that are only referred to as such by their inventors, but do not generate any market success – they are flops in the classic sense. In the present time, in which everything and everyone is innovative or supposed to be, Pseudo-innovations can damage an organization’s ability to innovate. The Quickcheck – “Pseudo-innovations” should help to gain an insight into pseudo-innovations that possibly exist. Pseudo-innovations are essentially the result of two factors. On one hand they are due to too little innovation know-how in the company and on the other, the inflationary use of the word “innovation”. Today you can hardly look at a company website without discovering the word “innovation” on the first page – almost everything and everyone is innovative. As a result, small but also good improvements in companies are always exuberantly referred to as innovations. Afterwards, everyone involved is surprised that there is no market success. You could also say that in their own way companies lie with Pseudo-innovations, and that is highly dangerous. Nowadays, Pseudo-innovations can endanger their existence. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The Quickcheck – “Pseudo-innovations” runs in the following steps: Step 1: With your team, create a list of all products and services from the past five years that you have described as innovations in your company’s publications.

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Step 2: Identify the reasons why these products and services have been referred to as innovations. Step 3: Determine the market success of these products and add them to the list to see which products are real innovations. Step 4: Determine over which periods of time the products referred to as innovations have existed on the market alone and without imitation. Transfer this data to the list. Step 5: Research whether the products on the list have been called innovations by other sources outside your company (When? Where? How often?). Step 6: Discuss all results as a team and try to deduce whether Pseudo-innovations occur in your organization. Step 7: Develop measures to prevent the emergence of Pseudo-innovations in the future. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Quickcheck – “Pseudo-innovations”

Experiences – Good as an introduction to innovation projects

The Quickcheck – “Pseudo-innovations” is an excellent introduction to innovation projects. The Quickcheck offers the team both a good analysis of and an excellent reflection on the current situation in the field of innovation.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Quickcheck – “Are We Already Problem Finders?”

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description Every search for innovation should ideally begin with the search for or identification of a problem and a broad understanding of the given challenge. In order to do this, we have to go from being problem solvers, as we were educated to be over many years, to being problem finders or problem researchers. Leonardo da Vinci already knew in 1500 that the question is more important than the answer – and this has been proven time and again right up to the present day, even in innovative approaches such as Design Thinking. This Quickcheck should help to move the team’s mindset on the word “problem” in the right direction and also provide concrete recommendations for action on how problem finders or researchers work. If the mindset is not correct because, for example, some managers say things like: “We don’t create problems where there aren’t any”, then many opportunities for innovation will be lost. How, then, do you actually and properly search for problems? The answer to this question is as simple as it is insidious: “We ask questions” and “We question the status quo”. You often hear: “Don’t you dare open a new barrel.” At the very least it is clear that we need not only knowhow to create innovations, but also a lot of energy to change the way of thinking in many teams. Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants

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Handling In order to carry out the Quickcheck – “Are We Already Problem Finders?”, work through the following exercises and reflections with your team: Reflection 1 Collect all typical contexts in which the word “problem” is used in day-to-day business in the team, on moderation cards. Then discuss all the cards and mark on each one whether the context is more positive or more negative. Reflection 2 With your team discuss and reflect onthe following two quotes regarding the problem, or use other similar quotes that you may find in quote databases, for example. “Life packages growth opportunities as problems.” (Christian Bischoff) “The invention of the problem is more important than the invention of the solution – in the question lies more than in the answer.” (Walther Rathenau, AEG) Reflection 3 If your team is facing a concrete, seemingly unsolvable problem, then answer the following questions: “What’s the good thing about this problem?” “Is there a deeper problem behind this problem?” “What new things would a great solution bring?” “Why does this problem seem unsolvable to us?” “What emotions are we dealing with around the problem and why?” Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Quickcheck – “Are We Already Problem Finders?” Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Helpful in innovation culture projects This Quickcheck is a particularly helpful tool in innovation culture projects in determining the current position with the team.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Quickcheck – “What Makes Us Creative?”

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description This Quickcheck – “What Makes Us Creative?” is a microtool that you can use as a kind of checklist whenever you feel that you or your team could be more creative in general. This Quickcheck gives you initial ideas and options to increase your creativity and innovative ability. Please keep in mind, however, that all these corridors of action will only achieve their full effect in longterm, continuous application. Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Go step by step through each item on the Quickcheck below and think about each one for a few minutes. Step 2: Decide which item on the Checklist appeals most and perhaps also which items you should implement from now on. Checklist Active Problem Awareness Search for, identify and actively name non-optimal situations, products and processes. Actively identify problems and see problems as treasure chests for future success. Mental Agility The willingness to enter unknown areas of thought. Expand your control zone and leave your comfort zone regularly. Courage The brave among us have more – and much more creative – ideas, because they are not afraid of the challenge in advance. General Education

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The more you know, the easier it is to draw parallels between a current problem and other areas of knowledge. Expert Knowledge Experts can judge much more easily and faster how components of a problem (product, etc.) can be joined differently, better or more surprisingly. Humour Laughter and positive feelings work wonders in all creative processes. Security from a Culture of Innovation Be sure that useless proposals and ideas do not have negative consequences. Open Spaces Freedom leads to more creativity – creativity leads to more ideas. Physical and Mental Fitness In his principle of “Corporalita”, Leonardo da Vinci described the importance of physical and mental health for his work. Life Experience A large reservoir of life experience helps, for example, to find analogies more quickly. Age also allows us to lose respect for seemingly unsolvable problems. Self-confidence If you simply trust your creative skills, you’ll be able to improve all by yourself. Impact on obstacle effects – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens living in the past – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use

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Quickcheck – “What Makes Us Creative?” Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Individual and team deployment This Quickcheck is suitable for single as well as team use.

Identified sources of the method Organization – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organization – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Quickcheck – “What To Do If We Only Produce Useless Ideas?”

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description This Quickcheck – “What To Do If We Only Produce Useless Ideas” – is a microtool that you can use as a kind of checklist whenever you feel that all ideas generated are totally useless. Basically, you should not be discouraged by this, even to the slightest extent. Creativity is not something that always takes place at a high level. Creative new solutions often require a lot of patience, especially when complex challenges have to be solved. In addition, an idea that is useless today can be a very valuable and useful idea tomorrow, possibly for a completely different challenge. Every failure is always a step on the way to a solution. There are, however, specific things you can do immediately to increase the likelihood of producing very useful and good ideas again. Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling If, in the long run, too many useless ideas emerge, it can be for very specific and classic reasons, which we may have known about for a very long time. Step 1: Go through each trigger on the Quickcheck step by step and think about each one for a few minutes. Step 2: Decide which instinct(s) on the Checklist you want to act on. Checklist: Trigger 1 You may be too hard on the point – “Relax”.

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Trigger 2 Your goal may be too ambitious – “Try one size smaller”. Trigger 3 You may not know enough about the topic – “Gather more information.”. Trigger 4 Your field of association may be too small – “Learn new things and let yourself be inspired”. Trigger 5 You may suffer from being around creativity killers – “Make yourself aware of them and withdraw from them”. Trigger 6 You may be using the wrong creative technique – “Just pick another one”. Trigger 7 You may not give yourself enough time – “Stay calm and wait a little”. Ultimately, it is often the time factor that is the most important. You must not just assume that you will always get a solution immediately with the application of a creative technique. Ideas cannot be forced, they must literally mature. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants)

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Quickcheck – “What To Do If We Only Produce Useless Ideas?” Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets

Notes

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Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Put up a poster in the creativity room or office This Quickcheck is particularly useful as a poster in the creativity room or employees’ office. It functions as a continuous trigger.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Quickcheck – “What To Do If We Can’t Think Of Anything?”

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description This Quickcheck – “What To Do If We Can’t Think Of Anything” – is a microtool that you can use as a kind of Checklist whenever you feel that you are currently experiencing a creative block. It can and will happen again and again that you get stuck in a creative meeting or in individual Brainstorming and can think of absolutely nothing. Especially at the beginning of a challenge, these mental blocks may appear more frequently. However, this should not unsettle you or make you doubt your abilities and your own creativity. Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling In such a situation, simply use this short Checklist to increase the chance of the next creative phase starting. Step 1: Go through each trigger of the Quickcheck step by step and think about each one for a few minutes. Step 2: Decide which trigger(s) oo the Checklist you want to implement. Checklist: Trigger 1 “The best thing you can do is stay calm.” Trigger 2 “Take a break (an incubation phase) and, some time later, simply make a new attempt.”

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Trigger 3 “If it still doesn’t work out, break off the creative session and devote yourself to another task. I’m sure it’ll work out next time.” Trigger 4 “Use different sources of inspiration. For example, Inspiration on the Job or something similar.” Trigger 5 “Just distract yourself for a moment – listen to music or eat a nice piece of chocolate or make a quick phone call to your loved ones.” Trigger 6 “Try to remember when and where you last had a good idea or creative period.” Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Quickcheck – “What To Do If We Can’t Think Of Anything?”

Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets

Experiences – Put up a poster in the creativity room or office This Quickcheck is particularly useful as a poster in the creativity room or employees’ office. It functions as a continuous trigger.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Random Stimulus

Step 4: Finding ideas for associations – Work through the list of associations and ideas related to the task/expectation. – Continue to try and set triggers that can be accepted by other team members. – If that doesn’t work, switch to the next association and actively find ideas together. Step 5: Check ideas, discuss and decide whether the quantitative result of the ideas is sufficient.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description With the Random Stimulus method, a new perspective on a problem is brought about by means of free association triggered by a completely arbitrary term or image. It is absolutely essential to overcome your own inertia and to detach yourself from conventional thought structures in order to generate new ideas. This separation of existing thought structures and patterns is the immediate prerequisite for success in order to enable the creative or different way of thinking. This is imperative when using Random Stimulus and determines the success of the method. Accordingly, it is necessary to change focus and open up to new ways of thinking and making associations. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Ideally, Random Stimulus is performed with these steps: Step 1: Clarification of the actual task and associated expectations/objectives. These parameters represent the limits of idea generation using Random Stimulus. Step 2: Search for a completely arbitrary, independent word or other stimulus (image, sound, taste) – Create a list of these stimuli (up to 150 items). – The stimuli should be strong and thought-provoking. Step 3: Brainstorm associations for the stimuli – Find associations that suitably describe the stimuli. – The list of associations should be as complete as possible.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Tool: impulse pictures People: multidisciplinary team Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Objective stimuli This is an ideal method for using objective stimuli to generate ideas.

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Random Stimulus

Identified sources of the method Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009)

Notes

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Web – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_stimulus (April 2017)

Random Input Technique –

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Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description De Bono developed the Random Input Technique in the 1960s and described it as the “simplest of all creativity techniques”. It is particularly helpful when those involved are at a dead end during an idea-finding process, have just started out on a greenfield site or have a creative block. Further, it helps you to search for other ideas that you suspect exist but haven’t yet found with the methods already used. Using this technique, you link the current search for ideas with a purely random concept (or a randomly-selected image). Following the Provocation method, the nonsense word “PO” should be placed in front of the random expression in order to clarify this is not a serious term, but a Mental Provocation. With the help of this coincidental connection, it is almost always possible to abandon established ways of thinking and change perspectives to new, previously unseen approaches. The method is based on the belief that inspiration is often only generated if you are prepared to take up new information – unrelated to concepts already conceived – in order to allow new ideas. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling There are no guidelines for the selection of the Random Input term. Write down “PO” and the random word and let this inspire you to come up with new ideas. Implementation is very simple, but should follow some basic rules:

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Genuinely choose a word at random and don’t discuss whether another word would be more appropriate. If you do not change the selected terms, accept them as they are. Give the chosen term time to develop – give it a chance.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Tool: impulse pictures Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Skeptics are easy to convince At the start there may be some skeptics who are very critical of this method. They do not see the sense of the technique, find the chosen random word inappropriate, etc. With the first ideas of the other participants, however, these doubters will quickly be convinced of the penetration strength of the Random Input Technique – Make random selection entertaining Think of an entertaining way to make a random selection. This creates a relaxed atmosphere and allows reservations to be allayed more quickly. The Pop Effect method works very well here (put random words into balloons and let participants burst them). – Good entry exercise

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Random Input Technique

At the beginning of an innovation process this method helps participants tune into the creative process. The foundation can be laid for a willingness by all to participate openly.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

Rapid Product Development – – –

Innovation phase P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Rapid Product Development (RPD) provides fast results in the search for solutions through an evolutionary approach. The core of RPD is the parallel development of alternative solutions. Iteration cycles are used to make timely adjustments to changing market conditions, among other things. Alternative solutions compete against each other in this method. The goal is to find an ideal solution within the shortest possible time. According to the evolutionary model “Survival of the fittest”, previously set standards (cost, durability, function, appearance, etc.) decide the individual solution variants and selection for the final development phase. An important aspect of RPD is the creation and testing of simple prototypes. These are produced in the shortest possible time and without high costs. They serve to test assumptions at an early stage and can be discarded without major budget or process losses. The recognition of advantages and disadvantages of an idea is in the foreground here. Therefore a high degree of detail or longer durability is sacrificed. Generated output Creates early prototypes Handling The main features of Rapid Product Development: – concentration on early development phases – parallel development of alternative solution concepts – iterative loops within short periods of time (from the design idea to the evaluation/selection)

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late detailed specification and determination of the final product work with prototypes (physical, virtual, hybrid) – prompt feedback on results improved core factors such as cost, time and quality

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Rapid Product Development

Experiences – Beware of the term “prototype”. Especially in a technical environment, a prototype is regarded as something very elaborate and expensive. With this method it makes sense to apply the term from the outset in such a way that participants quickly understand where the journey is going.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement, T. Müller-Prothmann, N. Dörr (Carl Hanser Verlag – April 2014) Web – http://www.rm-platform.com (April 2017)

Rattlesnakes and Roses

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For this technique you will find instructions on four basic analogies that Michael Michalko introduces: – Personal Analogy – Direct Analogy – Symbol Analogy – Fantasy analogy

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Use analogies: Bionics, for example, has for a long time transformed technical inventions into what nature dictates – find analogies for your business in disciplines as far away from it as possible. Analogies are the comparison of the characteristics of two things. The Chinese philosopher and military strategist Sun Tzu (b. 544 BC) described the defense of the Shuai Jan snake: “If you strike its head, it attacks with the tail; if you strike its tail, it attacks with the head; if you strike its center, it attacks with head and tail simultaneously.” From this he derived a fighting attitude for a military unit: tenacity, reliability and the solidarity to immediately and intuitively cooperate in another part of the field. Bionics, for example, observes details in nature in order to use them for inventions: Bats use asonar for orientation and hunting; snakes anaesthetize their prey before they eat it, and so on. However, you can compare your challenge not only with natural phenomena, but also with any other discipline in order to come up with new ideas. When we encounter something completely foreign, we analyse the individual aspects in order to understand the unknown. We compare fragments with circumstances or objects known to us until we have understood the foreign whole by dissection. By reversing this method, we gain an extremely effective tool for creative thinking. If you compare your challenge with a discipline or profession that is as distant as possible, the familiar becomes alien at first. So you see your challenge from a new perspective. The more distant or strange your object of comparison, the greater the chance of generating an original idea. That’s how this method got its name: The comparison of Rattlesnakes and Roses.

Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Personal Analogy Identify yourself with an aspect of your challenge and see it from the perspective of the aspect itself. For example, when you design a watch, ask yourself how the hand feels. Ask questions like: “What would the gearshaft say to me if it could speak?” And: “How would it feel to be the dial?” A wallpaper manufacturer asked themselves: “What are the worries about wallpaper?” They quickly came to the aspect of “fire/flammability”. The manufacturer subsequently made huge profits by selling flame-retardant wallpapers. Step 2: Direct Analogy Find direct analogies between parallel worlds. Investigate what parallel facts there are regarding your challenge and completely different disciplines and compare them. For inspiration, for example, you can use the list stored under “Files” in this method. Choose a field as far away as possible for your comparison and pay attention to which images this triggers for you. It is helpful to name the counterpart as precisely as possible. The phrase “the German national team that won the 2014 World Cup” triggers far more and more emotional images for you than “football”. Step 3: Symbol Analogy This represents the key elements of a challenge in visual images. The method works best when you break away from the usual terms that normally describe your challenge and instead create images in your mind. Since this is not easy, it is helpful to close your eyes and repeat a mantra like “Aum”, “Om” or any other short word. In repetition, it soon loses its meaning, and our subconscious becomes free to create images. Only in a later phase can you verbalize, write down or draw these images.

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Rattlesnakes and Roses

Step 4: Fantasy Analogy With this method you use your imagination free of references to objective reality. When facing your challenge, imagine the best possible world – one that would offer the most satisfying solution to your problem. This Fantasy Analogy allows you to combine terms, concepts and assumptions that normally belong to irrelevant objects or processes. A painter can create a world for themselves with a brush, while a businessperson is caught up in the tradition of their company. Creating Fantasy Analogies lets you temporarily suppress judgments such as “right or wrong”, “possible or impossible”, so you can imagine pictures of your business like an artist. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period

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Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Applied parallel worlds A local plant center suffered from strong competition in a mediumsized city. A large chain and a DIY store made it difficult for them to sell plants profitably. We worked with the Parallel Worlds list and the owner quickly felt drawn to two terms: “jungle” and “weekly market”. They associated “jungle” with exotic plants, which they wanted to include in their assortment, so that their offer was clearly different from that of the other suppliers. They associated “weekly market” with individual stands, each with its own individual offer. They then rearranged their salesroom: instead of the rows of pots containing identical plants, they set up attractive stands and carts. Plants and vessels were thematically arranged on them. As a result, they not only received an influx of upmarket customers who bought higher-quality products but also, by arranging the products, customers often bought several products that matched well with each other from the arrangements on display.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Speech Stones

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Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents unreflected action – Promotes appreciation – Promotes the agility of the participants – Tames a disturbing group clown – Weakens debating – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Especially in diverse or multidisciplinary teams in innovation projects, it is sometimes helpful to hear and consider the opinions and thoughts of all participants. However, quiet, withdrawn people find it difficult to make themselves heard when other team members like to rush ahead or interrupt others. With Speech Stones you can ensure that all participants protect their rights and are also obliged to contribute their part to comprehensively illuminate a topic, an idea or a challenge. Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates more knowhow growth Creates more innovative organisations Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling At the beginning of the meeting, hand out game pieces, coins, chips, or similar items to the participants, each receiving one piece only. A speech is “paid for” with such a stone, and then that speaker must wait until all members have used up their Speech Stones. Only then will everyone get their Stone back and the round begins anew. It doesn’t matter how often you repeat this procedure, and most participants quickly get used to it.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Tool: game pieces Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Frequent use makes real game pieces superfluous If you regularly use this method with the same team, you can even use only virtual pieces after some time with the routine. This can then develop into a well-rehearsed procedure in which everyone knows how the rules work. – Creating a relaxed atmosphere At the very beginning, emphasize the game-like character of Speech Stones so that the session doesn’t degenerate into a very rigid and possibly uncompromising sequence of contributions. Provide friendly but determined hints as needed to ensure that everyone gets time to talk.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Reduce To The Max – –

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Placing things visibly helps with operation. Elements that are intended to be used centrally to operate a product should also be positioned in a central location. All operating routes must be efficient and time-saving.

Conclusion: A perfect product is one in which nothing can be omitted.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description An overload of product functions is called “feature creep” or “overengineering”. In many companies, innovation is often understood to mean adding more and more features and functions to existing products. Remote controls are a good example of this. As a rule, the consumer does not even use half of the available functions, and we humans do not like this abundance of possibilities at all. Rather, we are drawn to simplification – we are happier with simple solutions that work without problems. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Thoughts for following the Reduce To The Max principle: – Limit yourself to the essentials. – Analyze which functions/elements are unnecessary. – Keep in mind that every functional element makes a product more complex and thus potentially more user-unfriendly. – In everyday business there are proven concepts for management of complexity. – The easiest way to achieve simplicity is through the path of deliberate reduction.

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Reduce To The Max

Experiences – Visualize advantages and disadvantages and let them be experienced in a sensory way The sketching and touching of positive and negative examples leads to the goal faster.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012)

Reframing Matrix

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tive. You may need to adjust or add perspectives. When the Matrix is completely filled in, your team will certainly have a clearer picture of the problem. Step 4: Redefine the problem. The perspectives previously addressed should have sharpened the view of the problem. How do you see the problem now? Formulate the challenge in a detailed sentence. Are there any initial solutions? These should already be available.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description This method serves to deepen the understanding of a problem by looking at different perspectives. The Reframing Matrix was developed by Michael Morgan in 1993. On a large sheet of paper or brownpaper, group four boxes around the problem in the middle. The boxes show different perspectives on the problem. These can be, for example, the product, planning, potential or personal perspective. However, it is also possible to use the perspectives of different specialists. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Draw a rectangle in the middle of a sheet of paper (in a group it is best to use a paper at least the size of a flipchart). Leave space in the middle for the definition of the problem or write the problem in the middle. Step 2: Discuss with your team which perspectives you want to take. Choose the four most relevant perspectives and name each box with on eperspective. Step 3: Decide as a team which influencing factors have an effect on the perspectives. Either everyone develops their own perspective and then presents it to the others, or you develop the influencing factors together in the group. Write these in the relevantbox for that perspec-

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Reframing Matrix

Experiences – Include all relevant people The Reframing Matrix works particularly well when there are different viewpoints in the room. You should therefore carefully select the participants who are to exchange information using the Matrix. The more fresh angles that come into the team, the more participants should also come from other areas and participate in filling in the Matrix.

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Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014) Book – Creating Workforce Innovation: Turning Individual Creativity into Organizational Innovation, M. Morgan (Allen & Unwin – Oktober 1993)

Stimulus Feel Technique

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clearly attach to the pinboard/wall so that everyone can see them. Step 6: The ideas generated are discussed in the group and further thought is given to them. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Stimulus Feel Technique works according to the principle of the Stimulus Word and Stimulus Picture Techniques, with the addition of touch stimulus. Lateral thinking is encouraged by adding a “disruptive factor” to a specific problem or question. With this tool the disturbance factor is an object, which is felt unseen. The Technique has the objective of breaking open thought patterns and motivates you to think outside the box. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The problem/question is clearly formulated by consensus of the group. Step 2: Participants will be presented with boxes, all of which have tactile content, but which is not visible. Step 3: Participants feel the contents of the boxes and write down the characteristics that come to mind (soft, sticky, confusing, modular, …). Each property is written on a Post-it or moderation card. Step 4: The captured properties are clearly attached to a pinboard/wall so that everyone can see them. Step 5: Each participant now creates new ideas with the help of the characteristics and combines them with the original question to create solutions, which they also

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: post-its Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboard as topic memory Room: chairs Room: table tops Tool: sensor boxes Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – First confusion, then success

First the method triggers questions – but it is very effective in the end.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

Stimulus Image Packages from Benno van Aerssen

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Benno van Aerssen currently offers four of his own large Stimulus Image Packages, each with 190 stimulus images. All pictures are taken and produced by Benno van Aerssen himself. The pictures are already used by many of his customers’ teams to find ideas. All pictures are delivered in a large format of 15 × 20 cm in a gloss finish. The images from the Stimulus Image Packages are small, versatile photographic works of art. When used in the Brainstorming process (especially in the Stimulus Picture Technique) participants link their own associations with the pictures and very easily find new perspectives and concepts. This is especially true for untrained participants and teams. Personal experiences and feelings also come up much more easily this way, because they can be made visible with the pictures. The images can be used in individual work as well as in larger groups. Let Benno van Aerssen’s passion for photography and his eye for detail inspire you to come up with new ideas. Tip! With the large number of pictures, even rather boring meeting rooms can be transformed into inspiring creative spaces. You can simply cover the whole floor with hundreds of photos. Or the pictures can be hung on the walls or laid out on tables. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: table tops Tool: impulse pictures Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Stimulus Image Technique

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Stimulus Image Technique works with randomly selected stimulus images. This very simple creativity technique promotes creative thinking and idea generation, even if there are no concrete problems or tasks. You learn to see things from a whole new perspective. New approaches, inspiration and ideas are found with the help of stimulus images that are contrary to your question or challenge or have no relation to it at all. The Stimulus Image method is a particularly attractive form of Lateral Thinking and enables a new way of thinking to challenge a random image.

Step 2: Choose an image spontaneously from your collection of stimulus images. The collection works better the more images it contains. It should normally consist of more than 50 pictures. Disruptive images can be taken from magazines or purchased as finished sets. Step 3: Now combine your challenge with components from the stimulus image such as objects, individual parts, properties, colors, moods, etc. Write your thoughts as whole sentences – on moderation cards, for example. Examples of sentences for a picture with a bridge, which we connect with our exhibition stand: “If there was a lake in our booth, our products could ride on it in little boats.” “A bridge connects the visitors with our products.” “Our exhibition stand leads visitors purposefully to the right products.” “There’s nobody on the wrong track at our booth.” “Natural colors create a feel-good atmosphere at the trade fair stand.” “At our stand we feel like we’re on a summer walk.” “If our booth was made of wood, it would smell good.” Step 4: Let your sentences surprise you and inspire you to come up with new ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Promotes the agility of the participants – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Choose your challenge and formulate it as a question. Our example: “How could we make our trade fair stand more successful?”

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

Stimulus Image Technique – – – –

Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: table tops Tool: impulse pictures Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Multi tool The Stimulus Image Technique as well as the stimulus images themselves turn out to be real Jack-of-All-Trades. Their potential uses go far beyond Brainstorming. They are also ideal as openers in workshops and as methods for loosening up in introduction rounds.

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Stimulus Word Bandit moment after each word to give the other participants the opportunity to make their own associations. Step 6: Discuss the terms within the group and write down good ideas. Use an A3 sheet or a flipchart for this. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Stimulus Word Bandit is a creativity method which can be used particularly well with the Idea-finding of Vorideen. It is based on the principle of association and combines random words, which are used as Stimulus Words. The method thus leads to new approaches and allows fresh solutions to problems to emerge. “Word Bandit” is borrowed from the slot machine description, “onearmed bandit”, which triggers a random combination of items with a lever. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: First create a table with three columns with about 30 stimulus words each. The words should be easy to combine, for example in column 1: “faster”, column 2: “screws”, column 3: “strategy”. Step 2: Share this list with your team. Step 3: Each individual team member now marks (without thinking for very long) one term per column. This creates a compound word of three terms (read from left to right). Step 4: Use the compound words as a food for thought and adapt them to your goal. Make a note of each interpretation. Remember that these are not yet final ideas, but only preliminary concepts. Step 5: After five to ten minutes, each team member presents the best (most exciting) word combinations and explains their interpretation to the group. Wait a short

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Find a stimulus generator This method is more effective if the Stimulus Words are not provided by the problem giver themselves. Otherwise there is a high risk that the words will implicitly contain solution ideas already known and the true potential of the method will no longer exist. – Build basic stimulus vocabulary For regular moderation of creative situations it is recommended that you build up a stimulus vocabulary which, for example, is already structured within the three columns of the Stimulus Word Bandit. This can then be used in several workshops.

Stimulus Word Bandit

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014) Book – 30 Minuten für mehr Kreativität, H. Schlicksupp (Gabal – 1999)

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Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

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Stimulus Word Technique

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description In the Stimulus Word Technique, terms or concepts are connected that, at first glance, have nothing to do with each other. The work is done with Stimulus Words, which are randomly selected. This very simple creative technique encourages creative thinking, even if there is no concrete problem or goal. You learn to see things from a whole new perspective. The focus is particularly on finding ideas in advertising and the media landscape, as well as searching for product names and new and further product developments. Searching for and finding new fields of application and customer groups for a product are also favorite topics for the application of this technology. The aim of the Stimulus Word Technique is to initiate the idea creation process through the planned generation of random words. The objective is to identify general and transferable principles, elements or design possibilities in order to solve a concrete problem. Starting from a detailed description of the problem, a series of Stimulus Words is selected at random. On the basis of a careful analysis of the Stimulus Words, it is then decided which ideas or solutions can be derived for the problem being investigated. In the case of technical or creative problems, the words should be as specific as possible; in the case of strategic and similar non-technical problems, words describing events from social life as well as films and novels are suitable. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling Step 1: Write down the challenge or the problem or goal for everyone to see. Example for a software manufacturer: “Which focal points can still be found for the further development of our software?” Step 2 Open the encyclopedia (or your own individual source of stimulus words) on any page and spontaneously choose a term. You can also ask a participant to give you a page number and the number of words you should choose from the page. Example of term found: “racing car.” Step 3: Write down all the characteristics that you, or your group, associate with this emotive word. What do the participants spontaneously think of? It does not have to have anything to do with the actual question. Ask participants to move away from the original question. For example, with “racing car”: – has very good cornering – is decorated with sponsor logos – Peak speeds of over 250 km per hour – smells like petrol and is crazy loud – and so on Step 4: Now adapt the properties to your problem: make it crash-proof – partner companies to recommend to others – make the application faster – increase the fun factor (e. g. symbols, sounds, feedback) Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Stimulus Word Technique – –

Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Tool: emotive word source Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Known advantages The Stimulus Word Technique can be applied quickly and without great effort. It often helps when you are already at a dead end with something and have not come up with any other useful methods. Technology in particular holds the potential for truly new approaches. The advantage of this method over other creativity techniques lies in the fact that the Stimulus Words make it possible to form new associations, which are necessary in order to detach yourself from customary thought patterns and thus to develop new, creative solutions. – Known disadvantages The technique is often difficult for inexperienced teams, and spirited participants often tend to contribute a multitude of ideas that are not conducive to solving the solution. – A little courage It always takes some courage on the part of the moderator or person in charge – or an open-minded group – to use this technique. However when the typical first phase of laughing and fooling is over, participants are usually very committed and later amazed at what valuable ideas were found.

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Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, H. Backerra (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2007) Book – Innovationsmanagement, M. Disselkamp (Springer Gabler – Oktober 2012) Book – Innovative Unternehmensführung, J. Witt, T. Witt (Symposion Publishing – April 2008) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Relevance Tree Anlaysis

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand)

ployees of the sewing department see the problem in the marketing and sales department, while the latter wants to locate the problem in the fabrics, cuts and design. The problem is: “Clothes in small sizes sell badly.” After a short analysis the following solution approaches already show up: – The target group for clothes is mainly women aged 46 and over. However, only a quarter of this age group is size 34 or 36, so the production of clothing in this size should be reduced. – The target group of women over 46 years of age needs its own advertising language, for example, through models the age of the target group. – The company needs to know current and future trends in clothing so that suitable designs can be created for all age groups and included in the collections.

Description The Relevance Tree Analysis first accepts a problem as an existing condition, examines it for a multitude of criteria and then breaks it down into individual statements. This is done until the core of the problem becomes clear. The advantage of disassembly into individual parts is that complex problems become manageable. In the process of deconstruction, however, it is important that connections are not lost and that the selection of characteristics is not made subjectively. A further advantage of the Relevance Tree Analysis is that as a technique it can be used at any time, i. e. in a meeting, spontaneously and without previous knowledge. Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling The Relevance Tree Analysis starts with the current situation or problem definition, where precise description is required. Care should be taken to ensure that the problem is captured as accurately as possible. Then the facts/characteristics that led to the existing position are listed and structured hierarchically according to their influence. Example: In a company that manufactures and sells classic women’s fashion, it is found that the 34 and 36 size clothes from the last collections were not sold. However, skirts, trousers and blouses of other sizes are sold out. The em-

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating

Relevance Tree Anlaysis

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Experiences – Precise formulation It is important to ensure that the descriptions of the existing condition, facts and characteristics are formulated as precisely as possible.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Buch der Kreativitätstechniken, E. Boos (Compact – November 2010) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Research Participant Map Step 4: Now analyze the finished Research Participant Map. Identify the groups of people who come closest to your project focus. Evaluate how difficult or easy it is to observe and examine these groups. Step 5: Discuss and share the findings with all project participants and make decisions about monitoring activities. The result of the observations is then typically displayed in Empathy Maps per group of people.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Research Participant Map helps to gain an overview of the groups of people to be investigated, in terms of their activities and roles, to see who the right focus groups are for the project. A Research Participant Map begins with consideration of which people or groups we want to study and understand in detail. From this we derive two target-oriented criteria, which we then use to map the groups of people in a 2x2 matrix. From this Map we deduce our goal-oriented focus of understanding and which colleagues would best carry out that task. Generated output Target and focus groups Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling Step 1: Identify focus groups and participants. Use Brainstorming to draw up a broad and initially unsorted list of people or groups who could be examined in a targeted manner during the understanding phase of your innovation project. Step 2: Create a 2x2 matrix with two criteria that accurately describe your project. These can be criteria like “young to old” or “buying locally to buying online” or many other scales. Step 3: Now, as a team, locate all previously identified people or groups in the matrix. It is recommended, for example, to start with those who can be easily assigned in the extreme corners of the system. After that it is easier to classify all other people within the system.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Research Participant Map

Experiences – Create more than one Map For our part, we can only recommend making more than one Map. For example, create three different cards based on 3x2 pairs of criteria and locate each group of people on all three cards. This leads to better insights and easier decisions on focus groups, that have the same central meaning on all cards.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Research Planning Survey leagues or project participants. Use email, bulletin boards and Internet postings. Step 4: Try to identify patterns. Analyze the results of the survey as a team and try to identify the first targetoriented patterns in the results, such as extreme behavior, unexpected values or benefit dimensions. Step 5: Select the focus groups and plan the next detailed understanding steps in your innovation project.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The purpose of the Research Planning Survey is to better understand targeted focus groups for the understanding phase of an innovation project and to prepare a detailed understanding and observation phase. In contrast to classic detailed Market Surveys, Research Planning Surveys are rather short, quick and easy to conduct. This method allows you to provide an initial quick overview and an assessment of the target focus groups. Similarly, the results of a Research Planning Survey can lead to plans that have already been made being adjusted and changed again for an understanding phase. Generated output Target and focus groups Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Develop the questions for the survey. Based on the intention of your innovation project, you will develop questions that more likely ask about and capture broad patterns of behavior, values and utility dimensions. For example, if your project is about innovating retailing, there could be questions like: “What sources of supply do you use in general?” or “Do you tend to buy in local stores or online?” Step 2: Create the survey. Perhaps you will use wellknown online systems such as Survey Monkey, Facebook or Google Docs. These are very efficient, fast and simple. Step 3: Distribute the survey. Identify the first relevant groups, perhaps first via personal contacts of your col-

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Technique: Internet access Technology: PC or notebook Tool: survey tools Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Research Planning Survey

Experiences – Paradigm shift in German thoroughness

The efficiency of this tool actually lies in making it “quick and dirty”. Quickly and simply collect the first insights and see where it leads you – that is the motto here. Under no circumstances approach this tool with typical German thoroughness. You can count on the fact that, especially in traditional–conservative corporate cultures, this technique can be a paradigm shift that requires some effort and reflection.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Rhizome Model Generated output Generates forecasts and derivations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Rhizome Model helps us to understand and interpret change and innovation processes differently: horizontally instead of vertically. Instead of a tree model, two philosophers developed the image of a flat network. Most world explanation models look like a tree: There is a root as origin and from there everything develops into branches and twigs. We can see this image throughout Western intellectual history, with Plato, John Stuart Mill, Sigmund Freud and Noam Chomsky. It always portrays development from bottom to top – from barbaric to civilized. The two French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari criticism of the tree model is that it naturalizes a hierarchically-structured system that determines what is lower and what is higher. Instead, they suggested another image from botany: Certain rootless plants are connected by rhizomes in the soil. Lily of the valley, ginger or dyer grass each have a network by which all plants are connected to each other. The Internet also has a rhizomatic structure – it is a huge network whose parts are linked. It has no beginning and no end. There is no present state of being, but a continuous becoming. If you interpret developments of a company using the Rhizome Model, you can see that there are decentralized movements in all directions. All elements are interconnected, cross each other and yet are independent of each other. It is part of the essence of creativity to question existing models. Reflect on the change and innovation processes in your current work. Do you prefer the tree model or the Rhizome Model? 870

Handling Step 1: Are you facing or in the middle of a change process? Reflect on whether you perceive the previous development of your project or company in the sense of a tree model. Step 2: Question the tree model. How does the image of your project or company change if you apply the Rhizome Model perspective to it? Step 3: Find out where and how elements are linked to each other when you look at everything “horizontally”. What’s connected? Which elements could affect each other in the future if you allow decentralized movements in all directions? Step 4: Imagine the change process no longer as a change from one state of being to the next, but as a constant becoming. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Weakens debating – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees

Rhizome Model – – – – – – – –

Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required

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Experiences – Rhizome Model in church When advising an association of church congregations on a change process, different leadership structures played a role in development. There was great relief among participants when the Rhizome Model was presented as an alternative to the hierarchical tree model. They could immediately locate themselves within it and identify themselves using the horizontal links.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013)

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Role-playing Games Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Role-playing Games are particularly suitable for Prototyping in innovation projects and the simulation of services and business models. At least one participant from a team takes on the role of a previously-agreed character and plays out a situation from the developed application of the service or business model on the basis of corresponding characteristics. The goal of this method is that the other team members or observers experience a realistic perception of the respective situation. The advantages of Role-playing Games are that you can acquire a good basis for evaluation or gain insights for improvement with a relatively manageable amount of effort – without having to go to the customer and visit real locations. This method is often used in Design Thinking and sometimes even small scripts are written for the scenes. This allows you to describe and test various possible conversation situations in advance. Of course, you can also use the improvisation variant, here new prototypes of the original are usually created and it is a little more fun. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic

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Handling Step 1: Discuss the story in advance with the team, develop a small script and distribute the roles. Step 2: Give the actors some time to prepare for the roles. Step 3: Try to create a small stage design with simple things on site to make the situation more realistic. Step 4: Play the scene, and the other team members and any observers write down their observations. Step 5: Discuss the findings of the observers as a team and develop new ideas or adaptations from them. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day)

Role-playing Games – – – – – – –

Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: notebook People: diverse mix of individuals People: multidisciplinary team Room: sufficiently large room Technique: recording device Technique: camera People: moderator/trainer Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Supports a better imagination

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Experiences – Record the scene If you record the scene with a phone/recorder, the actors can also observe the situation and participate in the understanding phase. You can also improve your acting for other plays. – All the world’s a stage … It helps if you manage to create a small stage, including stage design. This allows actors to get into the scene faster, be more open and also improvise better. Moreover, it is better for the observers and thus more successful for all involved. – Actors to the fore The method is not suitable for every type of person. Don’t push anyone into a role – it won’t help team motivation, and often insights from the scene won’t be useful.

Identified sources of the method Book – Design Thinking im Unternehmen. Ein Workbook für die Einführung von Design Thinking. I. Gerstbach (GABAL Verlag – September 2016) Book – Design-Thinking, Innovation lernen – Ideenwelten öffnen, H. Plattner, C. Meinel, Ulrich Weinberg (mi-Wirtschaftsbuch – Februar 2009) Book – Design Thinking live. Wie man Ideen entwickelt und Probleme löst. C. Meinel, U. Weinberg, T. Krohn (Murmann Verlag – Januar 2015) Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

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SCAMPER the checklist have to be found; selectively applied the method also provides very good results.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description SCAMPER is a beautiful, clear, checklist tool, which was developed by Bob Eberle (1997) and has a firm place among the creative techniques. Once a challenge has been precisely defined and described, SCAMPER quickly helps you to think in the right direction. SCAMPER is very good as a starting point for Lateral Thinking processes. A further development of SCAMPER is SCAMPERR. The well-known Osborn Checklist is also closely related to SCAMPER. The technique is particularly suitable for the further development of new products or processes derived from existing ones. SCAMPER is also particularly good as a follow-up method to Brainstorming. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The moderator presents the challenge and specifies how the checklist is to be processed and for how long. Step 2: The points/thinking perspectives of the checklist (see below) are now worked through one after the other by the participants. The challenging character of the individual steps serves to structure the individual Brainstorming rounds. Step 3: Subsequently, the participants work out a final analysis, although no methodical specifications are made. The results are not necessarily all practicable, but should serve as a starting point for further ideas. In each step an additional technique can be combined without problems, such as Brainstorming or Mindmapping. Not all points in

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SCAMPER checklist: Substitute: Replace – components, materials, and people Combine: Combine – mix with other additional functions or aggregates, overlap with service, integrate functionality Adapt: Change down – change function, use part of another element, assembly, aggregate Modify: Increase or decrease – size, scale or scalability, change shape, vary attributes (color, feel, acoustics, …) Put: Put to another use – find further use(s), other contexts for use, reformulate scope of application Eliminate: Remove elements, components – reduce to core function, simplify Reverse: Turn around, turn the inside outwards – place on your head, find an opposite use Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Tool: specific worksheets Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens

SCAMPER

Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Known advantages With good moderation, this technique can be quickly introduced and used by participants untrained in creative techniques, because the checklist is both a working and a learning tool. – Known disadvantages Due to its abstract character, use of the method in groups is often associated with initial difficulties. It is important not to finish working with the checklist too early. Persistence is very often rewarded here.

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Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

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SWOT Analysis Grid

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The SWOT Analysis Grid is a classic strategic planning tool to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of or to an idea, challenge or other important decision-making situation within an organization. The credo of the method is: “Let’s look back at the strengths and weaknesses of the past and look forward to the opportunities and threats of the future.” With a SWOT Analysis, internal and external factors are asked for in order to derive the parameters for idea optimization and idea evaluation. The aim is to make optimum use of opportunities and keep threats to a minimum. This technique provides a good opportunity to gather all the information from all stakeholders on the idea or challenge. It allows participants to assess the idea from a distance, exchange views on the four areas and thus arrive at a more comprehensive common vision. SWOT is suitable both in the problem analysis phase and especially in the evaluation phase of an idea. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling In order for SWOT to work well, it is extremely important to adhere to the exact sequence of steps. Step 1: Clarify the goal and purpose of the Analysis as a group and unequivocally. Step 2: Draw SWOT Analysis Grid. Each participant creates their own Grid. (past ↔ future; positive ↔ negative)

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Step 3: Fill in SWOT Analysis from A to D with the following information: A. Strengths B. Weaknesses C. Opportunities D. Threats Step 4: Make sure that all experiences are incorporated. Also include supposedly insignificant elements. Step 5: Individual participants are now asked to present their results and briefly comment on them. Questions of understanding should also be clarified with the other participants. Step 6: Each point is recorded and logged in a large SWOT diagram on a flipchart. Conflicting opinions are discussed after complete logging of results. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Sharpens common direction – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper

SWOT Analysis Grid

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

Experiences – Known advantages This is a flexible method for many target types with easy handling. Existing strengths and weaknesses can be quickly maximized or minimized. SOW Analysis is easy to use and both positive and negative aspects are taken into account. – Known disadvantages The method tends to be superficial and can therefore be imprecise. Obtaining information for a truly complete analysis can be difficult and time-consuming. Such an Analysis should also be constantly updated and adapted.

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SIL Method Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description With the SIL Method, we are dealing with a Brainstorming variant. SIL stands for Successive (or Systematic) Integration of Solutions. Another name for this technique is the Three-flipchart method. The SIL Method is designed to gradually exploit the power of problem-solving teams. Common benefits are: – especially good for very diverse solutions, because many thoughts of individual members can flow into these – preferable method if only a few sensible solutions can be found for a problem and therefore qualitative solutions are in demand The Method can be applied individually or as a team. It is very important to consistently work out particularly useful ideas of participants and to integrate them into outstanding overall solutions. The Method places greater demands on participants and especially the moderator than is the case, for example, with other common creative techniques. You will also be duly rewarded by the higher expenditure of time (two to three hours). All ideas of participants are genuinely appreciated and integrated, and real success withe the Method experienced. That is why it usually leads to very mature and well-developed solutions with which participants identify much better. In principle, the SIL Method can be used for any type of innovation, but particularly suitable are challenges that are slightly technical and those of medium to high complexity.

