Be innovative or die, it’s that simple in the contemporary marketplace. Take this quick radicaltrust.ca survey to find out how innovative your company is measured against emerging needs of the contemporary consumer.

Instructions:
Raise a fist to your chest, raise a finger for each “Yes” response to the 5
questions. Results are listed below.

Let’s begin.

1. Is the executive team the main source of inspiration for your company’s innovation?
2. Is customer involvement in innovation structured?
3. Are your key innovation drivers your products and current assets?
4. Does your innovation toolbox primarily contain surveys, storyboards and focus groups?
5. Is your process to innovation a linear structured one?

Results:

If you have no fingers up, raise your fist to the sky. Your innovation is
going to rock the competition in 2007.

If you have 1 finger up, point it at your self and assign responsibility to fix it. This one change could make your company a leading one.

If you have 2 fingers up, point them at your head. The double barrel pressure your competition will apply over the next year will only get worse. Seek to make change before they pull the trigger.

If you have 3 fingers up, show them to the executive team as the number of quarters you have to turn your company around. You’ve been coasting a little too long on the old innovation that got you to where you are today. Get your fingers tapping on your keyboard and start to work out solutions right away.

If you have 4 fingers up, you’re looking at the number of years since your company was recognized externally for any real innovation. You’re coasting and in today’s marketplace, 4 years is the same as never. Make a change now or your competition will do it for you.

If you have 5 fingers up, wave goodbye.

Now, let’s point a finger to each one of these innovative approaches to “bottom up” innovation and get you on to better days.

1. Source your inspiration from your consumers. Why would an executive know more about what the customer wants than the customer him/herself?
2. Allow for constant, spontaneous consumer involvement. Judge not your consumer by the thickness of their wallet, but by the content of their contribution and desire for that contribution to be completely on their terms.
3. Let your key innovation driver be a deep understanding of your consumer needs. The more you deliver on those consumer needs, the more the consumer needs you. It’s not that hard really, is it?
4. Your toolbox should be packed full of dialogue tools to reach out to your consumer. Email. forums, blogs, smart POS and other forms of dialogue media are the new combine tractors harvesting the fields of innovation.
5. Your process to innovation should be controlled chaos. Straight and narrow process will deliver straight and narrow innovation. Open up your process to a little structured chaos, and a universe of potential is unleashed.

Encourage co-workers to act on these 5 points and it’s certain you’ll soon
be raising a glass to your financial results with a fitting toast, “Bottoms
Up!”.

Image: VibramFiveFingers

One Response to “The 5 Finger Innovation Survey. When Top Down Means Bottoms Up!”

1. Anonymous Says:
   December 18th, 2006 at 12:24 am

   The 5 Finger Innovation Survey. When Top Down Means Bottoms Up!…

   Be innovative or die. The world of social media, corporate transparency and collaboration between consumer and client is continuing a major shakedown in all forms of marketing. The difference between top down and bottom up innovation is the difference …

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