Keys to Customer-Centered Innovation

January 31, 2008

Naperville, Illinois

Sponsored by The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence

Presented by Robin Lawton

Many successful inventions and innovations arrive through serendipity: the happy coincidence of an accident turned into something new and wonderful.  If this is your leadership or growth strategy, don’t hold your breath for success.  Innovation failures are often technical marvels only another producer would love. 

It is possible to achieve purposeful innovations that meet the “WOW” test.  Think iTunes and its dominance in recorded music.  As Apple illustrates, it’s not just upstarts that can cause well-established industry leaders to go into overnight decline.  Killing the competition isn’t the goal anyway.   Truly delighting customers is.  This session is about winners, losers and the practical principles you can use for your own success.

Much has been written about how to make improvements in processes and products.  The bias many improvement practitioners start with is some known failure or disappointment.  The identification of the cause(s) naturally leads to a better, more consistent result.  Many methods and tools support this approach.  There is nothing wrong with it.  But the convergent thinking enabling successful improvement is not sufficient to achieve successful innovation.  For that, we need divergent thinking which is not constrained by our preconceived ideas of what is possible. 

  Attend this humorous, interactive and high energy workshop and expect to be simultaneously challenged and entertained while you discover answers to the following questions:

·         How do you design for WOW, as experienced by customers?   These are the innovations we are most familiar with and we wish were ours.

·         What easy-to-execute method always uncovers the mind of the customer, even when they couldn’t otherwise tell you?   We may hear exactly what they said but still be deaf, dumb and blind to what was in their mind.  Customers often give us answers to just what we’ve asked, even when they are the wrong questions.

·         How do you encourage divergent thinking focused on outcome excellence versus convergent thinking about process and product improvement?  Technically superior innovation is often something only another producer would love.

  Learning Outcomes, what you will know when you leave this workshop:

1. Examples of past brand leaders, the innovators who replaced them and why.
2. The questions that uncover both the voice and mind of the customer
3. The main principle enabling divergent thinking and innovation
4. The #1 attribute required for a successful innovation (either product or service)
5. Ten tactics for introducing an innovation
6. Ways to use language to reduce unintended ambiguity and increase creativity.
7. Common (and apparently unknown) reasons customers mutter, “That sucks!”
8. The roadmap to innovate for customer love and competitor envy
9. Why improvement projects can be constrained by convergent thinking
10. The steps you should take next to strengthen your improvement initiative

Intended Audience:

Leaders of strategic initiatives or projects intended to make demonstrable improvement such as (a) the rate of business growth, (b) the ability to anticipate and deliver on customer priorities, (c) differentiation in service and products, (d) simplicity experienced by employees and customers, (e) customers saying “WOW”.

Workshop Leader:

Robin Lawton, president of International Management Technologies, Inc. (IMT), is a best-selling author and internationally recognized expert in creating rapid strategic alignment between enterprise objectives and customer priorities.   He has over 25 years experience directing both strategic and operational improvement initiatives. His powerful but easy-to-understand principles and tools are outlined in his book (5-star rated on Amazon and Google), Creating a Customer-Centered Culture: Leadership in Quality, Innovation and Speed (Quality Press). Some of his other books and articles are described at www.imtC3.com .

Rob is a provocative, humorous and engaging speaker.  He has repeatedly been ranked “Best Speaker” at international and national conferences sponsored by the Federal Executive Board, American Society for Quality, Association for Manufacturing Excellence, Chamber of Commerce, International Standards Organization, Baldrige-based state award organizations from Arizona to Wisconsin and other leadership development societies.  His corporate clients include award-winning organizations such as AT&T, American Honda, Motorola, Siemens, General Mills, American Express, Ford, Eastman Kodak, U.S. Department of Defense and many others. Clients from government include agencies representing Alaska , Alberta , California , Missouri , Kentucky , Texas , Minnesota , Florida and elsewhere.

SIGN UP TODAY @

 www.imtc3.com/events/UpcomingEvents.cfm

If you have any questions, please call 941-907-0666

We look forward to hearing from you!