Handling Ideal for group sizes from six to eight participants. Step 1: Detailed presentation and joint, intensive analysis of the challenge, with all necessary background information. Step 2: Each participant develops a first solution proposal in individual work. Techniques such as Mindmapping can also be combined with this process. Each participant should quietly produce several solutions for themselves, but then present only their favorites. Step 3: The first participant presents their idea to the team on a flipchart or other medium. Step 4: The idea’s main features are now captured on the first flipchart. The flipchart is headed “Individual Suggestions”. Step 5: The entire team works out what the special advantages of this first idea are. The result is now recorded on the second flipchart. This flipchart is headed “Especially Good Things About It Are …”. Step 6: The next participant now presents their idea, which is treated in the same way as idea one. Step 7: The entire team now tries to develop a “combination idea” (Integrated Solution) from ideas one and two. This combination idea is captured on flipchart three. This flipchart is entitled “Integrated Solutions”. Step 8: For participant number three, the procedure is the same, with the additional aim of further improving the existing combination ideas. In principle, the idea-finding process is finished when all the individual ideas of participants have been processed

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in this way. All individual and combination ideas are included in the overall result or in the result protocol.

– –

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents the bunker of ideas and secrecy – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens living in the past

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart

Possible extra benefits of this method – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Experiences – Known advantages The Method greatly strengthens the possible synergies and different perspectives of a diverse team. – Known disadvantages The perhaps somewhat insufficient visualization and detailing of the individual ideas can be a disadvantage. – Team process is strengthened The SIL Method is highly appreciated because it specifically strengthens the creative team process and is therefore often more successful than the usual, very fast and very jumpy, Brainstorming sessions. The change between individual and group work within the Method is particularly worthwhile.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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SIPOC Map

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) Description The SIPOC Map stands for a process involving: Supplier, Input, Process, Output and Customer. The method is particularly effective when it comes to smoothing the way for new product solutions that have already been developed to the point of production and delivery. A new product often fails precisely because of this implementation and therefore the method serves as a stepping stone to get from the idea-finding phase to the implementation phase by thinking ahead and making the individual process steps transparent. This provides the basis for gaining a rough understanding of the process and how the product solution can ultimately be produced and delivered. First a rough process is described, before it isref refined by further methods. Generated output Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates plans and prioritizations Handling In order to use the SIPOC Map in an ideal way, the following steps should be observed: Step 1: Describe Process landscape to a detailed level – describe the process in relation to each process step – only consider the process steps that scratch the surface Step 2: Identification of the Output of the processes – several outputs can arise, depending on point of view (of customers, distributors) – perspectives are made transparent at a macro level

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Step 3: Identification of the Customers for the outputs – determine different customer and target groups Step 4: Identification of the Inputs required by the process – these may include materials, information or precursors – inputs can assume different roles in the process depending on whether they are main or secondary ingredients Step 5: Identification of the respective Suppliers for the process – that is, those who provide the inputs Possible extra benefits of this method – for multidisciplinary experienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Transparent overview of the ideas inherent in the process

Identified sources of the method Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Book – The SIPOC Picture Book, D. Rasmusson (Oriel Incorporated 2006)

SMART

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A = achievable: Objectives must be achievable, appropriate, attractive and desirable for the recipients. R = realistic: Targets may be set high, but must be achievable. T = scheduled: For each goal there is a clear deadline by which the goal must be reached. The SMART-formulated objectives can also be divided into categories: long-term goals: signposts. short- and medium-term goals: action milestones. Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description SMART is a project management technique that goes back to George Doran. It is used to formulate target statements using certain minimum criteria. The acronym SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely T. In the context of an innovation project, SMART helps to determine the direction of problem-solving and to focus the process well and efficiently. SMART gives the subsequent steps direction and Brainstorming a fundament to search for (and not avoid). Disadvantages are mentioned in the literature: idea finders who work in a purely intuitive way and design thinkers often find it difficult to formulate objectives, and thus determine a defined final state, before collecting ideas. Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling The current challenge or the given problem is reformulated into a clearly defined, measurable and verifiable goal in order to give a constructive, solution-oriented direction to the subsequent idea-finding phase and thus to the further process. For this purpose, the formulated problem is reworded into a complete target sentence, which must meet the following five criteria: S = specific: Targets must be clearly defined (not vague or generic, but as precise as possible). M = measurable: Goals must be measurable, for example, in time, quantity, sequence or similar.

An extension of the original SMART to the so-called SMARTIE formula was published by Peter Cook in 1998. It comprises the following components: S = specific M = measurable A = action-focused R = relevant T = scheduled I = innovative E = exciting Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person 881

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Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Formulate in the present tense You should not only formulate goals in whole sentences, but also as sentences in the present tense. Example: “On October 31, 2022, our new quotation and costing process will be in use in all departments.” People find the present tense attractive and clear. Even greater effect is achieved with this construction.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Best Practice Creativity, P. Cook (Gower Publishing Ltd – November 1998) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This beautifully simple and very efficient feedback technique not only appeals to rather young participants; no, the older generation is also enthusiastic, because for this SMS there is no need for a mobile phone with a muchtoo-small keypad. In this feedback technique, participants are asked to text a fictitious, brief SMS at the end of the meeting or. This technique is typically used during evaluation, but it is also advisable to use it in typical state gate meetings of innovation processes, because they are always about concrete, quick and short statements and decisions. A restriction here to 11 words helps people to concentrate on the essentials. Experience has shown that the austerity and brevity of form often also generate a special linguistic creativity. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling With this technique, spice lies in brevity. In order to request an evaluation or statement from all participants, they are asked to formulate an SMS with only 11 words. Depending on the equipment used, the SMSs are noted and hidden by them (for example, hidden notes or hidden flipchart). When allSMS messages have been written, they are read out one after the other by the participants or by the meeting moderator.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Known advantages Short statements take you very much at the heart of the matter and do not allow you to indulge in unnecessarily detailed statements and representations. Participants who are rather weak on formulating details benefit from this technique. Pared-back statements do not contain overestimates driven by sentiment – the necessary objectivity remains. For larger groups, the technique is particularly efficient, as time is not wasted unnecessarily. – Known disadvantages There is always the danger that important details are lost with this technique.

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SMS Method

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze

SQUID

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and linked with a line. Make sure that the answers are short and concise in order to clarify their essence. Subsequently, questions will be worked out which arise from the first answers. They are recorded on the colored Post-its provided for this purpose. This is how you slowly work your way forward until you get a squid-shaped structure.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description This method is very useful for understanding what a group knows and needs to know about a particular topic or innovation search field and where it wants to go. At the same time you can get to the bottom of hidden questions and discover new fields that can be dealt with afterwards. With SQUID you can visualize the question–answer strands like the tentacles of a squid, hence the name. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates key questions for idea generation Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling For SQUID you need a large area for writing or placing sticking stickers. You will also need stickers in two different colors. One color is reserved for questions, the other for answers. Write the topic or question on a neutral piece of paper. The participants are then asked to formulate their own questions on this topic. These are then glued to the right of the question, in a semicircle, and connected to the theme by a line. Then everyone switches to “answer mode” and considers possible answers to the different questions. These answers are written on sticky notes in the appropriate color, placed to the right of the question

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: post-its Moderation: pens Room: whiteboard Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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SQUID

Experiences – SQUID as living object By using stickers, you can insert and move questions or answers anywhere at any time. This makes the diagram a living object. You can even hang it up in anaccessible place in the company, so that other employees can also add to it. – No premature change between question and answer As moderator, make sure that the participants do not write down answers or questions too early, but concentrate on the respective sub-task. This slowly reveals which information already exists and which is still outstanding.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://gamestorming.com/games-for-problemsolving/squid/ (April 2017)

SWOT-Analysis – –

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weakness opportunities Dangers of weaknesses

On the basis of the results, appropriate strategies are developed, which must then be consistently pursued.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The abbreviation SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The SWOT analysis serves to determine the position of a company and is the basis for the company’s own strategy development and strategic innovation decisions. The company’s own strengths are combined with the influences from the corporate environment and recorded in a four-field matrix. Opportunities to win new customers through new products or services, for example, become visible and can form the basis for idea-finding and innovation measures. Generated output Generates lists of opportunities and risks Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: The first step must be to define a target state. Step 2: An external and an internal analysis are carried out (business environment and business analysis). We are looking for strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and risks. The results flow into the matrix so that both analysis results are visible in combination. Step 3: reflection The aim is to identify the greatest benefits from strengths and opportunities and to minimise the damage from the combination of weaknesses and threats. It is important to consider the following combinations: – strengths-weaknesses – Risks of strengths

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Clarity comes with speaking

Even if you think you already know everything – about your company, your business model, your product – an enlightenment always comes during the implementation. Most likely, if you think aloud and with others during the development.

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SWOT-Analysis

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

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Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013)

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Trading Card Method Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description At the beginning of an innovation workshop, the Trading Card Method helps participants to get to know each other and to gain trust in each other. The visual component makes impressions more memorable and these can be discussed further during the meeting. Participants draw their own portrait in the form of a trading card, which is then viewed by the group. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Handling Step 1: Each participant receives large cards or A4 sheets and pens. Step 2: Each participant creates their own personal trading card. These contain a self-portrait, a nickname and a fact about themselves that is (presumably) unknown to the other participants (duration five to ten minutes). Step 3: The cards are now passed around the room. Whoever gets a card in their hand reads it aloud. Step 4: Each player chooses a card (not their own, of course) and asks a question about it, for example, about the little-known fact. Step 5: The interviewee answers the question (more or less in detail). Then they ask the person whose card they are holding the same question. Step 6: This is carried out until all participants are fully committed, but should take no more than 15 minutes.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: sufficiently large room Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: A4 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Reference to harmless narrative During the exercise it is important that all participants play along and that there is no stress for individual players. This can be reduced by the trainer/moderator pointing out that a fact is being sought that the other participants do not yet know, but that no intimate details should be given. This often relaxes the situation at that point.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Sand Tray

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Have participants make impressions of objects in a Sand Tray. The resulting images are interpreted and discussed together with the given challenge. The Sand Tray technique is an exciting method to bring team creativity to a metaphorical level. The imprints of the material objects create mental images that stimulate creativity and draw the group to new ideas in the discussion. You will need a tray and sand. Make as many different items available as possible – these should not be too large, so that several of them will fit on an ordinary tray. In addition, the items should be varied and fun: Finger puppets, stones, feathers, pieces of wood, tin soldiers, miniatur bride and groom, toy dinosaurs, rubber snakes, bathtub sharks, carnival pistols and so on. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates more agility in the team Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Provide a tray of sand and items that can be used to make impressions in the sand. Step 2: The group discusses the challenge. Step 3: A participant creates a scene in the sand using the objects provided. Step 4: The group studies and discusses the scene and generates as many interpretations and ideas as possible. Each participant should look for elements that seem to

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be disruptive, elements that are missing and elements that only attract attention when the point of view is changed. Step 5: The participants ask questions like: – What’s this? What’s that? – What could this mean? – What does the repeated appearance of this object mean? – What does this represent? – Which part of the scene comes closest to our challenge? – What does this remind us of? Step 6: Among the questions mentioned, there may be one that is the key to solving the challenge. Write down the interpretations of the sand scene. Search for conclusions, ideas, insights and new, speculative paths. Combine the interpretations into an all-encompassing narrative. Write a story that explains how the sand scene relates to the given challenge and its solution. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes the agility of the participants – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Sand Tray

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Tool: sand Tool: dish tray Tool: small toys Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity

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Experiences – Playful Sand Tray is a great method to generate ideas playfully. The creation and interpretation of the impressions is always fun for all participants and lightens a tense atmosphere. The pressure to succeed is relieved by handling the objects. However, work with the Sand Tray must be well prepared and there should be enough objects of suitable size available. For larger groups it is recommended that you provide two trays for half of the participants each, which also increases the number of possible outcomes. You can vary the method by specifying that not every group has the same items available to make impressions or that one group interprets the sandprints of the others.

Identified sources of the method Book – Sand Tray Therapy – The Creative Sand Tray 101, M. Stangline (Creative Counseling 101 2016) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Pyre Method Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Convinces rationalizers – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Promotes appreciation – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description In many organizations, after years of innovation work, numerous projects and ideas exist which could not be further developed for various reasons (for example, lack of competence, lack of technical feasibility, budget restrictions or an unfavorable market situation, etc.). The Pyre Method brings these ideas to light in one day and reflects on their usability against the background of a possibly-changed context/situation. Thus, following the Johari window (known–known; known– unknown; unknown–known; unknow–unknown), inefficient blind spots are avoided and, if necessary, well-developed ideas are finally exploited. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Possible extra benefits of this method – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Handling A project team lists explicitly failed ideas from various channels, including the reason for failure. All ideas are recorded on short cards and put into a pile. After the collection has been completed, ideas are clustered according to failure category and arranged accordingly. The smaller pyres (for example, technical restrictions, market situation, etc.) are then reflected upon and re-evaluated. The funeral Pyre Method can be performed at regular intervals. It solves the problem of “the wheel being reinvented” and documents being forgotten as soon as they disappear into a file.

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Experiences – Appreciation of all the fun

A typical comment when applying this method is: “If we have really already checked 1,000 times, nothing will work.” This belief must be counteracted at all costs, because everything has to be on the table. Sometimes the funeral pyre becomes a joy because you remember funny experiences with ideas that were constantly discarded. It is important to give each idea a neutral/positive assessment.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – KOPFSPRINGER GmbH – Düsseldorf

Swarm Intelligence Model

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Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Ask yourself how free you or your team really are when in comes to decision-making. Are you at risk of group thinking or herd instinct? Especially in projects that are to lead to radical innovations, target-oriented, intelligent decision-making is crucial. In these situations you can make use of the Swarm Intelligence Model. In the animal kingdom there is a special form of collective behavior – swarm intelligence – as, for example, in an ant colony. What looks, at first glance, to be chaotic confusion turns out to be a pattern: the swarm finds the shortest way to the source of food, distributes tasks and defends territories. Professor Marco Dorigo applied these observations to truck route planning, airport slot distribution and military robot control. However, it is controversial whether such ant algorithms ofself-organization are applicable to human groups. In the human reality of swarm intelligence we often find simpler group thinking: In homogeneously composed groups, opinions or ideas are particularly easily sharpened. If too many are sure of the same thing, attitudes can become radical and actions inconsiderate. Take a look at the graphic by Paul J. H. Schoemaker: he offers three forms of consensus building. In each case, starting from a problem, the group does not arrive at any action at all in the “debating society”; in “group thinking” it leads almost directly to an action; only in the “ideal group process” is information collected and divergent thinking possible – a phase of debate follows, followed by convergent thinking, and the action follows from the decision.

Handling Step 1: Consider Paul J. H. Schoemaker’s graphics as team leader. How does decision-making work in your team? Step 2: If you see tendencies towards “debating society” or “group thinking”, take steps to arrive at the “ideal group process”. Step 2a: Ask for a lot of information to be collected. Encourage divergent thinking. Create a climate in which informed debate based on information is valued. Then steer convergent thinking that leads to decision-making and ultimately to action. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens overly extrovert team members

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Swarm Intelligence Model

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Exaggeration

A good exercise to get to the “ideal group process” is an exercise where you use exaggeration: Introduce the topic and instruct participants to simulate a “debating society” and “group thinking” one after the other. The whole thing then ends in a kind of absurd theater, and the value of divergent and convergent thinking becomes clear to all.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013) Book – next practice Erfolgreiches Management von Instabilität, P. Kruse (Gabal Verlag 2004) Book – Schwarmintelligenz. Wie einfache Regeln Großes möglich machen, L. Fisher, J. Neubauer (Eichborn Verlag 2010) Book – Die Intelligenz des Schwarms, P. Miller, D. Tapscott, J. Neubauer (Campus Verlag – August 2010)

Creative Break

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Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Creative Break is not a pause from creativity, but a very simple way to concentrate on a particular aspect of an innovation and thus consciously focus on that specific feature. Especially when a creative process comes to a standstill or the participants stop making progress, the Creative Break comes into its own. Conceptually, it is not to be understood as a pause from something, but as a conscious break from or as a pause in the current work process. The Creative Break can be taken at any time. There does not have to be a specific need to take advantage of the Creative Break. It can make sense to use one even when no compelling reason is apparent. Comments like “Now I have to think about it” or “A good idea would be very helpful now” show that a Creative Break might be appropriate, because its main purpose precisely is to have a short pause with creative concentration on a single aspect of the project. With this very simple method, a basic creative attitude can generally be encouraged, since it helps to consciously sharpen sensitivity to individual characteristics. In contrast to Creative Focus, only a brief, intensive creative look is taken at a particular point and this point is not taken out of the idea work independently.

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Experiences – Especially helpful individually or in small groups The Creative Break can be difficult to implement in larger groups. Group dynamics encourage people to settle down for a short break in the form of visits to the toilet, chatting or coffee breaks. When that happens, this form of conscious pausing is no longer purposeful. – Sensitive moderator necessary The Creative Break can only be applied if all participants are receptive to it. The moderator must recognize this and be alert to the team atmosphere.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Methodische Unterstützung von Ideenfindungsprozessen, S. Staiger (Diplomarbeiten Agentur diplom.de – Januar 1997) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

Scoring Model

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added up for each alternative. The result with the highest score has the highest priority. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This a method for transparent decision-making through direct comparison. The objective of the Scoring Model is to be able to better forecast and evaluate various decision alternatives. Corresponding corporate goals are taken into account. The scoring procedure allows reliable statements to be made about the achievement of innovation targets. The development of criteria catalogs and weighting systems makes it easier to select targeted alternatives. The corresponding criteria go through an examination procedure and are classified by point evaluation. The sum of the points awarded goes hand in hand with the value of an alternative. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Step 1: Goals are formulated. Step 2: Quantitative and qualitative evaluation criteria are derived from the formulated objectives. These can be mandatory and targeted criteria. Taken the following into account: – The criteria must be precisely described and measurable. – The criteria must not be interdependent. – Very different characteristics must be described (no content overlaps). Step 3: A scale from one to six shows the different criteria. On the basis of the scale, fulfilment of requirements is checked and alternatives are evaluated. Step 4: The resulting weightings are combined with the criteria. The weighting is determined by multiplying the weighting by the corresponding points. The points are

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Clarify priorities Quickly brings clarity to numerous priorities.

Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013) Web – https://www.die-akademie.de/fuehrungswissen/ lexikon/scoring-modell (April 2017)

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Semantic Intuition Semantic Intuition is a method of free association and is therefore particularly well-suitabed to finding ideas and new products in a very efficient way. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description With Semantic Intuition, another creative technique using random stimulation and creative confrontation, a problem is associated with stimulus words. This method makes use of semantics (the meaning of concepts of a language) and is therefore based on the phenomenon that hearing or reading a word simultaneously and intuitively always produces a more or less plastic, mental idea about the essence of that word. The focus of interest is: – the meaning of individual linguistic expressions, – the relationships between individual expressions, – the meaning of whole sentences, and – the relationship between expressions and non-linguistic reality. If you read or hear the word “ice”, it does not remain a purely visual or acoustic perception – your brain immediately creates an “accompanying image” from the experience, and a specific picture of ice (in a plastic bag or on a road) appears in your mind’s eye. Of course, different people will have different ideas – in the case of a polar explorer, for example, the Arctic ice and an icebreaker will appear as their mental image. This consequential effect of “first perceiving a concept and secondly developing a pictorial idea” naturally also occurs when new concepts are heard. These then also lead to new ideas, to new thoughts, new possibilities. And this is exactly the principle of Semantic Intuition. Depending on the problem, terms from one or more subject areas are randomly combined. It is not unusual to intuitively recognize surprising new meanings from such combinations, which can be developed into concrete and targeted ideas.

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Handling Depending on the problem, terms from one or more subject areas are randomly combined. It is not unusual to intuitively recognize surprising new meanings from such random combinations, which can be developed into concrete ideas. Semantic intuition wants the standard process … Thought of an invention -> Naming return to the process … Naming -> Conclusion of a new invention This means that arbitrary names are to be compiled which serve the problem-solver as a stimulus word for Semantic Intuition for a possible invention. The names can be produced by a combination of typical elements close to the problem. A simple example illustrates the procedure. The problem is: “We are looking for new kitchen appliances.” Here are some random terms: Pot (1) Glass Cabinet (2) Cutting edges Stirring (1) (2) Flushing Steam (3) Oven Onion (3) Waste Haze Fork The multitude of conceivable combinations also includes the following: (1) Stirring pot: The food in the pot is automatically stirred during cooking. (2) Dishwasher cupboard: kitchen cupboard which is also a dishwasher. (3) Waste furnace: waste bin that burns waste and heats with heat. Semantic Intuition allows nouns, verbs and adjectives to be freely combined. The number of words to be combined is by no means limited to two. Too many terms combined, however, often develop tensions within the content of meaning. In these cases intuitive ideas usually fail to deliver the desired spontaneity. The standard procedure of the method: Step 1: Presentation and explanation of the problem. Step 2: Where appropriate, the problem is reformulated.

Semantic Intuition

Step 3: Logging of possible spontaneous solutions. Step 4: Brainstorming to come up with items related to the problem. These will then be documented for everyone to see them. Step 5: Deveop neologisms (newly coined words or expressions). The elements from Brainstorming are combined as desired to create completely new words. Of course, each element can be combined with others as often as you like. The new word creations are also written down for everyone. Step 6: Joint development of solution ideas. The objects presented for the neologisms are analysed to see whether they contain elements that allow the problem to be solved. Step 7: The solution ideas are evaluated by the group and further developed if necessary. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Known advantages The formation of word combinations that were previously unknown give the method a slightly playful character. Brainstorming reinforces this even more, because the emotional strain that the problem poses for the group members can be worked off very successfully. The fact of reversal opens up completely new areas of experience for problem-solving and leads to solutions for quite stubborn problems. – Known disadvantages The group should know each other well in order for the method to lead to workable results. The translation of new word creations into reality generally presupposes a high degree of mutual acceptance. – Team competitions Semantic Intuition becomes very entertaining when teams compete against each other to create a multitude of solution alternatives for given combinations.

Identified sources of the method Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreativitätstechniken (April 2017) Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Separation Principles Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Separation Principles method is used in particular when the problem involves various physical opposites that appear to be insurmountable hurdles. This is the case, for example, if a system is to be cooled and heated simultaneously or if a great deal of information is to be available without having the time to evaluate it all. These Principles are often used when conventional techniques no longer help. The method is partly based on the TRIZ method. The aim is to investigate different properties, for example, with regard to time, space, size and other conditions. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The following steps should be followed: Step 1: Identification of physical opposites – Which variables are in conflict with each other? – Examine why variables should be both maximized and minimized. Step 2: Consider separation heuristics – Apply the four Separation Principles (time, space, size and conditions) to the problem. – Find and record variables for the Principles. Step 3: Resolving physical opposites – Find all variables and circumstances that overcome the contradiction (for example, by temporal–logical separation). – Record the points where the resolution works; note solutions.

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Solves hen and egg problem

Identified sources of the method Book – 40 Principles: TRIZ Keys to Innovation, G. Altschuller, L. Shulyak, S. Rodman (Technical Innovation Ctr – Dezember 1997) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Book – Innovation mit TRIZ, C. Grundlach, H. T. Nähler, C. Hentschel (Carl Hanser Verlag – 4. November 2010)

Septine

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Septine, after Edward de Bono, is a thinking technique and a target clarification format to make a kind of internal inventory based on seven noted keywords for a target already formulated or still vaguely being considered. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Formulate the challenge Write your challenge or your goal or your wish on one sheet of paper in front of you. It should be a complete sentence, perhaps formulated as a question. Example: “The situation in the supermarket should somehow be better for the customer.” Step 2: Now write down seven associations or so-called thought fragments (words, thoughts or even whole sentences) about your challenge. The order or logic is not important – write down what comes to mind. Example: “Queue up – packing stress – temptations – pin code – shopping list check – vegetables on top – payback question.” Step 3: Read out these thoughts, slowly and repeatedly, in any (even changing) order, and note all new or additional associations that emerge. In this way, a more complete picture of the challenge gradually emerges, which becomes richer and more defined with each pass. Example: “Packing stress.” Why does packing stress arise at all? The goods could stay in the cart. The conveyor belt just needs to slow down. Someone else can pack it. Spatially separate scan and collect – first scan in peace, then pay in peace.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Draw as Mindmap The use of a Mindmap as a notation tool has proven very successful for Septine. – Use in innovation coaching Septine can also be used well between mentor and mentee. The trainer asks the questions and the trainee answers with spontaneous thoughts. The mentor records everything in a Mindmap.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Think! Denken bevor es zu spät ist, E. de Bono (mvg Verlag – November 2009)

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Sequential Morphology

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The method of Sequential Morphology combines an evaluation procedure with the construction of the Morphological Box. This further development of the latter (actually a problem-solving instrument) brings some additional advantages, as Helmut Schlicksupp states: “… the essential parameters can be determined more safely and unambiguously, and the difficulty of identifying the most appropriate alternatives to the problem from the wealth of morphologically indicated solutions is reduced.” Sequential Morphology requires a clear description of the intended problem-solving area, as this is the ideal way to integrate the evaluation criteria into the morphology. First of all, work with Sequential Morphology seems much more complex than with the classic Morphological Box. If you consider, however, that the result of the many alternatives is, in abest case scenario, the optimal solution alternative and that this has already been achieved in the decision phase, the total effort is manageable and workable. Accordingly, Sequential Morphology is a valuable tool for dealing with very complicated challenges. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Sequential Morphology is best dealt with in this order (from Schlicksupp):

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Step 1: Analysis and definition of the problem and sketching of all parameters determining potential solutions. Step 2: Derivation of the criteria that can best assess the quality of the parameters to be found. Step 3: Weighting of the evaluation criteria according to relevance within the target system. Step 4: Estimation of the influence of the parameters on quality and consideration by numerical value. This makes the solution components more distinguishable. Step 5: If a ranked row is created from levels 3 and 4, a Morphological Box with the most important parameters from the ranked row can be created. The corresponding values can then be defined for these. Step 6: The optimum value combination for the main parameters is determined, taking into account the evaluation criteria that correlate highly with these parameters. From now on, this combination of the main parameters represents the core structure of the solution, which, however, needs to be further developed. Step 7: The next most important parameters are now coupled step by step (sequentially) and the most favorable combination of values is added to the core structure until all parameters have been processed. However, the parameters with the lowest-value numbers for this are no longer taken into account, since they are irrelevant for finding a solution. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents wrong granularity – Reduces complexities that are to huge

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Sequential Morphology

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Identified sources of the method Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Web – http://www.wirtschaftslexikon24.com/e/sequentielle-morphologie/sequentielle-morphologie.htm (April 2017)

Experiences – Step-by-step approach important

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Service Blueprinting sterilization of surgical instruments or the computer system for treatment data in hospitals.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description As the name suggests, Service Blueprinting is particularly suitable for service prototypes. These are described uniformly and in a structured way using this method. This results in a Blueprint, which consists of the following different components: 1. Physical Evidence Patient admission in a hospital, for example, is a physical reference point for the patient. Physical evidence often provides insights into service activities. 2. Customer Activities This is about the concrete actions that a customer goes through as part of a process. In the example of patient admission: filling out the admission forms. 3. Frontstage Activities These are activities that are often directly related to customer activity and are therefore performed by the service provider. Example: First examination during hospital admission. 4. Backstage Activities These are actions that are directly related to the customer, but which the service provider performs in the background and is thus invisible to the customer, for example, the billing of treatment or the stay in hospital. 5. Supporting Activities and Systems This refers to all steps and systems that are not directly connected to the individual customer, but are necessary for the overall service. For example, the

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Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Use a large whiteboard or blackboard and divide it into the five component areas described. Step 2: Now go through the process you want to structure step by step. It is best to put yourself directly into the respective role or to assign it to several people from the team. Make a note of each step on a Post-it and stick it to the appropriate line/area. Step 3: Draw additional connections between the individual lines/areas that you now notice. Step 4: Analyze the overall picture for strengths and weaknesses and possibly develop new ideas. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Service Blueprinting

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

The advantage of the method evidently lie in the clear presentation of complex situations and in the fact that it is easy to learn. The disadvantage, on the other hand, is that you don’t really experience the service/provision, you just have it on the blackboard. – The bigger the better Try to put the representation on a board or whiteboard that is as large as possible. This makes evaluation, especially in a team, much easier. You can stand in front of it with the team and make and recognize connections.

Recommended resources Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: post-its People: diverse mix of individuals People: experts People: moderator/trainer Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Web – http://2012.wud-berlin.de/programm/slides/workshop-service-blueprinting.pdf (April 2017)

Room: wall surfaces Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception Experiences – Advantages and disadvantages

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Service Innovation Checkup –

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Service Innovation Checkup is a one of the Ten Types of Innovation macro method (also described here). The seventh of the Ten Types describes innovations that use a service to increase the usability and obvious function of a product and thus its value. Service Innovations often make a product easier to use or reveal functions to a user that would otherwise be overlooked. They solve problems and increase the attractiveness of a product. When used intelligently, you can even raise the value of boring products to the level of enticing experiences to which customers keep returning. Common examples of Service Innovation are product benefit enhancements, maintenance plans, customer support, information and training, and warranty enhancements. This type of service is becoming increasingly digitalized – a state that does not always excite customers. The fact is that customers are increasingly communicating with electronic interfaces. However, no matter whether a personal contact happens from person to person or to automated technology, Service can be the most distinctive part of a buying experience or the invisible net that customers rely on without ever seeing it. Successful Service Innovations in practice: – Hyundai: In the middle of the last recession, the car manufacturer offered its buyers a special insurance policy in 2009: The customer could return the car along with all financing contracts within the first year if they lost their job. – Men’s Warehouse: For every suit, the men’s clothing chain offers a free ironing service in every one of its branches in the US. This benefits men on business trips. 906

Sysco: One of the largest food suppliers offers special services for restaurants and canteen kitchens that it supplies. In a tight market, Sysco has created additional value for its customers such as business reviews and free advice on menu design and behindthe-scenes logistics.

Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Use these questions to check whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) is a potential Service Innovation: Step 1: Do customers rave about their interaction with the company? Step 2: Does the customer’s enthusiasm relate in particular to troubleshooting and similar issues? Step 3: Does the company offer any special guarantees or warranties for its products? Step 4: Does the company offer special insurance for its products? Step 5: Does the service consist of benefit enhancements for products, maintenance plans, customer support, information or training? Step 6: Does the company have help via websites or telephone hotlines? Step 7: Does the company make additional offers that extend the original features of the product? Step 8: Are there any aids offered to simplify the use of the product? Step 9: Does the company offer access on its own initiative to a fan community that brings together like-minded users and shares their (positive) experiences?

Service Innovation Checkup

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces rationalizers – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

– –

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Supports a better perception Experiences – Music trade in the music school

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

In a music school we integrated a room with a small music shop. This produced sales, but no significant profits. The key contribution was the service provided to the students’ families: After a trial lesson in an instrumental subject you could get advice, buy or rent a cheap beginner’s instrument and get spare parts like guitar strings and saxophone reeds if needed. In an emergency, the music business could also forward instruments to a repair shop.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

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Shadowing the actual innovation coaching. Potentials, goals, focal points and priorities can now be discussed with the “Insider Coach” in a much more concise, targeted and practical way.

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description Shadowing (or also Accompanying) days provide rich observation possibilities for the understanding and observation phases in innovation projects and also for coaches to grasp the current situation and potential in a team through an “uninvolved perspective”. Shadowing provides the innovation coach with important system and context experience and knowledge. Thus they quickly become a competent discussion partner because they are equipped with “insider knowledge”. Especially in innovation mentoring, this is often an indispensable prerequisite for successful coaching. In the preparation of the first “Shadowing Day”, the following points especially should be agreed upon: – Which days are particularly convenient to gain a rich spectrum of impressions of the team and its work? – When do the Shadow Days begin and end? – How is the team prepared for the presence of the coach? The innovation coach accompanies the people or the team throughout the company, but they always remains inconspicuous in the background and do not engage in conversations or discussions. Soon after a short settlingin period the coach will be “forgotten” by the people observed. The participants can always carry out their work without being disturbed. This “letting work flow” results in the participants neglecting or even ignoring the presence of the coach and thus behaving according to their usual processes and patterns. During the day the coach logs all impressions, observations and feelings for themselves. They also gain an understanding of the company’s business and its value creation. Finally, various forms of reflection are offered, from opinion flash insights to detailed commentary. A few days later, joint detailed processing of the observations helps with the formulation and conception of 908

Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Creates more background information Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: usable for a single person

Shadowing

Recommended resources Tool: clipboards Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Framing is important So that participants do not misunderstand Shadowing as a form of control, very detailed framing of the technique is important, which clarifies the background and advantages of the proces.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze

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Simulation

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Simulation is generally understood as the realistic imitation of reality. More than 5,000 years ago, Simulation is said to have been used for military purposes in China. Today it is used not only as an innovation tool in science and technology, research and development, but also in training and further education (see Business Simulation Games) and in games and entertainment. Simulation usually focuses on a model that is used to carry out experiments in order to draw conclusions about reality. In this way, systems, processes, situations or behaviors can be observed, analysed and optimized in a targeted manner. Although the use of Simulation technology has increased significantly since the development of the computer in the 1950s, it does not necessarily require the use of a computer. Especially for training purposes it is more about playing through what-if situations and what-if processes. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas plus initial funding and feasibility studies Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling In order to consider all application areas, Simulation is generally divided into nine process steps: Step 1: Formulation and definition of the problem Step 2: Creation of a requirements list with possible and desired properties Step 3: Analysis of the real problem Step 4: Determination of a methodical approach to problem solving Step 5: Creation of a flow chart and development of a Simulation model Step 6: Execution of test and Simulation run plus evaluation of results Step 7: Review and correction of the analysis result Step 8: Presentation of solution and solution method Step 9: Transfer of the solution to the real system and verification of its cost-effectiveness Advantages: Simulation technology saves time and money, especially with complex problems. Parameters can be changed without great effort. With the help of simulation, complex systems can be simplified and dangers can be minimized. Disadvantages: Complete data acquisition is hardly possible in the context of Simulation. The results of the work provide only approximate values and no exact metrics and do not always prove to be transferable to reality. Impact on obstacle effects – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day)

Simulation – – –

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team People: diverse mix of individuals Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Additional effect When using Simulation, there is a very special additional effect. The targeted thinking and conception for a Simulation suitable for a project often brings to light many new ideas and improvements to the existing concept.

Identified sources of the method Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation (April 2017) Web – http://www.onpulson.de/lexikon/simulation/ (April 2017) Web – http://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/Definition/ simulation.html (April 2017)

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Simultaneous Action Step 4: At the end, the group examines and evaluates the work carried out with regard to its usefulness for the task at hand. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Simultaneous Action (based on Harald Braem’s Brainfloating principle) stimulates networking in the brain, which leads to an increased and more coherent level of mental activity and thus to more creativity and inventiveness. This is achieved by using both sides of the body synchronously, which can be supplemented by rhythmic elements if necessary. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The task to be solved is written down and displayed on a flipchart. Step 2: Participants let the task description have a quiet effect on them at first. Emerging ideas, terms and sketches are written directly on moderation cards. After the individual work a first exchange in the group can follow. The resulting ideas are also noted on cards. Step 3: As soon as the flood of ideas decreases, all participants start drawing. For this they use large-format paper, take a pen in each hand and start scribbling, drawing and/or writing with both hands at the same time. You can also set up many flipcharts so that participants can walk through the room and become active on several charts. It is important to simply draw/paint – without a goal and without evaluation. Strokes, dots, symbols, words or sketches – everything is allowed. The simultaneously executed creative process lets unexpected ideas emerge from the chaos, which can be important for the task.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: paper in flipchart size Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: flipchart Room: creative and inspiring workspace Tool: colored pencils Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Build trust A warm-up phase in which both hand scribble, draw and/or write simultaneously, without there being any concrete reference to the task, creates confidence in this method.

Simultaneous Action

Identified sources of the method Book – Brainfloating – Im Entspannungszustand spielerisch Ideen finden, H. Braem (mvg Verlag 1989)

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Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Web – http://creapedia.com/wiki/Simultanaktion (April 2017)

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Scales Technique

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description With Scales, aspects of the opinion of a group can be quickly queried and clearly illustrated. Using this technique, both concrete contents and values as well as sensitivities can be taken into consideration. Working with Scales should be part of the fixed repertoire of every moderator. This method is suitable in many areas of Brainstorming, but especially in the analysis and evaluation of ideas and projects. Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates greater clarity on a topic Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Scales are simply drawn on flipcharts or produced by enlarging copies. Participants enter their opinion, rating or evaluation on the Scales using crosses or adhesive dots. If you take a closer look at the topic, you will see that Scaling is very large and diverse. Some of the most important and useful basic types of Scales are listed below: Numeric Scales The seminar is: Not Very Exciting -2 -1 0 1 2 Very Exciting. Categorical Scales How many hours a day does the target group watch TV? a) up to ½ b) ½ to 1 c) 1 to 1½ d) 1½ to 2 e) 2 to 2½ Verbal Scales

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Strongly Agree/Agree/Neither Agree Nor Disagree/Disagree/Strongly Disagree Equidistant Verbal Scales Never – Rarely – Occasionally – Often – Always Not Good At All –Okay – Mediocre – Quite Good – Extraordinary Completely Wrong – Somewhat Wrong – Undecided – Somewhat Right – Completely Right Graphic Rating Scales Accept Reject Qualitative Scales Simple answer: London Paris Oslo Istanbul When formulating questions and statements about Scales, you should also pay attention to the following points: – The statements should be short. – The statements should have a simple sentence structure. – The statements should not contain any foreign words. – The statements should not contain double negatives. – The statements should not be ambiguous. – The statements should be controversial. Statements that effectively affirm or deny are often pointless. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use

Scales Technique – – – – – –

Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: pens Moderation: paper

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Known advantages With Scales you can quickly and, most importantly, clearly capture the opinion and mood of the team. – Known disadvantages Scales passed on to colleagues that are out of context and/or without accompanying comments can quickly be misunderstood.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B. van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Sketches and Scribbles Impact on obstacle effects – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes the agility of the participants – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description Sketches and scribbles are hand-drawn representations and outlines of products, services or business model scenarios. This method fits very well into the early stages of Design Thinking, where speed and low resolution are the key points. In addition, almost no previous knowledge is required, as work is carried out with the simplest materials and on a basic level. Of course, a little talent for drawing can be helpful, but this is about visualization (not art) – and almost anyone can do it with a little practice. Sketches and Scribbles show only the product or key components of a business model. Important information can be added. Several Scribbles combined with each other can even be used for storytelling. Of course, ideas that develop as you go along can also be quickly recorded and presented later in the team. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Anyone can draw/visualize! Just overcome your inner inhibitions and start drawing. Step 2: Take a look at the product or service to be described and consider how you can present it as simply as possible and in one picture. Step 3: Sketch this picture and use it to present your idea to other people (colleagues/customers/…). Step 4: Integrate the feedback of those people directly in your picture and use it to refine your ideas. 916

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for agile teams – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: soft pencils Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: notebook Moderation: pens Room: flipchart Tool: painting tools

Sketches and Scribbles

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination Experiences – Practice! Practice! Practice!

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Book – Sketching User Experiences, B. Buxton, S. Greenberg, S. Carpendale (mtip 2013)

Be brave and just start sketching, even if you think you can’t draw. Here, too, practice makes perfect. The more often you work in this way, the better your sketches will be and the more successfully you will develop ideas. – Many helpful books Under the search terms “visualizations” or “flipchart drawings” you will find many good books with tips and tricks.

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Sketch Mail Step 4: Afterwards the procedure is discussed with all participants. “What was difficult?” and “What was easy?” Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes the agility of the participants – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description This method is similar to the well-known “Silent Post”. It is suitable for warming up before creative sessions, gets participants moving and increases their understanding of communication problems as a group. Sketch Mail is particularly suitable if you are working with drawings in the subsequent creative phase. In this method, a sentence is written down by one participant and passed on to another, under cover. They “draw a sentence” and forward the sketch to the next participant. There the sketch becomes a sentence again and the process is repeated. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates more agility in the team Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: The first participant comes up with a sentence (content doesn’t matter) and writes it on a piece of paper. They pass the paper, covered, to the next participant (clockwise). Step 2: The second participant silently reads the sentence, folds the paper so that the sentence is no longer visible, and draws the sentence as a sketch. They pass on the sheet with the (visible) sketch to the next participant. Step 3: The third participant looks at the sketch, folds the sheet again so that it can no longer be seen, and writes the sentence below. The steps are repeated until you reach the last person in the round. The last participant then presents what they have drawn or written.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: A4 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better imagination

Sketch Mail

Experiences – Sketch Mail with external help

You have probably already played Sketch Mail as a teenager – just for fun. It is really funny to see what misunderstandings arise when passing on information from drawing to text to drawing and what new ideas are generated. If you use Sketch Mail, you can combine it with the “Clever Trevor” method (see p. xx). This involves asking outsiders, the uninitiated, children or experts from another field of knowledge for their opinion on your project. If you let people like this become part of your Sketch Mail chain, you will get even more surprising ideas. – Get started quickly Make a quick start, without explaining too much. The exercise lives in the creative moment. Too much preparation can slow it down and inhibit spontaneous ideas.

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Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014) Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze

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Sketch Drawing

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand)

Step 2: Additions Form pairs: these now add spontaneous thoughts to the sheets. After three to four minutes the participants go to the next poster and add more comments there as well. Step 3: Changes This step step is about the question “What if …?” The participants change the curve/information and discuss what would have happened if the change had occurred. The rule here is: “The wilder the ideas, the better.” The point is to think about different variations of how the situation could have developed. Step 4: Questions It is now a matter of developing interesting questions. For example, draw a second curve over an existing sales line and discuss what you can do to raise the current curve to the desired level.

Description Sketch drawing is a manual method that makes it possible to analyze and process existing information about customers and markets very precisely. It replaces the usual PowerPoint presentations with numbers and analyses and enables a more intensive examination of the background to the innovation process.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation

Handling In the first step, print topic-relevant data such as tables and statistical evaluations with information on the subject. Present the information in large format sheets – the bigger, the better (at least A3). This is then hung on the wall before a creative meeting. Step 1: Instructions Explain to the participants how the graphics can be edited with simple lines. These can be supplemented, commented on, expanded, projected into the future or questioned. Participants should pay attention to everything that is noticeable in the presentation, such as recurring patterns. In addition to text, you can also draw symbols and images and use multiple colors. The colors should be chosen logically or follow a structure.

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Moderation: paper in flipchart size

Sketch Drawing

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

Experiences – Repeat the method

Sometimes the “hard facts” make it difficult for participants to get into creative mode. In this case don’t hesitate to start a second round of Sketch Drawing if the first round does not give the desired results. – Large printouts The size of the printed data is also decisive for the success of the method. The sheets should be larger than A3 so that there is sufficient space for different variations.

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Sculpture Technique The moderator records all the statements of the viewers in writing, so that they can talk about them afterwards. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents unreflected action – Tames a disturbing group clown

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description This technique uses the saying “The body does not lie” to visualize facts within a group in an unorthodox way. A work situation is represented by a team of people in the form of a Sculpture made up of the group’s bodies and judged by the rest of the participants. On one hand, this exercise shows the mindset towards a topic and on the other, it revives tired spirits. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling A small group of five people is given a theme (for example: “How does the customer perceive our service?”) and forms a Sculpture with their bodies that visualizes this. The group has five minutes to prepare for this. The sculpture will be judged by the remaining workshop participants according to questions such as: “How does the Sculpture reflect on us?” “What stands out?” “What do we associate with this Sculpture?” The Sculpture group is not allowed to speak.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception Experiences – Familiar groups In contrast to many other techniques it is worthwhile putting people in groups who know each other well. They have less fear of contact during the exercise and are more creative.

