We All Work In Sales. Some, More Effectively Than Others

Sell. Sale. Sold. Four letter words. And as Dan Pink pointed out at a recent talk at The RSA, for most of us the whole notion of sales is still imbued with all of the worst connotations of pressure and aggression so famously portrayed by Alec Baldwin’s Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross. Sales is something seen as quite vulgar. Yet – persuasion and relationship building, no matter how you look at it, is still the most essential ingredient of personal and organisational success. Leadership, innovation, change – it all comes down to selling. Dan Pink shows that sales is not what it used to be and whether we like it or not,  it is in fact, profoundly human. I agree – and what is more, I believe that if sales is human, the ability to build and nurture great creative collaborations – is superhuman…

To Sell Is Human – By Dan Pink

Last month, Dan Pink, whose latest book is entitled To Sell Is Human, presented a brilliantly succinct overview of his latest work in the wonderful surroundings of the Great Room at The RSA in London.

This is a book about sales. (But wait, don’t go…stay with me on this). This is not a sales pep talk full of get-rich-quick cheesey psycho-babble. Nor is it a quick fix tip-book if you’re struggling to hit your numbers. Crucially, it is not just for sales managers neither. To Sell Is Human covers the psychology of persuasion, the economics of negotiation, nudge theories and the changing nature of work itself. Or as the book describes itself on the front cover – it reveals ‘The surprising truth about persuading, convincing and influencing others’

If you’re a fan of Seth Godin, Nilofer Merchant, Malcolm Gladwell or Eric Ries then you will click with the work of Dan Pink too. His work links beautifully, both in theme and tone, with the other modern thinkers who are starting to describe and shape the new world of marketing. He is also treading a path explored well by some famous names too. Each generation has its own take on sales and persuasion. For our parents’ it was perhaps the classic works of Dale Carnegie and then in the 1980’s and 1990’s Mark McCormack and Cialdini combined business savvy and psychological know how. Dan Pink is a thoroughly modern take on this most critical of business topics – and his key message is simple but vigorously backed by credible research.

Do You Work In Sales?

Even The Smartest Still Need Superior Social Skills.

Firstly – Pink demonstrates no matter your craft or profession – or what you think you do, we are all in the persuasion and influencing business. According to Gallup, nearly 40% of ‘non-sales’ executive time, is spent in activity that is still broadly defined as – sales. Persuading, solving, presenting, servicing – and managing relationships. This is sales. Whilst most people still view sales as something slightly tawdry and down market the reality is that we all have to sell – whether we are directing commercial deals or attempting to change the behaviour of a class of teenagers, or managing a start-up. As Pink puts it ‘1 in 9 American’s makes their living in sales’ – but when you look at those involved in ‘non-sales-selling’ – so do the other 8 too. It is just that many do not realise it. (My personal view is that everyone also works in their own software & media business too – but that’s another story…)

 And Secondly – Pink describes how the nature of what ‘sales’ means has completely altered because  the traditional balance of buyer and seller power has shifted. Access to information has changed – and so have the ABC’s of selling too.

Our ABC’s Have Changed…

Selling is not what is used to be. Most people (and The RSA audience proved the point beautifully…) – still view sales people the sales process as a somehow tawdry, shiny-suited, nasty profession. It is not classy. The most common connotation is the world of car dealers and pushy insurance agents, who at best may be ‘diplomatic with the truth’. The perception is still one of the ABC world of Always-Be-Closing. Where the sales executive had more information and was driven by commission and perhaps greed. A case of buyer beware – caveat emptor… 

In today’s digital world however the knowledge of buyers and sellers is either balanced or skewed towards the buyer. Caveat Venditor. A young couple can turn up at a car dealer with as much information on second-hand car reliability, market prices, servicing costs and finance arrangements as the sales executive. The latter has to therefore work more as a consultant and someone who can advise and uncover problems and solutions – rather than just ‘close’ the deal.

In A Networked Economy – Its All About Connections

Effective sales people today therefore work with a different set of ABC’s. A-ATTUNEMENT – tuning-in, listening and empathy skills. B-BUOYANCY – the ability to retain a positive outlook, ideally with a balanced ambivert personality. And finally, C-CLARITY; the importance of clear, simple and powerful messaging. Even the whole notion of the pitch has changed too.

