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Show Notes

Lee Foster has a background in Water Engineering. She started a career in engineering because she wanted to help fix the planet. People were beginning to become aware the environment was in bad shape.

Water is something that everyone needs and will not hurt the planet. Lee surmised that water would become the next “oil”, which is starting to become a reality.

About ten years ago, Lee became interested in innovation, so she returned to University for more studies and focused on how innovation works. Lee devised a framework that describes how innovation and knowledge can work together.

Now she works with Yoeri (Yuri) Timmermans to help organisations use the framework and move through the innovation process to become more successful at innovation.

Innovation is complex, and many people don’t know how to innovate.

Knowledge management is only done well by less than 20% of companies. Managing knowledge and innovation go together. Improving knowledge management helps to enhance innovation capability.

Many towns and cities don’t have potable water in Australia. The solution is to buy water in bottles or soft drinks—environmentally, it is not a good solution. Increased soft drinks are also not suitable for healthy outcomes.

To innovate, you need knowledge. To create new knowledge, you need to innovate.

Creating new knowledge needs to be transferred to others to educate them. Therefore it's essential to understand the knowledge artifacts which need sharing.

Knowledge management capability can be measured by the non-profit American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC). APQC will assess an organisation’s knowledge management and advise on how to improve knowledge management, processes and quality controls.

Innovation is complex because there is a lot of uncertainty. It creates risk. Standard project management tools use variable time, budget and scope. Behaviours, trust, energy and risk need to be measured for each innovation project.

Leaders need to understand the “Why” of the innovation. Innovation requires a driver, and leaders must show energy and commitment to share with others to motivate them to change and innovate.

The innovation framework has four stages:

Stage 1: Form – think about the customers who will use the initiative

Stage 2: Create – with the customers in mind

Stage 3: Adopt: no surprises and buy-in from the customer.

Stage 4: Critique: fundamental and not usually done. What are the lessons learned, and what is the new knowledge created?

The best method for innovating and adopting innovation in an organisation will depend on the organisation's culture. In a corporate, it's essential to start small and gather new knowledge. There are plenty of ideas, but how is it best to keep innovation going?

Summary:

· Flow: keep things going – water, information and knowledge. It is easy not to have the flow happening. Many organisations do not handle knowledge flow well.

· Innovation: It is about movement, new pathways and channels. New ways of doing things. There is uncertainty and risk.

· Non-alignment: sometimes, the project management tools are not up to the task.

· Thinking: us a different framework

· Trust, Energy and Motivation are critical to have the right mental framework.

· Leadership: innovation needs to be nurtured and driven with clear and regular communication.