Identified sources of the method Book – Seminare, Trainings und Workshops lebendig gestalten, A. Lienhart (Haufe Lexware 2015)

Slice and Dice

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Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description With the Slice and Dice technique, a challenge is broken down into as many individual aspects as possible. The more a challenge can be broken down, the more starting points there are, for example, to change or improve details of a product. Think about renovating individual rooms instead of the whole house. When breaking a challenge into dice (cubes), you can search for its individual attributes: These can be descriptive, process-oriented, functional, social, price-related or ecological. Descriptive attributes can be: material, structure, color, shape, texture, sound, taste, smell, size or density. Process-oriented attributes: Production, marketing, sales, function or time. Socially-oriented attributes: Obligations, Politics, Taboos. Price attributes: respective costs of the manufacturer, wholesalers and retailers and retail price. Ecological attributes: positive or negative effects on the environment. For example, if you want to improve a product or service, look for as many features as possible – quantity is more important than quality. Do not worry about the “correctness” of your list. A certain self-confidence allows you to put together an individual, original collection of terms that leads to new ideas. If you have created an extensive list of properties, you now have the opportunity to take a careful look at each individual term. You can methodically turn around every aspect – one after the other. Even seemingly unimportant characteristics, which could otherwise be overlooked, thus move into your focus and can lead to new solutions and ideas.

Handling Step 1: Name your challenge. Step 2: Name as many aspects/attributes of the challenge as possible. Step 3: Take one attribute after the other and think about its changeability or improvement. Ask yourself: “How could this be achieved?” and “Why does it have to be as it is?” Step 4: Strive to make your thinking both fluid and flexible. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – Itemize many individual aspects To use Slice and Dice effectively, it is important to actually collect and list a large number of individual aspects of the challenge. Keep the collection of terms flowing in a group process. For example, the task can be divided into groups of two: pairs work on descriptive, process-oriented, functional, social, price-related and ecological aspects. After ten minutes the parts are exchanged – or similar consideration of different attributes is put in place.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Solo Brainstorming

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genious idea after the given time, however, it is better to take a short break and then try again. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for agile teams

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Solo Brainstorming is an idea-finding technique (after Charles S. Whiting, 1958) that is similar to classic Brainstorming, but does not require a group and can be performed alone. Associations, keywords, images and moods are collected to address an initial question or problem. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The participant assembles a stopwatch as well as paper and pen or a recording device. Step 2: Try to formulate the task as precisely as possible as a question. The participant notes the final wording on a sheet of paper and highlights key concepts. Step 3: The stopwatch is pressed and Brainstorming begins. Step 4: For 20 minutes, all chains of associations, inspirations, feelings, moods and inner images related to the question are noted and/or sketched. It is important to give free rein to the flow of ideas. Step 5: After this time the Solo Brainstorming ends. It’s important to stick to the schedule. The technique tempts you to exceed the time limit. Instead of waiting for an in-

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Tool: stopwatch Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Reflection is important After Solo Brainstorming, a later exchange with colleagues or friends to reflect on the ideas you have generated is very helpful.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.creapedia.com/wiki/Solo-Brainstorming (April 2017) Web – http://www.reden-und-praesentieren.de/tippsund-praxiswissen/solo-brainstorming-ideen-sammeln-auch-ohne-kreativ-team.php (April 2017)

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Solution Enactment

Innovation phase P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description With Solution Enactment, specific aspects of solutions are demonstrated through acting to see exactly how they work and create value for customers. The method focuses on details and creating or checking empathy as well as concretizing the abstract. Enactment is a particularly strong form of storytelling that intensively connects the audience with the idea and triggers target-oriented communication. Solution Enactment is very often used in conjunction with Solution Storyboards. That method shows the full course of the customer journey, and Solution Enactment highlights individual scenes. Solution Enactment is far more effective if it is used for distinct scenarios and not for the presentation of the entire storyline. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Visualize the User Journey Visualize the entire user journey of your solution. Describe the individual interaction points. Focus on the interaction points where value creation is most needed and most visible. Describe the user at those points and con926

sider who you want to integrate into the Solution Enactment. Step 2: Develop Possible Settings Think about which scenes of the user journey you want to demonstrate. Set the stage and write the lines – everything from humour to drama is possible. Prepare all props and use prototypes of your idea. Step 3: Rehearse As with real acting, rehearsals are also important and advisable for Solution Enactment. Record the rehearsals on video and improve the result bit by bit. Throughout rehearsals, the actors will also develop the necessary security and composure to present the scene well. Step 4: Presentation Now present your scene with your ideas to one or more groups of participants. Step 5: Collect Feedback Collect feedback from the audience during and after the performance. Make sure that a sufficient number of feedback collectors are present, depending on the size of the audience. Step 6: Evaluation As a team discuss all experiences and findings from the Solution Enactment and talk about how you can use these findings to improve your idea/solution in another development round. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application

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Solution Enactment – – – – – – – –

Complexity for the moderator: rather high Complexity for the participants: rather high Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room Tool: recording device People: multidisciplinary team Technique: camera Tool: clipboards Moderation: pens

Moderation: paper Room: chairs Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Jump over the hurdle of courage once Fear of embarrassment and appearing foolish often prevent the use of this extremely effective method. Experience shows that jumping the courage hurdle is always rewarded in several ways. You gain exciting insights and also develop the innovation culture in a target-oriented way.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Solution Roadmap Now distribute the Roadmap and summary to all participants and discuss and plan the implementation of the projects on the basis of those documents. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) Description With the Solution Roadmap you can visually plan how emerging and already decided solutions can be implemented in different phases. The Solution Roadmap helps to find out at an early stage how and which solutions need to be implemented with short-term or long-term initiatives. In addition, it can visually show which solutions are being developed and how, and also which of these need to be broken down into partial solutions. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Develop an Initial Timeline Create a large visual timeline, for example on a large wall. Tactical short-term projects are often presented in periods of 12 to 24 months and strategic long-term projects in periods of two to five years. Step 2: Locate Your Projects on the Timeline Use a transverse tree diagram. Review projects and then enter all projects on the tree diagram. Step 3: Connect Your Business Goals In addition, enter your company goals on the diagram. Record which projects contribute to which corporate goals – directly and indirectly. Discuss whether priorities or orders still change as a result. Step 4: Reflect on the Solution Roadmap Reflect on the Roadmap as a team and work out its characteristic features. Write down the findings in a summary that is easy to understand. Step 5: Distribute and Discuss

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Room: wall surfaces Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Experiences – Many advantages The advantages of a visual Solution Roadmap are the quick and target-oriented alignment of the organization to implementation, the fast recognition of possibilities and options, as well as the swift and broad clarity gained through simple publication.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Worries-and-Joys Scheme

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– – –

What does the person want to achieve? How do they measure success? What could the person benefit from in connection with your topic? – What do we have to offer this person? Step 3: Write the Worries-and-Joys on a flipchart, the Worries on the left, the Joys on the right. Prioritize the Worries and Joys as a group.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Worries-and-Joys Scheme provides participants with clarity when it comes to motivations and decisions of the target group. This can be the potential user of a new product or a decision-maker who needs to be convinced of the product’s value. Compared to the Persona method or Empathy Map in Design Thinking, for example, the Worries-and-Joys Scheme is more surface-level and takes considerably less time (10 to 15 minutes). Especially for inexperienced innovation teams, this can be a good first exercise in the analysis phase. Generated output Target and focus groups Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Handling Step 1: First write the name of the key person being considered on a flipchart or draw it as a sketch. Now let the participants gather everything about the person’s possible worries by trying to understand their view of the world. Questions could be: – What does a bad day look like for this person? – What are they afraid of? – What makes them lose sleep? – What are they responsible for? – What obstacles does the product have to overcome? Step 2: Allow participants to consider everything that you think the key person will enjoy. Questions could be:

The method can be used before presentations, when creating value propositions or when making decisions for or against a project/idea. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources Room: flipchart Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Quick and easy to use The Worries-and-Joys Scheme can be used quickly and repeatedly when clarity about a particular target person is important to the group. This can be before the ideation phase or at the end of the innovation process when it comes to the presentation of the idea. This allows the focus and also the type of presentation to be better selected and used.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Sounds Like Innovation

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Sounds Like Innovation has been further developed by Benno van Aerssen and Daniel M. Ziegler from the Team In Time method – using musical instruments to work even more specifically on topics such as curiosity, courage, risk and fighting for ideas. Sounds like Innovation works with two trainers and a group of eight to twelve participants. The special thing about this innovation coaching starts with the equipment. One of the two trainers needed is a music teacher who provides a large number of musical instruments: keyboards, electric guitars and electric bass with amplifiers, drum and percussion sets. This trainer introduces the participants to sound design using simple means. The team members learn how to use different musical instruments and experience how improvising musicians communicate with each other – including surprises and misunderstandings. Between the phases of musical interplay, the second trainer reflects with the participants on parallels between the elements experienced in improvised music and in companies. With Sounds Like Innovation a functioning innovation culture in a company can be initiated and cultivated. Sustainability is particularly important when this innovation coaching is used as accompanying coaching. Work fast! Working with music immediately puts participants in a different mood. This means that it is easier to employ methods for Brainstorming without wasting time. This also includes detailed development of creative processes such as risk, curiosity, courage, feel-

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ings, invention, transfer, simplification, etc. The team is practicing rituals of an innovation culture. Simple exercises with the musical instruments are immediately transferable to everyday corporate life. In this way, individual and team performances within an innovation culture are promoted simultaneously. Individuals practice fighting for their ideas and can, for example, channel stage fright better. Music can push curiosity – participants find new, goal-oriented problems more easily. Through musical improvisation, participants also practice inspiring each other. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Typical steps in a Sounds Like Innovation workshop: Step 1: The Experiment – Opening, orientation, attunement – Choice of one of over 100 musical instruments – “Try it out” under simple guidance Step 2: Reflection – What ideas do I have? – How do I communicate them? – Transfer to business – Briefing for the next phase Step 3: Ensemble Playing – Choosing a new musical instrument – Overcoming fears and blockages – Fighting for musical ideas Step 4: Reflection – How do I fight for ideas? – Transfer of musical ideas to the team – Where am I willing to compromise? – What do I think is sacrosanct? – Briefing for the next phase Step 5: Communication Jam Session Guide and Joint Execution – How does an exciting interaction work? – Improvisation versus chaos! – Which instrument do the participants choose? – How do they make themselves audible?

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Step 6: Fire and Flame – What motivates you to achieve your goal? – Be brave as a lion! – What are you willing to sacrifice? – What are the consequences if it fails? – “Let’s go! Let’s go!” What excuses are you holding back? Step 7: Get Support – What people can help you realize your idea? – Sharpen your sword! – What talents can you acquire to carry out your idea? – Reinforce your shield! – What criticism do you expect? How can you counter it? Step 8: The Great Task The ensemble is given the task of creating an improvised piece of music independently. All decisions must be made within the team and supported by all. It should become audible how ideas are implemented and continued. The result is recorded (audio/video?). Step 9: – Total reflection – Transfer to business – Debriefing – Graduation Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes the agility of the participants – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Tames a disturbing group clown – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Room: flipchart Technique: recording device Technique: musical instruments Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Experiences – Volume It is important to find a really appropriate space for performing Sounds Like Innovation. This concerns the size of the room and the security of not disturbing other groups or hotel guests. Only this guarantees that you will be able to work undisturbed. Room size: Space is needed to set up larger instruments such as drums and electric piano together with amplifiers, etc. and at the same time have enough space for participants, trainers, flipcharts and/or tables (equal to room for reflection). Volume: The security of being able to work “alone” should not be underestimated. A hotel conference room has already proved unsuitable for at least one of my seminars, because there were complaints from the restaurant area.

Identified sources of the method Organization – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf Web – http://www.mabadeliko.com (April 2017)

Spaghetti Tower

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Generates plans and prioritizations Identifies existing weaknesses

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The Spaghetti Tower is an entertaining and insightful exercise that encourages participants to build and experiment. Several teams of ideally four people compete against each other. The task is to build a freestanding tower, as tall as possible, within 15 minutes. The materials are: An equal amount of dried spaghetti and one marshmallow per team (for example, 30 pieces of spaghetti and six marshmallows). These can be supplemented by sellotape, string, scissors … but the teams should always have the same materials. The Spaghetti Tower is not only a good warm-up exercise, but can also provide assessments of the planning and implementation of a task based on team observations. You can almost always see that team members quickly fall into a long planning process and use a relatively short time for implementation, where often only one model is created which does not remain freestanding – and thus the task is not fulfilled. Especially in Design Thinking (and also with young children, who show us how to do it) it is important to test ideas directly, to try them out and to learn what works and what doesn’t work. The message of this exercise is: Testing and learning earlier is better than too much theorizing in advance. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more know-how growth

Handling Step 1: Assemble the materials. Step 2: Divide your group into teams of three and four and give each group the same amount of spaghetti and marshmallows (plus any other materials). Step 3: Give the team the task description and start the time (15 minutes). Step 4: After the 15 minutes stop construction, compare heights and possibly award a prize for the highest tower. Step 5: Reflect on the process with the entire team and note down the findings. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Shortens overly long meeting times – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Recommended resources Tool: clock Tool: spaghetti

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Spaghetti Tower

Tool: marshmallows Moderation: scissors People: moderator/trainer People: diverse mix of individuals Room: table tops Tool: sellotape

On Youtube you can watch clips from other groups as well as gain inspiration for subsequent reflection – i. e. scientific findings about this method or about what happens in groups.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

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Experiences – There are clips on Youtube for this

Speed Feedback

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Speed Feedback is a modification of speed dating (which you may have experienced). With speed dating there is a large number of singles in one room andenough tables with two chairs for all participants. The singles have only a very short time window per meeting (for example two minutes per person). A moderator ensures that the time is observed and that everyone talks to everyone in turn. Then everyone in the room has a picture of who they find interesting and how you are perceived by others. “First impressions count” – and this also applies to ideas. With Speed Feedback, participants do not introduce themselves, but present their ideas in the same way and collect the feedback. Advantage: Everyone is equally involved and you learn how to present your ideas succinctly. Generated output Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: After ideas have been decided upon, divide the room so that the participants can form teams of two. Each participant decides in advance on an idea they would like to present. (Each participant should have a different idea!)

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Step 2: Explain the exact rules of the game to the participants. For example, each participant has two minutes to present their idea and answer questions. Step 3: At each table each participant now has these two minutes for their idea. As moderator, make sure that the times are observed and that everyone has spoken to everyone else. The respective idea presenters should note down the feedback on their ideas, of course. Step 4: After the round, give everyone some time to structure and analyze their feedback. Step 5: Participants present their findings from the round and their next steps (refine idea, change, drop). Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Promotes appreciation – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Weakens debating – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Speed Feedback

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: notebook People: diverse mix of individuals Room: sufficiently large room Moderation: pens Tool: clipboards Room: table tops Tool: stopwatch Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Several rounds in a row can make sense and be fun Depending on the size of the task and the team, it may make sense to do several runs in succession. This increases the quality of ideas and possibly team spirit. – Sufficient space important Especially if you have a larger group, there should be enough space between the pairs. Otherwise, background noise becomes so great that you can no longer concentrate on exchanging information.

Identified sources of the method Organization – innogy SE – Dortmund Web – https://www.spiesser.de/artikel/speeddatingfuer-ideen (April 2017)

Specific Focus

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The basis for creative work is the definition of a goal, which is to be achieved with the help of various methods. However, this is often one of the most difficult tasks – to make all participants focus on one outcome, so that Brainstorming follows a common path. Specific Focus helps to shape this foundation of innovation. In this context, Focus is to be understood as concentration on a certain topic on which the individual or the entire team starts creative work. You can either concentrate on a general topic or aim for targeted concentration. Concentration on a general subject area: This designation already contains the requirement that the Focus here be very general. Regardless of whether the Focus is broad or narrow, thinking in a general way is in any case hardly inferior to addressing concrete problems or requirements, but offers far-reaching scope. So you could look for ideas on how to design a low-cost airline or how to lower the service of a low-cost airline. On one hand you can think in many directions, but there is the danger with too narrowly-defined subject areas that the solutions are already very limited from the outset. It is therefore important not to focus on problems that appear through the back door (as in the second example). Targeted concentration: Linking the focus area to the objective or goal provides a more concrete approach with which many people are familiar. This is about solving problems, reaching a

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point in the form of a task or taking advantage of a recognized opportunity. Problem solving must not be seen as purely about improvement, since that only aims at changing something that already exists. The task is not only to solve the problem, but also to achieve a certain goal, not simply to eliminate the problem. This opportunity for targeted concentration is intended to facilitate further entrepreneurial development. All three elements – solving problems, formulating a task or taking advantage of an opportunity – are always based on one purpose, defining the goal. However, Specific Focus can also help with a routine review or aso-called idea-sensitive point. This point could have a particularly high impact if you concentrate your Specific Focus on it. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Handling A specific focus is achieved by focusing on partial aspects of an idea, a product or a process and asking the question: “Is this the only possible way?” Look at the reasons why something was implemented in a certain way, and ask what other way you could achieve it. All factors can be taken into account that come into play here: Concepts, challenges, hypotheses, limits, determinants et cetera. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) 937

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Specific Focus

Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Practice on yourself This method requires an experienced moderator. Therefore, practice everyday aspects of Specific Focus and consider which ones can be considered individually. It makes sense, for example, to consider how public transport must be designed in order to offer it free of charge, or how committed drivers can be persuaded to use it.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Methodische Unterstützung von Ideenfindungsprozessen, S. Staiger (Diplomarbeiten Agentur diplom.de – Januar 1997) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

Spider Meeting

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Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This is an interactive idea finding and evaluation method for simple tasks and is primarily suitable for the concretization of ideas. The aim is to use “web spinning” from the outside to the inside to increase the level of detail of ideas and at the same time to filter them, i. e. to select the favored ones. A clear task is required at the start. The Spider Meeting technique is suitable for six participants and one moderator. About two hours should be allowed.

Handling Step 1: Each participant is assigned their own color. They each receive two pens of this color. A spider’s web is drawn on the floor (on a large sheet of paper) and the participants position themselves in a circle around it. Step 2: In the first step, a total of 36 ideas are generated for a concrete task (each participant comes up with six ideas). These are each noted on a Post-it and stuck to the fields of the outermost row of the spider’s web. A maximum of three Post-its with different colored writing (ideas) may be positioned in each field. Step 3: First selection process Each participant places their two ideas in two fields in which they have not placed any ideas. In the second step, they select two of the three ideas from each of these fields and move them to a field in the second row. Step 4: Second selection process Again, each participant marks two new fields with their two pens in which, if possible, no ideas of their own are placed. In the second step, they select one of the two ideas from each of these fields and move it to a field in the third row. They also sketch an even better variant of this idea. Step 5: The six final solutions outlined will be discussed in the group. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour)

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Spider Meeting

Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: post-its Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity

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Experiences – Suitable for … Suitable for teams that are untrained in generating ideas and, most importantly, filtering them.

Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013) Web – http://blog.zuehlke.com/tag/spider-meeting/ (April 2017)

St. Gallen Business Model Navigator

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Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description On the basis of many years of work and experience with companies on the subject of business model development, the BMI (Business Model Innovation) Lab in St. Gallen, Zurich has developed a simple yet holistic model to describe business models. The St. Gallen Business Model Navigator is a very good fit for the interactive sketching of business models in innovation workshops and training. The Model consists of four dimensions and is represented in a magic triangle. 1. The customer – who are the target customers? 2. The benefit promise – what do you offer the customers? 3. The value chain – how do you produce the service? 4. The yield mechanics – how is value achieved? By answering these four questions and specifying the dimensions of the customer segments, the benefit promise (value proposition), the value chain and the yield (earnings) mechanics, the Business Model becomes tangible and provides a basis for innovation. It is a magic triangle, because the optimization/ change at one of the key points (e. g. yield optimization) automatically requires adjustments of the other two sides (benefit promise or value chain). If you change at least two of the four dimensions of a known business model, a good opportunity for a new business model arises. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Identifies existing strengths

Handling Step 1: Use a magic triangle template to describe your existing, new or familiar business model. Step 2: Discuss your findings within the team and identify the anomalies. Step 3: Say goodbye to some of your findings and/or add new ones. These can inform future teams by a artificial funeral speech and integrate if necessary. Alternatively, in a positive case the event can also be a “press conference”. Step 4: To develop new business models, you can use the 55 business model sample cards. Each of these represents a familiar business model pattern that serves as a source of inspiration. For each card, generate ideas correspondin to your model and then evaluate them as a team.

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens debating – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate

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St. Gallen Business Model Navigator

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Room: flipchart People: diverse mix of individuals Tool: specific worksheets People: moderator/trainer Moderation: post-its

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Moderation: pens Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – The pattern cards are very helpful The 55 business model cards, which can also be obtained from the BMI Lab, are really very good for this and other innovation methods. – Note: the trainer/moderator should have practiced the method a few times It sounds simple and is described relatively quickly, but the success of this technique lies in the details. This is why the trainer/ moderator should have some experience with the St. Gallen Business Model.

Identified sources of the method Book – Geschäftsmodelle entwickeln: 55 innovative Konzepte mit dem St. Galler Business Model Navigator, O. Gassmann, K. Frankenberger, M. Csik (Carl Hanser Verlag – Juni 2013) Organisation – innogy SE – Dortmund

Stage-Gate® Model

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Gate 1 Scoping Gate 2 Business Case Gate 3 Development Gate 4 Testing and Validation Gate 5 Market Introduction Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The Stage-Gate® Model from Robert G. Cooper is a classic and popular tool for resource allocation and process planning within innovation training. So-called quality gates are used to limit and measure individual phases of an innovation project. At each gate, the progress of the project is checked and a decision is made on how to proceed. In this way, resources that are required for the next project step (“Stage”) can be planned in a differentiated way. The Stage-Gate® Model is suitable for carrying out several innovation projects simultaneously and efficiently, and for reducing risks. The dependence of the next project step on the output of the previous step should ensure that no unnecessary or incorrectly-oriented work takes place. Only an evaluation of the stage output at the gate defines when and in what form the process is continued. Due to the sequential nature of the method, an overlapping of individual phases is not intended, but often sensible. Therefore, there are various further developments of the Model in which parallel processes within a project are also possible. Generated output Creates implemented ideas Generates plans and prioritizations Handling The classical phases of a Stage-Gate® innovation process according to Cooper: Screening

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Stage-Gate® Model

Experiences – Limited suitability for iterative work In modern start-up and innovation techniques, which are designed for speed and parallel working, the sequential Stage-Gate® process is not always suitable. There are great doctrinal wars between the iteratively agile and Stage-Gate® camps. Experience shows that the methods can be combined.

Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement, T. Müller-Prothmann, N. Dörr (Carl Hanser Verlag – April 2014) Book – Top oder Flop in der Produktentwicklung. Erfolgsstrategien: von der Idee zum Launch, R. G. Cooper (Wiley-VCH Verlag 2010)

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Stakeholder Matrix

Innovation phase P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The Stakeholder Matrix analysis provides for the systematic consideration of all persons (and groups) affected by a project or an idea. The point is to analyse all those with a critical attitude towards the project who could thus have a negative influence on implementation. From this analysis, measures can be derived with which the identified persons (groups) could change their attitude towards the project. This enables countermeasures to be better developed and the implementation of an idea to be accelerated. The use of this method especially makes sense in politically sensitive environments.

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Handling Stakeholder Matrix analysis can be implemented in various ways. We describe the approach of Florian Rustler in his book Denkwerkzeuge der Kreativität und Innovation. Step 1: Collect as many stakeholders as possible, i. e. persons (groups) affected by the matter. Step 2: Reduce the list to the most important stakeholders whose help or support is needed or whose opposition could jeopardize project implementation. Limit the list to a maximum of ten people (groups). Step 3: Actual situation of the stakeholders: Add five columns to the list and insert a scale of one to five so that each stakeholder’s current attitude to the project can be evaluated and marked. The scale should go from “Strongly Supportive” to “Strongly Negative”. Step 3: Target position of the stakeholders: Now estimate which position respective stakeholders must at least take so that your project receives the necessary support or so that the implementation of the project is not jeopardized. Step 4: Derive measures: Stakeholders whose positions differ from actual to target now need to develop ideas on how to improve their attitudes. Collect a variety of alternatives and ideas. Step 5: Define measures: Now you have to filter out the core measures from the many alternatives with which you believe you can achieve the best effect. Record these measures in another column in your stakeholder list. The result is a visualized representation of stakeholders, their actual/target deviations and the measures taken to minimize negative impact. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more innovative organisations Generates plans and prioritizations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium

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Stakeholder Matrix

Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: paper in flipchart size Moderation: paper Moderation: pens Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: moderator/trainer Room: flipchart Room: pinboards Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – High acceptance The method will be known by the project management. Thus it is quickly explained and easy to implement. – Variation One variant of the method is to collect the names of the stakeholders on small Post-its in the first step. In the second step you draw a cross on a flipchart sheet and now have four quadrants. These are titled (clockwise starting at the top left): – little influence, much interest – much influence, little interest – little influence, little interest – much influence, much interest The Post-its are now stuck to the matching quadrants and the possible strategies for risk minimization are discussed as a team.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Projektmanagement, H. Corsten (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2008) Book – Strategisches Management, M. K. Welge, A. Al-Laham (Gabler 2012)

Startup Job Exchange

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens living in the past – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome – Weakens the inner censor

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description A Startup Job Exchange is about employees of a large company exchanging jobs with employees from start-up companies for a period of one week, for example. In order to gain startup experience, this method follows the expression “Don’t just talk about it – live it for real”. This method can be seen happening again and again in companies that set up an external innovation incubator or that undertake the Lean Startup or Lean Entrapreneurship method with separate teams. The dilemma is that often the employees who are now to work in the incubator have no practical experience of thinking or acting like a startup colleague. The Startup Job Exchange method is used to enlist a start-up company that is willing to exchange jobs for two employees for a week, for example. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more innovative organisations Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling In principle, the Start-up Job Exchange takes place according to the following steps: Step 1: Identification of suitable startup companies in early phases. Step 2: Enlistment of the startup company and design of the Joint Startup Job Exchange project. Of course, a positive situation should arise for both sides. Step 3: Identification of your own Exchange candidates and definition of the Exchange targets. Step 4: Performing the Startup Job Exchange. Step 5: Lively report and transfer of findings and experiences into your own team.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Strong project mandates Experience has shown that the Startup Job Exchange can only be carried out with strong project mandates. In operational terms, there is never a problem with the Exchange candidates, but always great curiosity about the new experiences. Concerns and also fears are usually noticeable in the clay layers of middle management. It is only at that level that the benefits are widely questioned.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012) Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Startup Skype Radio have prepared a small catalog of questions that already pay off in your own experience/target corridor. You should also always set a fixed timeframe (30 to 60 minutes is typical). Step 4: Sharde reflection on the knowledge andexperiences gained after the Skype call. It is advisable to make these results available in a central location, for example on walls in the team room.

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Startup Skype Radio is about regular, fast and inexpensive online exchange of experience with startup teams. This method is carried out either within an innovation project or independently of the project as a general and strategic measure. Startup Skype Radio is a very cheap and efficient method for learning from startups in many areas, especially for teams from corporate structures and from upmarket, medium-sized companies. It has also been shown that the method works so well because typical startup teams like to talk openly about their experiences and share them. The method provides the following benefits: – Understanding how startups think and act – Promotion of a startup mindset in your own team – Inspirations to many different single themes – Real insights and realistic derivations – An uncomplicated exchange/reflection on your own ideas – Enlargement of the network, especially on the Social Web Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Creates more innovative organisations Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Project-related or strategically permanent identification of startup companies. Make a list of startups that are considered exciting. Step 2: Enlistment of the startups and the presentation of the Startup Skype Radio project. Step 3: Plan, schedule and execution of Skype videocalls with the startup teams. It is always advisable here to

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Technique: Internet access Technology: PC or notebook Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Startup Skype Radio

Experiences – Startup topic unimportant

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

It has been shown that the topic or business purpose of the startup is not a relevant factor in the success of Startup Skype Radio. Here diversity is the key to success; you can even consciously select startups that seemingly have nothing to do with your own business. As in many areas of innovation, diversity is the guarantor of success.

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Stumbling Blocks Technique tion and measures always be developed to remove the “obstacles”. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description With this technique you give a picture of problems and obstacles, and with it you can actually talk and discuss them in a different way. Stumbling Blocks in this method symbolize problems, obstacles and difficulties of various kinds that the participants in an innovation project associate with the idea and its implementation. The prospective use of Stumbling Blocks is dominated by evaluation and problem analysis for the suitability of the technique. The terms “stone” or “stumbling block” have strong metaphorical characters, which can be put to good use here – by a good moderator. A small selection of well-known metaphors and idioms are: – “Stonecold heart.” – “Putting stones in the way.” – “Philosopher’s Stone.” – “Stone of destiny.” – “Hard as a stone.” In a retrospective use of the method, the exchange and transfer of experience are at the center of the discussion. Phrases can then be: – “Those were stones that stood in my way – or ours.” – “Stones I tripped over, we tripped over.” – “We had to remove stones first.” Stumbling Blocks are, of course, also presumed or anticipated when thinking of the future: – “We must expect these stumbling blocks.” – “We should get rid of these stones first.” In all applications, however, not only should problems be identified and named, but also concrete courses of ac-

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Handling Step 1: The moderator presents the challenge and the idea to be implemented. Step 2: The participants name the problems they suspect or assume will occur during the implementation by labelling cards prepared by the moderator (approx. A5, possibly with a stone symbol in a corner). Step 3: Participants now lay out the cards on the floor or on a table. Cards with identical problems are grouped. Step 4: The participants now receive a number of different stones (pebbles) from the moderator. They weigh down the cards with stones of different sizes to express how serious they think the problem is. The bigger the stone, the bigger the suspected problem. Step 5: Participants make comments in turn and justify their Stumbling Blocks. The moderator logs the statements in an accessible way. Depending on the situation and the size of the group, limitations can or should be imposed (only one Stumbling Block or other limited number per participant), or there will be no participant commentary. In that case, the moderator would structure the problem collection and discuss it with the participants. In each case a collection of problems arises, which require a solution and further processing. A broom or a dustpan can then also clearly symbolize clearing away when the cards are picked up from the ground again. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Shortens overly long meeting times – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Stumbling Blocks Technique

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Tool: pebbles in different sizes

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Known advantages The appealing symbolism of this method has a very positive influence on the discussion of problems – they are perceived as real stones that can be cleared away. The technique works very well in large groups.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Stone Soup

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Stone Soup: this method uses an old Eastern European fable and fantasy questions. It teaches us how to mobilize our imaginations with fantasy questions and how to generate ideas from these fantasies. The following fable of stone soup has been told and written down in different variations: The autumn wind had become cold and the leaves of the trees were colorful. The reds and yellows glowed as if the leaves had stored the sunlight and were now slowly emitting it. The fields were littered with golden pumpkins and the apples on the trees were so red that you could almost smell their sweet juice. The barefoot beggar’s clothes were torn, his hair ruffled. His mouth watered as he smelled the smell of smoked meat from the village. He hadn’t eaten in two days. Hungry, he built a fire at the edge of the village, put his cauldron on it and placed a small stone in it. “Just imagine,” he said to himself, “you could make a delicious soup out of this stone.” He sat down on a box and pretended to actually cook soup. The curious people came out of the village and gathered around his little fire. They asked him what he was cooking, and he told them about the magic stone that could be used to make delicious soup. “Stone soup tastes best after the first frost,” he explained to them. The villagers were fascinated by his soup and began to comment on the fine aroma. The beggar invited them to join him. The delighted villagers said they would contribute their own dinners for a joint gourmet meal. They returned with vegetables, fruit, poultry, ham and sausages. “Let us pray,” said the village priest. The beggar thought to himself, “I pray the food doesn’t get cold before it’s ready.” Then the beggar went after the food. 952

He ate everything that was served up as if there were no tomorrow. He skewered four boiled eggs on his knife and devoured them with four slices of fried ham. He cut two thick slices of turkey and shoveled them into his mouth and stuffed some boiled potatoes and beans in afterwards. Then he buttered a large piece of bread and ate it as well. The beggar didn’t even seem to notice that the villagers ate bowl after bowl of his wonderful soup while he ate everything within reach – including half a strawberry cake. When he was finished, he sat motionless for a few moments. Finally he got up, grabbed his stone and walked away. He left the village without looking back. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Imagination! Imagination! Say to yourself: “I need fresh, innovative ideas to meet my challenge. I am free to judge and I am open to free and simple ideas. It doesn’t matter how crazy they are, because I don’t have to account to anyone.” Step 2: Ask as many “what if …” questions as you can. Examples: “What if you just threw old toilets in the ocean?” “What if you could train dogs to be salespeople?” “What if all products and services cost the same, in principle?” “What if I couldn’t talk?” Step 3: Try to answer the questions. In order to find radical answers to old questions, it is essential to make a big leap with your imagination. With answers to crazy questions, you create metaphors and images that you need to capture to generate ideas. If you are looking for answers to unusual questions, you will gain new insights into your basic problem. If you have found an answer that is just as crazy as your question, you have landed initially in absolute fiction. You may already see a glimmer of light leading you in the direction of an innovative solution. The solutions are already off the beaten track. On this path, look at everything you know from a new perspective; cross the boundaries of what is possible and reach out to what is impossible.

Stone Soup

Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Supports a better imagination Experiences – Let ideas flow in a different place Sometimes it is difficult to let free and crazy ideas flow without prejudice. If you find it difficult to relax completely in your usual working or living environment, why not take a day or weekend out for a break? Perform the self-imposed task in a remote place – by the sea, in a forest, in a monastery, a hotel or a guesthouse, where you travel exclusively to cook your own Stone Soup.

Identified sources of the method Book – Kreatives Fundraising Ideen entwickeln und modifizieren, T. Grosjean (Books on Demand 2011) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Stop Technique

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description In the Stop Technique, the teaching method takes the opposite approach to most other idea-finding techniques. While those procedures often involve first generating a large number of ideas before clustering those that have been found, the Stop Technique is exactly the opposite. First of all, main topics are selected, then a starting signal is given for the corresponding Brainstorming related to the problem/challenge. This approach is intended to be a countermeasure at an early stage, especially if there is a danger of a dead end in the Brainstorming process or to prevent boredom due to a topic that has already been dealt with for too long. It is important that the moderator acts more as a timekeeper and does not give too much information or assistance with regard to content. Only in the case of a lack of inspiration can they offer support with main themes as guidelines. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The following procedure is recommended (according to Mencke): Step 1: Brainstorming (or a similar technique) is used to solve the problem: After four minutes the Brainstorming is interrupted and a generic term for the ideas already found is searched for together. Step 2: Immediately afterwards, the next main topic is developed together, for which ideas are again collected for four minutes until the moderator interrupts again.

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Step 3: This process is repeated again and ideas for the question are sought within a main topic. Step 4: After repeated implementation, more or less all relevant topics and the associated ideas should have been considered. Advantages: – One-sided ideas, mental blocks and blind spots are avoided. – Many perspectives are addressed and placed in the appropriate context. Disadvantages: – Idea generation is strongly dependent on the corresponding outlines and has to take into account the preferred ways of thinking by the group in relation to the question. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team People: diverse mix of individuals Tool: stopwatch Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

Stop Technique

Experiences – Variety pre-programmed Due to the constantly changing main topics, an entertaining workshop is guaranteed. – Good instincts Despite time constraints, the moderator must be careful not to interrupt important idea flow phases.

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Identified sources of the method Book – 99 Tipps für Kreativitätstechniken, M. Mencke (Cornelsen Scriptor – April 2006) Web – http://www.enzyklo.de/Begriff/Stop-Technik (April 2017)

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Story Cubes minute to make a story out of them that begins with the agreed starting point. Step 3: During the story, write down the ideas it contains. Step 4: After all participants have rolled the dice and told their stories, as a group they look at the list of ideas and evaluate them.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description This method rolls dice to create stories. The original Story Cubes (a commercially available tool) encourage creativity, imagination and the desire to tell stories. Story Cubes consist of nine game cubes that have small pictures instead of numbers or points – from a Native American tent to a turtle to a walking stick and much more. You can use the dice just at the beginning of an idea generation process or to loosen up after a few idea rounds. The Cubes can be used for almost all topics. A participant rolls all nine dice and creates/invents a story/idea from them. Only the initial sentence should be adapted to the topic and coordinated in advance. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Introduce the Story Cubes to the team and vote on a starting point in the round which should suit your problem. For example: “Our customers are looking forward to our new product because …” Step 2: Give a team member all nine dice and ask them to roll them. After they have rolled the dice, they are allowed to arrange them and have a maximum of one

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes the agility of the participants – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: Story Cubes Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: moderator/trainer People: diverse mix of individuals Room: flipchart Room: table tops

Story Cubes

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination

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Experiences – Fun foremost When generating ideas with Story Cubes, fun should be to fore. This technique is very well suited for loosening up groups, clearing heads and so on. Very good ideas can also emerge through the playful change of perspective and the avoidance of creative blocks – but this is often a coincidence.

Identified sources of the method Web – https://www.storycubes.com/ (April 2017)

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Storyboarding respective section and the development of a visionary way of thinking. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Sharpens common direction – Weakens living in the past

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description Storyboarding is a visual method that makes a defined goal more concrete. It helps to make visions tangible and is a supplement to the method of newspaper stories from the future. It may also identify initial innovation steps and obstacles to further action. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates a vision or future scenario Creates greater clarity on a topic Handling Step 1: Use six to eight A4 sheets. You can also draw the elements as fields on a single sheet or a flipchart. Step 2: In the first to last frames (sheets), the story is developed around the question or goal. The first frame forms the initial situation (the status quo) and the last frame the target image (ideal solution). Note: If you have fewer than six frames, it is difficult to get a story developed, and if you have more than eight, you run the risk of losing yourself in detail. Step 3: Complete the story by writing down the essential steps for achieving the target state in the free frames. You can also include pictures, drawings or objects (modeling clay, Lego or other materials) to make the story more alive. Hint! The individual frames do not have to be sophisticated or of artistic merit. This is about the core statement of the

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination Experiences – Reporter

If the story cannot be told fluently, then the moderator as “reporter” can set in motion a faltering process.

Storyboarding

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Stratale – – – –

Beer is mostly drunk by men. Beer can be bought and drunk in many places. The different breweries are difficult to distinguish. Women often buy it at the supermarket.

This idea could be developed to offer special types of beer for certain dishes. This could increase beer sales to women. This method requires a lot of practice, but can then be used very usefully in order to obtain inspiration for idea generation, especially at the beginning of the idea/ problem finding process. Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Edward de Bono describes Stratale as a sensitization technique. Five unconnected statements are formulated for any given initial situation. The mental detour can then be used to identify ideas that are connected with these statements in a new, previously unnoticed context. This creativity method is based on several layers (“strata” is Italian for layer), which quite unconsciously influence Brainstorming. The different statements each serve as a layer or level, which are not connected, but are nevertheless linked by the brain, and can thus evoke new ideas. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling First, no more than five (so-called) thought lines are written down for a Stratale in the form of a sentence or a statement. It is important here to deliberately focus on essential characteristics, and detailed description should be avoided as far as possible. It is precisely by omitting or reducing detail that new approaches and connections of several thoughts emerge. First, name the problem as succinctly and openly as possible. You then formulate a maximum of five statements on the problem, which are not solutions but findings. Make sure that they are not connected to or built on each other. Afterwards write down the ideas that develop from these individual points; they can represent conclusions or just be loosely related to the statements. As an example de Bono mentions a Stratale for the term “beer”: 960

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: soft pencils Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Note random selection The restriction to a maximum of five thought lines is necessary to support the random element in the selection. In this way, the brain can link new aspects with each other without falling back into worn-out patterns of thought.

Stratale

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Book – Methodische Unterstützung von Ideenfindungsprozessen, S. Staiger (Diplomarbeiten Agentur diplom.de – Januar 1997) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

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Strategy Roadmap Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Sharpens common direction – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power

Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) Description The Strategy Roadmap visualizes and correlates innovation planning with current short-, medium- and longterm corporate strategies. You enter ideas and projects intended for implementation into the Roadmap, and it provides a plan that aligns them with various strategies. For this purpose, upcoming ideas and projects are aligned with a timeline, as are the short-term, mediumterm and long-term strategies. The method provides the following benefits: – provides a view of projects over a timeline – creates a plan – sets the tone – defines strategies – promotes strategic understanding Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Draw a timeline on a wall, with three sections (short-, medium- and long-term). All relevant ideas and projects are sighted and clearly located on this timeline. Step 2: Develop or write down your strategies for each of the three timeline segments. Step 3: In a further line, note what your organization needs in order to pursue its strategies and list its strengths, weaknesses and competencies. Step 4: For each strategy note how the market is likely to react. Write down opportunities, competitors and also complementors. Step 5: Discuss and reflect on your Strategy Roadmap every time you talk about ideas and projects that need to be implemented.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Strategy Roadmap

Experiences – Strategy reflection gives innovative strength In recent years, it has repeatedly been shown that most participants in innovation projects do not have sufficient know-how about their own strategies. Knowledge of strategies and the ability to reflect on them in the context of innovation are indispensable factors for success.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Stretch Goals Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation

Innovation phase P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Stretch Goals refers to extended, exaggerated goal-setting (demand more than you actually expect, then you get what you want). It also refers to inaccurate, stretchable and malleable targets (horizontal and vertical) that can be pulled to where they are needed during target verification. Vertical: This extension refers to already existing products, processes or services, which are simply provided with new goals. For example, current customer satisfaction could be improved from 90 to 100 percent. Horizontal: Here, completely new products, processes and services are to be envisaged. For example, a company could use its experience in coating materials (paints) on skin (cosmetics). Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Handling Step 1: Let the team discuss the actual question and record the result on a brown paper. Step 2: For the extension, write down all the goals you want to achieve beside each other. Step 3: The team should now think about how the goals can be significantly increased or expanded. Write these “ideas” next to the original goals. Step 4: As a group, define your new question(s) from Step 3.

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper People: experts People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Stretch Goals

Experiences – Risks of the method There are two points you should keep in mind: If the goals are too unrealistic or not inspiring enough, it can quickly lead to demotivation in the team. – Those in positions of direct responsibility and team members who always want to solve “hard goals” can become particularly stressed by this method and lose performance as a result. – Invite others It has been proven that it is very helpful to invite other team members to particpate in this method. They bring in a fresh and perhaps naive viewpoint, which helps to set new goals.

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015) Book – Using Stretch Goals to Promote Organizational Effectiveness and Personal Growth, S. Kerr (Academy of Management)

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Stick Figure Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems – Weakens the inner censor

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Behind the warm-up Stick Figure is the statement: “Anyone can draw/visualize.” This is about promoting the ability to draw again and doing this by creating small graphics. The participants get Post-its and pencils and then have to draw Stick Figures showing different emotions, for example, joy, curiosity, grief, stinginess, criticism, etc. After a previously agreed time, each participant individually introduces their Stick Figures to the group. The Post-its are hung on a board or wall, sorted by columns. The participants have fun and realize, even if they haven’t drawn for years, that they do have the ability to create small, vivid graphics. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Distribute Post-its and pens. Step 2: Ask participants to draw a previously introduced emotion on each Post-it. Step 3: Give participants a total of approximately ten minutes to complete the task. Step 4: During this time, prepare the whiteboard/wall with the respective columns for each emotion. Step 5: Let participants hang the Post-its on the wall and explain each one.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: post-its Tool: clock Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Experiences – Good start for Brainstorming or Prototyping This exercise is particularly useful before Brainstorming or Prototyping. It creates a relaxed team atmosphere and stimulates the right brain regions. – Fun first If you want to use the method as an introduction, fun should be the priority and not the quality of the drawings.