As Pink says;

“The purpose of the pitch isn’t necessarily to move others immediately to adopt your idea. The purpose is to offer something so compelling that it begins a conversation, brings the other person in as a participant and eventually arrives at an outcome that appeals to both of you. In a world where buyers have ample information and an array of choices – the pitch is often the first word but it is rarely the last” – Dan Pink, To Pitch is Human, P158.

The deeper, sociological aspect of Pink’s premise is that selling – at its core is actually a very human and very personal thing. Most people want to help another person and securing a relationship and a deal is often about more than the money. We all sell and persuade because selling is a very human thing to do…

Collaboration Make Us Superhuman

Sometimes You Need Objective Feedback

Any perusal of the works Scott Berkun, Stefan Lindegaard or Henry Chesbrough or Clayton Christensen will quickly note that innovation is not done in isolation. Every great innovation requires those important supply partners, channels, allies and promotional partners – and those contacts across the business. Nilofer Merchant describes this brilliantly; “The future is not created, it is co-created”. Likewise – Brian Fitzpatrick, the author of Team Geek reveals that if you wish to work in a highly innovative team at Google, then you’d best learn that – “working in isolation leads to disappointment”.

A common frustration for any practitioner of partnership or alliance marketing is that the important of the other is not comprehended. Most senior executives always see the delivery of the deal, the signing of the contract and implementation as job done – mission completed. The importance of the ongoing relationship, communication, collaboration – and building trust, is ignored or just not understood. However, all good relationship managers know that the real work actually begins after the ink is dry and coffee is cold. Partners and allies are much easier to lose than to secure – and that fragility is often constantly tested. Service delivery, continuous improvement, price, service reviews, KPI’s and constant changes in personnel and processes, all put pressure on those hard-won valuable alliances and partnerships.

In fact – most partnership practitioners will recognise that important and complex relationships will hit snags, speed bumps. It is to be expected and part of the course, especially as commercial and technical arrangements bed in. Those moments of truth when it looks as if the wheels are not just falling of the bus – but also crashing into a large turbo fan balanced on the edge of a latrine.

Such points stress test the relationship. When a partnership or critical business relationship is under stress – it is the people who must put it right. In reality, every solution is at some point depends upon a personal 121 sales process.

For this reason, I always point out that Partnership Management is both Art and Science. Of course – proposals, contracts, specification documents, roadmaps, promotional plans and reporting are the ‘hard’ practical mechanics of partnerships that are needed to get things delivered. But it is the ‘soft stuff’ that really makes the difference in times of pressure. The personal communications and the ability to handle pressure and challenge. Relationship maintenance is severely impacted by the level of trust and time invested. Most important, recovering trust requires massive amounts of genuine listening. Not just the ‘hearing’ kind – waiting for a moment to (as Theodore Zeldin puts it..) –  ‘play your card’ but genuine empathetic listing and a willingness to understand and work collaboratively for a solution.

How is this done? Through leadership conversation; the ability to explore an issue and uncover knowledge and understanding – before launching into solution mode. For this reason, my own work, building and running MarketingCafes and CollaborationCafes focuses upon slowing the conversations down and encouraging short and focused discussions. The approach is to build divergent and curious thinking and helping people to avoid ‘playing the same old cards’. It is a process that works for marketing teams, partnership sessions or innovation workshops. (You can see more about my Café and Marketing Workshops – here.)

In summary – I think Dan Pink is absolutely right. In the end – selling is a very human process. We all do it – and we all must get better at it. But to be truly effective in managing complex and high value marketing alliances and partnerships, those involved have to go further than selling and transactions. Deals shift and business changes. Yet,  to adapt, change and be prepared to trust the other is not a natural human process.  As Seth Godin points out – we are wired to be cautious and that prevents innovation. To be a great partnership or relationship manager, we need to go beyond our natural instincts and become smarter, more effective collaborators.

To become – superhuman.

You can buy Dan Pink’s To Sell Is Human on Amazon.

Thanks to Dan Pink and The RSA.

For more articles and blogs from Andrew Armour click here.

