Clairelise
From Innovationclass
Class Summary - March 6
Today in class we got in our groups of agencies and then discussed the event from Tuesday night. Overall, people seemed to have enjoyed the talk and responded well to Bogusky�s thoughts. It seems as a class the talk changed our perspective on CPB to be less of a sweatshop and more of a human organization. We need to continue to find innovation in advertising and constantly be posting on the wiki.
My Top Three Innovative Agencies
1.) St. Luke's: They seem to really focus on the idea that it is the people that make the organization. They are an independent agency that is owned by its employees. The word "synergy" comes to mind with them. It's about working well together and from that comes great ideas and work. http://www.stlukes.co.uk/
2.)Mother: They seem to emphasize communication among people as manifested in the "big round table." I'm not sure how efficient this would be as a work environment, but effective communication is always important. Again, they seem to really focus on the people. When navigating through the office on the website, some of the basic rules are the "closer you are to someone, the more you will get to know them," or "you can't walk through desks, walls, people, etc." This is seemingly metaphoric for the way in which the office is run. http://www.motherlondon.com/
3.) Tequila: This one was not on our list, but a full-service interactive agency I have had first-hand experience with. One of the more insightful ideas they have is the idea of disruption and connection. This is all about being relevant in people's lives. They believe that "brands are constrained by convention," it is this convention that is trite and overused. Although, they are primarily an interactive agency, they seem to try and steer away from conventional mediums. http://www.tequila.com/
Questions for Bogusky and Berger
How will CPB continue to foster an environment of innovation as it expands?
What qualities are essential in order to be an innovative person?
Strategically speaking, what happens on this side that makes creative work innovative?
Ten Principles for Innovative Organization
1.) Disruption - challenge the norm and tradition
2.) Right people - be a coherent team
3.) Motivation - a required quality to meet the goal
4.) Brainstorm - essential to an innovative environment
5.) Follow the idea - steer away from traditional hierarchy
6.) Ethnographies - unbiased research is essential to a successful idea
7.) Learn - understand and take part in culture
8.) Fail - it forces you to solve problems creatively
9.) Environment - important resource that fosters creativity
10.) Enjoy - a workplace that is not enjoyable cannot foster innovation
My Innovative Organization
If I were in charge of a business organization of twenty-five people, I would do several things to fuel creativity and therefore innovation. The most important element, something that can make or break the attitude of any organization, is the people in it. I would take a more libertarian approach and find people that are motivated. The people in my organization are free to live their lives as long as they contribute to the organization. In order for this to work they must be motivated and have a good work ethic. While some kind of hierarchy is necessary, it would not be evident in the day to day activities. Since the organization is relatively small, everyone would work together as partners. Free speech would be important and those that can play the devil's advocate encouraged. In having less structure than most organizations the hope would be that a certain level of accountability would emerge, as well as creativity. Creativity is an essential element in order for innovation to occur. The environment would be what one makes of it, encouraging creativity and innovation.
To illustrate this, the first assignment a new individual would be given would be to create a sanctuary out of their office. Each person would be given a budget to do this with. The idea here is that in this organization, all the resources a person needs to succeed are available to them. It would also create a kind of home away from home work environment, one that would be enjoyable and allow creativity to flourish specific to the individual. The overall structure of the building would be fairly open. People would not be shut away from each other in their individual offices but interact; however it would be structured so that privacy and closure still existed.
Effective communication is essential for any type of organization or relationship to function well and successfully. Each employee would have a cordless work phone as well as a PDA. While communication is important, it is not expected that every employee must be reached at any moment of any day. The PDA would be so that employees can continue to be connected even while not at the office as well as given the freedom to have flexible hours. While at the office, IM would be an important part of communication. At an internship I had last summer, I communicated almost primarily with my supervisor using IM. It allowed me to ask questions when I needed since we did not sit close to each other and still elicit a quick response.
Innovative Blogs and Company
The innovative company I am interested in is 3M. While 3M is not glamorous like many other brands on the list, an important part of its innovation lies in the way the company is built and its principles. Also, the products that 3M manufactures tend to be fairly simple and I think this also feeds into 3M's innovation.
http://ideaflow.corante.com/ This is blog is about innovative trends and practices. It is relevant because it specifically involves our culture and seemingly focuses on products.
http://3dpeople.blogspot.com/2007/11/nokias-innovation-story-part-2-internet.htm\\ l This is blog originates in the UK and focuses on technologies. It is relevant because it is the perspective of someone not from the U.S. and who works in the technology industry.
http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2007/12/nokia-innovat-1.html This blog is about innovations in marketing and business. It is relevant to this class as the majority of us are ad majors.
http://www.widgetbox.com/tag/innovat This blog is about ways to strategically manage your workforce. It is relevant because this involves an important part of any organization - the people.
http://blog.futurelab.net/ This blog is about strategy and marketing. This is relevant as a large focus of our class is about strategy in a variety of places.
http://www.principledinnovation.com/blog/ This blog is about innovative ideas coming to life. This is relevant because the focus is largely organizational.
http://www.steveshapiro.com/blog/ This blog is about innovation from a business stand point, but also about achieving innovation in one's personal life. This is relevant because in order to be truly innovative this is not something one can leave at the office.
http://www.designsojourn.com/ This blog is about innovative product designs. This is relevant because a big part of an innovative organization is innovative products.
http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/tiny-gigantic.html This blog is about creativity in media and culture. This is relevant because we are all immersed in culture and this pertains to the idea of an "innovative culture."
http://blog.cestudios.ca/ This blog is about the accessibility of innovation and the necessary tools and resources for it. This is relevant because there may be some common threads posted in this blog and exhibited in innovative companies.