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Stick Figure

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

Book – Lebendige Strichmännchen zeichnen, A. Tschudin (Edition Michael Fischer – Februar 2015)

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Structure Innovation Checkup

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Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Structure Innovation Checkup is one of the Ten Types of Innovation Macro Method (described on p.xx). The third of the Ten Types describes innovative organizational structures of a company – personnel, plant or intangible assets. Distinctive and innovative structures create value – from outstanding talent management to a sophisticated combination of heavy machinery. Even fixed costs and tasks can be improved by Structural Innovations. This includes areas such as human resources, research and development and IT. Ideally, such a structure attracts outstanding talent as potential employees – through a perfect working environment and a performance level unmatched by competitors. For example, good innovative structures are characterized by a functioning incentive system that motivates employees to work towards a set goal, by standardization that reduces costs and breaks down complexities, and by in-house training to ensure continuous education. Structural Innovations in particular are difficult for competitors to copy, because they always contain their own peculiarities, perfectly tailored to the organization in question, and combined with the necessary investment offer an advantage for years to come. Successful Structural Innovations in practice: – Whole Foods Market: Teams are the central value at Whole Foods. The company is characterized by an extreme form of decentralization: Each location independently determines the hiring of employees, purchasing, warehousing and presentation of goods. – Southwest Airlines: Before Southwest bought the low-cost carrier AirTran, the American airlineexclusively flew the Boing 737 model aircraft, standardiz-

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ing and reducing the cost of all processes for individual flights, loads and downtimes. Trinity Health: The clinics in the Trinity Health network have a sophisticated IT infrastructure. It offers physicians and nursing staff unrestricted online access to patient data, provides quality assurance and is even used for telemedicine to provide medical advice to patients in remote rural regions.

Generated output Creates collaborative solutions and ideas Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Use these questions to check whether your innovation (or that of a competitor) works on the basis of a potential Structure Innovation: Step 1: Does the company have a unique or unusual organizational structure? Step 2: Does the company have a particular set of machinery, equipment or other plant? Step 3: Does the company use its plant division differently from its competitors? Step 4: Has the company established its own or a special IT infrastructure? Step 5: Is the company known for attracting top talent? Step 6: Does the company attract top talent in a special field? Step 7: Does the company work with its own standardization? Does this concern the diversity of the equipment? Step 8: Does the company use an incentive system? Step 9: Does the company conduct in-house training and continuous education? Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens living in the past

Structure Innovation Checkup

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals No special resources required Experiences – Strong mandate necessary In order to question and innovate the organizational structure, you always need a really strong mandate. Otherwise participants do not get the conclusion of meaning and authorization for this work.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

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Structured Abstraction

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description This method is based on the idea of finding new ideas and solutions for a given problem with two seemingly completely different, contradictory variables. This works particularly well when it comes to technical contradictions in products. For example, you can think about how to make a car drive faster, even though it gets heavier. This means that factor A must always be considered in direct connection to factor B. The method is particularly popular with scientists, engineers and technicians because on one hand a problem can be solved very systematically and on the other because the resulting technical dependencies ideally trigger these groups and motivate them to find solutions. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The following sequence of steps should be observed: Step 1: Finding the corresponding (technical) contradictions. – these are often well known – are already in the system – have so far been partially solved or not at all Step 2: Abstract contradictions – Find product parameters that refer to them – the problem should be made generic – for this you can, for example, also refer to the 39 product parameters of TRIZ

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Step 3: Bringing together invention principles – capture the complete contradiction matrix for the product parameters – find higher-level useful and harmful parameters from the matrix – identify the invention principles derived from the contradictions Step 4: Testing and applying the invention principles – can the invention principles solve the contradictions? – thorough examination of all merged connections, mostly by experts – consistently think through the resulting abstractions Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location People: experts People: diverse mix of individuals Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

Structured Abstraction

Experiences – Time-consuming If you want to think about and work through a whole abstraction, it is an enormously time-consuming process. – Feeling of thorough analysis The comprehensive, complex and structured approach gives participants the feeling that no solution has been ignored.

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Identified sources of the method Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Web – http://innovatorstoolkit.com/sites/innovatorstoolkit.com/files/Structured%20Abstraction% 2026.3.xls (April 2017)

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Silent Writing Conversation

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Silent Writing Conversation is very appealing because it is a universal method, which can be used both as a Brainwriting technique in Brainstorming and as a feedback method in analysis and evaluation. It works in very similar way to the Café-to-Go method and also offers a movement component in implementation. The fact that writing is the only way to progress, and speaking is not allowed, brings a welcome feeling of relief to a workshop situation. The Silent Writing Conversation is an unconventional variant of other so-called feedback procedures and Brainwriting methods. By selecting feelings demonstrated by the group, the moderator determines the target direction with regard to seriousness or levity. Usually you will choose a mixture of these approaches and thus generate not only new ideas, but also a mood picture and serious criticism of the challenge, both positive and negative. Silent Writing Conversations also have a loosening up and lightening character: The fun element then predominates. With a larger number of participants, ideally two or more parallel writing conversations would have to be organized. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

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Handling Step 1: The challenge is presented to the team by the moderator, as well as the rules of the method. Step 2: The moderator will have prepared large cardboard or flipchart sheets. On each of the papers they will have noted an inspirational statement as a title (see illustration). Step 3: The sheets will be placed on a table (or a group of tables) so that participants can walk around them to write on them. Step 4: The participants should supplement the inspirational statements with a short sentence, word or phrase (without speaking to each other), then move on to the next sheet and continue the process there as well. Step 5: In the second and next rounds, participants comment on and supplement the sentences of their colleagues again and again (only in writing!). Everything is allowed: approval, rejection, reinforcement, irony … The participants therefore communicate with each other, albeit in an unusual but interesting way. After the first round the moderator can participate. Step 6: If participants stop writing – or after an agreed time – the Silent Writing Conversation is over. This is followed by a (usually loud) conversation, in which the participants and the moderator more or less extensively discuss “what is lying on the table”. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Tames a disturbing group clown – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens living in the past – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees

Silent Writing Conversation – – – – – – –

Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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Recommended resources Room: table tops Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Patterns are broken open The advantage of Silent Writing Conversations as a method is that traditional communication patterns are broken. Participants who verbally hold back in a workshop have the chance to actively participate here. This is especially true for teams whose members have known each other for many years.

Identified sources of the method Book – Christin Grieser-Kindel: Method Guide. Schüleraktivierende Methoden für den Englischunterricht, Schöningh, Paderborn 2006 Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Subject Matter Experts Interviews

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description Subject Matter Experts Interviews are very efficient in a focus topic or field of innovation. They help you to quickly keep up-to-date, especially if you are in the field of Cross-Industry Innovation and reviewing information in another industry. Talking to selected experts helps to quickly sift through and reflect on key technologies and state-of-theart offerings, products and developments of a focus topic. Using your own well-prepared interview structures and frameworks usually significantly increases the output that can be achieved with Subject Matter Experts Interviews. These can be structures around time axes (what does the topic look like in the past, present and future?), countries or other clusters. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Generates lists of opportunities and risks Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Define the focus topic on which you wish to keep up-to-date. If it is too broad and complex, divide it into smaller, more specific subject areas. Interviews with several experts may then make sense.

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Step 2: Identify the experts. Use various networks, the Internet, as well as symposia and conferences. Step 3: Always be perfectly prepared for the interviews. Prepare your structure and questions in detail. Step 4: Carry out the interviews. Always make sure you remain focused and do not digress. Use media like Skype to be even more efficient. Step 5: Listen very carefully and actively. Maybe you can get permission to record the interview. It can also be helpful to conduct the interview in pairs – where one person always writes the questions. Step 6: Transcribe and summarize the interview and derive findings with colleagues. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

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Subject Matter Experts Interviews

Experiences – Using the openness of other cultures In recent years, we have often found that experts from other countries and cultures often handle their know-how much more openly than German experts. Maybe you could think about starting interviews with experts abroad.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Loosening of the Search Field

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Loosening of the Search Field is regarded as a method of creative confrontation. The aim is to look at problems from different perspectives, to create a creative distance from the problem and thus to find new approaches to solutions. On one hand, this is regarded as a technique for a systematic search for ideas, but on the other hand the term is also used as an umbrella phrase for the totality of all corresponding applications. Search field loosening is particularly suitable as a method for unspecified problems and/or analysis problems. Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling To create a distance from the existing problem, proceed as follows: Step 1: Syntactic or semantic reformulation of the problem A changed sentence structure or changes in content can open up a different approach to the problem. Step 2: Search for related words Realted words/changed terms can trigger valuable associations that would not be taken into account if the perspective were narrowed. Step 3: Translation into other languages

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Foreign-language phrases and idioms can also release new ideas if you look at their exact wording. Step 4: Problem description by people unfamiliar with the subject Dispensing with technical terms and formulations often helps to simplify the appearance of the problem. Step 5: Graphic or symbolic representation of the problem A pictorial representation provides a clear structure. After extension of the problem area, the challenge can usually be described more precisely. This specification then enables a more targeted search for possible solutions. Impact on obstacle effects – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: diverse mix of individuals Moderation: pens Moderation: paper Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Very compatible Search Field Loosening is easily applicable to a wide range of situations and ultimately can be used for problems of any kind.

Loosening of the Search Field

Identified sources of the method Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Web – https://ews.tu-dortmund.de/public/lecture/logedugate/public/Projekte/ProjektArbeit/Kreativitaetstechniken/content/16_uebersicht_Kreativitaetstechniken.html (April 2017)

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Book – Kreativitätstechniken im Innovationsprozess, M. Gawlak, Monika (Diplomica Verlag – Juni 2014) Book – Mediative Kommunikation: Mit Rogers, Rosenberg & Co. konfliktfähig für den Alltag werden, D. Klappenbach (Paderborn 2011)

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Sweet Spot

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Sweet Spot is a creativity and analysis method that is quick and easy to use. It is particularly suitable for the innovation of product and service offerings as well as business models. The method was developed by two Harvard professors, David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad, and can be carried out in a short time. Only a large sheet of paper is required to use this method. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling To use the Sweet Spot method, first three overlapping circles are drawn. The first circle stands for your offer or your abilities. The second circle stands for the customer and their need. The third circle contains the competition and its offers. Three large zones and four interfaces are created. Step 1: Write the characteristics of the product in the first circle. If these are very important for the customer and are not currently offered by the competition, they should stand in the intersection between “Our offer” and “Customer needs”. If they are important for the customer and are also offered by the competition, they come into the central intersection of the three circles. Step 2: Between Customer needs and Competition come the characteristics of competing products that your prod-

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uct does not yet meet. Discuss with the team how you can build these properties. Step 3: Now think about what you can add to the Sweet Spots (the intersection between the offer and the customer needs without competing offers). Which offers can you exclusively build up that are relevant for the customer? Step 4: Now discuss with the team what you no longer want to offer in the future, because it is not important to the customer (the outer part of the circle “Our offer”). Step 5: Finally, define the next steps, which are derived from the findings from the method. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Sweet Spot

Recommended resources Room: flipchart Tool: colored pencils Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Combination with other methods The Sweet Spot method can be easily combined with other creativity techniques, for example, Brainwriting can be used to fill the Sweet Spot field.

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014)

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Synectics –

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– – Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Synectics is a creative method that stimulates unconscious thought processes. This generally little known method was developed by William Gordon in 1944 and received recognition worldwide through his 1961 book, Synectics: The Development of creative capacity. Synectics divides the creative process into several phases. With the help of analogies, a step-by-step alienation of a problem takes place. Through this new objective and mental distance from the problem and from known solutions, Synectics leads to a new perspective and new approaches to solutions. The essential principle of the method is: “Make the alien familiar and alienate the familiar.” New and surprising solutions and ideas can be developed from this approach. Synectics is particularly suitable for the detailed analysis of complex tasks, new and further product developments, as well as for overcoming established thinking structures. It always starts with a thorough analysis of the problem. The original problem is then alienated by the formation of analogies. The aim is to find new and surprising solutions by analogy. In detail, a Synectics session is divided into the following traditional phases: – Problem definition: unambiguous definition of the problem. – Spontaneous solutions: Spontaneous ideas are captured. – Reformulation: The spontaneous solutions are used to reformulate the problem. – Direct analogies 1: Analogies are formed, for example, from nature (bionics).

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Personal analogies: Personal analogies are formed in order to achieve the personal identification of participants with the problem. Symbolic analogies (contradictions): Symbolic analogies are formed. Direct Analogies 2: Direct analogies to the found symbolic analogies are sought, for example, from technology. Analogy analysis: analysis of the direct analogies from the last step. Force-fit: The last analogies are associated with the original problem. Development of (concrete) approaches to solutions.

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling A Synectics session consists of 11 consecutive steps, including the goal and the problem presentation: Step 1: The aim of this creative process is briefly presented. Our example: “How can a glass plate be fastened as easily as possible to a flat frame?” Step 2: An expert explains the problem in detail to the team. The problem is discussed in detail by the group. The expert stays with the team. However, it is not necessary for all participants to have the same expertise. Step 3: Spontaneous solutions proposed by individual team members are noted. Our example: suction cups, clamps, adhesive foil … Step 4: The existing problem has been thoroughly discussed. The problem is now redefined. Our example: “How is it possible to easily remove the glass plate again?” Step 5: First direct analogies made. Analogies from other areas are sought for the problem posed. If the problem is from the natural world, choose an analogy from technology and vice versa. The analogy search is carried out, for example, by Brainstorming. At the end of the analogy phase, the group selects a term that has a meaningful connection to the problem definition. Our example: “Snake sheds skin, antlers are dropped, snow melts …” The group chooses: Snake strips skin off.

Synectics Step 6: Personal analogies form “identifications”. The phrase is taken up by the group and personal analogies are formed. “How do I feel as …?” It is best for participants to describe this in writing in 10 to 20 lines. Feelings are formulated as facts. Each participant reads their description to the others. The moderator notes significant feelings. The group again opts for a feeling that forms a meaningful connection with the term chosen in Step 5. Our example: “How do I feel as a skin-shedding snake?” “It itches, old skin tightens, finally fresh air …” The group chooses: old skin constricts. Step 7: Symbolic analogies form “contradictions”. For the selected feeling of Step 6, “paradoxical” book titles are now created. Our example: “Oppressive Shell”, “Strangling Me”, “Gapless Shackle”. The group chooses: Gapless Shackle. Step 8: Second direct analogy. The second direct analogy is derived from a field other than technology (Step 5). Our example: “Motorway crash barriers, pressurized vessels, railway tracks …” Step 9: Description and projection Each participant selects an analogy from Step 8 and describes it comprehensively. The description is given as if explaining it to a four-year-old child (about five minutes). Each participant then presents their description to the group. Our example: “Guard rail: sheet metal profile, deformable, on both sides.” Step 10: Rear projection Participants listen to the description and connect it to the problem presented in Step 4. Our example: “Profile frame, kneading balls between glass plate and frame, frame only on two sides, pressure vessel under tension.” These thoughts are documented and collected by the group in Brainstorming for the time being. Then the group discusses the question: “What does this description have to do with our problem?” Step 11: Summary The group creates a list of ideas and solutions for the task at hand. Our example: “Curved frame creates tension.” Rules – Apply the rules of Brainstorming analogously. – The client and the moderator must prepare the task in detail. – The participants should have practiced the method at least once.

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The business environment and decision makers must accept the approach and results of the Synectics session.

Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens People: experts People: moderator/trainer Room: flipchart Room: pinboards Room: table tops Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Time, time, time Use this technique only if there is enough time and a qualified moderator available. The technique is made more difficult because inhibitions have to be overcome, especially in the phase in which personal analogies are formed. Overall, Synectics is a relatively intensive training method, and a serious Synectics meeting should not be moderated until a number of exercises have been performed to adapt to the particular approach of this idea-finding method. However, the experienced participant will appreciate it as a particularly powerful technique with which a wealth of original ideas can be generated. – Not easy, but radical A technique that works particularly well with complex targets. Entrenched thought structures are radically and systematically thrown overboard. – Only practice makes perfect Synectics places much higher demands on the user than Brainstorming, as the process flow is more complicated and time-consuming due to the many steps involved. The heuristic principle of structure transfer or combination must be taught until it is successfully mastered.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013) Book – Innovationsmanagement für technische Produkte, W. Eversheim, E. Baessler (Springer – November 2002) Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Innovationsmanagement, J. Hauschildt, S. Salomo (Vahlen – März 2007) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser Fachbuch 2001) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreativitätstechniken (April 2017)

Syntegration – –

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Reducting resistance and conflict Team building

Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Syntegration is a cybernetic method for solving complex innovation problems in a company with a larger number of participants. In workshops lasting several days, the existing know-how of participants is used for problem solving. The method works with ten to 42 participants. Syntegration was developed by the British cyberneticist Stafford Beer, the word being a neologism or new, composite word made up of ‘synergy’ and ‘integration’. Existing but diffused knowledge is integrated in a short time in such a way that maximum information transfer occurs. The basic structure of the model is a so-called icosahedron, a Platonic body with 12 corners and 30 edges. The 12 corners correspond to relevant aspects of the task, the 30 edges to the participating individuals. Due to the large number of participants and the associated high-level effort, Syntegration is used primarily for complex issues. In summary, the following effects can be attributed to a Syntegration: – Networking of participants’ knowledge – Strong and lasting network building – Creating a common vision – Generating commitment, engagement and motivation – Consensus building

Handling Syntegration starts with an initial question (opening question), which is formulated beforehand together with the client. Two moderators are required. In a first phase (definition), participants determine the 12 aspects to be discussed in order to answer the question that they consider most important. Each participant is assigned which role they have for which topic: – member – critic – observer In the second phase (Syntegration), two topic groups meet in parallel to deal with the assigned topic. The members work on the topic, the critics question the solutions, the observers observe. This is repeated for three consecutive days. The two moderators write down the results and present them to the plenum at the end of each day. At the end of a Syntegration workshop there is a shared result, usually a package of measures, which provides the answer to the opening question. Due to the high autonomy of the participants and the exchange, a high level of commitment to the results is created. Impact on obstacle effects – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Sharpens common direction – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

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Syntegration

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Allow sufficient time Syntegration is a method that takes a lot of time to implement. On average, workshops last three-and-a-half days and ideally require 30 to 42 participants from different areas. You should definitelyplan for this amount of time, as early termination decisively lowers the quality of results.

Identified sources of the method Book – Beyond Dispute, Stafford Beer (Wiley – Juni 1994) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014)

Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT)

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description SIT – Systematic Inventive Thinking – is an idea-finding method developed in the 1990s. It is regarded as a further development of the TRIZ method developed by Professor Genrich Altshuller. SIT is a practical approach to creativity, innovation and problem solving and is an established methodology for innovation. Altshuller realized that problems almost always conceal common patterns. Recognizing these patterns, he formulated the systematic approach TRIZ to solve problems innovatively. SIT goes one step further: with this methodology, five tools can be used specifically to generate product, service and problem innovations. Strengths of SIT: The ideas are almost always radical. The ideas go through a reality check very early on. The ideas have a relevant probability of implementation. The methodology is relatively straightforward to apply. The methodology is systematic.

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Handling The SIT Innovation Tools: Subtraction Subtraction is one of the most powerful tools. Leave out what is difficult. Surprisingly you will find numerous advantages. And you’ll find that it won’t be that difficult to turn these benefits into reality. Multiplication Take a component of the system or product and reproduce it. It is important to note that a simple copy is not permitted; the additional components must be different in some way. Decide how these components differ and integrate them into the system. What are the opportunities? Task Unification In German, the most appropriate translation of this would be “misappropriation”. And yet it is more than that: Which components can take over which tasks? Or is it possible to somewhere elegantly integrate an important function into the system? For both questions, simplicity counts; complex and unrealistic approaches fall out of the equation. Attributes: Dependency This innovation tool questions connections. What happens when natural connections are broken? What happens if you connect things that don’t belong together? You create situations that you haven’t seen before and you’ll be surprised at the opportunities that result. Division Can anything be shared? And what happens if you leave these divisions separated or even reassemble them in the wrong order? If you open your eyes, you will find this pattern or tool everywhere. In the supermarket, in the car, in space travel, at home and in nature.

Overview of SIT Tools: Subtraction Multiplication Task Unification

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Attributes: Dependency Division

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application

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Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT)

Complexity for the moderator: rather high Complexity for the participants: rather high Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required

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Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – Combining SIT and Osborn SIT and the Osborn Checklist are very similar methods and can be combined very successfully.

Identified sources of the method Book – 40 Principles: TRIZ Keys to Innovation, G. Altschuller, L. Shulyak, S. Rodman (Technical Innovation Ctr – Dezember 1997) Book – Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results, D. Boyd, J. Goldenberg (Simon & Schuster 2014)

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Generated output Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Generates forecasts and derivations

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Scenario Technique is a strategic planning procedure and is used to project an existing condition into the future. The core of the Scenario Technique is the creation of different future scenarios that take several influences into account. Based on the scenarios created, plans and measures can be developed that respond to the respective scenarios (assumptions). In contrast to a forecasting technique, scenario planning takes relatively little notice of the past. In the innovation process, scenarios primarily serve to identify future needs and offer suitable solutions. At the same time, the Scenario Technique can be used to determine whether a current product idea will still find a sufficient market in the future. In order to create detailed scenarios of high quality, a lot of effort is required. Most importantly, the collection of necessary data is associated with a lot of personnel effort, time and costs. The participants should be familiar with the method and be trained in order to be able to classify correlations between individual parameters carefully and reliably. Due to the very extensive analysis phase, the Scenario Technique is excellently suited to provide a comprehensive picture of the company, the market and future developments. Difficult factors within a scenario analysis are wars, natural disasters and extraordinary political upheavals. However, since it is likely that these will take place in long-term scenarios, projected outlines should be considered with appropriate caution.

Handling The Scenario Technique is often represented by three phases: Analysis, projection and evaluation. The goal of this method is envisaging a possible state in the future (but there are many different known phase variants). For this purpose, an actual state is recorded and extrapolated into several future scenarios on the basis of defined factors. The factors are modulated in such a way that there are usually three to five end scenarios. There should be a positive and a negative extreme scenario. However, more than five scenarios are not recommended due to the complexity and interactions between individual factors. In addition to extrapolating the individual factors, possible disruptive factors must also be taken into account and possible countermeasures integrated into the forecast. Following the analysis and projection phase, the individual scenarios are compared with the actual situation and conclusions drawn about necessary measures. Scenarios are often represented in the form of a scenario funnel. The starting point of the analysis is the trend scenario, which is set up on a timeline. This trend scenario represents future development under the assumption of stable environmental developments. However, since unstable environmental conditions must generally be assumed, both positive and negative development opportunities are taken into account. Due to the increasing distance from the present and the associated possible deviations from the trend scenario, the range increases as time goes on. The extreme scenario that shows the best possible development (best case scenario) is the upper end of the funnel, whereas the worst case is the lower end. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Experiences – Taking international crises into account

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination

Even short-term scenarios should bear in mind that crisis situations can have dramatic consequences for the economy in other regions (for example, exports).

Identified sources of the method Book – Innovationsmanagement, T. Müller-Prothmann, N. Dörr (Carl Hanser Verlag – April 2014) Web – http://www.laum.uni-hannover.de/ilr/lehre/Ptm/ Ptm_Szenario.htm (April 2017) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014)

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Step 5: Comparison of the associations with the formation of commonalities Step 6: Creative confrontation to find solutions

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The TILMAG method (Transformation of Ideal Solution Elements through Matrices of Association and Commonality Formation) is a creativity technique that was developed by the Battelle Institute in Frankfurt. It is a simplified and less abstract variation of (classic) Synectics. The aim of the method is to generate solution ideas for a problem through the formation of analogies and associations. In order to do this, a comprehensive analysis and definition of the problem is required. The desired “ideal” elements of potential solutions are then worked out. It should be noted that the “ideal” elements are given the shortest and most concise terms possible. The ideal solution elements are then compared with spontaneous associations in an association matrix. The associated terms are then compared in a commonality matrix. In this process, commonalities between the associations and possible solutions are sought and, building on this, approaches to solutions are derived. Only positive similarities may be recorded, i. e. structural elements that both associated terms actually have in common. The advantage of this method in comparison to Synectics is that it systematically generates solution ideas by means of the targeted formation of stimulus words. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Discussion of the problem Step 2: Structure of an association matrix Step 3: Combination of ideal elements and spontaneous associations Step 4: Structure of the commonality matrix

Supplementary information: According to the book Innovation Management – 12 Success Strategies for SMEs, the process is divided into eight stages: 1. Problem is analysed and defined. 2. Identification of “ideal” elements of potential solutions. These issues arise either from the solution itself or from the boundary conditions or requirements of the problem. 3. The “ideal” elements are summarized in concise terms. 4. With the help of a combination of terms in pairs, associations are created which are noted in a so-called association matrix. These associations each contain essential structural features of the respective terms pair. 5. Associations are transferred to the problem, so that initial ideas develop. 6. Only positive similarities may be recorded. 7. The commonalities are combined as solutions. 8. A new idea-finding phase follows – with arbitrary, suitable idea-finding methods – to defining the end solution. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

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TILMAG

Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Visual power TILMAG usually appears somewhat brittle at first, but in the final stage when the matrix has been created on a large surface, the method also unfolds its visual power.

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Identified sources of the method Book – 99 Tipps für Kreativitätstechniken, M. Mencke (Cornelsen Scriptor – April 2006) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – Innovationsmanagement – 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, Carl Hanser Verlag 2013, O. Gassmann Book – Praxiswissen Innovationsmanagement: Von der Idee zum Markterfolg, O. Gassmann, P. Sutter (Carl Hanser Verlag 2013) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreativitätstechniken (April 2017)

TOP 10 Method

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens debating

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This technique tries to sharpen a result to the best 10 values through permanent reduction – of ideas, statements, aspects and properties. Especially within long-term and highly-complex innovation projects, you often have to deal with a flood of ideas or facts and statements in almost all phases. Especially during the first months and on a wave of euphoria and new concepts, there is often a flood of ideas or statements. With TOP 10 you consistently work on selecting the best. This technique is actually to be seen as a kind of supplementary technique. It can be very successfully combined with many other evaluation techniques. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling A creative technique (such as Brainstorming or its variants) or a free discussion, for example, provides ideas for further product development or a service. As soon as the 11th idea is found, the supposedly worst or least prioritized idea is taken away so that the 10 best ideas always remain. The procedure is repeated with each new 11th idea until no 11th idea is left. John Naisbitt, in his book Mindsets, describes in Mindset 10 the same principle under the heading: “Do not add anything without omitting something.” This method makes it possible, for example, to permanently optimize your own library at home. So if you say that today you own 500 books, then you are always one out when a new one is added. The quality of your library grows from book to book.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Good for new teams TOP 10 is particularly suitable for new teams in which participants do not yet know each other well – it counteracts friction losses through discussion.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Mind Set! Wie wir die Zukunft entschlüsseln, J. Naisbitt, T. Halek (Carl Hanser Verlag 2007) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

TRIZ Method

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description TRIZ is the Russian acronym for “Teoria Reschenija Isobretatjelskich Sadatsch”, which means “Theory of Inventive Problem Solving” or “Theory of Inventive Problem Solving”. The methodology was initiated by Genrich Saulowitsch Altschuller and Rafael Borissowitsch Shapiro under the influence of Dmitri Dmitrijevitsch Kabanov between 1954 and 1956. The aim of the TRIZ method is to develop an ideal technical product. The TRIZ principle is based on the assumption that a large number of inventions are based on a comparatively small number of general solution principles, that only the overcoming of contradictions makes innovative solutions possible and that the improvement of technical systems follows certain patterns and laws. To this end, the problems of product development are identified, described and abstracted to such an extent that solutions can be adopted from an existing (problem) solution catalog (Altschuller describes 37 standard problem types of technical products as well as 40 innovative principles with which these can be solved with his method). In order to use the TRIZ method, you need experience/exercises in dealing with the complex procedure. The advantage of this method is that the user can orientate themselves on a solid catalog of possible problem-solving approaches and thus systematically play through various potential approaches until a suitable solution has been found. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling TRIZ contains a series of methodological tools that make it easier to define and analyze a specific technical problem from a target description, to break it down to its abstract components and to find a solution in abstract space. Subsequently, the abstract solution can be creatively translated into possible specific solutions; a solution is selected from this quantity. This avoids a premature conclusion about a solution to the problem. Instead, TRIZ uses a stock of already existing solution methods. The methods of classic TRIZ are: – Innovation principles and contradiction table – Separation principles for solving physical contradictions – Algorithm or step-by-step procedure for solving invention problems (ARIZ) – System of 76 standard solutions and Substance Field Analysis (SFA, formerly also called WEPOL analysis (Russian)) – S-curves and laws of system development (evolutionary laws of technical development, laws of technical evolution) – Principle (law) of ideality – Modelling of technical systems with the help of “little males” (dwarf models) Other methods which are assigned to TRIZ, but which are not included in traditional teaching of the method, were developed by students of Altschuller. They are: – Innovation Checklist (Innovation Situation Questionnaire) – Function structure according to TRIZ (a kind of cause–effect diagram, which does not correspond to the cause–effect diagram of Ishikawa Kaoru, is also called Problem Formulation) – SAO Function Model (Subject–Action–Object, an advanced function model based on Miles’ basic value analysis work) – Process analysis – GZK operator (size–time costs) – Anticipating error detection – Resource checklists TRIZ contains 40 principles and also 40 rules of innovation (partly also 40 innovative principles, 40 IGP – 40 innovative basic principles). These abstract rules are, in detail: Decomposition, Separation, Local Quality, Asymmetry, Coupling, Universality, Integration (Dummy, Matryoshka), Counterweight (Counter Mass), Previous

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Counter Action (Preferred Counter Action), Previous Effect (Preferred Effect), Principle of the “Previously Supported Cushion” (Prevention), Equipotentiality, Inversion, Spheroidality, Dynamization, partial or excess effect, transition to other dimensions (transition to the higher dimension), utilization of mechanical vibrations, periodic effect, continuity of the useful effect (continuity of the effect processes), principle of hurrying through (skipping), transformation of the harmful into the useful, feedback, Principle of the “mediator”, self-service, copying, cheap short life instead of expensive long life, replacement of the mechanical system (replacement of mechanical working principles), use of pneumatic and hydro systems, use of flexible sleeves and thin films, use of porous materials, color change, uniformity (homogeneity), removal and regeneration of parts, change of physical and chemical properties (change of aggregate state), application of phase transitions, application of thermal expansion, application of strong oxidizing agents, application of inert medium (use of inert medium), application of composite materials (use of composite materials). These rules are mostly used in conjunction with a socalled opposition matrix or opposition table. This matrix has different technical parameters in the first row and the first column (in identical order). In the individual fields of the matrix (similar to a season game table in football), the individual parameters are therefore opposite each other. The diagonal of the matrix remains empty, because here one and the same parameter is opposite each other (this could be solved with the physical contradictions). As far as the other fields are concerned, it is assumed that the assigned parameter in the column should improve, while the parameter in the corresponding row deteriorates as a result. This is the contradiction. The field in which the row and column intersect points to the innovative basic rules of TRIZ on the basis of individual numbers, which can help to overcome this contradiction. A developer who works with the contradiction matrix must therefore first decide which parameters of the system they have developed should be improved. They then have to determine which other parameters would normally be affected by these improvements. Finally, the developer abstracts these parameters so that they can assign them to parameters of the first row and column of the contradiction matrix. Ultimately, they arrive at the abstract rules of TRIZ that are suitable to help overcome the contradictions that arise within the framework of development. By means of examples and the specific application of the rules to the development ob-

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ject, thoughts are stimulated as to how the existing development contradictions can be overcome. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Not for software development TRIZ was developed to solve technical–physical problems. It is not really suitable for software development. Before you start with software development, you should master the technical–physical processes anyway. This means that TRIZ should, at most, be used before software development.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

TRIZ Method Book – Erfinden – Wege zur Lösung technischer Probleme, G. S. Altschuller (PI – Planung und Innovation – Januar 1986) Book – Grundlagen der klassischen TRIZ, M. Orloff (Springer – September 2006) Book – Innovationsmanagement für technische Produkte, W. Eversheim, E. Baessler (Springer – November 2002)

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Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser Fachbuch 2001) Book – Wissen Managen, G. Probst, S. Raub, K. Romhard (Gabler Verlag – März 2013) Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017)

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Talk Streaming consciousness and letting your thoughts flow to make room for new ideas. Step 3: If desired, the listener can then give feedback on what has been communicated to them. This often offers a chance for external inspiration, for which you can use non-problem stimuli like a disruptive word list. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Bryan Mattimore’s Talk Streaming technique is a simple incubation technique designed to find a person who can listen to you over a long period of time. Once the person and an appropriate setting have been found, it is only a matter of speaking, non-stop, about everything and everyone, without thinking, simply talking freely, emptying consciousness and letting thoughts flow to create space for new ideas. The technique is also well suited to the field of creative writing. Incubation is about consciously moving away from the given challenge, opening up mental freedom and activating unconscious idea resources. You probably know the phenomenon that you always come up with the best ideas when you are not consciously thinking about the problem. Typical incubations, for example, often take place after work on the way home, during sports or gardening, etc. With Talk Streaming a good incubation can be achieved after some practice and overcoming the potential initial inhibition threshold. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Each participant looks for a partner and an appropriate setting in which the two individuals can come together undisturbed for a given period of time. Alternatively, if necessary, you can talk to yourself or use a recording device. Step 2: Then it’s all about talking, non-stop, about anything and everything that comes to mind by chance, without thinking, just speaking freely, emptying your

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Pay attention to introverted or inhibited participants

Talk Streaming partcipants haveone thing in common – most have to get over at least a small threshold to become involved with the technique. It may well take several attempts to achieve good results. It is very important to pay attention to introverted or inhibited participants in the team context and not deter them from using the method. It is always important to introduce participants to the method slowly and set a good example.

Talk Streaming

Identified sources of the method Book – 99% Inspiration, B. W. Mattimore (Amacom – November 1994)

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Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Team In Time the participants, and as a coach you analyse the creative processes in reflections between the playing phases. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description Team In Time is a creativity technique that uses musical instruments within a team workshop. The jazz musician and lecturer Daniel Maurice Ziegler developed this mthod from his pedagogical work with (amateur) jazz bands. With Team In Time, members of an existing team of six to twelve participants who would otherwise never have a musical instrument in their hands play improvised music and sound collages. The aim of the workshop is not so much to learn how to play the instruments correctly as to exercise creativity with the sum intelligence of the group. Creativity techniques, which are equal to SCAMPER, become tangible and experienced with Team In Time. The technique often involves the question of how something small (a musical motif) can become something big (melody, overall work of sound art) or something completely new. Methods of imitation and change/ further development are applied – in real time, like a live, improvising jazz band. Team In Time exists in interaction. The ambiguity of the method’s name points to a double benefit: On one hand, the goal is an intact, i. e. a healthy, team that plays out its qualities to the full – this involves aspects of communication. On the other hand, team members can arrive at a common beat during these exercises: Harmonize goals without specific direction and enjoy overcoming obstacles to creativity. To be able to use Team In Time, you must either be a musician/music teacher/multi-instrumentalist yourself or have one as a partner in the workshop. Such co-moderation can work well: The musician improvisess with

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Handling Step 1: Trial Phase Getting to know different musical instruments. Ideally electric piano, keyboard, drums/drumsets, percussion sets, electric guitar and electric bass along with amplifiers. At the same time tips for handling by the trainer. Reflection: “How does it feel to express yourself in a foreign medium?” Step 2: Imitation Exercises All instrumentalists play at the same time. Task: to “replay” the musical utterances of the others. Without the pressure to play exactly the same thing, the participants imitate pitches, sequences of notes, rhythms, sounds, etc. Reflection: “What (musical) ideas did the input of the others give you?” Step 3: First, More Tips on Handling the Instruments Exchange of instruments. Then: practice with specific methods for the further development of musical motifs: stealing, lengthening, shortening, replacing, combining, playing higher or lower, reversing, etc. Step 4: Exchange of Instruments Exercise in dynamics: Playing together as before – the sound collage should develop from the softest possible tone to a furious fortissimo. Reflection: “What did you pay attention to with the others to decide when and how much louder your instrument should be played? What influence did quiet instruments have on the overall performance?” Step 5: Inspiration of Participants with Stimulus Words for Creativity A4 cards with a variety of terms are distributed throughout the room. Participants can pick up the following examples of stimulus words at will to make their sound design more colorful: – risk, curiosity, courage, experience, feeling, chance – invent, transfer, steal, change, replace – simplify, exaggerate, laugh, think like a child – be silly, break out, see the obvious

Team In Time – – – – – – – – – –

see, hear, taste, feel, smell take the second correct answer first, dig deeper look at the whole picture, change the question how would … do it? What if …? interview the joker associations, metaphors, dreams, symbols, goals sacrifice a holy cow, force nothing, be stubborn avoid arrogance, use the subconscious change your point of view, change your horizon, collect a lot of ideas – seek support, be dissatisfied – see the positive, use what you’re good at, reject dogmas – do the unexpected, look for regularities – learn rules, question rules, break rules – combine ideas, transfer solutions from other specialist areas – seize opportunities and chances – take a detour, rearrange – rename it, turn it around The musical group improvises freely using inspirational cards. Interaction should be main focus. Reflection: “How did you deal with each other when communicating as misunderstandings and contradictions arose?” Step 6: Self-organization of the Group Task: Sound design with the practiced means – the participants discuss the design of a longer collage without the trainer and play it afterwards; audio recording. Reflection: “How has the quality, quantity and speed of ideas changed through the use of creativity techniques? What ideas did you have that weren’t there at Step 2?” Step 7: Total Reflection Transfer of the techniques to the daily creative work of the team; possibly based on real challenges. At the end of the workshop, the team receives the audio recording of the sound collage as a CD.

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Promotes appreciation – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Tames a disturbing group clown

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Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation Weakens fear of criticism and rejection Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: creative and inspiring workspace People: multidisciplinary team Technique: recording device Technique: musical instruments Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the agility of a team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Suitable room/volume level It is important to find a really suitable space for performing “Sounds Like Innovation”. This concerns the size of the room and the security of knowing you are not disturbing other groups or hotel guests. Only this will guarantee that you will be able to work undisturbed. Room size: Space is needed to set up larger instruments such as drums and e-piano together with amplifiers, etc. and at the same time to have enough room for participants, trainers, flipcharts and/or tables (equal to room for reflection). Volume: The security of being able to work uninterrupted should not be underestimated. A conference room in a hotel has already proved unsuitable at at least one of my seminars, because there were complaints from the restaurant area. – Co-moderation Team In Time is well suited to moderation by two trainers: a musician (multi-instrumentalist/improvisational musician/jazz teacher) and another coach who leads the reflection phases.

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Identified sources of the method web – http://www.mabadeliko.com (April 2017)

Team Management System (TMS) – – – – –

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description When it comes to extraordinary success, it’s the same in the field of innovation and innovation culture as in toplevel sport – only really high-performance teams are on the podium. The Team Management System (TMS) analyzes the work preferences of team members and helps to find the right role for everyone within the group or innovation project. The Team Management Profile was developed in the early ’80s by Dr. Charles Margerison and Dr. Dick McCann. TMS is currently widely accepted by many companies worldwide and to date more than 1.25 million TMS Profiles have been created. TMS is both a working methodology and a typology based on scientifically-sound feedback. It has been extensively researched globally and today has an enormous database at its disposal. The Team Management System focuses on tasks, preferences and behavior in the job. The focus of the method is appreciation for the diversity of individuals – and how we can bring out the strengths of each person in a business. Every country, every sport and every industry has its own language. TMS is the language that helps teams communicate effectively and achieve high performance. With TMS, you can optimally assemble diverse teams for innovation work with regard to work preferences. Areas of application and use corridors: – Development of innovative high-performance teams – Mentoring of high-performance teams – Building a culture of innovation – Establishment of Continuous Improvement Processes (CIP) – Active future management – Targeted change management – Cooperation training – Management of diversity

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Management of interdisciplinary teams Management of multicultural teams Innovation-promoting team design Effective management of creative meetings Development of successful thinking strategies

Eight central work functions are extremely important for every successful project. High-performance teams know that if some of these functions are not completed, efficient and successful work is not possible in the long term. Equally important are work preferences for high-performance teams. At the top level, professional skills alone are often no longer sufficient today. Preferences are just as important. They show what kind of work we are really motivated to do from the inside out. The Team Management System Profile is able to reliably measure these preferences. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling TMS workshops and TMS online analyses can be obtained directly from the TMS organization or from accredited TMS consultants. In the course of TMS workshops, all participants receive a detailed evaluation of their own work preferences and the distribution of roles in their team. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens debating – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens living in the past

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Team Management System (TMS)

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants)

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Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Especially helpful for Design Thinking The Team Management System is particularly useful in Design Thinking projects, where team diversity is an important rule. With TMS, team members can quickly be optimally assigned to individual work phases in Design Thinking according to their work preferences.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Team Management Services GmbH – Freiburg

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This method is well suited to understanding the viewpoints of other team members and to explaining your own current situation. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes appreciation – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description This method is ideally used when there are difficulties with teamwork or unresolved conflicts arise within the team. This is often the case when multidisciplinary teams work together for the first time in Design Thinking projects. Team Thermometer uses the model of the six team phases devised by Bruce W. Tuckman and facilitates the discussion of different perceptions of team cooperation. According to Tuckman, a team goes through different phases of collaboration in which motivation and productivity vary. These six phases are: Warming (orientation, transparency), storming (demarcation), performing (performance), informing (networking, visibility), ending (assessment, appreciation). With the Team Thermometer it is possible to visualize and discuss the mood in the different phases. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Handling The participants receive an A4 sheet of paper/card (for groups of more than four people an A3 sheet is recommended). Place the sheet in landscape position and draw a diagram with the values “High”, “Medium”, “Low” on the vertical axis. On the horizontal axis, enter the different phases of the project or collaboration. Now the participants draw two curves. One curve indicates motivation (commitment), the second curve indicates productivity (results). After the curves have been drawn, the participants hold up their sketches one after the other and explain them. The others have the opportunity to ask questions afterwards (questions regarding understanding), but there is no discussion about the graphics.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Experiences – Listen to all opinions Make sure that all participants are able to express their opinions so that not all the talking is doneexclusively by already-dominant members.

Identified sources of the method Book – CREABILITY, M. J. Eppler, F. Hoffmann, R. A. Pfister (Schäffer Poeschel – Januar 2014) Book – Teamwork, Teamdiagnose, Teamentwicklung – Praxis der Personalpsychologie, R. van Dick, M. A. West (Hogrefe Verlag 2013)

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Ten Types of Innovation original products to those of competitors and imitators) 10. Customer engagement (innovations that reflect an understanding of the deep desires of customers and use this to create meaningful connections between consumers and the manufacturing company)

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Keeley and his team have discovered a framework system (macro method) of ten innovation types (disciplines) – Ten Types of Innovation. With this system, the individual innovation types can be tested and further developed in relation to an idea, a business model or a company. The idea behind the Ten Types of Innovation: At the heart of every discipline is often a simple organizational system – an underlying structure that organizes what works and what doesn’t. This is exactly how Ten Types behaves towards innovation. A conscious perception of these types makes innovations simpler and more effective overall. The ten types that are: 1. Profit Model (innovative profit models: new ways to turn a company’s offers or undiscovered values into money) 2. Network (innovative cooperation between companies. Through the network, resources and sales channels are granted and used by each other) 3. Structure (innovative organizational structures of a company – personnel, plant or intangible elements) 4. Process (process innovations that include all activities that affect a company’s products) 5. Product Performance (innovations that give a product outstanding properties and functionality) 6. Product System (innovations that do not concern individual products, but are characterized by the combination and bundling of several products and/or services) 7. Service (innovations that increase the usability and obvious function of a product and thus its value by means of a service) 8. Channel (innovations that affect all ways in which a company’s offerings reach users and customers) 9. Brand (Innovations that affect the brand itself. Customers should recognize the brand and prefer their

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Ten Types can be used for comprehensive diagnosis to enrich a current innovation or to assess existing competition. The Ten Types have no hierarchy or sequence. Any combination can be present in an innovation and innovators can start working with any building block. The authors have structured the framework system into three colored categories. The first four types – Profit Model, Network, Structure and Process – are highlighted in blue and deal with the innermost functions of a company and its business model. The further you go in the Ten Types system, the more the types have to do with the customer. Product Performance and Product System are highlighted in orange and focus on the company’s main product or service. The last four types are highlighted in red: Service, Channel, Brand and Customer Engagement are the most customer-oriented.