See also; Benchstone Marketing Workshops & CollaborativeEdge

Related articles

• A lesson in sales from Dan Pink (tombowdengreen.com)

Don’t Led The Wrong People Run Your Marketing Workshop

I recently published a guest post in the excellent TrinityP3 website (one of the world’s leading consultancies on agency management & marketing procurement) –  where I examined what it is that makes for good and bad marketing meetings, workshops and seminars. You can read the full post – here.  This is based in my experience over the years as both a participant and leader of such sessions – and my reflections on what works and what does not. My own work in developing MarketingCafe is very much a result of this understanding – and putting it into practice.

Below is a summary of the Seven Rules For Building An Effective Marketing Workshop -

Seven Rules For Building Effective Marketing Workshops.

1 – Narrow The Focus:

You could build a 1/2 day session that covers some fun team building, strategic planning, sales analysis, innovation and service development and quarterly budgeting. Add a quick brainstorm for that new digital campaign – and discuss the new IT system security protocols. And, review the new governance and structure and explain why the new Sales Director left under mysterious circumstances. You get the picture.

The marketing axiom that Good Things Happen When You Narrow The Focus still holds true. It holds true for a brand, for an individual and for effective meetings and workshops too. Of course, some topics and themes naturally relate well. But if your workshop tries to cover everything for all people it will lack a clear message, drive and output for anyone.

Mother was right. Less is more: Narrow The Focus. If you want your workshop to resonate and be memorable then focus it upon a maximum of three key themes or topics.

2 – Have An End In Mind:

Building upon the focus point, when planning your workshop – Start With an End in Mind.

Rather than begin by drafting Agendas for the day your preparation should start by identifying the kind of output you want to see afterwards. Changes, action, follow ups and new work strands. What key points can be taken away? What new conversations can be launched? Before you start, begin by asking – what is the end you have in mind?

3 – Less Lecturing > More Engagement:

Nobody really likes being lectured to. If you have important and deep factual information to reveal then other channels (such as email, internal blogs, packs, briefings and presentations) are simpler and better.

Or, adopt the rule of Google, Apple and others and send the rich information to attendees in advance, so people can get up to speed with detail in their own time rather than hear your explanations.

Workshops and marketing meetings with colleagues, agencies and partners are a chance for you to start the right conversations – not to dominate them. And so do not waste the time and the opportunity by running through pages of granular details and theory. You’re a marketing practitioner – not an academic presenting a great work to target a Nobel Prize.

Seek to engage. And stay away from lecturing.

4 – Use Bite Sized Chunks of Good Content:

The most referenced research on attention span of adults was conducted by Percival and Johnstone in the 1970’s. Their seminal work suggested that the average under graduate in a seminar could concentrate for a mere 12-15 minutes and that even those with the best concentration could focus properly for just twenty minutes. They recommended breaking learning and discussion work into short, punchy sections.

No matter how exciting your ideas, jokes, research, brand, campaign, product or innovation – it is worth remembering this point. We need Bite Sized Chunks of content. How do you do this when you have a lot to cover? The creative ‘law of three’ is a good place to start. Your workshop (½ day or full day) should be structured around a clear beginning, middle and an end. And as each hour divides neatly into 3 x 20 minute sessions (remember the attention span…) – you can build 3 x 15-20 minute sections, with different elements and interest.

The famous TED-style ‘10-20-30’ rule for effective presentations (10 slides – 20 minutes – 30+ point font size) is sound advice too. So, for example; you start the hour with a 15 minute video to set the scene, followed by a 10 slide 15 minute presentation from your research agency, then a carefully facilitated 15 minute MarketingCafe exercise to allow the team to discuss potential impact and opportunities.

5 – Start Conversations – Don’t Finish Them

Many marketing workshops focus too much on solving. Marketers have become addicted to quick solutions, decisions and proving their value in a whirlwind of activity. In the haste to show how good we are at driving progress and ‘launching something’ the all-important steps of divergent and convergent thinking, inquiry & curiosity is missed.

Commentators such as Stefan Lindegaard have pointed out that innovation is often failing due to an obsession with being too quick and delivering a dud. A successful marketing workshop may be the only time when your team get take the opportunity and the precious time to really build the right foundations. It is a chance to ask the right questions and listen to different answers. With greater market complexity and change there is a need to acknowledge that not everything can be sold quickly by a lone marketing hero, with one report, one brainstorm and one brief.