Generated output Creates more knowhow growth Generates lists of opportunities and risks Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Ten Types of Innovation

Handling The challenge in applying this macro method is to develop an individual concept for the individual and target-oriented approach. The use of resources and time should be reflected and optimally calculated with the help of experienced innovation coaches. The method itself does not specify the level of detail, time required or type of implementation. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application

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Complexity for the moderator: rather high Complexity for the participants: rather high Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Tool for managers Ten Types of Innovation should be used primarily by executives who already have some basic innovation know-how. Using this tool it is certainly possible to extract individual, separately applicable spaces for measures and action in order to examine and strengthen specific focal points of innovation capability.

Identified sources of the method Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013)

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The Book of the Dead

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text written in hieroglyphs. Gain ideas through your own imaginary translations of the famous characters. Professor Michael Ray led a creativity course at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business where he taught his creativity technique, The Book of the Dead. The respective hieroglyphs (Papyrus of Nekh) are even older than the great Egyptian dynasties. They contain wisdom, chants, liturgies, magic formulas, sayings of great power and prayers. Generations of people from kings to servants lived under their influence. In lessons, in all questions of life, the symbols were consulted, and read at funerals. People drew hope from the powerful words. Be inspired by the manifold symbols of the hieroglyphics as well! “Translate” them yourself – without any academic study. Bond with the individual symbols and let the lines tell whole stories. This happens when you look at each symbol individually, and at the same time don’t ignore the big picture – your imagination will fill the blank spaces in between, and you’ll go further than the information you’ve been given. In the files you will find three sets of hieroglyphs from the Papyrus of Nekh. Search the characters for messages that the old texts are sending you. Find inspiration for your challenges. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling Step 1: Write down the challenge on which you want to work. Step 2: Use a large, printed collection of hieroglyphs. Step 3: Go through the hieroglyphic series once and then rewrite your challenge. Step 4: Free yourself of all mental distractions and concentrate on your challenge. Close your eyes while meditating on your task for a few minutes. Step 5: Open your eyes and “translate” each line of the hieroglyphic set. Imagine that these hieroglyphs were written exactly for the purpose of helping you with this particular problem. Believe that every line is specifically for you and that the secret to solving your business challenge lies in interpreting the signs. Step 6: If you interpret a single character, associate freely with it. Association chains are welcome. All lines you see, all shapes and structures have a meaning. When interpreting, look for signs that confuse you, those that seem to be missing, or those that only come into your field of vision when you change your focus. Ask questions like: – What’s this? What’s that? – Why did the Egyptians use this? – What could this mean? – What does the repetition of this sign mean? – Which form, figure, sign best describes my challenge? – Who could this be? – What does this remind me of? Among these questions could be one that turns out to be the key to solving your problem. Step 7: Write down your interpretations. Search for conclusions, new ideas, insights and speculative approaches. Combine the interpretations to make single characters or lines for an all-inclusive interpretation. Try to make a total narrative speak to you from the hieroglyphic set. Try to tell it in such a way that it contains the solution to your challenge. Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating

The Book of the Dead

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Divide characters If you work with a group, you can divide it into smaller subgroups and distribute the hieroglyphs as well: either each subgroup works with its own set or only with a certain line. Everyone can be asked the same question and the results can be compared afterwards. Or each subgroup can work on a single aspect and the last shared task is to create a common story from the results as the “translation”.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Web – https://www.fastcompany.com/40613/most-creative-man-silicon-valley (April 2017)

Recommended resources Tool: hieroglyphic collection

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The Great Transpacific Airline and Storm Door Company

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description This method asks: “What is your business (really)?” It is about an exact definition and an exact understanding of your own activities and offers. Finally, key terms are brought into a new relationship with each other. The satirical title of the method, The Great Transpacific Airline And Storm Door Company, alludes to an imaginary company that has NO precisely defined offer. Although stars in outer space are travelling at a rapid speed, they initially appear static to us when we look at them. Likewise, we perceive our businesses and markets as static, while they are actually in a state of constant change. This misinterpretation can be fatal. This method helps us understand what our business actually IS, and what it SHOULD BE. Is the core business of the Premier League, for example, sports or entertainment? You can define your company using the following characteristics: Products/services, markets, customer benefits and technologies. Find several keywords for your activity and ascribe to each individual characteristics that describe your company. Now you can play around with the variables and reassemble them. This is how new ideas emerge. Under certain circumstances you may arrive at a new definition of your company and your activities. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

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Handling Step 1: Ask yourself, “What is my business (really)?” and “What should be my business?” These questions focus your attention on new search fields for your business activities. Step 2: Define your business activity by identifying keywords that describe its products, services, markets, customer benefits and technologies. Turn it into a clear table. Step 3: Under each keyword, write about five concrete characteristics. Example: A publisher of advice books might have entered the following features in the table: Products/Services: Books (business guides) Market: Entrepreneurs Customer benefit: Books provide business information Technology: high-quality books with state-of-the-art letterpress technology The keywords could be: Products: – bound books – paperbacks – data medium – downloads Customer benefit: – information – entertainment – education – exercises – resources Markets: – libraries – bookshops – universities – industry – military Technologies: – letterpress – CDs/DVDs (data carriers) – CDs (audio books) – download platform – podcast Service: – discount for club customers – newsletter – seminars – info service by phone and email

The Great Transpacific Airline and Storm Door Company

Step 4: Mix & Match Find new combinations of keywords among the features and find new ideas for your future market. This may lead to a redefinition of your company and its activities.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens living in the past

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – What are we NOT? A large car repair shop was looking for ideas to expand its product range. In the innovation workshop, however, the employees were initially quite listless. So I used The Great Transpacific Airline and Stormdoor Company to get to the nub of what the company SHOULD BE. I talked about this imaginary company with the absurd name that obviously doesn’t know what it’s really doing. I asked the participants to answer the workshop questions: 1. what are we NOT? and 2. what are we NOT repairing? Everyone quickly had great fun with this task. Among others these answers were given: 1. “surgeons, hunters, thieves, jugglers” and 2. “toys, marriages, crochet covers, ozone hole”. They maintained the flow of ideas and we successfully entered the search for products/services, markets, customer benefits and technologies.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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The Orange View

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Orange View is a technique developed by Benno van Aerssen, which can be used especially for Brainstorming, but also for analysing a challenge. It primarily helps you to focus your perception when, once again, you can’t see the forest for the trees. Move your challenge out of the blind spot of inattentiveness by changing your viewing angle with The Orange View and simply coloring the problem orange. You know the feeling: you have just bought a small red sports car. All your senses are now focused on this thing and your subconscious focuses on it it, everything you see and hear relates to it. Whenever you drive through the streets, you suddenly see only red sports cars everywhere, your mind relays the information to you immediately. You won’t even notice posters with new black sports cars that you drive past every day. The black sports cars are in the blind spot of inattentiveness. Note: You will always only find what you are consciously looking for. You’re blind to everything else. The Orange View is particularly good for finding ideas for product and process innovations. Often I let myself drift during my free time and color something or otherorange just once. Very good ideas or flashes of genius have already come to me. “The idea for The Orange View actually came to me on the loo – yes, the classic,” says van Aerssen. In this very dull, quiet place an orange roll of toilet paper was in the toilet roll holder in the loo at a motorway service area. “After I had spent some time dealing with the question: “Why did the operator choose orange and what is it doing to me?”, the idea of The Orange View shot into my head.”

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When a problem that needs to be analyzed or Brainstormed is colored orange, your perception immediately changes. This is about the well-known ability to focus on the essential. Alternatively, I have also colored the environment of a problem orange. Since that time the orange rifle has been one of the most important tools in my idea-finding workshops. At some point, it was no longer only about objects, but also about processes. In workshops, we colored the things involved in the process orange or marked them orange (folders, storage boxes or the paths to be covered). It sounds too simple – but it really is that simple; make it orange and you’ll see what it does. Why orange? This question has, of course, been often asked. In the end, it was a coincidence, because the story told about the toilet actually happened that way. Benno van Aerssen has, of course, also worked with this color for some time. It has also been shown in his nonscientific work that any other color can work, but with orange it is always somehow easier, faster, better and more efficient. If youreads through the relevant literature and websites on color theory, you realizes that orange is traded as an exotic color for which there are no natural materials. Neither is it a favorite colour for everyday well-being such as blue or green. Orange can have very different properties, although in my opinion the positive ones clearly outweigh the negative. Positive: energy, joy, liveliness, fun, affirmation of life, active, exuberant, joy of life, activity, movement, unconventional, extroverted. Negative: intrusive, frivolous or even cheap. Orange is a color with a signal effect. It is an active presence, it warms, gives courage and joy. Orange strengthens self-esteem and especially helps with new beginnings. So it was perhaps no coincidence that orange became the color for the Orange View. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The problem or problem part (for example, a product or a component of a product) which is to be analyzed is completely or partially colored orange (painted, sprayed). Alternatively, the object can be left as is and its

The Orange View

surroundings colored orange. In the case of less efficient processes or development corridors within the company, these can also be made visible as orange stripes on the floor, for example, in order to sharpen perception of them (perhaps it may be better to use colored adhesive film). After the coloring process, with your colleagues reflect on, discuss and Brainstorm the problem and possible solutions. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Tool: orange color, adhesive tape, etc. Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception Experiences – Known disadvantages

The goal is then often irretrievably orange – but possibly also more attractive than before. – Known advantages A very fast and efficient technique to change or sharpen perception of a certain thing. No long training sessions are necessary – the effect is immediate.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017)

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Spiritual Counselor Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Through psychosynthesis, you can create your own Spiritual Counselor, whom you can consult if you are facing an innovative challenge. Random patterns like clouds seem meaningless to us at first. But once we have assigned a name to the pattern or recognized an image in it, it seems almost impossible to look again and ignore the perception once gained. If we have named something, this changes our perception of the object and we associate expectations with it. This is exactly how we can deal with images from our subconscious. Irregular schemes are named or personified in our subconscious – and this technique is called psychosynthesis. A number of famous geniuses, visionaries, artists and innovators have used this technique over the centuries. Among them are Douglas MacArthur, Mozart, Buckminster Fuller and Milton. By creating an inner counterpart and engaging in dialogue with the invented consultant, these creative minds practiced retrieving information from their subconscious. You can create a Spiritual Counselor for yourself: close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and imagine an old person whose friendly features express a deep love for you. If you don’t succeed straight away, start with the idea of a candle flame from which a face slowly emerges. Have a conversation with this person and develop a relationship with them over time. Generated output Creates a vision or future scenario Creates greater clarity on a topic

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Handling Step 1: Relax. Breathe. If necessary, use a common relaxation technique. Don’t worry about creating a particular level of relaxation – just be passive and allow yourself to relax at your own pace. Step 2: Imagine your body being enveloped in soft white light. Let yourself be caressed by the light and bathe in its warm glow. Step 3: Now imagine going to your favorite place (house, boat, mountain, forest, room or whatever). Imagine the details. What does the place look like? Listen, smell, feel. Step 4: Imagine your Spiritual Counselor approaching you. Look them in the eye. What do you see? Examine your own sensations and reactions. Speak to your mentor in this way: “Be my guide! Lead me to solutions and new ideas.” The more clearly you imagine the scene, the more powerfully your subconsciouswill communicate with you.. Let your Counseloranswer and start a dialogue. Exchange names and details of your work with them. Make it as real as you can. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t get answers immediately. In one form or another, the answers will come to you later. The important rule: Pay close attention to what your mentor says and does – exactly as you would in the real world. This attention will distinguish your experience from passive imaginings. Step 5: Finish the conversation. Let your Spiritual Counselor say, “Look, I’m here for you! Call me whenever you need me. I want you to know that I will always help you.” Feel a confidence in this pledge. Then open your eyes and step back into the real world. Different people have different experiences when meeting their inner spiritual mentors. Don’t be surprised if your mentor seems to have a certain sense of humor or a dramatic touch.

Spiritual Counselor

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Spiritual mentor To create such a mentor is not a trivial undertaking and this figure should accompany you for years to come. If you find it difficult to relax completely in your usual working or living environment, why not take a day or weekend out for a break? Perform the self-imposed task in a remote place – by the sea, in a forest, in a monastery, a hotel or a guesthouse – where you travel exclusively to create and meet your Spiritual Counselor.

Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Book – Typologie der Psychosynthese, die sieben Grundtypen, R. Assagioli (Nawo Verlag – Januar 2014)

Recommended resources No special resources required

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The Stravinsky Effect

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This creativity technique is based on mixing ideas within a group and is a further development or variation of Brainstorming. The composer Igor Stravinsky was a radical innovator of classical music at the beginning of the twentieth century. He never lost his willingness to try new things. His theatrical work “The Soldier’s Tale” was brought to life through the cooperation of artists from various genres: dancers, musicians and a narrator, among others, presented it and the piece became the starting point for a new style of performance. Performers recreate the work from the source material – not just once, but with each performance, and as such the piece is reworked experimentally. This union of people and ideas is transferred by the creativity technique to largely silent work within a group. In Michael Michalko’s book Thinkertoys, The Stravinsky Effect is included in the chapter “Orthodox Brainstorming”. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The moderator poses a challenge for discussion. Step 2: Each participant writes eight answers or ideas on a moderation card.

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Step 3: The moderator collects all the cards and shuffles them. Step 4: The moderator distributes three cards at random to each participant. They give everyone the task of thinking through the ideas given and sorting them according to personal preference. The remaining cards are then placed on a table. Step 5: The moderator instructs the participants to exchange unwanted cards from the personal set of three for cards from the table. A whole set can also be exchanged. Step 6: Participants exchange cards with each other. At least one card from the personal set must be exchanged – several if desired. Step 7: The moderator instructs the participants to form groups. The number of participants per group is not limited, but each group may only keep a maximum of three cards in total. Step 8: The moderator gives each group the task of presenting their ideas in a creative way: Posters, bumper stickers, slogans, logos, printed t-shirts, TV commercials, songs and other performances are welcome. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

The Stravinsky Effect –

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team People: diverse mix of individuals Room: sufficiently large room Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Room: table tops Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity

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Experiences – Sort cards To generate ideas in a more structured way, an intermediate step can be inserted: After Step 4, the cards are not simply laid out, but sorted into three to six groups. It is not necessary to know beforehand how the cards will be categorized. This can be decided spontaneously in the group. By sorting, the aspects to which the written ideas belong become clearer. Now Step 6 can also be varied: Each participant must take a new card that describes a different aspect to the one they have in their set.

Identified sources of the method Book – Histoire Du Soldat (the Soldier’s Tale): Authorized Edition, I. Stravinsky (Chester Music – Januar 1992) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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The Three Bs

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Brood. The greatest discoveries are allegedly made on the Bus, in Bed and in the Bath … just when you are not actively thinking about a solution. You think hard about a certain challenge and can’t find a solution? Finally, you give up the search for the day and decide to take a bath. As soon as you relax in warm water, you see the solution clearly in front of you. And that happens when you haven’t even thought about work – or haven’t thought about it for the last 20 minutes … Incubating works because our subconscious constantly processes existing data. Work consciously with this model when you are stuck. Put the challenge aside for a while – for a few hours, days or weeks – and do something else. If you have a strong interest in the solution, your subconscious will continue to work for you during that time. The author of The Conquest of Happiness, Bertrand Russell, worked in such a way that when he has a difficult problem to solve, he began to think as intensively as possible about potential solutions for a few hours or days. He then “gave his subconscious the order” to continue working while turning to other activities. If Russell consciously returned to this work a few months later, he sometimes found that “the work [was] already done” – so the solution had already been found. If you leave a problem alone and go back to it later, you may see it from a different perspective. You can also use incubation to become clear about personal goals. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

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Handling Step 1: Identification Identify a rewarding challenge and think about the consequences that the solution would entail. If you can create a great vision of a world that has been changed by your solution, it will be extremely appealing to your constructive, creative work. Step 2: Dissection Collect all available information. Read, talk to people, ask questions – in short: do examinations. Make as much conscious progress as possible until you are satisfied with your preparations. Step 3: Instructions Tell your brain to find the solution. Finish your preparations with, for example: “Okay – find the solution! We’ll talk again in two days.” Step 4: Brooding Let go of the problem. Don’t work on it. The pause can be short or long. Take a walk or go to the movies. Have a bath or sleep – the idea-generation will happen. Step 5: Eureka! You’ve found it! It took five minutes or five hours or five days or … Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity

The Three Bs

Experiences – Tell others about it! Everyone has experienced this method at least once by chance. So tell others about your success and talk about it. This often leads to further new ideas, and the Three Bs can become a really good, alternative, conscious, faster idea-finding process.

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Identified sources of the method Book – The Conquest Of Happiness, B. Russel (Liveright 1996) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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The Perfect Prefix approach to starting this method. However, you can also find other prefixes yourself and create your own prefix lists. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Perfect Prefix tool is used to generate inspiration in the field of cross-industry innovations. These are generally about the basic technique of combining items and characteristics or even products from different industries. The authors Ramon Vullings and Marc Heleven providelists of words with the this tool, which you can prefix with your own products, services or other things, in the hope that one or more combinations will create an inspiration for a new idea. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Spread out in front of you the prefix word lists from the book NOT INVENTED HERE and start to combine them with your own themes. Prefixes from the Combinations category with sample combinations: “Mixed”; mixed drinks /mixed herbs/ … “Dual”; dual view/dual alarm/dual game/ … “Hybrid”; hybrid car/hybrid energy/hybrid food/ … Prefixes from the Dimensions category with sample combinations: “Direct”; direct buy/direct response TV/ … “Micro”; micro loans/micro wind turbine/ … In total, the book provides prefixes in the following categories: Combinations, Experience, Customer Insights, Dimensions, People, Planet, Profit. The prefixes are a great

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Similar approach to Innovation Digging The Perfect Prefix follows an approach that we already know from the Morphological Box or Innovation Digging. The permutation of values from different lists creates new pairs of values, which trigger inspiration. Thus, innovation digging can also be used to extend the Prefix method.

Identified sources of the method Book – NOT INVENTED HERE cross-indistry innovation, Vullings & Heleven (BIS Publishers 2015)

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Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Tick-Tock is an effective method to overcome fears, selfdoubt and uncertainty, especially in innovation work. If you are unsure about your creativity or the quality of your results, you can successfully use this written exercise in a table to see your work from a better perspective. Tick-Tock is based on the findings of the psychologist Prescott Lecky (1892–1941), who was a pioneer in the study of human self-image. He found out that humans have a need for consistency, stability. If a statement does not fit in with existing, strong, basic assumptions and beliefs, it is rejected. Lecky found two levers powerful enough to overcome negative assumptions about ourselves: 1. The belief that you can successfully accomplish your tasks requires a certain degree of independence. 2. Believing that you have something of talent and ability within yourself that puts you on a par with the rest of the world. This faith prevents people from making themselves insignificant and from suffering humiliation. The Tick-Tock method involves confronting yourself with your fears, self-doubts and uncertainties by writing them down. In the next step, positive factors are written next to each statement. The exercise consists of replacing old, negative thoughts with new, better self-images. Michael Michalko describes Tick-Tock in the chapter “Original Spin” in his book Thinkertoys.

Handling Step 1: Create a two-column table. The left column should be headed “Tick” and the right column “Tock”. Write in the left column all the negative thoughts you have about yourself and your creativity and why you think you are not achieving your goals. Step 2: Take your time to examine the “Tick” column. Watch as you irrationally exaggerate the problems and resistances and make amountain out of a molehill. Step 3: Now fill the right “Tock” column. Replace any negative (subjective) thought with a positive (objective) thought. Examples: Tick “My idea doesn’t fit in at all with our corporate tradition. I’ll be a laughing stock if I even suggest it.” Tock “Even if my idea is rejected, people still respect someone who is creative and constantly working to improve the current situation. The riskier the idea, the greater the chance of a decent reward.” Tick “Why should I bother with my idea? I’ll never find a company to put it on the market anyway.” Tock “There’s no reason to believe that. Just try it. Some company’s going to be interested. Anyway, you’ll learn from your attempt, even if the idea is rejected. If I believe in my idea, I will convince others. It’s a question of finding the right company.” Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: DIN-A3 sheets

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception Experiences – Mini team coaching in a creative session A Brainstorming session was very tough and most of the participants were extremely reticent. A brief examination of the mood revealed that many team members did not consider themselves creative. The spirit of “It won’t work anyway” was almost tangible. So I inserted a unit of Tick-Tock. Together we found strong Tock statements, which we placed in a clearly visibleposition in the room. The basic mood quickly changed and good, creative daily results were the outcome.

Identified sources of the method Book – Self-Consistency: A Theory of Personality, P. Lecky (Island PR 1994) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Title Story

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description Title Story is a method with which the participants playfully take a look at an ideal state of the future. It can be seen as an exercise in developing visions. This is not about logic or key figures, but about creative thinking with an open outcome. The exercise can be used for inspiration or to activate participants at the start of a meeting. Generated output Creates a vision or future scenario Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Prepare the meeting by drawing large-format templates containing the following categories: Title page, ideas, quotations, large headlines, pictures, sidebars. The number of templates depends on the group size; a maximum of four to six people can work on a template. Step 2: Explain the categories on the templates to the participants: – on the “Front Page” is the great success story – in “Headings” the essential facts are written – the “Sidebars” contain interesting aspects of the cover story – “Quotes” reflect opinions in history – in “Ideas” the original ideas are recorded – “Pictures” underline the story Show enthusiasm as a presenter – after all, it’s all about the company’s wildest dreams! Step 3: Divide the participants into groups (four to six people each) and distribute templates and pens.

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Step 4: The participants should now think up the best possible scenario for the company and draw and describe it. For five minutes each participant thinks about the future, alone,, then the groups can discuss and agree on a scenario. The groups are given 30 to 45 minutes to develop the “Story of the Year” and present it on the template. Step 5: Everyone comes together in the plenum and presents the visions one after the other – each group has five to ten minutes to do so. Step 6: With the group reflect on the pictures shown: what has become clear to the participants, where are there similarities? Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: coloured pencils Room: pinboard as topic memory Moderation: poster

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Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better imagination Experiences – Create enthusiasm Sometimes participants may be critical and question the meaning of the exercise. Typical statements then are “That’s just fantasy” or “We don’t have any key figures”. It is important to explain that it is not a question of establishing facts, but of developing a vision. – Science fiction example To support the dynamic, you can point out that many science fiction films and TV series (such as Star Trek, Stargate, Dr. Who) were also pure fantasy, but nowadays much has become reality (for example, the smartphone). With this example you can demonstrate that the imagination can predict many things and set an idea process in motion.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Pie Chart Agenda Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Many meetings, especially at the beginning of innovation projects, have a goal or a task but no – or only a very rough – agenda. This often leads to resentment among participants and they may question the need for this meeting. With the Pie Chart Agenda you can quickly give a session a suitable structure and make sure that the time for individual items is used sensibly. Visualization ensures a common understanding of time and process and thus a more productive meeting. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Handling First draw a pie chart on a flipchart in the shape of a clock without hands. In the middle, write the objective of the meeting. Then note all the agenda items to be discussed during the session. Together with the participants, think about which point should be discussed when and how much time should be allocated to it in relation to the given time. Enter these topics in the pie chart and select the time periods you want to include. Impact on obstacle effects – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Only agree on time If you have an idea of the points to be discussed, but want to allow the team to prioritize the topics and time, you can skip listing the points and distribute the time immediately.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://gamestorming.com/games-for-any-meeting/pie-chart-agenda/ (April 2017)

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Tour d’Idée

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Tour d’Idée is a mobile workshop format for the collection of ideas. The principle of the Tour d’Idée is to send a creative team on a one-day journey, in the course of which ideas are produced at various stopovers and condensed and filtered in the course of the trip. At the end, a group of 15 people will have developed several hundred raw ideas and a selection of ideas for a followup process. The concept of the Tour d’Idée was developed by NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH in cooperation with the German Institute for Business Administration. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates early prototypes Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling A Tour d’Idée can be carried out with different means of transport. Covered wagons and buses are particularly suitable, as the participants can sit together in groups. If you have a covered wagon, make sure that it has a table 1024

in the middle on which you can work. The Tour is planned in such a way that every 60 to 80 minutes there is a stop where participants get out and are given a task of about 20 to 30 minutes’ duration, during which as many spontaneous ideas as possible are recorded. These tasks could be a BrainRace in a field, collection of ideas according to the ABC Method on trees in the forest or use other creativity techniques. Preference is given to methods with high fun factors and motor movement. As the journey continues, the ideas generated will be discussed in individual groups and/or individually commented on and evaluated by the participants. Clipboards have proven to be particularly helpful in passing around and evaluating ideas and comments. The filtered-out themes/ideas can be used as a basis for the next task at the next stop. For example, at the first stop, theme ideas for the journey are collected and discussed, and then evaluated on the journey to the second stop. The three top topics then form the questions for three stops. On the way between each stop, these are filtered and evaluated in each case. Depending on the task, additional challenges, such as building models with modeling clay or Lego, can also be carried out during the journey. It should be noted that there are few parking options with a covered wagon or bus, so if in doubt models must be photographed before the next task and destroyed to make room for a new challenge. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Promotes the agility of the participants – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees

Tour d’Idée – – – – – –

Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources Tool: colored pencils Tool: clipboards Tool: modelling clay Tool: paper tablecloths Tool: specific worksheets Tool: stopwatch Tool: pens Tool: clothesline Tool: markers Tool: sellotape Tool: DIN A4 sheet People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: glue dots Room: bus or covered wagon

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the agility of a team Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Consider time for private conversation In a mixed creative team with people who may just be getting to know each other or rarely see each other, the character of an “excursion” always leads to discussions about work or home life. This has a relaxing effect and contributes to general well-being, so you should allow plenty of time for this during the planning phase. – Consider noise level When driving in an open wagon, the outside noise from traffic, tractors, horses, etc. can be relatively loud. Therefore it is preferable to speak in small groups and only during the stops at quiet places when working as a bigger group.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

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Trend Prediction –

Testing and investigating new ideas in order to make early statements about the opportunities of the product

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description The Trend Prediction method is used as a powerful tool to determine how existing systems will evolve in the future. If this extrapolation is carried out correctly, it is possible to make innovations more predictable. In the proper application of the technique, you need sound understanding of 35 different technology trends. With sufficient knowledge and time, it is possible to avoid being subject to misleading tendencies and inefficient solutions or developing a new product or service at the wrong time. Trend Prediction can best be achieved by deriving and observing the dynamics of systems from the worldwide patent databases. This provides a significant advantage in trend spotting. However, consistent observation of business trends is part of trend awareness. Generated output Generates forecasts and derivations Handling The following steps must be observed in this method: Step 1: Familiarization with current technology trends (also based on TRIZ): – Recognizing evolutionary patterns and opportunities – Recognizing dynamic modification opportunities for products or product parts Step 2: Determination of the evolution opportunities – Use of radar charts (network diagrams) for clear and concise representation of opportunities Step 3: Closure of evolutionary gaps for the development of products – Interaction with other idea generation techniques

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: experts Technology: PC or notebook Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Large amount of information Consistent implementation produces an enormous amount of data, which can, however, be used very productively.

Identified sources of the method Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009)

Trendbook

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Creates key questions for idea generation Generates forecasts and derivations

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The Future Encyclopedia Trendbook 2018 from the TrendOne company presents the most important trends taking place in the areas of technology, marketing and communication or that will take place. Illustrated infographics as well as 270 micro trends and practical examples on more than 180 pages show you the most relevant mega, macro and micro trends of the coming years. This book is an example of the tools to use when it comes to identifying new potential innovation search fields for your own company. Especially in Design Thinking, in the understanding phase, trend sources are valuable tools. The verrocchio Institute and Atelier für Ideen AG have been working with this technique for many years. Mega Trends TrendOne analysts have defined 16 mega trends that will shape our world in the coming years. Macro Trends TrendOne breaks down every mega trend into several macro trends. These give you deeper insight and show concrete manifestations of a mega trend. Micro Trends In each macro trend, several specific micro trends or projects are shown that can make the macro trend solid and already provide very concrete inspiration for your team. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration

Handling Working with trends typically proceeds as follows: Step 1: The project participants read into the trends and try to understand them deeply. Beyond the Trend Book, people look around for trends on the Internet. So many more details and examples will be found. Step 2: Now ask yourself which questions will help to examine trends that already affect the given challenge today – and which might do so later, and how. Step 3: In the Brainstorming phase, try to use trends as a source of inspiration for your own trendy ideas. An overview of current mega and macro trends presented in detail and target-oriented in The Future Encyclopedia Trendbook 2018: – Ageing Society active ageing, ambient assisted living, remote care, seniors targeting – Attention Economy participation marketing, experiential marketing, content marketing, dynamic storystelling, advertising as a service, proximity marketing, sensation marketing, tailored touchpoints – Autonomous Systems autonomous vehicles, fab revolution, intelligent personal assistance, Industry 4.0, robotics – Connected World life sharing, crowd actions, matchmaking services, social software, net culture, crowd actions – Continental Shift reverse innovation, leapfrogging, space tech, migration concepts, demographic shift – Data Era smart data, user profiling, open data, flexible computing, data deals, data as a resource – Distrust Society net neutrality, digital currencies, moral business, security systems – Healthstyle downshifting, body tuning, DIY analytics, mood tech, personalized medicine, preventive healthcare – Individulization sexuality and gender identities, gravitational content, personal design, self-tracking, personal brand, lifestyle diversity

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Outernet Context-aware systems, location-based services, snap solutions, augmented senses, immersive experiences, Internet of of things Seamless Commerce Omni-channel commerce, speed retail, bricks & clicks, individual pricing, mobile payment Shy Tech natural user interfaces, seamless media, smart home, advanced materials, wireless transmission, smart integrated objects Skillsociety remote working, artificial coworkers, quantified enterprise, ubiquitous knowledge, modern workstyle, instant advisory Sustainability agriculture innovation, alternative food, clean tech, e-convenience, ethical consumption, reconomy Transhumanism human enhancement, bioengineering, brain computer interface, nootropics, wearable tech urbanization resilient cities, eco cities, new living concepts, smart cities, collaborative cities, urban countryfication

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: trend databases Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Continuity brings success Most companies benefit from trend work if they design it as a continuous process. For example, regular trend workshops can be held to constantly generate important trend background noise among employees.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – TRENDONE GmbH – Hamburg

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Trend Experts Interviews

Step 6: Summarize all findings and transfer them to your innovation project or innovation strategy. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens living in the past

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) Description In Trend Experts Interviews, you talk to trend experts to learn about current new developments, trends and future forecasts. The Trend Experts Interviews enable you to quickly and early discover trends and developments and thus secure important time advantages. They also provide new perspectives and new knowledge. In general, the aim is to find new, exciting fields for innovation and to develop an understanding of trends and growth areas. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: First identify the topics, trends or areas you want to understand better. Access trend databases or directories, for example. Formulate areas of interest from your challenges. Step 2: Identify the leading experts on this topic. Trend agencies, but also conferences and leading trade fairs, can be a real help. Step 3: Always carefully prepare for the interview. Create a list of your lead questions. You could use helpful metaphors to guide you through the interview, such as “the life of a plant”, to make it more relaxed and easier to get the expert into the story. Step 4: Conduct the interview in a pleasant atmosphere. Step 5: Listen actively, receive all information sensitively. You may also want to use a recording device. You may want to ask additional questions, which will help to improve clarity.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Skype, Facetime or Zoom But you can also make intensive use of Internet media such as Skype, Facetime or Zoom.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Trends Matrix trends identified. This task is best performed cyclically and permanently and should make use of several trend sources or databases (example: TrendONE’s Trendbook). Step 3: Put yourself at some distance from the Trends Matrix and discuss it with your team from a bird’s eye view. Step 4: Summarize your results and findings and enter them, for example, as an overlay level in the Trends Matrix. Optional: Repeat these steps cyclically and give the results to all teams related to innovation.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) Description The Trends Matrix gives us an overview of developments and trends that are currently taking place and that may indicate future changes. The Trends Matrix shows how trends and forces of change affect technology, value creation, people and cultures. The Matrix provides a quick overview of how and which trends affect your company or your innovation project. The Trend Matrix has two axes in a coordinate system or table. For example, the vertical axis contains values and influence categories such as “technology”, “market”, “people” and “culture” and the other axis contains values for different modes of action of trends such as “influence already present”, “influence begins” and “influence expected”. The individual cells of the Trends Matrix contain the trends found and assigned. Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Selection and creation of value lists for the axes of the table. Since the Trends Matrix should be used in the long term, it makes sense to identify and select the influence categories carefully and reflect these elements in the team. Step 2: Now follows the research and identification of trends and the filling in of the Trends Matrix with the 1030

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Technique: Microsoft Excel Tool: trend databases

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Trends Matrix

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

Experiences – Focus on micro trends For many teams, working with trends is often very abstract and inefficient because they only know and act with mega trends. Working at the level of micro trends delivers the Aha! moments and creates efficiency. Therefore, you should only use sources that also show you micro trends.

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Trend Scouting

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description Trend Scouting serves to make current trends and realities from other cultures visible and to use them as inspiration for the development of ideas. Trend Scouting is a look outside the box. It broadens perspective, illuminates border areas, provides new angles and unusual ideas from other cultural and thematic areas. Especially for organizations used to incremental innovation, technology opens your eyes to completely new approaches. This also includes cross-industry topics and previously unknown combinations. Trend Scouting must not be confused with trend research. It is not about predicting trends, but about identifying and exploiting current trends. Trend Scouting creates an up-to-date image of mood and reality. Put simply, Trend Scouting is the collection of facts, situations and objects from foreign cultures and subject areas. Generated output Generates forecasts and derivations Handling Trend Scouting is carried out by a more or less large number of people who swarm out and collect information and objects according to a specific question. The people used for research are called trend scouts. A trend scout knows the culture of the organization and the country/theme area as well as the culture of the scouting country/theme area. Trend scouts are more likely to notice bizarre or strange things than someone who only 1032

lives in the other culture. A trend scout is attentive, goes through the world with open eyes, always retains the research focus and can work quickly and efficiently. The quality of the Scouting results depends on a good question. The following aspects need to be clarified: – Place of search (country, city, branches, shops) – Search period (e. g. 24 hours) – Properties of the searched objects (e. g. unknown in Germany, provocative for western culture, especially colorful, bizarre) – Type of documentation (e. g. photograph or buy, record in writing) Common working techniques in Trend Scouting: – TrendBuy Buying objects in different places – TrendTalk Talking to local people about ideas (questionnaire for casual conversation) – TrendMag Search publications for ideas – TrendPhoto Capture ideas and input as a photo. Ideas you can’t just buy, and where pictures are most meaningful. – TrendDescription Describing behaviors, systems, processes, interrelationships All collected objects must be cataloged, photographed and stored for later use following the research. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens living in the past

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use

Trend Scouting – – – – –

Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Supports a better perception

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Experiences – Space requirement The evaluation of the results requires a lot of space and time. If necessary, a separate room should be used for this purpose.

Identified sources of the method Book – Die Ideenmaschine, N. Schnetzler (Wiley-VCH Verlag – August 2006) Web – http://blog.hypeinnovation.com/how-to-integrate-trend-scouting-with-innovation-management (April 2017)

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Trigger Technique lead the change between the different phases and communicate it in an understandable way. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The Trigger Technique was developed in 1969 by George Muller. This is a creativity technique that combines classic Brainstorming with Brainwriting. The participants take notes during the joint discussion, which they will then present, structure and supplement with new ideas and notes. Repeating these Brainstorming and Brainwriting phases several times results in dynamic change, which usually gives rise to many ideas and does justice to both Brainstorming professionals and Brainwriting fans. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The moderator introduces the task. Step 2: The participants each write an idea or a keyword (Trigger word) on a card. Step 3: The cards are read aloud and clearly hung on a wall and sorted. Step 4: Ideas generated by this process are written down on cards… Step 5: … and introduced to the group and added to the wall. The interplay of Brainstorming and Brainwriting can be performed up to five times, depending on the experience and feeling of the group. The moderator should be familiar with the technique in order to be able to consciously

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: moderation cards in different colors People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team People: diverse mix of individuals Room: flipchart Room: pinboards Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Warming up with Brainstorming A warm-up phase with either Brainstorming or Brainwriting is recommended.

Trigger Technique

Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013)

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Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Web – http://creapedia.com/wiki/Trigger-Technik (April 2017)

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Stepping Stone Method magnification or extreme reduction (down to zero) of usual sizes/numbers. Example: PO With a telephone, you talk to a hundred people at the same time. Distorted Picture Provocation This arises when normal laws or time sequences are changed. Example: PO The phone rings when you have finished the call.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description A further development of mental provocation, according to Edward de Bono, is the so-called Stepping Stone Method. In order to avoid (un-)consciously selecting only those stimulus statements that lead you in the direction you have already chosen, “stepping stones” are set to help you check whether you can really detach yourself from existing thoughts. You can use different variations: – reverse provocation – exaggerated provocation – distorted image provocation – wishful picture provocation According to de Bono, who developed this method, it is important to check every stepping stone to see whether it really leads in a different direction. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Reverse Provocation With the help of the little word “PO” (known from the Provocation technique), reverse an assumption (as in the Headstand technique) and derive an idea, which in turn results in a further derivation (and so on). An example according to de Bono would be: PO The phone rings constantly, it remains silent only if someone calls. Exaggerated Provocation To use exaggeration for stepping stones to new ideas, these are to be changed by indications of exaggerated measures and dimensions. This can be done by high

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Wishful Thinking Provocation If you choose wishful thinking as a starting point, you can boost your imagination indefinitely. Wishful thinking, however, should describe a wish which, apparently, cannot be fulfilled. Example: PO The phone itself decides when to call someone. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity

Stepping Stone Method

Experiences – Numerous unusable stepping stones Check how many stepping stones run into nothingness, especially during initial attempts with this method. They should achieve a quota of at least 40 percent unusable provocations. If most stepping stones are successful, this is a strong indication that you are only using provocations that are already rolling around in your head.

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Book – De Bono’s Thinking Course, Powerful Tools to Transform Your Thinking, E. de Bono (Pearson Education Limited – Oktober 2006) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995)

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True And False –

Reward team effort, but create a high-performance climate for individualists

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Roman god Janus has two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. Thinking with the two faces of Janus is a very exciting creativity technique. The Januslike view that two contradictory statements can be right at the same time – True And False – may be beyond logic, but it stimulates our creativity all the more. Louis Pasteur discovered the principle of immunity from chickens that were infected with the cholera virus but did not die – when infected and uninfected chickens were exposed to a new virus culture, the previously infected chickens survived and the others died. To imagine that two contradictory ideas, concepts or images can be right simultaneously goes beyond logic. It concerns a kind of comprehension in which thought processes transcend ordinary thinking. When you hold two conflicting images facing each other, your mind moves to a higher level. The temporary suppression of logic allows you an undreamt-of intelligence that is a pure creative state. Creative people tolerate this state of ambivalence. Albert Einstein faced exactly such a problem when he wanted to describe the Theory of Relativity: “How can an object be in motion and at rest at the same time?” To consciously bring about this state of contradictory perception, convert your challenge into a paradox and then find a seemingly useful analogy. Like two faces of Janus from Roman mythology, you can also make paradoxical statements about business topics. For instance: – Leading through consequences – Losses on profits – Taking risks, but being conservative – Form a tight team, but welcome conflicts – Set realistic but challenging goals 1038

Handling The practical application of True And False is easiest to understand using an example: Step 1: Problem One manager found that htheir employees had often met spontaneously when their high-tech company was still small. These meetings gave rise to the best ideas. With the rapid growth of the company these informal meetings, and with them the good ideas, disappeared. The manager tried the usual way to stimulate creativity, with meetings, dinners, parties, round tables and more – but the groundbreaking ideas were still missing. However, they wanted to restore the spontaneous creative milieu. Step 2: Paradox One of the characteristics that distinguishes creative people from others is the acceptance of opposites. The question that must be asked is: “What is the opposite of the challenge? What contradicts it?” Then it’s about imagining both states at the same time. Example: The paradox of the high-tech company was that although the meetings were unorganized and spontaneous, the employees still had innovative ideas. Step 3: Essence What is the essence of the problem? Summarize the challenge as a book title that captures the essence of the problem and its opposite. Naming the paradox with a book title makes it easy to grasp so that you can work with it. In our example the manager summarized the paradox with the book title Unorganized Gatherings. Step 4: Analogy Find an analogy that reflects the essence of the paradox. Search for as many analogies as possible and continue working with the most promising. Our manager found a suitable analogy in nature. They remembered that herring gulls are very disorganized scavengers, but successful survivors. Step 5: Unique Selling Point What is the USP of this analogy? Creative ideas are often born from the fact that one USP of a process or product is transferred to another. In our example, the manager recognized this in the seagulls plundering/scavenging. The

True And False

seagulls arrive in a flash as soon as fishermen throw fish back into the sea. Step 6: Equivalent For the high-tech company, the equivalent was that the employees would come together for attractive meals at low prices. Step 7: Idea The high-tech company subsequently offered delicatessen menus and gourmet-style cuisine in its cafeteria at ridiculously low prices. By subsidizing quality food, management encouraged its employees to meet informally in a pleasant atmosphere and generate ideas. As the easily-captured fish remains attracted the seagulls, the good food lured people together.

– – –

Impact on obstacle effects – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Experiences – Paradox

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use

– –

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Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity

The peculiarity of True And False lies in the notion of simultaneous opposing states. This distinguishes the method from the similar Headstand technique (also covered here). Exactly formulating such a contrast is the key to successful application of the method in a group. It helps to describe the paradox with a handy, invented book title.

Identified sources of the method Book – Die Schließung des Ianus als Erfindung. Tradition und Symbol. Epik, Historiographie und politische Wirklichkeit, T. Schmitt Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Tug-of-War – Force Field Analysis Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Tug-of-War technique uses Force Field Analysis to graphically represent the positive and negative forces of a challenge and ultimately maximize the positive ones and minimize the negative ones. Tug-of-War is based on the Force Field Analysis developed by the psychologist Kurt Lewin. This enables you to perceive positive and negative forces that draw you to the respective best-case or worst-case scenario. Once you have identified the forces and scenarios, you can use three techniques to change the conditions: maximize personal strengths, minimize weaknesses, or add positive forces. For Force Field Analysis, the challenge is written on a graph in which the individual aspects/task fields are listed individually. Now every aspect can be dragged to the best-case scenario (left) or to the worst-case scenario (right) in an imaginary Tug-of-War. After this stocktaking, individual aspects can be changed in order to finally win the Tug-of-War. Once the forces working in your challenge are known, they are negotiable – “like a mountain on wheels”. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates lists of opportunities and risks Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths

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Handling Step 1: Enter your current challenge and its individual aspects in a table as shown in the example in the diagram What is the best-case scenario (left) and what is the worst-case scenario (right)? Step 2: Think about which “ideal” (left) and which “catastrophe” (right) belong to a single aspect. If the single aspect is one of your strengths, draw an arrow to the left; if it is one of your weaknesses, draw an arrow to the right. Step 3: Now you have three options: Further reinforce strengths, reformulate weaknesses into individual challenges in order to work on them or generate further positive individual aspects (forces in Tug-of-War). Step 4: Option A: further work on emphasizing strengths Step 4: Option B: Reformulate single challenges from the example in the diagram Weaknesses in the example: – the competing products are perceived as superior – our selling price is higher than that of alternative products – our product presentation was weak – our customer relationship is bad Formulations of suitable challenges: “In what way can our product be perceived as superior?” “What additional value can we add to our product that justifies the price?” “How can we compensate for the weak product presentation?” “How can we improve our customer relationship?” Step 5: Option C: Add further positive forces in the form of new individual aspects. Suitable, for example, in the diagram: – customer service – financing offers matching the product – offering additional support personnel in customer service Step 6: In Tug-of-War, reinforcing strengths is the most important lever – but reducing weaknesses is a step in the right direction.

Tug-of-War – Force Field Analysis

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: table tops Room: flipchart Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Weakens debating – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Experiences – Helpful for many discussions Tug-of-War can be very helpful in many different discussions where two opinion camps meet in a complex environment. The first shared, visual step in the creation of the Force Field table lightens the atmosphere straight away and increases efficiency of the discussion.

Identified sources of the method Book – Feldtheorie in den Sozialwissenschaften: Ausgewählte theoretische Schriften, K. Lewin, D. Frey (Hogrefe, vorm. Verlag Hans Huber – Februar 2012) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

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Tuning Questions for Ideas 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description There is great potential in many existing “normal” or “old” ideas. Many teams and individuals often generate a lot of ideas, but none really takes off. The verrocchio Institute has looked at such “normal” ideas over and over again and tried to discover what these ideas actually need in order to become really exciting. We came across many different aspects to this search. We have translated these different aspects into a uniform format and tool. The result is our Tuning Questions for Ideas. These questions help you to tune, enrich or simply make your ideas or business models much better and more successful. 1. How can you make your idea flexible and scalable? 2. What do you have to change to make your idea earn money automatically? 3. What do you have to add, in order to generate change expenditure with your customers? 4. How could fun get into your idea? 5. How does your idea become a big secret? 6. What can you do to protect your idea from competitors? 7. How can you bring sensory elements into play? 8. How could you get your idea off the ground? 9. What would a child do with your idea? 10. Which detail of your idea will please the customer the most? 11. How could you wrap your idea differently? 12. How can you bring a repetitive pattern into your idea? 13. What’s really new about your idea? 14. What changes if you remove important parts of your idea? 1042

What happens if you turn your idea upside down? How do the disadvantages become the advantages? What changes if money doesn’t matter? How could you turn your idea into an adventure? What would your idea say if it could speak? What would a hero do to help you? What changes your idea for the customer? How can you earn more money if you give away your idea at the same time? 23. What can you leave out without destroying your idea? 24. Where else can you find ideas to enrich your idea? 25. What does the advertising for your idea look like if you hide the most important thing? 26. What happens if you double the price of your idea? 27. Which ideas from the past could you activate to enrich your idea? 28. What would change if you made a serious mistake? 29. How can you integrate social media into your idea? 30. What can you do to turn your customers into fans of your idea? 31. What would change if you had a wish? 32. What would be different in 2050? 33. What old thought patterns and beaten paths could you leave? 34. How can others do the work? 35. What would you have to do so that your idea does exactly the opposite of what it is supposed to do? 36. What would be different if the digital world did not exist? 37. What do your customers do shortly before or after they have used your idea? 38. What happens within ten meters of your idea? Generated output Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Handling In order to use the Tuning Questions optimally and efficiently, various options are available. Step 1: Complete List The most efficient method with the highest probability that an idea really improves or turns into a better idea is to apply the complete question list to an idea. You should spend at least a few minutes thinking about each question and thinking it through. This variant is the most challenging way to work with the list.

Tuning Questions for Ideas Important: Write down all the answers to the questions – this will make the idea even more effective. Step 2: Spontaneously Fitting Questions This variant consists of reading through the list and writing down the numbers of questions which feel exciting in relation to the ideas. These questions can then be dealt with for a longer period of time. It is also possible to hold a whole workshop on finding ideas for individual questions. Step 3: Question Lotto with the Team Variant three is aimed more at a team that wants to tune a certain idea. For this purpose, all questions on our list are written on moderation cards or printed out. The participants form pairs, and each team draws a face-down question card. Each pair then carries out creative work in order to answer the question as creatively as possible. After 30 minutes, all teams present their answers and then new pairs are formed, each drawing a new question card. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

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Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Fight against the feeling of senselessness It is especially important to point out to untrained creative participants that it is precisely the questions that trigger a feeling of senselessness that are worth thinking through deeply. Exactly these questions often lead to new thoughts, because they really challenge our brain.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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Reverse Polarity

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Reverse Polarity (according to Harald Braem) is a Brainfloating technique that stimulates the entire brain to come up with new ideas by carrying out unusual actions. A task is set in relation to the five senses in order to establish and illustrate connections. Sensory impressions are contrasted with unusual actions, such as intuitive writing with the “wrong” hand, and playful–experimental body movements to music, in order to connect previous results and develop new inspiration and solutions. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: As a warm-up phase, participants will be asked to write or draw for five minutes with the “other” hand (right-handed with left and left-handed with right). Regular training in this exercise helps to expand your own room for action. Step 2: Participants concentrate on the task and relate it to all five senses. What does the task look like? How does it hear and feel? How does it smell and taste? And what would change if the task looked different, sounded or felt different, smelled or tasted different? Everything that comes to the mind is acceptable. It is important that participants give free rein to their intuition. Perceived connections and inspiration can be recorded on paper as a kind of sensory screenplay.

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Step 3: Participants put their notes aside and concentrate again on the writing or drawing process with the “other” hand. Without any instructions or reference to the task or the previous step, each participant writes and/or draws whatever comes to mind for 15 to 20 minutes. A short pause is then taken. Step 4: The sensations documented in Step 2 and the notes made with the “other” hand are spread out on a table or on the floor, compared with each other and examined for connections. Then participants place the task in the middle and arrange all notes and drawings around it. The first feelings and impressions are to be deliberately evoked and compared with the present work results. Participants take notes of the resulting ideas and solutions. Step 5: In this step the whole body is involved. Participants move to music in a playful way. Individual body parts move independently of each other, sometimes with and sometimes against the rhythm. The physical experience is then associated with the previous results. Step 6: If no solution has been found by participants after these five steps, a break makes sense. The procedure can be repeated the next day. With a little practice, results and new inspiration can be related to each other more easily. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens disruptive evaluation during idea generation

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

Reverse Polarity – – – –

Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Moderation: A4 sheets Tool: DIN A4 sheet Tool: colored pencils Technology: PC or notebook Room: table tops Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper People: multidisciplinary team Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: paper People: moderator/trainer Tool: recording device Room: sufficiently large room Room: creative and inspiring workspace Room: chairs Tool: pens

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception Experiences – Allow sufficient time Reverse Polarity may be very unusual for one or the other. Allowing enough time would be helpful. – Pay attention to cultural resonance With this method, it is important that it is supported by the existing team culture. The participants should cultivate a very open, friendly and experimental team culture.

Identified sources of the method Book – Brainfloating – Im Entspannungszustand spielerisch Ideen finden, H. Braem (mvg Verlag 1989) Web – http://www.creapedia.com/w/index.php5/Umpolung (April 2017)

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Unique Competing Space

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description Unique Competing Space describes the so-called sweet spot (the interface) between your own competitive base, i. e. services that have emerged as a unique selling point versus the competition, and needs identified by potential customers. The model enables the goal-oriented development of an approach in the context of an innovation and competition strategy. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Generates forecasts and derivations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling The Unique Competing Space model consists of three overlapping circles (see picture). – Circle 1 describes the competitive basis of the identified competitor(s). – Circle 2 describes your own competitive basis. – Circle 3 shows the identified needs of potential customer groups. The respective intersections can be used to visualize competitive situations and derive specific recommendations for action. 1046

The following situations can be captured and illustrated: Intersection circle 1 and 2 = comparable value or performance promise/offer that does not correspond to the requirements of the identified customer group. For actual, economic success, the services in the interface (in relation to the specific target group) are irrelevant. Intersection circle 2 and 3 = the Unique Competing Space of the competition. The aim is to reduce this area as quickly as possible by means of various possible actions. Intersection area circle 1 and 3 = the Unique Competing Space of your own company. This is where the company’s stand-alone service offerings meet the demand and needs of potential customer groups. This area needs to be enlarged as much as possible through positive options for action. The increase can be achieved a) by expanding the company’s own competitive base (e. g. by gaining competence and offering new services) or b) by actively developing specific customer needs into an existing range of services. A third option c) to strengthen the Unique Competing Space is to actively push back the boundary surface with circle 2. This can take the form, for example, of patent strategies to isolate service areas or to capture “scarce market resources”. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Weakens debating – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day)

Unique Competing Space – – – – – –

Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources Moderation: pens Moderation: paper

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Also works with complementors Instead of classic competitors, it can also be extremely exciting to look at complementors in the first circle.

Identified sources of the method Book – Strategy in Practice: A Practitioner’s Guide to Strategic Thinking, G. Tovstiga (JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd 2013)

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Impossible Bars – – –

The solution is simpler than expected. The small holes in the rods were overlooked – we have to pay more attention to the details. Other questions like: “What can we do with the ropes?” would have led to a faster solution.

Now go into the second round of reflection with participants in order to clarify the insights gained and transfer them to the work of innovation or the current challenge.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Impossible Bars is an interactive tool that encourages rethinking, creativity and reflection on unsolvable challenges. It is manufactured and distributed by Metalog. Make your participants wonder: “How is it possible to separate the two rods, which seem so inseparably connected, from each other?” The aim of this versatile task is to rethink and promote new, creative approaches to solutions. The “Aha!” experience is guaranteed. Generated output Creates more knowhow growth Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Two volunteers from the group are given the task of separating the bars without any further aids or brute force. All other participants take on the role of observers, but without intervening themselves with hints or similar encouragement. Let the participants try to separate the bars for a while. Normally, this does not happen in over 90 percent of all cases. It is also not the objective for participants to solve this problem quickly. Now take the bars back and go into the first reflection with participants with questions like: – “How do you feel about this task?” – “Why does the task seem impossible to solve?” – “What emotions do you feel?” After this first round of reflection show the participants the solution very slowly and step by step. In the “Aha!” moment will be several insights on how:

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Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Tool: the games staffs of Metalog Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

Impossible Bars

Experiences – Selective perception

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – METALOG® training tools OHG – Olching

Since the solution to many challenges almost always lies in details, it is very valuable to point out to participants that they have overlooked the holes in the bars due to selective perception. Only those who see the challenge through the eyes of a child pay attention to all details and are less subject to selective perception.

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Unorthodox Bible Study Testament verses have been drawn every year since 1731, each of which is juxtaposed with a text from the New Testament. This will be good groundwork for you. These texts are also available as an app that sends your daily inspiration to your mobile phone. Are you looking for innovations in building or real estate? Read about Nehemiah and the reconstruction of the city wall or Solomon and building the temple. By comparing the Old and New Testaments, learn how changing the rules can make you successful.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Gain inspiration from ancient texts and wise sayings. For example, make references between Bible texts and your challenge. The Bible has a surprisingly number of stories that are about something new – about innovation. Creativity is the main theme in the two creation stories in the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis. And there we also find an exciting mission to which God directs humankind – a mission to become creative ourselves and to participate in the work of creation: “Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:19). Use a Bible in contemporary English, for example, The Good News Bible, so that it iseasier to read. Or download a Bible app. This makes it easier to find the individual books and chapters. You can simply open a page at random, read a verse or a story, and think about whether this inspires you to see your current challenge from a new perspective. Or use the suggestion list in the attachments to find a specific text on a specific topic. This may prevent you from catching a boring list of branches … Combinations of Bible texts: As is well known, the Bible consists of a whole series of books that have been written and collected over the centuries. There are countless references between the Old Testament and the New Testament. You can use directories in which biblical passages on specific terms are arranged lexically (as inventories in different languages) (concordance in English, King James Version). Another way of finding existing text pairs is to use the so-called “solutions”. Yes, in the German town of Herrnhut, Old 1050

Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: Name your challenge. Step 2: Choose a Bible verse or text that gives you a new perspective on your challenge. If selecting at random then the Book of Proverbs is a good choice, because it is a collection of wisdom in the form of short sentences, which are sometimes listed without context. Or select a specific Bible passage that fits your current topic. Step 3: The juxtaposition is intended to “irritate” you intentionally – does the written word annoy you, seem oldfashioned or outdated? That’s good – you have found a point of friction that stimulates your creativity. Ask questions like, “How would King David have solved my problem?” Step 3A: Read some passages from the “Bible” – the modern language of the “Jesus freaks” will make you smile sometimes. The Bible is the world’s first Bible to be edited on a wiki on the Internet under a Creative Commons license and further developed linguistically. The principle of crowdsourcing is used in this way. Step 4: Use the combination of a text from the Old Testament, the New Testament and your formulated challenge. What do they have in common? Contradictions? You yourself are the minister or priest … Some Bible editions already have footnotes and cross-references, so that similar texts are easily found in other sections of the Bible (“Books”). Examples: Wuppertal Study Bible, Thompson Study Bible, Elberfelder Study Bible. Step 5: After you have thought intensively about a solution, let work on it stop for a while and turn to other things. Relax – your subconscious mind continues to

Unorthodox Bible Study

process the problem and an answer may come when you least expect it.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Recommended resources Tool: bible

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour)

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Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – Nehemiah Coaching an executive in the financial sector: In a private and business crisis they were inspired by the figure of Nehemiah. They took the idea of rebuilding the city wall and the will to survive of the Jewish people as their model.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.mabadeliko.com (April 2017)

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Usability Testing Step 5: Interrogation: After the run-throughs, ask the testers directly about their impressions and experiences. Both quantitative and qualitative questions can be asked here. Step 6: You should now present your findings from each phase and draw new conclusions and possibly derive measures for action from them.

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description With this test method the testers have to solve given tasks with a new product or service. Therefore, uniform, fixed framework conditions are worked out in advance, handed over to the testers and these are then observed in carrying out the task. During the test, all actions, movements and steps are recorded by cameras or software. Generated output Creates more knowhow growth Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: Give the tester or test group the new product or service and explain exactly what expectations you have or what task they should perform. Step 2: Cognitive analysis: Observe at first hand how the tester reacts when first in contact with or contacting the product or service. Do they find their way around? Do they have to look for something? Is the meaning clear to them? Step 3: Activity analysis: Observe and examine the general usage behavior of the tester. Record their complete activity flow – from the first to the last step of their task. Then you can assess the strengths and weaknesses of the prototype. Step 4: Think aloud: Ask the tester to think aloud in another round (or in the first round). The testers should therefore express their thoughts and next steps loudly during engagement/operation. This allows you to better understand and log the tester’s world of thought. 1052

Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Technique: camera Moderation: notebook Moderation: moderation cards in different colors People: experts People: moderator/trainer

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Usability Testing

Room: sufficiently large room Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception

Experiences – Sufficient space for action and observers Observers should have a sufficiently large room or perhaps even a real product/service environment in which to monitor the tester(s) well and in such a way that they do not feel scrutinized at all.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

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User Research Plan Step 5: Create the plan Create your User Research Plan in a large and visual format. Use Gantt charts or spreadsheets or other project planning tools. Add all data about person categories, phases, methods and budgets to the timeline. Step 6: Share the plan Share the User Research Plan with the team and discuss all the details and next steps to complete the observations.

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use)

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents financial and resource traps

Description In the observation phase, the User Research Plan shows which types of people are observed when and with which methods. The Plan thereforeorganizes the observation phase of an innovation project. Only if observation is planned in a disciplined manner can budgets, times and resources be calculated in such a way that observation is successful.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Handling Step 1: Selection of person categories Based on the character of your project, first determine which categories of people you want to observe. These can be regular customers, occasional customers, noncustomers, extreme users, laypersons, experts or other categories of individuals. Step 2: Participant selection Now define the selection criteria for the participants within the selected categories and select or acquire the participants. Step 3: Select observation methods Based on the available resources and time, select the observation methods that best help you reach your observation goal. There are many methods ranging from lightning observations to video ethnography, which differ greatly in terms of time requirements and the amount of data supplied. Step 4: Budget calculation Now you can calculate and acquire your observation budget on the basis of all available data.

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: multidisciplinary team Technology: PC or notebook Technique: Microsoft Excel Finances: implementation budget

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User Research Plan

Experiences – Many misjudge themselves Teams with little experience of observational work in innovation projects in particular always overestimate the necessary resources and timing. The User Research Plan reliably prevents you misjudging your abilities, especially if the Plan is created by a multidisciplinary team.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Equipment Bag Step 4: The participants now write (in individual or small group work) on the cards aspects that characterize the challenge or have led to it. It is also possible to name people, tools or things that could play a role in solving the challenge. It is important that journey-related terms on the cards are always associated with the noted aspects of the challenge.

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description With this method participants pack a suitcase in the figurative sense, into which they put all the items important for the challenge. This is a very appealing kind of analysis or creative technique. The picture of the suitcase and the journey accompanies participants as a positive association throughout the work. Equipment Bag is a simple technique suitable for all types of innovation, for analysis, Brainstorming and evaluation. Generated output Creates key questions for idea generation Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: The moderator presents the challenge or goal of the round. Both the analysis of the challenge and the finding of a solution can be the subject. Step 2: Participants receive an unlimited number of moderation cards as survival cards. An open suitcase is also placed in the middle of the room. Step 3: The moderator associates the analysis of the challenge with the metaphor of a journey. “We consider the analysis of the core of our challenge to be a long journey with many adventures.”

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Examples: – Last year’s change process, which was like a hurricane, meant that the challenge was not so important for many colleagues – they were still stopping the effects of the storm. – Experts will be needed to find a good solution – they are like guidse who know the jungle and lead the way. Each labelled card is then placed in a centrally-located case. Step 5: All cards are then clustered on pinboards. Maps are put together in the order in which they are to be travelled using the travel terms. You can also add visual aids to the pinboards that reinforce the impression of a journey. Step 6: Group discussion on the challenge. Findings and correlations are compiled and developed into a conclusion. In this discussion, the image of the journey should be used more and more. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

Equipment Bag – –

Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens Tool: suitcase

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Journey to the North Pole Especially for demanding challenges it makes sense to make the journey a very demanding one. For example, a picture of the trip to the North Pole by Amundsen is very helpful and motivating at the same time.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Value Proposition Canvas hand, are not bought on price and can earn considerably more money.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Value Proposition Canvas is an innovation tool developed by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur and published and sold through Strategyzer.com. This tool aims to improve the fit between a product or service and the customer (Product-Customer-Fit). The Value Proposition Canvas itself is a worksheet consisting of two parts the Value Propostion Map and the Customer Profile. The use of the method is described in the book Value Proposition Design by Osterwalder. This visual technique provides several exciting applications: – Detailed understanding of customers and customer groups – Analysis of existing products and services – Analysis of the fit between existing products and existing customers – Innovatation of existing products in relation to existing customers – Innovation of existing products in relation to new customer groups – Creation of new products in relation to existing customers – Creation of new products in relation to new customer groups The basis of this tool is Osterwalder’s realization that products with a bad fit with the customer are extremely price-sensitive. Products with an ideal fit, on the other

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Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses

Handling There is a basic four-step procedure for using the Value Proposition Canvas: Step 1: Filling in the Customer Profile (using Post-it Notes) Step 2: Filling out the Value Proposition Map (using Post-it Notes) Step 3: “Matching” of Customer Profile and Value Proposition Map Step 4: Finding ideas in places without a fit

Value Proposition Canvas

The four steps in more detail: The Customer Profile is filled out in four steps: 1. Fill in the “Customer Jobs” field It describes the functional, emotional and social activities that customers typically perform in their daily lives. 2. Fill in the “Pain” field The pain that our customer typically experiences is recorded here. “Pain” is all the things this customer doesn’t want to happen. Things that annoy, worry, frighten or frustrate them. 3. Fill in the “Gains” field Here gains are recorded which our customer would clearly be pleased about. Unexpected things in particular are gains: discounts, time gained, unexpected attention, additional securities, etc. 4. Sort the values in the three fields of the customer profile Values in all three fields are sorted according to their relevance or priority or importance. The Value Proposition Map is completed in four steps: 1. Fill in the “Products & Services” field Here our product or service that we want to improve is described by its essential components. 2. Fill in the “Painkiller” field Painkillers that our product brings with it and that alleviate or prevent our customers’ pain are recorded here. 3. Fill in the “Gain Creators” field This is where the profit generators that our product brings with it are recorded, and which generate unexpected profits for our customers. 4. Sort the values in the three fields of the Value Proposition Map The values in all three fields are sorted according to their relevance or priority or importance. In the Step 3, “Matching”, we now examine whether there are corresponding Painkillers or Gain Creators on the product side for the individual pains or gains on the customer side. In the idea finding phase, we then create non-existent Painkillers or Gain Creators on the product side, and the fit between customer and product improves instantly.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Value Proposition Canvas

Experiences – Brownpapers become supercanvas If you stick the Customer Profile or Value Proposition Map in the center of a brownpaper or pinboard and use a marker to straighten out the field boundary lines, you get a super-large worksheet. This is especially useful in workshops with teams.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Value Proposition Design, A. Osterwalder (Campus Verlag – Februar 2015)

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Purposes

Step 3: Decide together which of the possible uses are the most creative or the best known. Step 4: Now hold on to what, for example, paperclips are rather unusable for and cannot be used for. Step 5: These results, too, should be reflected upon together, thus creating a broader information base for all participants.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation)

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Description The Purposes method is particularly suitable in the early phases of idea-finding or as a precursor to opening up all idea-finding activities. It manages relatively easily to create a high degree of enjoyment and motivation in participants and creates a very good atmosphere before the use of further techniques and methods. Ultimately, the technique depends on finding a large number of alternative uses for a particular, pre-selected object. It is also absolutely essential to find and formulate atypical uses as far as possible. This often results in very funny and creative alternatives, the more so the more diverse the group. Purposes can also be a very good way to start a workshop and find ideas if you let different groups compete against each other and identify the one that comes up with the most alternatives for an item.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: moderation cards Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location People: diverse mix of individuals Moderation: pens

Handling The following steps (after Scherer/Brügger) are recommended for the gradual application of the method: Step 1: Find as many alternative uses as possible for a particular item and make them visible and transparent (ideally with a number). The best-case scenario is that in two minutes participants find 20 to 30 alternatives, for example, for using a paper clip. Step 2: Reflect on the results as a group and determine which of the alternatives are more feasible and which are not.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Purposes

Experiences – Short settling-in time necessary After a short familiarization period, you notice again and again that groups work very ambitiously and with great motivation to generate as many uses as possible. – Encouragement for atypical use The threshold for atypical uses must be exceeded. Once this has happened, seeking these applications is given preference.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Kreativitätstechniken, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2007)

Video Ethnography

Innovation phase P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The Video Ethnography is about documenting people and their behavior or activities in the context of a concrete innovation focus via video in order to gain detailed, previously hidden insights. Video Ethnography is traditionally used in the observation phases of innovation projects, and it is almost always a matter of tracking down already existing problems or needs that have not yet been recognized or articulated. Video Ethnography continuously collects information over long periods of time. It promotes every form of storytelling and provides harden evidence. The method is very similar to Photo Ethnography, but provides additional benefits such as the moving image and audio information for an observed situation. On the other hand, however, it should be noted that some time has to be invested in the evaluation of video material. It is always worthwhile when very time-bound activities are involved and when the situations are rather complex – for example, when several people play together. In principle, Video Ethnography can be carried out by external as well as by your own employees, since special direction or output standards are not important. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates more specific lead questions, ideas and statements Generates forecasts and derivations Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible

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Handling Step 1: First determine what you want to film and how, depending on the findings of the understanding phase of the project. From permanently installed to handheld cameras and from pure documentation to interviews, many things are conceivable and meaningful here. Step 2: Specify who you want to film. When it comes to very complex and detailed situations, your own employees are often the better observers due to their firsthand knowledge. Step 3: Obtain the necessary consents and permits. Draft appropriate but also easy-to-understand declarations of consent, preferably with the help of legal advice. In large organizations, employee representatives should be actively involved in monitoring internal procedures or processes. Step 4: Create an exact plan of what, when and where you want to film. Then work through the recording schedule. Make sure that the person filming has been thoroughly trained on the equipment to avoid any nasty surprises in terms of quality. Step 5: Evaluate the video material and derive insights for the project and idea generation. It is advisable to carry out the analysis with several colleagues, as more details will be recognized and less overlooked. Also create a kind of analysis logbook or file to record all findings immediately and understandably (for example, with time codes). In later phases of the innovation process and when other colleagues join in, the log is very helpful and saves valuable time. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

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Video Ethnography

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources Technique: camera Technology: PC or notebook Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Experiences – Smartphones okay Since it is not important to shoot high-quality Hollywood movies in this situation, a smartphone is also sufficient for video recording. In addition, there is often the small advantage that smartphones are not as conspicuous as professional camera equipment.

Identified sources of the method Book – 101 Design Methods, V. Kumar (John Whiley & Sons – Oktober 2012)

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Four-Phase Model

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The Four-Phase Model creates awareness of how creative thinking or dealing with problems works and how they can be solved. The British social psychologist and educationalist, Graham Wallas systematized the observations of the German universal scholar, Hermann von Helmholtz and the French mathematician, Henri Poincaré and in 1926 brought them together to form a theory of creative thinking. The structuring introduced by Graham is still valid today in creativity research, even though models with different phase numbers have emerged as variants. The boundaries between the individual phases are fluid. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Phase 1 Preparation (preparation) This phase is dedicated to identifying a problem. It can be seen as a kind of voyage of discovery. Intensive work tries to understand the problem in its entirety. All available information is researched and analyzed. For research use the Internet, libraries, journals, studies, but also colleagues and experts. As a rule, the Internet offers a first overview for almost every topic, which then the search needs to be deepened. Especially when dealing

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with complex problems, it is important to take time for analysis. First spontaneous ideas can start to emerge when researching and collecting information. In addition, valuable knowledge for the development of later creative solutions can be built up. Phase 2 Incubation (incubation) In this phase it is important to consciously distance yourself as far as possible from the actual problem and to let collected knowledge from the first phase sink in and mature. In this maturing process knowledge is passed to the unconscious. Trusting the unconscious creative process releases enormous forces. A great deal of information is processed and compared. New neuronal connections in the brain can now develop. Relaxation exercises or distracting activities are also helpful in this phase. Phase 3 Illumination (enlightenment) Illumination refers to the flash of inspiration, enlightenment or the eureka moment. It means insight, because the unconscious has conveyed an idea or a proposed solution to the conscious. The second phase was worth it. In a group, an external impulse, such as random perception of a particular behavior, utterance, or other seemingly unimportant detail, can also trigger enlightenment. However, enlightenment does not always occur. It can, though, be promoted by creativity techniques, for example. Phase 4 Verification (verification/feasibility) Various solutions are now available. However, this does not mean that the complete solution to the problem has already been found. In the fourth phase, approaches are worked out and tested for feasibility. For presentation of the ideas it is important that the solution approaches can withstand criticism and doubts, i. e. that they must be checked beforehand with regard to value, use and function. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

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Four-Phase Model

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Show similarities For people who are currently working their way into the subject of innovation, it is extremely informative to compare the Four-Phase Model with various other macro processes such as Design Thinking. This makes it even easier to get to the core of innovation work.

Identified sources of the method Book – Königsweg Kreativität. Powertraining für kreatives Denken, M. Luther, J. Gründonner (Junfermann Verlag – Januar 1998) Book – The Art of Thought, G. Wallas (Solis Press – August 2014) Book – Kreativität. Konzept und Lebensstil, R. M. HolmHadulla (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2005) Book – Kreativität. Originalität diesseits des Genialen, N. Groeben (Primus-Verlag 2013)

Visual Quick Assessment

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Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Visual Quick Assessment, derived from the strategic idea assessment of Tamer Kemeröz, is a very efficient method of idea assessment that avoids undirected and endless discussions. The evaluation diagram (see figure) presents itself as a simple coordinate system with two axes. Axis 1 The strategic potential of our idea is tested here – in the values low, medium and high. Axis 2 The complexity of the implementation of our idea is queried here – in the values low, medium and high. By dividing the axes into three, there are nine assessment fields that show the possible value-adding corridors. The green fields describe ideas that we would all like to see. They have medium to high strategic potential with low to medium implementation complexity. The orange fields describe ideas whose implementation would be okay in most cases if there were no green ideas as an alternative. Ideas in the category “low/low” should only be implemented if no resources have to be deducted from the core business. Ideas in the “high/ high” category, on the other hand, should only be implemented if a detailed risk analysis gives the go-ahead. The red fields represent ideas that normally no entrepreneur would like to see implemented. They have low potential and at the same time medium to high complexities in implementation.

Handling Step 1: A Visual Quick Assessment worksheet is created for each idea – see illustration. You are free to choose the format: A5 or A4 or something else. This sheet contains a short description of the ideas – one or two sentences. Step 2: The worksheets are now given to participants one after the other. Step 3: Each participant places an adhesive dot or a cross at the position that represents the idea for them for each circulating sheet of paper – this is their evaluation. This process should be deliberately carried out quickly – maximum one to five seconds, then the sheet is passed on to the next participant until all the worksheets have been run through. Important! The Assessment does not involve speaking, and no explanations or even justifications are given by the participants in the aftermath – ever! The great potential of the method lies in the fact that everyone expresses their entire expertise in relation to the idea to be evaluated in a focused way at one point. Step 4: All worksheets are best hung on pinboards so that you can quickly get an overview.

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Visual Quick Assessment

Step 5: Together, you now decide which ideas, for example, will be let through into the next phase of the innovation process. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces permanent opponents – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents hasty judgments about ideas – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long – Shortens overly long meeting times – Tames a disturbing group clown – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens debating – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens overly extrovert team members

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Room: flipchart Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Almost always fits This Assessment method fits through the two generic axes of almost every idea and quickly creates clarity on a topic. Even different opinions within a team quickly become visible and can thus be discussed.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Visual Synectics

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description In Visual Synectics, the intention is to incorporate optical perceptions into the idea-finding process and to actively involve team participants through these perceptions. Creative thoughts are stimulated by varioussources of inspiration, external influences and stimulations. Of course, the spoken word is one of the most frequently mentioned impulses here, for example, during Brainstorming. Other sources of stimulation, however, such as odors and colors, also produce similar effects. Accordingly, it is possible to seek impulses from nature and use them in a targeted way. In Visual Synectics, very different motifs are selected, which above all attempt to present the relationships and modes of action in a vivid and comprehensible way in order to visually highlight the connection between individual pictorial elements. This should help to create helping services that can be related to the current challenges and problems. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling In order to integrate optical, visual stimuli into creative processes, different procedures can be chosen. It is therefore possibile to collect sets of different pictures, whose themes can be looked at and worked through in detail. This creates awareness of or reference to an existing problem. In this way, the perceived image elements can be interpreted as possible triggers for ideas. Preferably, a large number of ideas can be generated in this way by processing an entire set, which can then be

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analyzed in more detail in further phases of the ideafinding process. Specifically related to the procedure is the following implementation recommendation: Step 1: An image is examined for its essential elements and some assumptions are made (for example, an image contains an open vehicle). Step 2: Ideas are collected around the assumptions (example: open construction through a folding roof). Step 3: Transfer to a real problem (example: which elements of the folding roof can be transferred to the problem or which elements result in changes to the problem?). Step 4: The best connections resulting from ideas of the assumption are then joined by further ideas as results of the problem (example: how can the folding mechanism of a folding roof help us to improve the packaging of our coffee machine?). Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: impulse pictures Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Experiences – Mixed groups This method is particularly good for mixed, random groups with diverse experience horizons. – Letting go of fixed ways of thinking It is often difficult for participants to completely detach themselves from their values, norms and fixed thinking structures in order to openly experience new ways of thinking. Beingopen and breaking with traditional ways of thinking is absolutely necessary here.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Ideenfindung, H. Schlicksupp (Vogel Business Media – Oktober 2004) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Kreative Geister wecken, Z. M. Klein (managerSeminare Verlag 2006)

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description In innovation workshops, an essential component of success is that participants leave the normal working atmosphere and enter a workflow that gives them new ideas. It therefore makes sense to avoid the typical tools of known work situations, as with this technique. This includes, for example, classic agendas, which are usually printed on paper in list form. Visual agendas, which also offer an optical stimulus, are much better. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Handling Think about the goal of the workshop and suitable agenda items. Think of an optical frame that fits the theme, similar to a metaphor. In the case of a workshop lasting several days, this could be a trip or a road, for example. Now draw an image on a flipchart in which you integrate the agenda items. You do not need to be a good artist; optical allusions to the planned process or the company are sufficient. If your company is, for example, a car dealership, the display could show a parking lot with different cars, and on each car an agenda item could be described. Of course, the agenda can also be created on computer and then printed on a large poster. As a rule, however, a handmade copy makes a bigger impression and creates more inspiration in participants.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: wall surfaces Room: flipchart Tool: colored pencils Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Experiences – Visual Facilitation Hand-drawn pictures support the innovation process and encourage participants to be creative. However, most people find it difficult to draw and make do without this skill. Therefore I recommend a course in Visual Facilitation (Graphic Recording). This method makes it possible to create impressive drawings in a short time by using visual language.

Identified sources of the method Book – Bikablo 2.0, M. Haussmann, H. Scholz (Neuland GmbH & Co. KG – Juni 2009) Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) 1071

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Walt Disney Method Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Produces more motivated and innovative participants

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Walter Elias Disney, the father of Hollywood cartoons known to all of us, laid the foundation for a creativity technique early on and unconsciously by developing his own fundamentals, which he used to promote his ideas and creativity – as well as those of his employees. This method is a direct result of Disney’s entrepreneurial practice. It is a kind of role-playing game in which the imagination and that of the participants are required. One after another, participants slip into different roles. The method is based specifically on the interplay of three different roles or characters: – the dreamer (visionary, supplier of ideas) – the realist (realist, doer) – the critic (quality manager, controller) The Walt Disney Method is used regularly and increasingly in today’s business and management world. This technique offers the possibility of seeing and achieving targets from a completely different perspective, especially where it is necessary to overcome creative blocks. In the evaluation phase especially it is very useful in considering different ideas and possible solutions, especially with regard to feasibility and suitability for everyday use. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions

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Handling The role play, the basic idea of the whole method, can be carried by an individual, but also a team. Walt Disney himself, so they say, mastered all three roles perfectly. Thus he achieved goals and visions that were unusual for that time. But he also repeatedly involved his employees as a team in the idea process. Disney even supported the role play by creating for each individual role – dreamer, realist and critic – a separate room in the company, which was set up according to the respective role. So the dreamer’s room was large, bright, colorful and decorated with pictures and creative sayings. The realist was given a room with a large drawing table and all sorts of modern aids to make their dreams come true. The critic had to judge and evaluate the realist’s designs in a small, narrow room. However, you do not necessarily have to use individual rooms; for example, three chairs placed in different corners of a room are sufficient. Of course, every additional “beautification” of the dream corner, such as flowers or fabrics, supports the creativity and Brainstorming of the dreamer. Step 1: The cycle, explained here using the example of a team role-playing game, begins with a test run. The participants slip into the three different roles in advance, without knowing the topic, in order to “settle in”. In the dreamer’s corner everyone should think of a beautiful and creative moment in their life to feel the positive influence. Step 2: After a short break the change to the realist role takes place. Each participant has to remember a personal situation that they have solved in a practical and clever way. Step 3: Finally, in the critic’s corner, a situation should be brought to mind that each participant has critically analyzed. Step 4: After the subsequent rest phase, the moderator informs the team of the target to be solved. Step 5: Now the actual role play begins. The team goes into the dreamer’s corner. In this phase, dreamers use their right or creative hemispheres to develop visions and goals. Here they are allowed to think out oft he box without limits, specifications or restrictions. Every ap-

Walt Disney Method

proach, however chaotic and crazy, is a chance for a new idea. Step 6: The participants then walk to the realist’s site. The realists withdraw with the ideas they have gained and ask themselves the following questions: – What needs to be done or said? – What is needed for implementation (material, people, knowledge, techniques)? – What do you feel about this idea? – What fundamentals are already in place? – Can the approach be tested? The realists thoroughly test every idea before it is passed on to the critics. Thus, at first glance, even unrealistic ideas turn out to be real, innovative approaches. Step 7: At the last station in the cycle, the critics have the task of dealing constructively with the ideas. The analysis always includes at least the following questions: – What could be improved? – What are the opportunities and risks? – What was overlooked? – How do I feel about the proposal? The creativity process is regarded as complete when no further relevant questions are open and when it can be foreseen that a further run will not lead to optimization. This method can be very strenuous for an inexperienced team, but also for an inexperienced individual, if the results of the individual roles are not clearly defined. A moderator can also provide support at this point. Very experienced participants, on the other hand, support each other within the process by strengthening the roles in which their personal strengths lie. This results in very effective and constructive discussions that lead to new approaches to solutions. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens debating – Weakens the inner censor

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity

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Experiences – Trust necessary The method usually only becomes really effective with a lot of practice. A very trusting relationship between participants is necessary. – Moderator for new teams In the case of a team that does not know each other, it is advisable to involve a trained moderator so that roles are not mixed up and unnecessary discussions are suppressed. – Two in one This method includes both the actual Brainstorming and the first evaluation of the ideas formulated.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Manual Thinking, L. Huber, G. J. Veldmann (GABAL Verlag – August 2016) Web – http://www.ideenfindung.de/Übersicht-ListeKreativitaetstechniken-Ideenfindung.html (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

Waltons Principle

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mentation, especially in companies less well-trained in innovation. The planning of an innovation project according to the Waltons Principle should include measures that promise the greatest possible employee participation and motivation and must be demonstrably efficient. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The Waltons Principle describes a SME-specific way of working within innovation processes. The Principle is based on the assumption that in medium-sized companies the involvement of as many employees as possible and the renunciation of inefficient measures contribute significantly to the success of innovation projects. The Principle and its name were first formulated by Sabine and Jørn Rings. The Waltons Principle is based on the assumption that innovation processes within companies are a combination of human actions and techniques used. The term “techniques” refers to both mental methods and concrete tools and facilities. If you follow this idea, the success of innovation projects depends decisively on these two parameters. If there is a lack of human support, in the form of employee commitment and concrete ideas, or if ineffective tools are used, this reduces the chances of success. Since the relationship between management (or owners) and staff is often very personal in medium-sized companies and hierarchies are accordingly flat, the human factor plays a particularly important role. Internal resistance and sensitivities can lead to the failure or stagnation of innovation projects, especially in the case of unusual-sounding ideas and their implementation in the form of new products, services, business ideas or process optimizations. In contrast to current innovation theories, which specify a large number of parameters for innovation success, the Waltons Principle reduces the necessary levers in medium-sized companies to the two essential pillars mentioned above. This should greatly simplify imple-

Handling The Waltons Principle is particularly suitable for the planning of innovation measures and innovation processes in medium-sized companies. The focus here is on finding and implementing ideas, as experience has shown that this is where most obstacles and resistance are to be expected. In principle, the mechanisms of the Waltons Principle can also be applied to companies the size of a corporate group. However, this is only to a limited extent, as employees often have less loyalty and identification with the company. Since the Waltons Principle does not depict structured processes but only describes their preferred properties, it can also be used with other innovation principles such as Design Thinking. The name “Waltons Principle” is derived from the family the Waltons in the US TV series of the same name. The series described the life of an extended family during the Great Depression. Family cohesion has always played a decisive role in resolving conflicts and achieving common goals. Impact on obstacle effects – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use

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Waltons Principle

Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants)

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Emphasize family

Use the term “family” in the public dialogue with employees and their corporate culture. This demonstrates your appreciation of the employees.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

Wall Memories

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Wall Memories are, generally speaking, flipcharts or pinboards that accompany the participants – or a challenge, a process of Brainstorming or evaluation – over a longer period of time. The interesting depth and variety of possible applications are due to the titles and purposes of the wall-storage units, because these can be extremely different and very exciting. Wall-mounted memories are a very efficient auxiliary technique. They serve as an additional resource or method, especially as an accompaniment to very long or even multi-day meetings or conferences. Generated output Creates segmented, categorized, clustered data Handling Throughout a creative or evaluation meeting, or throughout a project, participants will have access to separate wall areas, flipcharts or pinboards to express ideas, fact collections, complaints and problems. Participants who want to express themselves write on a sheet of paper and attach it to the wall or write directly on the flipchart. Individual Wall Memories are classified by different titles as individual types, such as Idea Wall, Knowledge Pool, Wailing Wall or Problem Memory. The Wall memories include proposals for procedures, contributions in kind, additional information and the like. Participants can express displeasure, anger or frustration at the Wailing Wall. Under the title Problem Memory are pinned items that cannot be edited at the moment, but should never be forgotten. The Wailing Wall type provides an opportunity to provide ongoing feedback during the meeting or project. It may also assume a release valve function for the participants. The Wailing Wall can give the moderator im-

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portant information about the mood of the team. However, it only makes sense if the moderator or team of moderators is prepared to react to the comments. The Wall Memories and Problem Memories do not allow important but (at the time of occurrence) not useful aspects of the work to disappear and thus relieve the participants, but also the moderator team. All, but also only some of these memories should be retained. It only makes sense to work with Wall Memories and Problem Memories if these are also repeatedly taken into consideration during innovation. For example, after a break or a sequence of meetings, the view of all participants can be directed to the wall of ideas and together they can discuss which of the questions, problems, and ideas may already have been resolved, which are to be addressed and resolved within this meeting day, and which of the questions, problems, ideas and contents are to be tackled in later sessions. They can also consider who wants to take responsibility for particular topics. The first action plans can often be developed very quickly from Wall Memories. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents topic jumping and rapid digression

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

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Wall Memories

Recommended resources Room: pinboard as topic memory Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – Analog presence

Due to their significant – analog – presence, Wall Memories are very well accepted as an alternative to database solutions and the like and often also develop as meeting points for the project. Information can be communicated extremely quickly and without friction loss. – Known disadvantages To enrich Wall Memories, you have to engage with them.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Organisation – Metaplan Deutschland GmbH

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Warm-up Races Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams

Possible extra benefits of this method – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation

Description Warm-up Races is a good method to get a tired team (long?, noon coma …) back on track. The team or teams are given the task of moving over a previously defined distance (10 to 15 meters) in such a way that only four feet and six hands are allowed touch the ground. The team that finishes first wins and gets a small reward. To prepare for the race, teams are given five minutes to rehearse and test their strategy. Due to this intense sporting activity, tired teams are quickly reactivated and prepared for the tasks ahead. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Handling Step 1: Explain the exact rules of the game to the teams. – Show the course – Four to five people in a team – Only four feet and six hands of the entire team may touch the ground – Preparation time of five minutes – Whichever team is first in compliance with the rules wins Step 2: Start the preparation time and pay attention to the time. Ideally, each team has its own room for testing. Step 3: Start the race and be the referee. Step 4: Award ceremony, for example, with chocolate or other sweets.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Tool: clock Tool: sellotape Tool: sweets, brainfood Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Not suitable for every group of participants This exercise is not suitable for all people due to its sporting nature. So discuss this in advance, especially with unknown teams. There should also be enough space for the race to avoid unnecessary injuries.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

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What is Yellow and Edible?

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description If you want to quickly explain to a group what kind of ideas to generate in the following workshop, then this exercise is perfect. With the request: “Tell me things that are yellow and edible”, you can clearly show groups untrained in creativity how the three phases of idea generation take place in the brain. Within a group you create equal understanding and an “Aha!” experience through a very understandable example. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Ask your group (team, plenum …) to tell you things that are yellow and edible. Step 2: Accept the statements without any evaluation and simply ask again and again what is yellow and edible (two to three minutes are enough). Step 3: Finish the round and, with the mentioned ideas, show which three phases always take place in our brain when we generate ideas. Phase 1 – Classic Phase Whenever you ask the question about yellow, edible things, you get immediate answers like: “Banana, lemon, egg yolk …” – they’re classics. They’re ideas our brains don’t have to exert themselves over. The brain is one of the laziest organs in our body, it doesn’t want to strain itself at all. So there are ideas where the brain doesn’t have to work hard.