I believe that ‘Conversation Is The Medium Where Value Is Created’. Creativity, relationships and good marketing thinking is based on continual and iterative conversations. So, use your workshop to start them – not to finish them.

6 – Change That Tone:

Good creative work, entertainment, stories and workshops use changes in style, tone and atmosphere to maintain engagement and stimulate. The best jokes have elements of darkness and romance often contains drama, hope and humour. The best workshops shift their tone too.

A well planned workshop can carefully mix elements of energy, lightness, positivity and humour with moments of deep concern, insight and raise complex issues. Shifting the tone is a powerful way to engage. It is OK for people to reflect on things, to feel edgy, nervous, confused and concerned about their product, market, brand or project. You just need to balance that dissonance with activities, ideas, confidence and positivity.

If you want to keep people engaged and in the moment – Change The Tone.

7 – Get Your Workshop Professionally Planned And Facilitated:

In 75% of cases you can likely run a workshop yourself. But, if it is a vital opportunity and critical moment – having your session planned and delivered by an experienced and objective facilitator will help you deliver more.

How so? Firstly, a good facilitator will take an objective view of your aims and provide new thinking, techniques and tactics to freshen up your workshop approach. They will also free up your time as they will focus on planning and sharpening up the session for you.

Secondly, using an external facilitator immediately changes the overall dynamics and feel of the event from the participants’ perspective. It reinforces that this is not your average weekly briefing, project status or monthly all hands meeting. You are setting the tone simply by having a third party facilitate it and the expectations have been raised.

Thirdly, as an outsider (with no history or personal agenda) the facilitator is often more able to introduce sensitive questions, topics and ideas without any prior baggage. Sometimes, the difficult conversations are the most important ones and these can be initiated by a third party without an axe to grind. Finally, not having to host and facilitate the workshop enables you, as a leader to contribute and work closely with others. It is an opportunity to tune your radar towards the discussions, ideas and thoughts of your team, colleagues, customers, agency experts – or important partners in the room.

The American humourist Dave Barry said, “If you had to identify the one word as the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that one word would be ‘meetings.”

Dave is right. Meetings and workshops, poorly managed – can indeed be slightly better than useless. But they need not be. With a bit of thought, work – and the right coffee and biscuits – they can be great.

Does The Latest Technology And Modern Office Design Really Promote Better Collaboration?

The founding editor of WIRED Magazine, Kevin Kelly, once said; ‘the problem of the future will not be that we cannot connect – it will be that we cannot disconnect’. Super fast  computer technology and the network economy has not just become a tool for work – it has become the work itself. It is a case of learn to be a geek or get used to working for one. No matter what it says in the email footer, we all work in IT – and moonlight in media production. The dominance of technology in the workplace has changed how and where we do things. From the cubicle to the funky break out area and from the WiFi café to the Skype call work has increasingly changed to fit the needs of the machines. In a recent talk at The RSA an excellent Ben Hammersley explored how this evolved and whether the modern office is as creative and collaborative as it once promised to be…

Ben Hammersley – technologist, ultra runner and not a big fan of big open-plan…

Ben Hammersley is well qualified to comment on this subject. He is the UK Prime Minister’s Ambassador to East London Tech City and Editor at Large of WIRED UK magazine. Added to that, he is also a member of the European Commission High Level Expert Group on Media Freedom – and a fellow of the Brookings Institute. He has been a journalist for The Times and The Guardian – as well as WIRED. He is even credited with inventing the word – ‘podcast’. And he is a more colourful character than the average media commentator having posted blogs from the war zones of Afghanistan and being a well-known ultra-marathon runner too.

Recently, in the wonderful Great Room at The RSA in London he explored the conflict between traditional and new workplace models and structures. It is a hot topic now because we are about to enter a time of dramatic change as we move from the information and digital age – to the social era of business. Over the next few years we will see a huge rise in collaborative technology –  often grouped under the title ‘Unified Communication’ – (UC). These systems aim to connect us all within a suite of tools combining video and call conferencing, email, presence (tracking where people are in the office), file sharing and instant messaging – all accessible across PC, tablet or mobile device. With the rise of superfast WiFi – we will all be connected, regardless of where we are or what tool we have. Or perhaps, whether we want to connect or not …

The Collaborative Advantage

According to Steljes (a specialist provider of interactive white boards and other smart meeting room tools) it is estimated that 40% of firms will be implementing UC type technology over the next two years. The incentive being to reduce costs (81%) and improve efficiencies (67%) – and this is supported by 2012 research from McKinsey suggesting that most companies can gain a 25-30% increase in productivity through the use of UC technology. And it’s not all about the bottom line either. UK conference call specialist Powwownow report that remote & flexible working practices are increasingly becoming a key factor considered by new recruits when accepting job offers. Being allowed to login to video calls from home and work remotely can actually make it easier to juggle family commitments and life. Everybody can see the collaborative advantage. The promised benefits and interest means companies such as IBM, Citrix, Oracle, Cisco, Yammer and Salesforce are all investing heavily in rolling out UC solutions. If you have not come across these kind of tools yet, then wait a while because it will soon be coming to desktop, tablet and smart phone near you. Will these systems really improve collaboration? Can they help us to escape the avalanche of existing emails and messages? Or could they, just as open plan offices have become, be a further source of stress and interruptions?

Good Collaboration Can Make All The Difference To How You Feel At Work.

Whilst the offices I have worked in have become visually more relaxed and dress down Friday has become the norm I have seen stress levels and career nervousness rise amongst all my peers, no matter how smart the people or trendy the foyer. It’s a view shared by Hammersley. As he puts it – the modern office environment creates a constant state of ‘uncertainty and disruption’. And technology and the vast open spaces of large offices – seem to be at the heart of the issue…

Where Did The Open Plan Office Come From?

So to paraphrase David Byrne, how did we get here? And is this your beautiful office life? Hammersley elegantly tells the story. Strange but true – your grey cubicle in an open plan office in Slough can trace its family tree to the coolness of California. From entertainment giants to hi-tech military companies on the edge of Nevada, from great Universities to simply being the place where Mickey Mouse lived, the sunshine state has been a dominant source of our technology, lifestyle and trends. It was in 1970’s California where knowledge management and information industry was born. The great  firms of Silicon Valley fused the idealistic liberal-minded hippies from the 1960’s with the brightest engineers and programmers and together they re-designed our world. Their shared philosophy was one where ideas and experimentation was king within a culture that challenged conventional hierarchies and it was here – that the open plan office took shape. Team work, knowledge sharing and flexible project teams were more important than executive tea rooms, wood panelled board rooms and individual offices. Cubicles were in and long corridors were out. Walls became glass. Cables and networks dictated office layouts. And as long as you could code and create, it did not matter if you wore tee-shirts, snacked at your desk and worked long into the night.

As Hammersley puts it ‘these tools are from somebody else’s culture’. The open plan style is imported not just from California – but from a certain type of worker who grew up there; the knowledge and IT worker. The environment driven by the increasing desire not to promote innovation and team work. Removing bureaucracy and connecting systems and people in a fluid way was seen as the way to work smarter, develop quicker and it was the kind of environment in which media and engineering based start-ups thrived.

But what happens when we transfer that approach to an office of 80, 120 or 250 people? Does it scale up well? The evidence and comment from many, suggests not. Hammersley mirrors the comments of writers such as Susan Cain (see my post on her views here…) – that our rush to build teams in large work spaces has led to an inability to reflect and think – and have our own moments of silence.

Quite simply, the highly connected open plan office can simply ‘freak you out’. Rather than an idealistic environment of free thinking it has helped to foster the return of Taylorism a management approach with its rigid focus on optimising every aspect of task, performance and process, to squeeze every ounce of productivity from every layer of the organisation. Hammersley points out how senior executives gravitate to the edges of large spaces – whilst young and often nervous ‘team members’ work in the centre. The flat management structure whilst outwardly appearing democratic can actually lead to a feeling of not knowing how and where things fit together. The constant noise is cancelled through the wearing of huge head-phones.  Whilst we all need to focus and concentrate to deliver more  - a constant stream of technological bleeps, messages, status updates and emails exists to continually interrupt us. And therefore it begs the question, if this is the reality now – will the introduction of new technologies such as UC really improve things? Or will it simply add to that feeling of uncertainty, the noise and lack of genuine collaboration and focus?