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Phase 2 – Knowledge Phase After the classics are finished, there should be a really a short break. Brains go into the next mode, pick up existing knowledge and participants suddenly listen to each other – they let themselves be inspired. Suddenly pasta and cheese variations are enumerated or what you can do with potatoes. Phase 3 – Creative Phase The classics are gone and the knowledge is also gone – so now the brain has to be really creative, it has to come up with new combinations. Perhaps a strawberry should be smeared with mustard to make it yellow and edible. This is the phase we need to reach for creative ideas. That’s why people have to be aware of how their brains function and that the chance of a creative idea is relatively small with the first 10 to 30 inspirations – because we know a lot. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents the bunker of ideas and secrecy – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity

What is Yellow and Edible?

Experiences – Very good for beginners

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – innogy SE – Dortmund

This method is very good for an introduction to group work. Of course it can also be used for lectures. It shows very playfully how our brain works and why generating many ideas is fundamentally important.

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Welcome to My World Step 6: Now the players discuss the reality content of the other representation and also which parts of the sequence are particularly easy or complicated and where interactions with others take place. The respective drawer can add elements to their drawing, while the other tells the story (five to ten minutes). Step 7: Ask volunteers to make their presentation to the group.

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Often there are long discussions in innovation workshops about the evaluation of problems or ideas. The reason for this is usually not the quality of the idea itself or the question, but rather different views of reality. Within 30 to 60 minutes, the Welcome to My World method manages to establish an exchange between the participants that makes their different views and working methods clear. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Before the exercise, please make sure that the participants come from different positions or areas of responsibility. This increases the effectiveness of the exercise. Step 1: Prepare a flipchart and several sheets of paper (at least one per participant). Step 2: Each participant receives an adhesive label on which they write down a professional task (e. g., “Develop a marketing strategy for XYZ”). They attach this piece of paper to the top of their clothes. Step 3: The participants run around in the room and team up with someone whose job description tells them little or interests them. If the number of participants is odd, as moderator you can simply join in. Step 4: The participants should now draw how they imagine a typical workflow of the other person. Questioning the partner is not possible, rather they should let their creativity run wild (five to 15 minutes). Step 5: Each player then explains their presentation to the other (five minutes).

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Impact on obstacle effects – Promotes appreciation – Strengthens confidence in the team

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: paper in flipchart size Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Welcome to My World

Experiences – Excellent for multidisciplinary teams The Welcome to My World exercise not only provides an insight into the work processes of others, it also sensitizes participants to the fact that not everyone thinks or works the way they do. It usually becomes clear that participants find it difficult to assess exactly what others are doing in their everyday lives. Misunderstandings are almost inevitable in this case.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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WhoDoes Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description In every innovation process, not only the workshop participants but also many other people are needed – and must somehow be involved and synchronized at some point. With WhoDoes you can playfully make visible exactly these other people and their tasks or actions. Generated output Better project efficiency, better team performance Handling First, visualize the goal of the project so that everyone can see it. Then create a simple, two-column table. The first column contains the heading WHO and the second column contains the heading DOES. Now think of all those people who could be involved in any way in achieving the goal and list them in the WHO column. In the DOES column, work out all the actions that these individuals must perform on the way to the goal. Ask many questions: Who decides about times? Who decides on budgets? Who releases resources? Who has the required knowledge? Who can do certain things? Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Sharpens common direction – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

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Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Experiences – Concentrate on actions Put your focus on the fact that things need to be done. Consideration of any other aspects hinders this method.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011) Web – http://gamestorming.com/core-games/whodo/ (April 2017)

Weather Map

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Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description This technique also belongs to the series of feedback and evaluation methods. In the evaluation phase, the aim is to capture an initial picture of the mood, to ask questions about expectations and also to make critical comments, without getting lost in emotions and details that adversely affect the process. Many people like this method especially for gathering feedback and assessing the atmosphere in a group that is meeting for the first time. So even rather shy participants have a good chance to express themselves on a equal basis. Suitability: Quickly assess the current situation or first thoughts and evaluations without getting lost in detail at the start of an evaluation meeting. Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Handling Participants are asked to give feedback on the idea presented by the moderator by means of a Weather Map, which refers to their mood, expectations, hopes, fears or critical attitude. In addition, they each receive a prepared sheet with the symbols known from Weather Maps. They cut out the symbols with which they want to express their feedback; they can limit themselves to one or combine several symbols. Participants stick the cut-out symbols onto another sheet of paper, which they attach to a prepared wall surface or flipchart. They then comment briefly on their Weather Map.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources Tool: specific worksheets Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Variants It is also possible to use the techniqu as inspiration for discussion in the initial phase of a meeting. Then participants should introduce themselves by name before making their comments. The moderator could start with their own Weather Map and personal presentation; it is recommended that all Weather Maps are named and that comments are not only given verbally but also written down. Another variation is that participants are asked to draw the weather symbols themselves.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Wheelspin Checkup – Innovation Friction Losses

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Again and again you find that although everyone within a company talks about innovation, you have the strange feeling that somehow they are all talking past each other and there are big friction losses. The main reason for this is often and simply lack of a common definition of the word “innovation”. We recommend using the Wheelspin Checkup to establish whether there is a shared definition of innovation within the team or not. If this is not the case, a common definition must be worked out, published consistently and visibly within the company and perhaps checked once a year to see whether it still fits in with the current framework conditions of the organization. The example shown in the figure is our favorite and our recommendation because it combines five very important aspects in one definition: 1. Innovations are implemented ideas. 2. Innovations are only innovations if they revolutionize markets. 3. Innovations solve problems and thus bring added value. 4. Innovations are for our customers and therefore human-centered. 5. Innovations or we, as idea-finders, are one step ahead of our customers. So if there is a shared definition, there is clarity, and if there is clarity, there is innovation. The position of the status quo only changes when everyone pulls in one direction. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates greater clarity on a topic Produces more motivated and innovative participants 1086

Handling A simple exercise can bring certainty as to what a common understanding of innovation is like. All team members are asked to write down their definition of an innovation within two minutes and in a maximum of two sentences. All definitions are then collected on a wall/pinboard. If there are as many different definitions as there are participants, action must be taken. Only if people working together in a company have the same idea about something can you produce it efficiently – and this also applies to the term “innovation”. Start with this reflection question: “What do you notice when you look at all the definitions?” Answers that are very often and typically mentioned are: “The word ‘NEW’ is very common.” “All definitions are right – none is wrong.” The most important answer would be: “We have no common identical definition.” The resulting task for the team now, in a period of perhaps a few weeks, is to give itself a common definition of the term “innovation” and then cyclically question its relevance. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions

Wheelspin Checkup – Innovation Friction Losses Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: moderation cards Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Spread established definition in any case Once you have found a definition within the team, spread it throughout the company and refer to it as a shared basis for developmentin all possible places.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

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WhiteBlock – – –

usable in the office for project planning and idea collection usable in the foyer/atrium for information and dialogue usable at trade fairs/events for information and dialogue

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Sharpens common direction Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description The WhiteBlock is a rollable, three-dimensional whiteboard with four sides. It can stand freely in the room and be processed simultaneously from all sides. An option combines analog and digital displays. The use of a WhiteBlock intensifies each workshop. Several groups can work simultaneously on individual “pages”. Alternatively, a group can work on four topics chronologically. In addition, the tool can be used for different areas within planning, idea development and presentation. The WhiteBlock concept was developed by the Düsseldorf company NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH. Handling Application possibilities and features of the WhiteBlock: – fully writable (whiteboard) – magnetic surface – mobile pen recesses – Swivel castors with locking device – Maintenance flap/door (lockable) – Option: touch display with LAN connection – usable in workshop/seminar: four topics per cube or four groups per cube

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Depending on the scope of the challenge, a range of materials is required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

WhiteBlock

Experiences – Interior usable The interior can be used as a materials store and for technology.

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

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Resistance Principle –

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Ignore the “anti-everything” types in the company and convince the silent masses, who only observe without offering any opinion. Find a “sponsor” for your innovation idea in the company who will protect and support it until it is implemented. Create a protected space in which the idea can mature.

Generated output Produces more motivated and innovative participants Innovation phase P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Progress always means fighting against resistance. Resistance for reasons of unwillingness, inability and noncompliance. All three types of resistance appear in companies; the most common reason for it is unwillingness. The status quo should be maintained at all costs. New always means change. And people naturally do not like change, because it means an attack on the tried and tested. Nevertheless, we need progress if we are to continue to exist. And for progress we need the fearless. Those who assert themselves against the skeptics, believe in their idea and make it a success. Resistance comes in the form of: – Your own company, in which innovations are viewed skeptically by many. Reasons: the “Not invented here” syndrome, fear of losing their budget or even their job and the “It’s always been that way” syndrome. – Customers and classic market research, which exclusively assume the status quo in surveys. – Competition, which is often wrongly considered to be “smarter” than your own company. Options for action against resistance:

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Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Experts Experts are rated all the more credible the more skeptical they are about something new.

Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012)

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How-How Diagram

Finally, select the steps that require special focus during implementation. Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Convinces rationalizers – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Reduces complexities that are to huge – Sharpens common direction – Weakens debating Innovation phase P10 Implement (implementation – execution of ideas) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description The How-How Diagram is used when it comes to creating an implementation or action plan. It supports a logical– analytical approach and promotes tactical thinking in innovation projects. The targeted and in-depth “How?” questions force the development of detailed action steps and the definition of relevant milestones. On one hand, this method can be used as an action plan or can support an existing action plan. On the other, it also helps concrete development of more general solutions or in preparation for ideal implementation. This method is a planning tool. Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Handling With the How-How Diagram derive three levels of concrete implementation from your solution by drilling deeper and deeper with the question: “How?” Step 1: Write down your idea, solution or measure. Step 2: Now ask the question “How?” several times and note the action steps to the right. Make sure that you derive several different action steps. Step 3: Next, go to the second level and derive the next steps from these first actions, which you then note and clearly position to the right of them. Connect the derivatives with lines. Step 4: Repeat the previous step to get to the next level of detail. Carry out this derivation until you have reached a logical end, or a point where it no longer makes sense to ask the question “How?”

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: moderation cards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: pens

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How-How Diagram

Experiences – In groups with moderation cards If you use the How-How Diagram in group situations, you should use metaplan boards and moderation cards. This makes the tool somewhat more flexible, as it is easier to move actions on the Diagram.

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

Wireframing

537

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia) Innovation phase P8 Early Prototyping (testing the idea directly on the user) Description A Wireframe is a very simple representation, limited to functional aspects, of user interfaces on digital devices (computers, tablets, smartphones or smartwatches). Buttons, navigation icons, layouts and displays are shown here to collect initial feedback on ideas from test users. The aim is to use these Wireframes to determine functions and layouts for further prototypes as quickly as possible. Mostly simple drawings on paper, Post-its or cardboard are used. Generated output Creates early prototypes Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Handling Step 1: Take (simple) materials at hand, such as paper, cardboard, cartons … Step 2: Draw and/or construct your idea for an application either alone or as a team. Focus on the essentials and don’t make it too complicated. Step 3: Try creating modular models. Let the customers/ test users themselves provide insights or make changes. Step 4: Present your model to the test users, note the feedback and your observations and use them for the next steps.

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources Tool: balloons Moderation: A4 sheets Moderation: glue dots Moderation: paper circles Moderation: post-its Moderation: scissors Moderation: coloured pencils Tool: periodicals Moderation: glue

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Wireframing

Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: pens People: moderator/trainer People: multidisciplinary team Room: table tops Tool: painting tools Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better imagination

Experiences – Perfectionism is a deterrent Concentrate on really simple representations and graphics. The testers are more afraid of perfect models because they believe that not much can really be changed now. Moreover, perfectionism in this phase of a project only costs time and money, unnecessarily. – Modular models are well received By modular models we mean models that can “move”. For example, you can create an app in a kind of “picture frame”, where several sheets of paper, etc. lie on top of each other. These can then be scrolled by “fingertip”.

Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

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Cloud Technique

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Generated output Generates plans and prioritizations Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description Cloud Technique helps to convey results and information in a structured and clear way. It thus forms a solid basis for every meeting in the evaluation and implementation phase. The Cloud Technique is a presentation using pen and paper, which should be used more often than is occasionally the case compared to the usual PowerPoint method. The Clouds can also be used very successfully as murals or pictures, which are always visible even without notebook or projector – and support the meeting in a meaningful way. The Cloud Technique is very well suited to the evaluation and realization phases, and evaluation of tasks of light to medium complexity. Experience has shown that the intended associative mindset to the Clouds becomes immediately present in all participants and is usually expressed spontaneously by them. However, the moderator can also consciously encourage these associations, according to the task at hand: – “Today we want to get to cloud seven.” – “Now dark clouds are coming up for us.” – “It’s pretty cloudy.” – “These are real storm clouds. Soon there will be thunder.” – “When will these clouds finally leave?” – “We’re the cloud movers?” – And so on. If, for example, you are dealing with a very detailed evaluation or a series of meetings, the participants could decide at the end of a sequence, again by questioning or scoring, by which priority (i. e. with which Clouds) the work is to be continued. And of course, new Clouds can always be created during the meetings.

Handling The moderator’s task is to present the facts of an idea in a short presentation. They will have previously divided the subject into sections or subthemes, written on maps (or arcs) in Cloud form. The cards will be hung up one by one. Parallel to this, the moderator presents their Clouds. There are two tried and tested standard variants of this technique: 1. Minimum Approach The moderator hangs up the Clouds and gives only the necessary information on the individual topics. Then the participants decide, after questioning (or by means of a score), in which order or with which intensity the individual Cloud topics should be treated. In accordance with this priority, work continues. 2. Maximum Approach The moderator will give detailed presentations on the individual topics. The participants ask their comprehension questions and/or discuss the matter. In order to stimulate or structure the discussion, key questions can be given verbally and in writing (see Example 2 below). With both variants, the metaphor Cloud can also be used evaluatively (process evaluation): What Cloud are you on now? Example 1 The team has the task of evaluating a new target for a process. Topics such as publicity, cost transparency, advantages for the department, disadvantages for the department, training needs or introduction barriers are named on Clouds. The moderator contributes only a few sentences about the individual Clouds and then asks participants about their priority interests. These are communicated by pointing. The participants distribute ten points each to the Clouds. The Cloud with the most points is addressed first. Example 2 The team has an idea to evaluate a product change. The moderator notes the following key questions next to the Clouds: – What are the advantages for the customer? – What creates problems?

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Cloud Technique

– What measures do we take? – And so on. The Clouds whith these questions written on them are hung up and discussed one by one by partcipants on the basis of the guiding questions.

– – – – –

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Shortens overly long meeting times – Weakens debating

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees

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Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) Frequency of use: usually in one-time use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Recommended resources Room: pinboards Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: glue dots Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Known advantages A very appealing and proven technique with which even inexperienced moderators can keep a meeting on course. The sticking on of the points also benefits the withdrawn participants.

Identified sources of the method Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

World Café

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Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities

Innovation phase P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description The aim of the World Café method is to bring together large groups of 50 to 200 people in an informal atmosphere for intensive discussion, collaboration and Brainstorming in order to find a common challenge. In this way, the collective knowledge and intelligence of the group can be used to define problems, identify requirements and develop new ideas for solutions to complex issues. The central idea of this method is the relaxed atmosphere of a street café in which people chat casually. The participants typically sit at small round café tables, which can accommodate four to five people. World Cafés often take place in international corporations, political organizations, communities, cities, associations, etc. The method is particularly effective for diverse, mixed groups of participants who are affected by a common topic. It’s a good place to be: – to bring together different points of view on one topic – to draw up an action plan within a short period of time – to develop strategies together – to give feedback and resonance to suggestions already worked out and, if necessary, to develop suggestions for improvement – in the context of project evaluation or the collection of intermediate results

Handling A moderator introduces the participants to the working method and explains the various questions that the participants are to discuss. For each question to be discussed, approximately 15 to 30 minutes should be allowed for. The results of the group work are written directly on the paper tablecloths lying on the tables. Between the rounds of talks, the groups mingle anew. Only the socalled hosts stay at the same table all the time. The hosts, who should volunteer, have a special meaning in the World Café. They make sure that an open, clear and friendly atmosphere is created. The hosts remain at their table in the standard variant for all dialogue rounds and say goodbye to the guests at the transitions, welcome the newcomers and briefly summarize the core ideas and most important findings of the previous round. In the course of the conversation they ensure that everyone can participate and that important thoughts, ideas and connections are written and drawn on the tablecloths by everyone. However, the hosts usually do not moderate the table discussions. Moderation is not necessary if the question is clear and interesting enough for all participants and the group size at the tables does not exceed five to six people. The World Café concludes with a period of reflection. Only the moderator remains at their table as host. The total duration of the call should not exceed three hours. At the end of the discussion period, the results on the individual topics can be presented and discussed together. The method is very target-oriented if: – the knowledge and intelligence of many people should be used for a complex topic – for extraordinary solutions should be found for a topic, it is best that “everyone talks to everyone” and “everyone thinks together” – everyone’s view on a topic or a question should become clear or the input of a speaker for a group should be carefully formulated.

A regular side-effect is the networking of participants, which happens almost incidentally through the interactive discussion rounds.

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World Café

Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Encourages inhibited team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for teams with a strong project mandate

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources Room: sufficiently large room Room: table tops Room: pinboards People: moderator/trainer Moderation: pens Tool: paper tablecloths Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: glue dots Tool: recording device Technology: projector and laptop

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Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences – The questions are the key A crucial insight is that the quality of the first questions at the café tables is an essential success factor for the entire event. The following considerations are important when developing the questions: – The questions should focus attention on the topics. – The questions should open up different perspectives on a topic. – The questions should enable the participants to find new ideas and possibilities. As part of the preparation for a World Café, we recommend that you always test the questions with key people.

Identified sources of the method Web – http://www.innovationsmethoden.info (April 2017) Publikation – Lernlandkarte Nr. 2 – World Café, Holger Scholz, Roswitha Vesper und Martin Haussmann. Neuland Book – The World Café. Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter, J. Brown, D. Isaacs (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2005) Book – Das World Café. Kreative Zukunftsgestaltung in Organisationen und Gesellschaft, J. Brown, D. Isaacs, P. Senge (Carl-Auer Verlag – September 2007) Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014)

Exchanging Words

540

pants to begin the subsequent Brainstorming.

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The method of Exchanging Words is a very helpful tool when it comes to opening up participants and groups to an existing problem or a current challenge and broadening their perspective. By successively reformulating the individual words and word groups of a given question, the perspective on the question is gradually expanded. This provides a new access to the question for individual participants. You can compare this very successfully with the reaction to smells or colors. There are people who react very strongly to certain smells, whereas others are not influenced by them at all. The same goes for colors. Certain signal colours work attractively for certain people, while other colors leave them cold. In the case of a question whose main concepts evoke certain associations, the same effect of the different adaptation level arises. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates key questions for idea generation Handling Replace words step by step: Step 1: First of all, the problem at hand should be made transparent to everyone. It is helpful to answer the question with the formulation “How could we achieve …?” (according to Scherer/Brügger). Step 2: If the problem is clear to all, you can begin to change and exchange words/word groups within it in order to determine how the question (and its meaning) changes. Step 3: This process is repeated until enough variations are found to inspire and activate the workshop partici-

Example (Scherer/Brügger): Original question: “How could we get more tourists to visit our restaurant?” New questions after the word exchange: “How could we get more guests to dine in our restaurant?” “How could we make our restaurant more attractive to tourists?” “How could we get more people to dine at our inn?” Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team

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Exchanging Words

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Fundamentally supports creativity Experiences – Separate groups from original questions Especially in the case of participants with a love of detail and an affinity for technology, it is often extremely difficult for them to separate themselves from the original question and move on. Handling these individuals in a decisive manner is an absolute necessity. – Guide to Brainstorming The method is very good for idea generation and for bringing groups to the core elements of creativity (broadening perspective, distancing, letting go, etc.) in a fun way.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Das große Handbuch der Kreativitätsmethoden, M. Luther (managerSeminare Verlags GmbH – Juni 2013) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2007)

Dice Method

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Step 2: Number the corresponding list and divide it into six sections. Step 3: Take a die and choose the alternative that was rolled. Step 4: Repeat these steps until one alternative remains. Step 5: Stand by this alternative and defend it vehemently.

Innovation phase P7 Idea selection (voting – evaluation – filtering – deciding) Description The Dice Method is an idea evaluation and selection technique that could not be simpler. The reduction of the selection decision is, so to speak, alienated or outsourced, so that none of the workshop participants or project group members needs to be put in a position to make this decision. In order not to have to make the decision, it is moved to a cube. Even if this may sound absurd, this type of selection is logical and, above all, goaloriented. How often would existing alternatives be continually weighed up and the choice ultimately left unmade? This unwillingness to make decisions is bypassed with this method and shifted to objective decision-making by means of dice. This not only reduces the duration of the evaluation rounds, but also ensures an efficient process flow during idea generation. Thus the Dice Method also creates an absolutely objective basis for these often very subjectively perceived decision criteria and finally creates much better acceptance of the selected idea(s), because often it depends only on the fact that a decision is made and not necessarily which one. This is because it is scientifically proven that once a decision has been made, it is found to be good and sustainably supported.

Example (after de Bono): The following selection of birthday gifts for a rich uncle are available: 1. a pair of shoes 2. a visit to the theatre 3. a meal in a restaurant with friends 4. six books or videos of your choice 5. A Rolls Royce for three hours 6. a polaroid camera The dice should decide the selection. See if you’d be happy with the decision. Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Shortens decision-making meetings that are too long

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Generated output Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback

Recommended resources Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Room: flipchart People: multidisciplinary team Tool: dice

Handling These steps for applying the random method should be followed: Step 1: Create a list of all available alternatives or ideas.

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets

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Dice Method

Experiences – Satisfaction with the decision Without being able to explain this rationally, it can be confirmed that workshop participants identify very quickly with the dice decision and happily accept it.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Book – Writing, G. Cowan, E. Cowan (Pearson Scott Foresman – April 1983)

XXL Connection

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Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Helps with decisions, assessments and feedback Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Produces more motivated and innovative participants Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) Description XXL Connection is a visualization tool developed by Peter Köstel. With its paper connectors, ideas, processes and many other things can be built and displayed threedimensionally. A little practice, enough space, enough cards, a lot of enthusiasm and off you go. The tool offers an infinite number of application variants. With the help of the “cardboard chain links” (equal to connectors) belonging to the Set (see Experiences below), connections of ideas, thoughts, process steps, and much more can be represented quite simply, and at the same time it helps with further idea finding and creation of clarity. The connectors can be written on, glued or painted. This creates idea chains, process chains and some even call it a 3Dpinboard. Trainers/users can also develop independent constructions. Since there are almost no rules, towers, cranes, bridges, ladders, nets or grids are created. The visualization and sensory element help you to recognize and retain conclusive or dissolved connections. Helpful goal intersections are perceived more strongly. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience

Handling Step 1: Familiarize yourself and the team with the XXL Connection Set and take sufficient time to explain the tool and the task. Step 2: Divide the groups into teams of four or five and share connectors and statty notes with each group. Step 3: The small groups should be able to write/sketch each idea/step on a statty and pin it to a connector. Make sure that the chains make a logical connection – so there should be ideas/steps in a chain strand that build on each other. Step 4: Let the small groups introduce their chains and then let the teams check which chains can be connected to which places of the other chains. Step 5: Finally, you can let the teams present their ideas and then use the connectors to show you the steps to take to implement them.

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XXL Connection

Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces structure-loving team members – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens debating

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room People: diverse mix of individuals Tool: XXL Connection Set Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination Experiences – View clip before using tool It is quite helpful to watch one of the many Internet clips about XXL Connection, for example, www.training-Tools.de, before you start working.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – marketing-pur Peter Köstel e. K. – Bornhöved

Yes But – Yes And

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new idea must be based on the idea of the previous speaker. (You will notice that this round is much faster and with more motivation.) Step 6: Have a short feedback round with the groups and use the momentum and insights of the teams to get into real idea generation with the “Yes And” method.

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) P6 Idea enrichment (idea combination – idea integration) P9 Fighting for ideas (building commitments – generate fundings) Description Probably everyone knows the killer phrase: “Yes, but …” We hear this repeatedly in meetings, workshops and Brainstorming sessions. The effect is usually that participants do not collaborate and supplement or refine their ideas, but that worlds of thought and ideas are built up next to each other. The “Yes But – Yes And” method tries to make this situation transparent and then to learn from it. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates more knowhow growth Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Divide the team into small groups of four to five participants. Step 2: Give each small group the task of planning a trip from Berlin to Shangai. Step 3: Each group member should now bring ideas for this task into the round, but always with the sentence “Yes, but …” at the beginning. The groups have a maximum of five minutes to do this. Step 4: Ask the groups in a plenary session how far the trips have taken them. Step 5: Keep the same group setup and give it the same travel plan again, but now with the first sentence of each idea being “Yes, and …” and the requirement that each

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Promotes appreciation – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens debating – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room People: multidisciplinary team Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Supports a better perception

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Yes But – Yes And

Experiences – Can also be quite a bit of digression It can happen, especially when building on predicted ideas and in a warm-up round, that the seriousness of the topic fades into the background. So you can’t exactly predict an end. However, it can be said that the method is almost always fun.

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – DESIGN THINKING – Das Handbuch, F. Uebernickel, W. Brenner, T. Naef, B. Pukall (Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch – August 2015)

Yogi-Berra Principle

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) Description The name of this method comes from the famous New York Yankees’ catcher Yogi Berra, who once said: “You can observe a lot just by watching.” Only those who have identified a problem can improve their products. And problems are identified by observing users using the products – what disturbs, irritates, annoys them? Let your customers and those of your competitors have their say, integrate them into your improvement processes and learn from them. Use the Internet and its possibilities to help you. Surveys alone, however, are usually not enough. Statements and actual consumer behavior are often drift apart. This insight is also the basis of the observation phase from Design Thinking and Lean Startup. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas for customer benefits und needs Identifies existing strengths Identifies existing weaknesses Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Take the following steps in order to follow the Yogi Berra Principle: Step 1: Use your own products yourself. This is the only way to be clear on where the actual shortcomings may lie.

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Step 2: Go with the times. Each product is developed in “its” time. However, as the world continues to turn, products must also be adapted to social realities, changing user habits and the latest technologies. Step 3: Assign responsibility. In a company, someone is rarely responsible for a problem. This fact has the consequence that no one has the task of improving things, even if it is noticed that improvements are necessary. Don’t let bureaucracy triumph, but assign clear tasks. Step 4: Let go of the conviction that a product is perfect and the user just doesn’t understand it … Often scientific, technical and engineering developers are so convinced of their own product that the “blame” for the fact that it does not sell is looked for in the consumer. As a consequence, nothing is changed in the product, but at most in the operating instructions. Question your product! Step 5: Don’t make everyone happy. The solution to a problem always leads to a new question. Put it aside and accept the imperfect. That’s the only way you’ll get ahead. Step 6: No justifications. Take consumer complaints seriously and thank customers for “constructive feedback” rather than justifying yourself. Document your daily observations with a notebook and pen. Film consumers using your product. Deal with the complaint immediately and seek open exchange with colleagues. Impact on obstacle effects – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents misinterpretations – Prevents one-sided evaluations and decisions – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents wrong granularity – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium

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Yogi-Berra Principle

Complexity for the participants: mainly low Exchange focus: mainly with external persons Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Team size: usable for a single person

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

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Experiences – Observing instead of asking! Observing is usually more difficult and complex than asking questions. Always write down all observations in a very disciplined way, even if it may feel pointless at the beginning.

Identified sources of the method Book – 33 Erfolgsprinzipien der Innovation, O. Gassmann, S. Friesike (Carl Hanser Verlag – Februar 2012) Web – http://www.genios.de/presse-archiv/artikel/HB/ 20120125/mitt-romney-und-das-yogi-berra-prin/ 011225485.html (April 2017)

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You Are Not a Field of Grass

Description This technique helps you to perceive yourself as a creative person. The author Michalko talks in the last chapter of his book, Thinkertoys, about freely made decisions and our choice of how we interpret experiences. A field acquires its character from events that happen on it again and again: The germination of grass seed, the wind, the growth of the stalks, the hatching of insects, thunderstorms, paths left behind by game and hikers and so on. It is a large system of partly independent events that determine the overall picture of the field. Psychologically speaking, the nature of our beliefs and perceptions is based on an interpretation of our experiences. The field cannot change its character on its own. We humans, however, are not fields! We have the choice to interpret experiences the way we want – yet most people are not aware of what this means. Michalko mentions roses and thorns as an example: We can lament that roses have thorns, or rejoice that thorns have roses. It is our personal choice how we interpret the experience. It is not the experience that determines who we are, but our interpretation of what we have experienced. We all have a repertoire of experiences in our lives – these experiences are neutral at first. “Good, bad, right, wrong, sad, angry, lazy, mean, friendly” and so on are all interpretations of people. The question is which perspective to choose. Our interpretations form our beliefs and theories about the world. Conversely, these theories determine how we perceive the world – the observations then again confirm our beliefs. Psychologists call this phenomenon “confirmation basis”. This phenomenon describes how people who have once recognized a theory as truth force any new information to confirm their theory. Example: If a car buyer has chosen a particular model, they will probably continue to read articles that confirm the quality of their chosen brand, and hardly any articles that praise other brands and models. Early astronomers were of the opinion that celestial bodies were eternal, imperishable and made of ether. This theory made it impossible for them to perceive meteors as glowing rocks from outer space, although they

found such material on Earth. They could only describe things that fitted into their theory of heaven. Conservatives see the evil of liberalism everywhere, while liberals see the evil of conservatism everywhere. In terms of creativity, this means that people who perceive themselves as creative see proof of their creativity everywhere, and people who believe they are not creative see proof of their lack of creativity everywhere. How we interpret experiences has an impact on how we feel. You can perform an exercise to do this. See Handling. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Identifies existing strengths Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Practice: Change your perspective on your tasks. If you would normally say, “I have to go to work”, change the statement to, “I choose to go to work”. Change duties into activities you want to perform: “I have to clean the house” becomes “I want to clean the house”. Change things you should do into things you would like to do: “I should send her a Thank You card” becomes “I’d love to send her a Thank You card”. See yourself as a creative person. Practice using many creativity techniques to apply creativity and describe yourself as creative. Practice seeing the fruits of your creativity and express it. You Are Not a Field of Grass! Impact on obstacle effects – Encourages inhibited team members – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Weakens emotions that do not lead us to our goals – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a weak management mandate

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You Are Not a Field of Grass

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather high (> 1 day) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: usable for a single person

Experiences – Encouragement for individual team members In an idea-finding session I noticed that a young man held back and made hardly any contributions. The atmosphere was so relaxed and collegial, however, that he could express the opinion that he did not perceive himself as being a creative person. Together we practiced some reversals of such ways of thinking (see Handling). His creative contributions became more fluid as a result. If things came to a halt sometimes in the group, it became a running gag that they awarded each other the title, “You Are Not a Field of Grass” – and laughed.

Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Supports a better perception

Notes

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Identified sources of the method Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006)

TEC Framework

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Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents blind actionism – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Sharpens common direction

Possible extra benefits of this method – for inexperienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description This simple but very helpful Framework can help to tackle a problem in a structured way and find a solution. TEC stands for the three important phases: T = target or task to be solved E = expand and explore C = contracting and finding a clear conclusion This Framework is also reflected in the Five-Minute Thinking method. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Phase T is defined as finding a goal that you want to achieve with the other two phases. In addition it is possible to consider retrospectively which things/errors you want to change/do/ differently or to look forward to problems you want to solve. Phase E could also be described as the actual opening phase, as it is here that ideas are given free rein. You can use all idea generation methods at this point, as long as you always have the previously developed goal in mind. Finally, in Phase C, you condense the ideas gained previously into a concentrated, end solution or at least into a solution approach. This must then be followed up.

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Guiding theme for workshops This Framework can serve as a leitmotif for workshops and coaches. No matter what methods are used to facilitate idea generation, these three pillars help to structure a workshop cleanly and comprehensively.

Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005)

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Show Me Your Values

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The perception of company values by employees often becomes an issue in the innovation process, especially when it comes to the concrete development of innovation culture in the company. The more employees find their own values in the company, the greater the commitment. This method uses images to make values visible in order to discuss them. It takes between 30 and 45 minutes and is best carried out with groups of five to 15 people. Show Me Your Values were developed by Sunni Brown. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates greater clarity on a topic Identifies existing strengths Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Step 1: Before the meeting, select a topic (examples: (e. g., trip to the North Pole, learning a language, training for the Olympics, etc.), about which the participants should relate something. Prepare an area where you can write and where participants can stick pictures (for example, a pinboard). Provide duct tape and a number of magazines and periodicals. Ideally, each participant should have three to four copies available. Step 2: Explain the task to participants. This consists of two parts: On one hand, they should use pictures to describe which values, from their point of view, form the basis of the topic. On the other hand, they should report on a work-related event that also illustrates these values.

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At the very beginning, point out to participants that openness and honesty are important for the discussion. Step 3: Give participants ten minutes to cut out images (one or more) that reflect their idea of the underlying values and principles. Step 4: Have the pictures pasted onto the designated surface, while the participants think of a story that has to do with the value or values they want to represent. Step 5: The participants now present their pictures one after the other and tell the accompanying stories. Step 6: Add the values and principles from the stories to the images. Step 7: Finally, go through the values with the participants and search together for overlaps and deviations in perception. Impact on obstacle effects – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams in a crisis situation

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: rather medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Room: pinboard as permanently visible result location Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000)

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Show Me Your Values

Tool: periodicals Tool: sellotape Moderation: glue Moderation: scissors Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team

Experiences – Making values tangible The discussion of values is only effective if it is not too generic. Therefore, always ask for general descriptions and use suitable examples from everyday life.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

Notes

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Timeline

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description Innovation processes often take place in difficult business situations that require a parallel change process. In order to create courage and confidence for the upcoming changes, it makes sense to take a look into the successful past of an organization. The Timeline method collectively records moments and key figures from the past in order to take the picture of development that has already taken place into the future. Timeline can be played with up to 50 participants. Generated output Creates posters Creates greater clarity on a topic Identifies existing strengths Makes complex cause-effect relationships visible Handling Step 1: On flipchart sheets sellotaped together, a Timeline is drawn with a thick pen at the bottom edge, which extends over several sheets. The sheets are attached to the wall as one big piece of paper. Write the dates under the Timeline from a sensible starting point. If the company can look back on a long history, perhaps the scale should be divided into five- or ten-year increments. Step 2: The participants should now attach a sticky label with their name and a self-portrait (drawn) to the point on the Timeline at which they joined the company. As moderator, ask questions of the individual participants as they come to the wall; especially when “old hands” come to the wall chart, they should also tell a story about the company. Step 3: Ask participants questions to fill in the Timeline with more content:

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– Successes of the company – Lessons learned – Changes in leadership style and visions – Changes in corporate culture – Market trends – Restructurings – Adding to and omission of legal provisions – Fluctuations in turnover and number of employees – Large projects – Innovations Step 4: Comment on the final sheet and ask participants questions about patterns and structure. Associate the image with pending changes. Impact on obstacle effects – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens fear of the new (cainophobia)

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams in a crisis situation – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: poster Room: flipchart Room: sufficiently large room Moderation: marker (e. g. Edding 3000) Moderation: coloured pencils

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Timeline

Tool: painting tools Moderation: 3M Super Sticky Notes Moderation: moderation cards

Experiences – Preparing symbols You can simplify your work by graphically preparing important event categories before the meeting, such as stars for successes, up/down/right arrows for key figure changes, and so on.

Impact for more innovative ability Supports a better perception Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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Newspaper Articles from the Future

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) Description The method Newspaper Articles from the Future helps individuals or a team to create a shared picture of the future, to develop a vision and to get a concrete idea of the target state. The method is often used at the beginning of a large project or business startup process, and describes an imaginary article from a well-known newspaper from the future when the goal has already been reached or the problem has been solved. The aim is to provide specific thoughts on the ideal situation in the future and to be as detailed and concrete as possible. Generated output Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates a vision or future scenario Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: For example, imagine yourself five years into the future and that you are a journalist for a well-known newspaper. Step 2: Write a Newspaper Article in which you describe how your problem was solved or how your goal was achieved. Take into account the initial situation and the result in a few years’ time. The format should be one A4 page. Step 3: As you write, become more detailed and describe exactly what happened and how the problem was solved.

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What specific contributions have been made, by whom? What competences have been developed? With which activities were which results achieved? There are no limits to your imagination. Work with imaginary quotations and testimonials from customers, suppliers or other people so that an external view of the result is brought to life. You can also use pictures or your own drawings to make the article look particularly real. As moderator you can bring along magazines, for example, from which participants can cut out suitable photos. Step 4: Finally, read through everything and check whether the article triggers desire and energy to start working. Revise the article if this does not happen. With groups, it is a good idea to first have each individual write an article and then compare the results. Then write an article together, which you subsequently visualize on a flipchart, for example. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens confidence in the team – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a weak management mandate – for teams with a weak team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

Newspaper Articles from the Future

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Moderation: coloured pencils Moderation: A4 sheets Tool: periodicals Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better imagination

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Experiences – Long service life Particularly if Newspaper Articles from the Future is used over a longe period of time – i. e. if the article is kept up to date and made even more detailed – it has optimal effect. It should also be clearly visible to all participants, for example, on the wall of the office. – Reporter What does a reporter do? This way of working makes the exercise more accessible to participants. It helps to look beyond your own worries and brings descriptions into the flow.

Identified sources of the method Book – Das kleine Handbuch der Innovationsmethoden, F. Rustler, I. Plambeck (Creaffective – Oktober 2014)

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Zoom In Effect: Increase of efficiency, reduction of complexity in implementation and often also marketing, as well as reduction of development costs and times. Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Prevents wrong granularity – Protects against overly generic ideas and statements – Sharpens common direction – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens living in the past

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P4 Synthesize (create leading questions – take a stand) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Zoom In is a specific action option from the Lean Startup toolkit. Strictly speaking, this method provides the possibility of pivoting, i. e. changing the strategy in order to achieve the agreed objective. Zoom In is one of ten options Eric Ries (author of The Lean Startup) suggests for a pivot. The Lean Startup method codeveloped by Ries is about starting a successful company or product launch with as little capital and as many reduced processes as possible. Instead of long concept development, the goal is to bring a prototype or beta version to market as quickly as possible. In addition, the product cycle should be kept as short as possible so that customer feedback can be used to react quickly to requests or changes. Generated output Creates greater clarity on a topic Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling With a Zoom In, for example, in the course of product development, the focus is on one feature for reasons of reducing complexity or for cost reasons. This feature is “Zoomed In” on, picked out and developed as an independent product. All other previous features will be rejected.

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Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in project-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather medium – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually during the entire project period – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Zoom In

Experiences – “Old” treasure chest products

Often “old” products have already turned out to be true Zoom In treasure chests. Their functionalities have often been totally watered down by years of overengineering. Thus, single, individual, visible functionalities have a good chance of success again.

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Identified sources of the method Book – The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, E. Ries (Crown Business 2011)

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Random Technique

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Random Techniques are overall methods for finding ideas based on the principle of random input and inspiration. These techniques can also be traced back to Edward de Bono. The principle of Random Techniques is to obtain images, sounds, scenes or words from many random sources and use them as inspiration and stimulus to achieve a target. The element of chance serves to produce completely new associations and ideas that you would probably not have come up with if you had considered the problem in isolation. The random technique, as it is described below, is one of the original forms of finding ideas and creativity. Especially if you believe in yourself and your own creativity, there are infinite sources of inspiration, and there is always a new, surprising idea. The serendipity effect (finding things you didn’t even look for) also plays an extremely important role here. The potential of this technique is particularly high in deadlocked situations and when it comes to finding ideas in advertising and marketing, but it can also be applied in all other areas such as process and social innovations. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The principal sequence of this technique is really very simple: Step 1: Provide as large a general source of images or words as possible. 1120

Step 2: A word or image is randomly selected from the source list. Step 3: This is used as stimulation for the solution of the problem. There are many variants of the Random Technique. Among the best known are the: – Catalog technique (random source is a goods catalog) – Lexicon technique (random source is a lexicon/dictionary) – Stimulus word analysis (random source is an arbitrarily selected word) – Bisociation technique However, any source of random words or impressions can be used. A real favorite among all Random Techniques is strolling through a vibrant city, through large department stores and especially browsing large bookshops. The sheer number and density of the impressions and inspirations are abundant. With a little practice, you can learn to really indulge in sensory impressions and inspirations. Let yourself be guided by chance and you will see that after a while you can rely on finding an idea that will help you in your situation. Here are two concrete examples of how this really happens: Idea 1: The picture gallery – Ideas for a supermarket are sought. – While strolling through the city’s shopping streets, your gaze falls on a shop for artists with painting and drawing supplies. While browsing through the display you notice the many colorful wax crayons and you immediately have pictures of children in kindergarten in your head, probably also pictures from your own childhood. – From this impulse comes the specific idea of creating pictures of children (perhaps by the customers?) in the supermarket and also to develop a competition for the drawings. Idea 2: The map – Again ideas for a supermarket are sought. – Just a few meters further on in the same shopping street, you stop at the window of a travel agency and let your thoughts wander to distant countries. – When you think about what you typically need for a holiday, you will of course think of a list. You could perhaps give the customers a “list” of where they can find the various goods in the supermarket and on which they also write their shopping list.

Random Technique

Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens the inner censor

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for experienced trainers and innovation coaches – for teams experienced in innovation – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for teams in a comfort situation – for teams with a strong project mandate – for teams with a sovereign team leader

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) – Team size: usable for a single person

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Recommended resources No special resources required Impact for more innovative ability Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Experiences High wastage The inexperienced often find it difficult to transfer random suggestions to a challenge. This can also lead to slight frustration. Of course, the scattering losses with this technique can also be classified as relatively high. – Good for surprises Random Techniques are very easy to use for participants experienced in innovation methods and they can produce really surprising ideas.

Identified sources of the method Book – De Bonos neue Denkschule, V. F. Birkenbihl (mvg – Juni 2005) Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreativitätstechniken (April 2017) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009)

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Future Workshop

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P2 Analysis (problems – challenges – environment – people – products) P3 Observe (people – environment – product use) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The Future Workshop is a participatory creativity technique that goes back to the journalist and futurologist Robert Jungk. The method, which Jungk developed in the late 1970s together with his fellow researchers Rüdiger Lutz and Norbert R. Müllert, offers the opportunity to solve existing societal problems in an imaginative way and to consider new perspectives. People who are affected by a specific problem and subsequent decisions on action are involved in the planning process. Irrespective of age and level of education, and under the guidance of a moderator or a team of moderators, they contribute their imagination, wishes and visions to solving the problem. By deliberately releasing the unused creative potential of the participants, this method can be used to find new approaches and develop common future perspectives. Generated output Creates new knowledge and experience Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling The Future Workshop is divided into five steps. Experience has shown that an experienced moderator or a team of moderators is required.

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Step 1: Preparation The problem is defined in advance by the initiators of the Future Workshop. Place and time are determined and the necessary materials are procured. In many cases, the participating interest groups (stakeholders) are also selected in advance. The criteria are: Who is affected by the problem? Who is interested in solving the problem? For large groups with different interests, the composition of participants should be balanced. As soon as the Future Workshop has begun, the moderator has the task of ensuring a positive and trusting atmosphere. A timely and methodical approach should be clarified and the thematic interests of the participants determined. Step 2: Critique In this step, participants are asked to express criticism and discomfort with the current situation. In order to obtain as detailed a picture as possible, all reservations should be clearly expressed. The points of criticism are collected and documented (for example, on cards). Then, a decision is made on which topics are to be dealt with in the following steps. This decision can be filtered by the moderator through discussion or voting. Step 3: Fantasy and Utopia In this step the unused creative potential of participants is required. They contrast the collected criticisms with wishes, visions, dreams, hopes and ideas. This can be introduced, for example, by the initial sentence: “It would be nice if …”. It is important that in this step all thoughts are allowed, even if they seem unrealistic. Negativity is counterproductive at this point. Subsequently, solution approaches and proposals are generated and documented from the statements. The ideas that are supposedly worth developing are worked out in small teams and presented to the entire group. Step 4: Actualization The feasibility of the solutions is examined. Experts may be consulted where appropriate. However, if the participant group is understood to be an expert team, the solution strategy is chosen by this group. As soon as the solution ideas to be pursued have been decided, the implementation of the ideas must be clarified. T this point the allocation of so-called idea sponsorships presents itself, in order for participants to pursue individual solution ideas further. Step 5: Follow-up Finally, the moderator summarizes the results of the Future Workshop. Further action is then decided together. If necessary, further meetings or even a regular work-

Future Workshop

shop will be held to inform everyone about the progress and success of the selected solution strategies.

–

Impact on obstacle effects – Prevents unreflected action – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Prevents idea generation with an inadequate knowledge base – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Sharpens common direction – Strengthens weak enrichment skills – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems

Recommended resources People: moderator/trainer Room: sufficiently large room Moderation: brown-paper, moderation paper Moderation: coloured pencils Tool: sellotape Moderation: A4 sheets

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather high – Complexity for the participants: rather high – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) – Team size: maxi groups possible (20 to 40 participants)

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Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants)

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts team creativity Boosts creative and innovative mindsets Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Experiences – Advantage The method works with people of all ages and educational levels. Previous experience in creative processes is not required. – Disadvantage The method takes time and requires one or more experienced moderators.

Identified sources of the method Web – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zukunftswerkstatt [25.1.2017] Book – Das große Buch der Kreativitätstechniken, E. Boos (Compact – November 2010) Web – http://www.ash-berlin.eu/hsl/freedocs/273/ArtikelZukunftswerkstatt.pdf (April 2017)

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Forced Analogy For example, questions such as “In what way does our problem resemble the object?” or “How would I solve the problem using the object?” The participants can do this individually or in a group. It is important that they deliberately allow unusual combinations. Example: “How would we use glasses to solve our storage problem?”

Innovation phase P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description Forced Analogy is a creativity technique that helps you to break out of accustomed patterns of thought. It uses the recognition that we grasp our environment by assigning things that are similar to each other to the same category. Example: An airplane resembles a helicopter. Both resemble a bird (at least more than a rabbit). This creates the risk that we will always stay in old and familiar ways of thinking when developing new ideas. In order to come up with new ideas, these obvious categories must be broken through and perspective changed. This opens up new possibilities for problem solving and Brainstorming. Forced Analogy makes this possible in a fast way and usually works very well even with inexperienced teams. Generated output Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Handling Step 1: The participants randomly create a list of animals, objects, people and so on, including some characteristics, and write them on single moderation cards (e. g., “airplane – flies through the air, flies fixed routes, has an autopilot” and so on). Step 2: The cards are shuffled and distributed randomly to the participants. Each participant will receive a number of cards. Ideally, these are cards that they have not written themselves). Step 3: Participants now use the cards to create analogies to the problem or project at hand.

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Impact on obstacle effects – Counteracts a lack of inspiration – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for teams in a comfort situation

Optional characteristics – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: rather medium – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: usually in one-time use – Mission radius: primarily in team missions – Preparation time: mainly short (< 1 hour) – Team size: medium sized teams possible (5 to 20 participants) – Team size: small groups possible (3 to 5 participants) Recommended resources Moderation: moderation cards in different colors Moderation: pens Impact for more innovative ability Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

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Forced Analogy

Experiences – Preparation To speed up the procedure, the cards can be written beforehand by the moderator. – Appealing warm-up exercise Forced Analogy can also be used at the beginning of a workshop to loosen up. It is especially difficult for inexperienced innovation teams to break out of conventional thinking patterns. A round of Forced Analogy usually helps. – Allow unusual ideas Often the results of Forced Analogy are questioned: “But I can’t do anything with the ideas” or “But that’s unrealistic.” Here it is important as moderator to point out that the first ideas are only preliminary concepts. Interesting approaches can then be enriched in the second step and turned into ideas that could be implemented.

Identified sources of the method Book – Gamestorming, D. Gray, S. Brown, J. Macanufo (O’Reilly Verlag – Juli 2011)

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iLounge Handling Step 1: Conception and installation of the iLounges in the company. Step 2: Change of contents. Video content and available literature on a selected topic are coordinated on a monthly basis. The topics can have points of contact for the products and services of the organization or can depict completely separate subjects.

Innovation phase Helpful in all innovation phases Description The iLounge is a break area in the company which serves for inspiration and idea stimulation within an organization. During a coffee break, employees in this area are provided with ideas for future topics, new technologies and social developments. The combination of relaxation and entertaining presentation of inspiring topics provides for fresh thinking and stimulates Lateral Thinking and all-important informal learning. The iLounge basically consists of three components: 1. lounge area for a short break and coffee area with seating and tables 2. large display for the presentation of videos on inspirational topics 3. literature selection with books and exercise books The contents of the iLounge support subconscious processing and ideally lead to new ideas within the innovation and CIP topics of the organization. The iLounge concept was developed by the Düsseldorf company NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Generates ideas for new markets and new business models Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Generates forecasts and derivations Produces more motivated and innovative participants

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Impact on obstacle effects – Convinces permanent opponents – Creates the necessary references to reality for success – Encourages inhibited team members – Integrates a dysfunctional silent participant – Involves quite introverted team members – Prevents blind spots/operational blindness – Prevents annoying killer phrases – Shortens and breaks through existing creative barriers – Weakens living in the past

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams – for teams with a conservative, traditional culture

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather low – Complexity for the participants: mainly low – Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons – Exchange focus: mainly with internal Employees – Execution time: rather short (< 1 hour) – Frequency of use: useful for continuous use – Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day) – Team size: large groups possible (≤ 50 participants) Recommended resources People: experts Finances: implementation budget

iLounge

Impact for more innovative ability Boosts the overall innovation capacity of the team Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity Supports a better perception

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Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

Experiences – Select suitable topics When selecting topics, care should be taken to ensure that they match the areas of interest of the employees who spend their breaks in the respective areas.

Notes

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innovationCube

Innovation phase P1 Understanding (identify innovation fields – problem solving) P5 Idea finding (ideation – idea generation – creative phase – incubation) Description The innovationCube is an internal dialogue system for the further development of product, service and process optimization ideas. The heart of the innovationCube system is a rollable cube (about two meters high) with a writable and magnetic whiteboard surface (see also WhiteBlock). It is located in high-traffic areas of a company/organization, so that employees from all levels can view the content and add comments and ideas. The four sides of the Cube depict different topics that complement each other. The innovationCube system was developed by the Düsseldorf company NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH. Generated output Creates better team spirit, more openness, sensitivity to inspiration Creates idea search fields, undiscovered problems, inspiration Creates new knowledge and experience Creates more knowhow growth Generates enriched ideas, idea clusters, higher integrated solutions Generates ideas, solutions, preliminary ideas, possibilities Identifies existing strengths Produces more motivated and innovative participants Handling Topic sites of the Cube: 1. Future Topics and Future Technologies Illustrated profiles of topics that will change the world in part or comprehensively. For example, 1128

technology or social upheavals. These topics serve as inspiration and, in combination with the content of the second cube page (Competencies), should lead to combination innovations. 2. Our Competences The characteristics of particular areas or individuals that play an important role within the organization and are indispensable for cooperation and internal processes are visualized. 3. Product and Service Ideas Concrete raw ideas for new products and services of the organization are shown here. This page invites you to contribute to the further development of the ideas presented with comments and additions. 4. Process Optimizations Ideas and concrete solutions from the fields of CIP and BVW are presented here. The ideas can be freely used and further developed by employees’ comments. An existing digital idea management system can also be integrated on one side of the Cube via touch display. The content of the innovationCube pages is created in separate processes, workshops and from other sources within the organization. An “iCube captain” manages the Cube and ensures that it is constantly changing and that dialogues created by employee comments are followed up. Impact on obstacle effects – Dynamizes and activates less dynamic teams – Quickly creates clarity and accelerates knowledge gain – Weakens competitive thinking and fear of loss of power – Weakens multidisciplinary efficiency problems – Weakens fear of criticism and rejection – Weakens “Not invented here” syndrome

Possible extra benefits of this method – for teams experienced in disruption – for teams inexperienced in disruption – for teams experienced in innovation – for teams inexperienced in innovation – for intercultural experienced teams – for intercultural inexperienced teams – for multidisciplinary experienced teams – for multidisciplinary inexperienced teams

Optional characteristics – Application radius: mainly in enterprise-wide application – Complexity for the moderator: rather high

innovationCube – – – – – –

Complexity for the participants: mainly low Exchange focus: mainly with internal and external persons Execution time: mainly medium (> 1 hour to < 1 day) Frequency of use: useful for continuous use Mission radius: primarily in team missions Preparation time: rather high (> 1 day)

Recommended resources Tool: white block

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Experiences – Check contents for possible patentability Care must be taken when illustrating raw ideas, which could lead to a later patent, because publication could endanger patent protection.

Identified sources of the method Organisation – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf

Impact for more innovative ability Fundamentally supports creativity Provides inspiration or better inspiration sensitivity

Notes

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Bibliography Book – Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play, L. Hohmann (Pearson Education – September 2006) Book – Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play, L. Hohmann (Pearson Education – September 2006) Book – Innovation Generation: How to Produce Creative and Useful Scientific Ideas, R. B. Ness (Oxford University Press – März 2012) Book – Innovation mit TRIZ, C. Grundlach, H. T. Nähler, C. Hentschel (Carl Hanser Verlag – 4. November 2010) Book – Innovationdigging, B. van Aerssen, T. Kemeröz (Books on Demand – Mai 2013) Book – Innovationsmanagement – 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, Carl Hanser Verlag 2013, O. Gassmann Book – Innovationsmanagement 12 Erfolgsstrategien für KMU, O. Gassmann, P. Granig (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2013) Book – Innovationsmanagement and new product development, P. Trott (Financial Times Prent – September 2011) Book – Innovationsmanagement für technische Produkte, W. Eversheim, E. Baessler (Springer – November 2002) Book – Innovationsmanagement, D. Vahs, A. Brehm (Schäffer Poeschel – Februar 2015) Book – Innovationsmanagement, F. Pleschak, H. Sabisch (UTB – 1996) Book – Innovationsmanagement, Higgins, J. M. Wiese (Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag – 1998) Book – Innovationsmanagement, J. Hauschildt, S. Salomo (Vahlen – März 2007) Book – Innovationsmanagement, M. Disselkamp (Springer Gabler – Oktober 2012) Book – Innovationsmanagement, T. Müller-Prothmann, N. Dörr (Carl Hanser Verlag – April 2014) Book – Innovative Unternehmensführung, J. Witt, T. Witt (Symposion Publishing – April 2008) Book – Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results, D. Boyd, J. Goldenberg (Simon & Schuster 2014) Book – Inspiration on the job, B. van Aerssen, C. Burkhardt, C. Peters (Books on Demand – Januar 2015) Book – Knowledge Networks: Innovation Through Communities of Practice, P. Hildreth, C. Kimble (Idea Group 2004) Book – Kommunikation als Erfolgsfaktor im Innovationsmanagement, A. Zerfaß, K. M. Möslein (Gabler Verlag – Juni 2009) Book – Kompetent führen: Wirksam kommunizieren, Mitarbeiter motivieren, W. Pelz (Gabler Verlag 2004) Book – Kondratieffs Gedankenwelt – Die Chancen im Wandel zur Wissensgesellschaft, E. Händeler (Marlon Verlag 2011) Book – Königsweg Kreativität. Powertraining für kreatives Denken, M. Luther, J. Gründonner (Junfermann Verlag – Januar 1998) Book – Kreativ managen, Ein Leitfaden für Unternehmer, Manager und Projektleiter, G. Winkelhofer (Springer Verlag 2006) Book – Kreativ nach Regeln – Methode 635, eine neue Technik zum Lösen von Problemen, B. Rohrbach (Absatzwirtschaft 12 (1969) 73–76, Heft 19, 1. Oktober 1969. (Erstveröffentlichung des Erfinders)) Book – Kreative Geister wecken, Z. M. Klein (managerSeminare Verlag 2006) Book – Kreative Mitarbeiter: Wegweiser für Führungskräfte zu mehr Kreativität und Innovation, L. Rütten (Springer Gabler 2015) Book – Kreativer Denken, A. Brunner (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag – Juni 2008) Book – Kreatives Fundraising Ideen entwickeln und modifizieren, T. Grosjean (Books on Demand 2011) Book – KreativIdeenFindeMethoden, Querdenken für Projektleiter, D. Prudix (Books on Demand 2013) Book – Kreativität im Projekt, H. Kellner (Hanser Fachbuch 2002) Book – Kreativität. Konzept und Lebensstil, R. M. Holm-Hadulla (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2005) Book – Kreativität. Originalität diesseits des Genialen, N. Groeben (Primus-Verlag 2013) Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Book – Kreativitätstechiken, M. Knieß (dtv Verlagsgesellschaft – Juli 2006) Book – Kreativitätstechniken im Innovationsprozess, M. Gawlak, Monika (Diplomica Verlag – Juni 2014) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, H. Backerra (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2007) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, H. Backerra (Carl Hanser Verlag – Oktober 2007) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, J. Scherer (GABAL Verlag – September 2007) Book – Kreativitätstechniken, M. Nöllke (Haufe Lexware – Februar 2015)

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Bibliography Book – Laterales Denken für Führungskräfte, E. de Bono (McGraw-Hill, Maidenh. – April 1997) Book – Leading Change, J. P. Kotter (Harvard Business Review Press – November 2012) Book – Lean Startup: Schnell, risikolos und erfolgreich Unternehmen gründen, E. Ries (Redline Verlag – Oktober 2014) Book – Lebendige Strichmännchen zeichnen, A. Tschudin (Edition Michael Fischer – Februar 2015) Book – Leveraging Communities of Practice, H. Saint-Onge (Butterworth-Heinemann – Juli 2011) Book – Life-Leadership. So bekommen Sie Ihr Leben in Balance, L. J. Seiwert, B. Tracy (GABAL Verlag – September 2001) Book – Lotus-Effekt und Autolack: Biologie in unserer Zeit, W. Barthlott, C. Neinhuis (1998) Book – Macroenvironmental Analysis for Strategic Management, L. Fahey, V. K. Narayanan (SouthWestern – Juli 1986) Book – Made to stick, C. Heath, D. Heath (Random House Trade Paperbacks – September 2010) Book – Making Innovation work, T. Davila, M. J. Epstein, R. Shelton (Financial Times Prent – November 2012) Book – Manual Thinking, L. Huber, G. J. Veldmann (GABAL Verlag – August 2016) Book – Marketing Management, K. L. Keller, P. Kotler (Pearson Studium – Februar 2015) Book – Marketing Management, K. L. Keller, P. Kotler (12th edition, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River 2006) Book – Marketingmanagement: Strategie – Instrumente – Umsetzung – Unternehmensführung, C. Homburg (Springer Gabler – Oktober 2016) Book – Mastering the Hype Cycle: How to Choose the Right Innovation at the Right Time, J. Fenn, M. Raskino (Harvard Business Review Press – September 2008) Book – Mediative Kommunikation: Mit Rogers, Rosenberg & Co. konfliktfähig für den Alltag werden, D. Klappenbach (Paderborn 2011) Book – Meditationes, lateinisch-deutsche Ausgabe, R. Descartes (Philosophische Bibliothek, Meiner – Hamburg) Book – Messung der Kundenzufriedenheit; in Kundenorientierte Unternehmensführung, K. Matzler, F. Bailom (Gabler Verlag – 2004) Book – Methoden der Produktentwicklung, W. Engeln (Oldenbourg Industrieverlag – Oktober 2006) Book – Methodische Unterstützung von Ideenfindungsprozessen, S. Staiger (Diplomarbeiten Agentur diplom.de – Januar 1997) Book – Mind Set! Wie wir die Zukunft entschlüsseln, J. Naisbitt, T. Halek (Carl Hanser Verlag 2007) Book – Mind Tools, J. Manktelow (Mind Tools Ltd., Kogan Page) Book – Mit Analogien neue Produkte entwickeln, C. Herstatt D. Engel (Harvard Business Manager 2006) Book – Multitasking: Wie man die Informationsflut bewältigt, ohne den Verstand zu verlieren, T. Klingberg, B. Wirtjes (C. H. Beck 2008) Book – Murder Board Paper: For All-Purpose Problem Solvers, Business Strategists, Crime Busters, and Mystery Writers (The Productive Luddite 2011) Book – next practice Erfolgreiches Management von Instabilität, P. Kruse (Gabal Verlag 2004) Book – NOT INVENTED HERE cross-indistry innovation, Vullings & Heleven (BIS Publishers 2015) Book – Objektivität, L. Daston, P. Galison (Suhrkamp Verlag 2017) Book – Organisation, D. Vahs (Schäffer Poeschel 2015) Book – Organisation, M. Schulte-Zurhausen (Vahlen Verlag 2002) Book – Praxishandbuch Innovation, Leitfaden für Erfinder, Entscheider und Unternehmer, B. X. Weis (2. Auflage Gabler Verlag 2014) Book – Praxisorientiertes Innovations- und Produktmanagement, K. Gaubinger (Gabler Verlag 2009) Book – Praxiswissen Innovationsmanagement: Von der Idee zum Markterfolg, O. Gassmann, P. Sutter (Carl Hanser Verlag 2013) Book – Problem Solving For Results, W. Roth (Routledge 1996) Book – Product Management For Dummies, B. Lawley, P. Schure (John Wiley & Sons 2017) Book – Produktinnovation, J. Gausemeier, P. Ebbesmeyer, F. Kallmeyer (Hanser Fachbuch 2001) Book – Projektmanagement, H. Corsten (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2008) Book – Prosumption – ein neues Konzept. Zwischen Markt und Ökologie, T. Szymusiak (Sustainability Solutions) Book – Real Leadership, Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest Challenges, D. Williams (UK Professional Business Management / Business 2005) Book – Revolutionäres Innovationsmanagement, B.van Aerssen (mi-Wirtschaftbuch – September 2009) Book – Rhizom, Gilles Deleuze und Félix Guattari; Aus dem Französischen übersetzt von Dagmar Berger (Merve Verlag 1977)

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Bibliography Book – Sand Tray Therapy – The Creative Sand Tray 101, M. Stangline (Creative Counseling 101 2016) Book – Schnelligkeit durch Vertrauen, S. M. R. Covey, R. R. Merril, I. Proß-Gill (Gabal Verlag 2009) Book – Schwarmintelligenz. Wie einfache Regeln Großes möglich machen, L. Fisher, J. Neubauer (Eichborn Verlag 2010) Book – Self-Consistency: A Theory of Personality, P. Lecky (Island PR 1994) Book – Seminare, Trainings und Workshops lebendig gestalten, A. Lienhart (Haufe Lexware 2015) Book – Serious Creativity, E. de Bono (Harper Collins Publ. UK 1995) Book – Simplex System, B. Min, (Basadur Applied Creativity 2002) Book – Sketching User Experiences, B. Buxton, S. Greenberg, S. Carpendale (mtip 2013) Book – Soft Skills III, Deutscher Manager-Verband (vdf Hochschulverlag AG, Band 3) Book – Source Book for Creative Problem Solving, J. S. Parnes (Creative Education Foundation Press 1992) Book – Story Power, V. F. Birkenbihl (Gabal Verlag 2002) Book – Strategisches Management, M. K. Welge, A. Al-Laham (Gabler 2012) Book – Strategisches Management, Zentrale Elemente einer erfolgreichen Unternehmensführung, R. v. Nietzsch (Mainz G 2008) Book – Strategy in Practice: A Practitioner’s Guide to Strategic Thinking, G. Tovstiga (JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd 2013) Book – Successful Problem Solving. I. E. Seed (Cogentus Consulting Ltd. 2016) Book – Tactics, The Art and Science of Success, E. de Bono (Profile Books 2002) Book – Teamwork, Teamdiagnose, Teamentwicklung – Praxis der Personalpsychologie, R. van Dick, M. A. West (Hogrefe Verlag 2013) Book – Techniques of Structured Problem Solving, A. B. VanGundy (Springer Verlag 1988) Book – Techniques of Structured Problem Solving, A. B. VanGundy (Springer Verlag 1988) Book – Technisches Management, S. Seibert (Teubner Verlag 1998) Book – Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence, Rethinking Theory (Dezember 1995) Book – Ten types of innovation, L. Keeley, H. Walters, R. Pikkel, B. Quinn (John Wiley & Sons 2013) Book – The Art of Thought, G. Wallas (Solis Press – August 2014) Book – The Art of Thought, G. Wallas (Solis Press 2014) Book – The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures; D. Roam (Marshall Cavendish International – Juli 2012) Book – The Change Book, M. Krogerus (Profile Books 2013) Book – The Conquest Of Happiness, B. Russel (Liveright 1996) Book – The Decision Book – M. Krogerus, R. Tschäppeler (Profile Books LTD 2008) Book – The Handbook of Technology Management Volume 2, H. Bidgoli (John Wiley & Sons Inc. 2010) Book – The Innovation Expedition, G. van Wulfen (BIS Publishers 2013) Book – The Innovator’s Dilemma. Warum etablierte Unternehmen den Wettbewerb um bahnbrechende Innovationen verlieren, C. M. Christensen (Vahlen Verlag 2011) Book – The Innovator’s Toolkit, D. Silverstein, P. Samuel, N. de Carlo (New Jersey 2009) Book – The lean entrepreneur, B.Cooper, P. Vlaskovits (John Wiley & Sons 2013) Book – The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, E. Ries (Crown Business 2011) Book – The Little Black Book of Maintenance Excellence, D. T. Daley (Industrial Press Inc., U. S. 2008) Book – The Locus Of Choice; Personal Causality and Satisfaction with Hedonic and Utilitarian Decisions, S. Botti (Journal of Consumer Research 2010) Book – The Mind Map Book, T. Buzan (Pearson Education Limited 2009) Book – The Phoenix Checklist: Turning Complex Problems into Simple Solutions, J. Campbell (Campbell & Company Publsihing LLC 2014) Book – The Power of the 2×2 Matrix: Using 2×2 Thinking to Solve Business Problem and Make Better Decisions, A. Lowy, P. Hood (Jossey-Bass 2004) Book – The SIPOC Picture Book, D. Rasmusson (Oriel Incorporated 2006) Book – The Techniques of Creative Thinking, R. C. Crawford (1954) Book – The World Café. Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter, J. Brown, D. Isaacs (Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2005) Book – Think Better: An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking, T. Hurson (McGraw-Hill 2007) Book – Think! Denken bevor es zu spät ist, E. de Bono (mvg Verlag – November 2009) Book – Thinkertoys, M. Michalko (Ten Speed Press – Juni 2006) Book – Top oder Flop in der Produktentwicklung. Erfolgsstrategien: von der Idee zum Launch, R. G. Cooper (Wiley-VCH Verlag 2010)

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Bibliography Book – TRIZ / Tips- Methodik des erfinderischen Problemlösens, B. Klein (Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag 2007) Book – Typologie der Psychosynthese, die sieben Grundtypen, R. Assagioli (Nawo Verlag – Januar 2014) Book – Using action learning to drive organizational learning and performance (Strategic HR Review, Pounder 2009) Book – Using Stretch Goals to Promote Organizational Effectiveness and Personal Growth, S. Kerr (Academy of Management) Book – Value Proposition Design, A. Osterwalder (Campus Verlag – Februar 2015) Book – Veränderungen erfolgreich managen: Ein Handbuch für interne Prozessberater; T. Bartscher, J. Stöckl (Haufe Lexware – Februar 2011) Book – Welches Wissen wird für die Verständigung mit den Laien benötigt?, R. Rambow, R. Bromme (Studienverlag Wien – 2000) Book – Werkzeuge des Wandels: Die 30 wirksamsten Tools des Change Managements, Heiko Roehl (Schäffer Poeschel – März 2012) Book – Why Not?- How to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems big and small, B. Nalebuff (Harvard Business Review Press – Dezember 2006) Book – Why Not?- How to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems big and small, B. Nalebuff (Harvard Business Review Press – Dezember 2006) Book – Wireframing Essentials, M. J. Hamm (Packt Publishing 2014) Book – Wissen Managen, G. Probst, S. Raub, K. Romhard (Gabler Verlag – März 2013) Book – Wissensmanagement in der Projektabwicklung, M. Schindler (JOSEF EUL VERLAG, Lohmar-Köln – Dezember 2002) Book – Wissensmanagement, J. Schüppel (Deutscher Universitätsverlag – September 1999) Book – Wolkenlesen. Über hypnagoge Halluzinationen, …, R. Anders (Literaturverein Wiecker Bote e. V. – September 2003) Book – Writing, G. Cowan, E. Cowan (Pearson Scott Foresman – April 1983) Book – Zeitmanagement für Ingenieure (essentials), E. Hering (Springer Vieweg – Dezember 2013)

Organizations Organization – Atelier für Ideen AG – Weeze Organization – Fraunhofer-Institut für Fabrikbetrieb und -automatisierung IFF – Magdeburg Organization – Future Matters AG – Uster Organization – innogy SE – Dortmund Organization – KOPFSPRINGER GmbH – Düsseldorf Organization – Manual Thinking – Barcelona Organization – marketing-pur Peter Köstel e. K. – Bornhöved Organization – METALOG® training tools OHG – Olching Organization – Metaplan Deutschland GmbH Organization – NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation mbH – Düsseldorf Organization – Stratezyger AG – Zürich Organization – Team Management Services GmbH – Freiburg Organization – TRENDONE GmbH – Hamburg Organization – verrocchio Institute GmbH – Düsseldorf

Publications Publication – ‘The Shah and the Peddler’, H.Tumanyan (Armenien – 1917) Publication – Bachelorarbeit – Entwicklung eines Innovationsportfolios als Instrument einer ausgewogenen Produktstrategie: Kombination unterschiedlicher Innovationsstrategien zur ausgeglichenen … Werten und Kompetenzen des Unternehmens, M. Grützner Publication – Buridans principle, L. Lamport (December 1984) Publication – Design Thinking – Prototyping Cardset, Hasso Plattner Institut Publication – Effectuation. Unternehmerisch Denken und Handeln kann jeder lernen. M. Faschingbauer (Thema Wirtschaft – Mai 2016)

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Bibliography Publication – IDEO Method Cards. 51 ways to inspire design. William Stout (November 2003) Publication – Journal – Thinking and managing: A verbal protocol analysis of managerial problem solving; D. J. Isenberg (Academy of management Journal – 1986) Publication – Lernlandkarte Nr. 2 – World Café, Holger Scholz, Roswitha Vesper und Martin Haussmann. Neuland Publication – Opportunity Response model, P. Mc. Manners (Henley Business School – 2015) Publication – Stefanie Bergel: ‘We Have a Dream – Appreciative Inquiry in der Praxis’ Publication – Woodruff, David. ‘War Games Help Businesses Prepare For Anything’. Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition), Newswire: Dow Jones (März 2002)

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About the editors Benno van Aerssen Benno van Aerssen (b. 1964) comes from an old Ticino family of artists and grew up on the Lower Rhine. In 1996, he founded his first company in Internet business, which created virtual learning worlds for global players such as VW, Vodafone and Allianz. Since 2007, van Aerssen has worked as an innovation coach, management consultant and lateral thinker for international companies and brands with his consulting company Atelier für Ideen AG and the verrocchio Institute for Innovation Competence. Van Aerssen’s customers call him ‘the innovation artist’ and say, ‘With him, ideas are guaranteed’. His wealth of experience is based on more than ten years of focused work in the innovation business throughout Europe, and North and South America, with over 1,000 workshops and knowledge of many hundreds of methods. Benno van Aerssen’s stimulating lectures on innovation, commitment to creative spaces and teaching assignments at various universities are further facets of his work. In 2014, together with Christian Buchholz, he was awarded the International German Training Prize for his training concept, ‘Innovationcoach’. Van Aerssen’s website, www.bennovanaerssen.com, details his professional history, his expertise and also his upcoming engagements until the Innovation Renaissance. What is innovation for you? For me, innovation is on one hand an attitude and on the other an art form of the 21st century that is much more than just pure craft. What is your favorite method in the book and why? My favorite method is definitely the Headstand technique, because it works without preparation, it helps with almost all challenges and it also works with people completely untrained in innovation methods. More information about Benno van Aerssen can be found at www.bennovanaerssen.com and www.ideenfindung.de. More information about the verrocchio Institute can be found at www.verrocchioinstitute.com.

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Christian Buchholz Christian Buchholz has been working as a management trainer, innovation coach, speaker and consultant for more than 19 years. He is considered an expert on leadership and innovation. In 1999 Buchholz founded the consulting firm educando human performance and has since worked in 21 different countries for companies such as Siemens, Commerzbank, B.Braun and Deutsche Telekom. As a three-time entrepreneur, he knows the challenges of startups as well as the culture of large corporations. Christian Buchholz has already received several awards for his work. He has won the International German Training Prize twice (in 2011 and 2013) and received the LIFO® At-Its-Best Award in 2014 for linking the LIFO® method with innovation culture. Together with Benno van Aerssen, Bucholz founded the verrocchio Institute for Innovation Competence, an innovation think tank that has already trained a large number of innovation managers in companies to become innovation coaches. Christian Buchholz regularly publishes new ideas on innovation and leadership on his website, www.christianbuchholz.com. What is innovation for you? For me, innovation is an important factor for the future success of companies. In my experience, the ability to innovate essentially depends on the personal attitudes and communication skills of the team. What is your favorite method in the book and why? My favorite methods are those that work with visual elements, such as the Stimulus Image Technique. This makes it much easier for people to develop ideas and exchange them constructively. More information about the verrocchio Institute can be found at www.verrocchioinstitute.com.

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About the authors Prof. Dr. Nicolas Burkhardt Prof. Dr. Nicolas Burkhardt is a management consultant, author and keynote speaker. He completed his academic education in Germany, Iceland and Switzerland as well as in the renowned MBA program of Henley Business School in the UK. Nicolas Burkhardt holds degrees in communication, media, financial economics and general management. During his many years in industry, Burkhardt was responsible for international transformation and innovation projects in the corporate world and was awarded the Digital Transformation prize of North Rhine-Westphalia. In research and teaching, he focused on innovation, change and leadership in medium-sized companies. This triad is also the focus of his consulting firm, Kopfspringer. Nicolas Burkhardt’s private passions are art and endurance sports. What is innovation for you? For me, innovation is multilayered and a driver of sustainability. Whether incremental, routine or radical – whether product-oriented, service-oriented or in relation to business models and processes. One thing remains irrefutable: innovation starts in the mind and never happens without your own willingness to change. What is your favorite method in the book and why? I don’t have a favorite method in the book. On one hand, there are numerous suitable and efficient approach lanes for every challenge. And on the other hand, I see the appeal of trying out new things with different creativity techniques– which inevitably leads to a loss of concentration on ‘your own favorite method’. More information about Prof. Dr. Nicolas Burkhardt at www.kopfspringer.com.

Ariane Ernst Ariane Ernst (b. 1967) is a freelance consultant for change management, innovation coaching and executive development in medium-sized companies. With her direct and creative manner, she is quickly able to release the necessary creative energy of clients and take them to their innovation ‘home straight’. She collected the tools of the trade in various functions and change projects in telecommunications, continuing education and social sectors. Thanks to Ariane Ernst’s willingness to reinterpret professional paths and to try out new things, she is particularly successful in finding creative solutions. What is innovation for you? For me, an innovation is associated with the claim to really develop more than an expected improvement. Ideally, an innovation has what it takes not to have ‘been there before’ and to have a unique selling proposition for a certain period of time.

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What is your favorite method in the book and why? The Analogy Method, because so far I have been able to bring about the best ideas for improvements by ‘deconstruction visits’ to other industries, areas or life situations. The so-called look into other situations or worlds enlivens creative idea finding and allows you to think of unusual solutions. More information about Ariane Ernst can be found at www.arianeernst.de.

Jörn Rings Jørn Rings is a specialist in the field of ideas and innovation culture. Together with his wife Sabine he leads NEW – Society for Innovation. He greatly enjoys developing understandable tools and down-to-earth team and seminar formats to let ideas flow in companies. As a trained designer, Jørn Rings used to develop ideas for companies in all industries at the drop of a hat. Then he turned the tables and now teaches companies to be creative themselves. Rings was and is also a lecturer at the universities of Düsseldorf, Mönchengladbach, Krefeld and the Folkwang University in Essen. He is also a member of the advisory board of the german trade journal Ideen- und Innovationsmanagement, regularly writes articles for various magazines and gives lectures – for example on how to elicit a flash of inspiration. What is innovation for you? Innovation is to say goodbye to perfectionism and detailed thinking – and then to make the world a little better with a simple, good idea. What is your favorite method in the book and why? I recommend the Tour d’Idée to anyone who wants to develop a lot of ideas with fun, exercise and fresh air. The combination of excursion and work is an unbeatable way to inspire everyone and to engender a huge amount of team spirit and motivation in addition to innovative ideas. You can find out more about Joern Rings at http://www.neu-innovation.de.

Sabine Rings Sabine Rings (b. 1975) is an ideas expert, designer and mother of a wonderful daughter. With all her synaesthetic intuition she develops creative processes, multisensory innovation spaces and idea campaigns as well as brands and graphic communication media. After 13 years of managing her own design and communications agency, she and her husband Jørn founded NEU – Gesellschaft für Innovation. Their common passion is to spark a culture of ideas in companies and to involve all employees in the idea and innovation process, so that more and better ideas can continue to emerge – for the little problems of everyday life up to the Next Big Thing.

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What is innovation for you? For me, an innovation is something that has never before existed in this form and brings added value. And joy, at best. What is your favorite method in the book and why? All methods around Gamification. Because: if we master our tasks playfully, we have more fun solving them – and are more successful ☺. More information about Sabine Rings can be found on the website www.neu-innovation.de.

Armin Schobloch Armin Schobloch has many faces: – – – – – – – – – –

The lawyer uses legal jargon and can translate it into statements suitable for everyday use. The product manager sees sees final products in new topics and developments. The business developer recognizes the connections between different needs and links them in effective business models. The innovation coach has countless methods at his disposal to improve innovative power and sees where new ideas can be found and how. The expert in public service understands the peculiarities of local government. The father of a family knows the power of childlike, playful curiosity and unconditional trial and error. The actor knows how to perform convincingly and enthusiastically in front of a lot of people. The traveler has learned to react flexibly to change and to adapt to different cultures. The Americanist speaks English and is familiar with other cultures. Listens to people and helps to find the right individual solutions.

What is innovation for me? Innovation is when something new and meaningful emerges from many ideas and great expertise. This requires teamwork, openness and professional guidance. What is my favorite method in the book and why? Pros & Cons is a great method for questioning your own points of view together with others and putting them to the test. It is easy to do, takes the team a long way in a short time and is also really fun! Anyone who has ever used Speed Feedback will use it again and again: This very simple method allows ideas to flourish and grow in conversation and in the end you will know very well whether the idea is really tenable. More information about Amrin Schobloch can be found at www.ars-ideen.de.

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About the authors

Martin Spicker Martin Spicker’s training and career started in the close-knit organizational structures of the RWE Group. There he grew into an Internet expert with an recognized expert. Influenced by constant change and adaptation, his development led through the intensive experience innovation process and thus to independence. Eight years of living with the innovation since the beginning of self-employment in 2009 has further refined his perspective on it. In the beginning there is a process: from the over-inflated use of the term as a starting scenario to the realization that innovation means intensive work in many areas: building mindsets, changing organizations, finding many ideas and anchoring them sustainably – this is the opposite of using the term “innovation” as an advertising slogan. The activation of innovation therefore requires experience and authenticity born out of conviction. How do you achieve the role of innovator when your own ideas have not yet been heard? How can you change the organization if you have not constantly exposed yourself to change processes, with all their consequences? How do you create a lot of ideas if they don’t flow naturally and you don’t know which methods are suitable to allow them to flow? How do you guarantee sustainable implementation if you have not already worked consistently on the implementation of successful plans and products and experienced the pitfalls firsthand? With his ‘somewhat different way of thinking’, Martin Spicker provides answers to these questions. He sparks the courage to innovate, to recognize opportunities and trends, to seek confrontation through crazy, creative measures and thus to overcome boundaries and blockages. The result is disruptive innovations and Martin Spicker and his clients go on a quest for these innovations … What is innovation for you? For me, innovation means constantly reinventing yourself as well as your organization and the added value of the organization – especially under changing conditions, so that a new idea has a disruptive character. This is achieved with a mix of mindset, skillset and courage. What is your favorite method in the book and why? My favorite method is the Stimulus Image method, because it is very playful and fun to create a distance from the actual problem and, through this alienation, new connections and ideas arise in a natural way which, without this vehicle, would never have developed. More information about Martin Spicker can be found here: www.andersdenker. jetzt.

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About the authors

Kathy Wigge Kathy Wigge has been a graduate designer with wisuell wigge.kommunikation since 2002. She is self-employed and supports companies and groups strategically, as a conceptual and creative consultant on their corporate communications. This spectrum ranges from communication concepts, corporate identity and international product launches to brand positioning. As a freelancer and art director, she has gained many years of practical experience in the fields of corporate communication, film and event management in various internationally active agencies. With an additional qualification as a certified innovation coach (verrocchio Institute, Düsseldorf), Kathy Wigge supports her clients in a targeted and efficient way in innovation culture and idea generation through workshops. A Master’s degree in Neuroscience (Academy of Neuroscience, Cologne, 2018) and her work as a mindfulness trainer, round off her credentials in creativity and innovation. In seminars, lectures and as a lecturer at various universities Wigge shares her knowledge and experience passionately and gladly. Professional and educational stays in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Australia were and are for Kathy Wigge important sources of inspiration and valuable experience for many innovative projects and ideas. Learn more at wisuell.de and kathywigge.de. What is innovation for you? For me, innovation is a positive change, an idea or invention that has never existed before, and a great opportunity for the future. What is your favorite method in the book and why? Some of my favorite methods are the various Brainfloating techniques, because they address both cognitive and emotional mental abilities and thus stimulate creativity holistically.

Dirk Wirth Dirk Wirth has been working for innogy SE (formerly RWE) for more than a quarter of a century and, as befits an ‘innovator’, has laid the the innovation groundwork for his company. Wirth started out with an industrial apprenticeship, then moved onto materials testing and in 2001 had his first contact with creativity techniques and idea management. He worked as an innovation manager in personnel, corporate and organizational development, and change and innovation management. In 2006 he hadhis first teaching assignment at the University of Applied Sciences in Dortmund on Creative Problem Solving Techniques and today he runs another course at the International School of Management. Dick Wirth uses his experience and expertise to develop new product- and datadriven business models and is a sought-after moderator, trainer, workshop leader and initiator.

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About the authors

What is innovation for you? Innovation for me is the sharing and reassembling of knowledge. The most important skills to successfully live by that mantra are: Courage, empathy, speed and fun in innovation! I am convinced that future successful companies can only be managed by innovators. ‘Innovatorics is the language of innovation makers!’ What is your favorite method in the book and why? My favorite method is the Business Model Canvas, because you can recognize and work out the connections and intersections of existing and possibly new business models at a glance.

Daniel M. Ziegler Daniel Maurice Ziegler is a musician, team coach and speaker and lectures on Creativity at the Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences. He talks about innovation topics from a musician’s point of view and has been working successfully with non-musicians on all aspects of creativity for years. The composer and jazz pianist was born in 1973 in Neuss, Germany, and studied jazz and improvised music in Amsterdam from 1993 to 1999. From 1999 to 2015 he headed the music school, Rhythm & Groove Factory. As a composer and multi-instrumentalist he can be heard on recordings and live. Since 2003 he has been conducting creativity training for teams in companies with his Team In Time method. He is very experienced in leading multidisciplinary and international teams. On stage with his piano, Ziegler talks about various aspects of innovation in his lecture ‘Composition – Improvisation – Innovation’. Using live music examples, he demonstrates courage, risk, curiosity and Brainstorming. He demonstrates transferance from artistic creativity to business. What is innovation for you? ‘The child’s ideas come faster than a piglet blinks’ (Astrid Lindgren: Madita). Innovation is a game for me – and with some practice the ideas come faster and faster. What is your favorite method in the book and why? My favorite method is Unorthodox Bible Study because it lies outside my profession. Just as I show entrepreneurs in my seminars how to practice creativity through music, I let myself be inspired by Bible texts without being a theologian, and look for ways to transfer them to my challenges. You can find out more about Daniel M. Ziegler at www.mabadeliko.com

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About the illustrator Anja Faber Anja Faber is a certified graphic designer for digital and print media. In 2015–2016 she worked in an e-commerce company for children’s products and since 2016 has been working in the online shop of a sports retailer. In both roles she has been responsible for the design of the online presence on the website, social media, outdoor advertising and newsletters. She further develops corporate design and ensures that it is consistently adhered to. In 2017, Anja Faber worked on a project for creating a responsive website, which expanded her knowledge of UI/UX design and web design. She also creates typical print advertising materials such as flyers, brochures, posters, etc. Illustration is one of her great passions. Since 2015 Faber has also been working on the editorial design of a magazine. Innovation and a feeling for the latest design trends play a major role in her work, as the digital sector in particular is developing rapidly. What is innovation for you? For me, innovation is when you think: ‘That’s so clear. Why have we ever done it differently?’ What is your favorite graphic in the book and why? My favorite graphic is BrainRace. For me, it reflects my own need to stay mentally fit, to educate myself further and to learn new things. What was the biggest challenge or insight from producing over 550 key visuals? The greatest insight is probably that I can now draw light bulbs at any time, even when I am asleep, blindfolded and upside down. Further information about Anja Faber at www.design-faber.de.

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About the verrocchio Institute The verrocchio Institute for Innovation Competence is dedicated to research and teaching in the field of innovation and transformation. Innovation is not only becoming increasingly important, it is already an essential part of our entire world. Engaging in innovation is essential if you want to stay ahead of the competition. However, innovation and perpetual transformation can only succeed if the people in a company continuously increase their ability to innovate. The good news: people and organizations are able to learn this skill. The name ‘verrocchio’ comes for ‘vero occhio’ in Italian – the ‘true eye’. This true eye shows the mission of the Institute: to increase people’s capacity for innovation through the harmony of clarity and structure with creativity, inspiration and innovative freedom. The Institute is named after Andrea del Verrocchio (1435–1488), one of the most influential artists in the transition period from the early to high Renaissance. More than an artist, he was one of the greatest and most inspiring teachers of the Renaissance and became known as the teacher of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest innovators of all time. The verrocchio Institute is not an idea generating agency. The Institute increases the innovative ability of teams and organizations from the inside out. We believe that ideas and innovations that grow out of an organization itself are far more successful than ideas that are imposed from outside. An important service for our clients is therefore our Innovation Coach qualification, which is implimented by companies in more than 23 countries. Learning together with the most creative innovation minds of our time. At verrocchio, this means not only a high quality of learning, but also an important step in personal development for participants on our courses. The verrocchio Institute is based in Duesseldorf, Germany and Florence, Italy. It provides a place where innovative people come together, exchange ideas, and work interactively, surprisingly and differently. ‘Teachers’ and ‘students’ enrich each other with knowledge, experience and ideas. In addition to the founders Benno van Aerssen and Christian Buchholz, many innovation experts are associated with verrocchio and share their know-how and methods with the students and clients of the Institute. Please visit us at www.verrocchio-institute.com or send us a message, [email protected].

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Contribute to this book! The Innovator’s Dictionary will continue to grow over the next few years and our ambition is that its quality will also become better and better. We would like to invite you to participate and send us your feedback and method proposals. Everyone who sends us a message will receive a personal response. Please send us … – missing and exciting methods – missing and noteworthy sources – supplements to methods and tools – your own valuable experience with methods that are often different from our own – critical aspects, different perspectives and different perceptions – ideas for further exciting functions and features We appreciate and value your input. Simply write to [email protected] or use the contact form at www.verrocchio-institute.com. Your editors Benno van Aerssen and Christian Buchholz

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