Hammersley believes that we need to re-negotiate the ‘tempo of communication’. We need to take back the time to help us focus and create. We need to control the machines and how we interact with information – and in this point, he is absolutely right. However where I disagree with him is in his criticism of the attraction for collaboration itself. Of course, there are times when one needs to work alone and reflect in quiet.  But all the signs point to the fact that it pays to work well with others.

Isolation Leads To Disappointment

It Can Be Dangerous To Work Alone…

Leading experts in innovation, from Scott Berkun to Tom Kelley continually reinforce the view that innovation and creativity is not a game for soloists. In 2012 Forrester Research surveyed marketers to discover the biggest blocks to innovation; 30% said it was a lack of internal collaboration and 33% said it was due to poor external collaboration. And in their excellent 2012 book ‘Team Geek’ – Fitzpatrick and Collins-Sussman, two senior engineers from Google point out that no matter how smart you may be – “Working in Isolation Leads to Disappointment’.  The commentator Nilofer Merchant has pointed out that the ‘social era’ of business is about a lot more than simply social media and technology. (see my piece about her work – here) It is about working effectively with people, building a network and being open to the ideas of outsiders. For Merchant, the traditional marketing strategy (as well as the traditional office layout) – is dead. The talented folk of the future will become what Morten Hansen describes as ‘T-Shaped’ -  possessing both good technical skills and a network of smart connections across the organisation.

I don’t think it is the need and desire for collaboration that is the problem – it is the bad approach to doing it and poor personal skills of those involved. Technology introduced in a culture that lacks effective personal collaboration will merely amplify and speed up those bad connections. Technology is not always the answer – despite what those who sell systems tell us. The philosopher Theodore Zeldin put it neatly when he said; ‘technology does not automatically improve the quality of communication, conversation or behaviour’. No amount of steam punk desks, trendy couches and UC tools can negate ineffective personal 121 communications.

So how can we build collaborative teams but avoid the negative side effects that Hammersley describes? If we want to cut down on the personal and environmental costs of commuting into cities and we want to spend more time on life – then UC technologies offer a meaningful solution,  rather than a problem. The answer is to improve the quality of our personal 121 collaboration skills – which is fundamentally about effective listening, enquiry, conversation and knowledge sharing.

It is one of the reasons why we have created MarketingCafes – a seminar and workshop approach that helps encourage effective conversation and curiosity in marketing teams. MarketingCafe are used to explore complex business issues, assist with ideation and creative explorations –  or as a means to create smarter understanding with colleagues, suppliers, partners and clients. The spark of collaborative innovation occurs by developing the right small conversations and discussions – and it is often the informal, open and engaged ones that deliver the most value and solutions. ( for more information on MarketingCafes – please contact me )

Are The Machines Playing Us?

‘Are We Playing The Machines Or Are The Machines Playing Us?’ – Ralf Hutter

In the 1990’s Ralf Hutter, ‘Chief Engineer’ of legendary electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk was once challenged by a journalist that live on stage ‘Kraftwerk just play machines’. Hutter famously replied; ‘But, do we play the machines – or are the machines playing us?’ It’s a funny line that poses something insightful about our relationship with the latest technology. Used well,it is our servant – and we control it. Used badly, it can merely accelerate the feeling of pressure and isolation, the feeling of ‘future shock’ and prevents us from genuinely communicating with people. It is up to us to become the controllers. When you step into the smart UC workplace of tomorrow – are you going to be playing the technology? Or is the technology going to be playing you?

Thanks to The RSA and Ben Hammersley for an excellent talk and event. To read more from me – about collaboration, partnerships and innovation please visit www.andrewarmour.com or visit www.benchstone.co.uk. For further information and comments on technology from Ben Hammersley, please visit www.benhammersley.com

Without Trust Good Relationships Are Difficult To Start

Now in its third year, the 2013 General Electric Innovation Barometer, a global survey of the barriers and drivers of innovation, once again reinforces the vital role of partnerships and collaboration to successful innovation. The Partnership Paradox remains too; innovation requires partnerships, many commentators extol their value, leaders and CEO’s desire them but most individuals and organisations struggle to build them. A lack of trust seems a constant reason why these valuable marketing relationships are often so hard to secure yet often so easy to lose.

The excellent General Electric Innovation Barometer (the full report can found within their Ideaslab that you can visit here) is an annual independent research and survey conducted by consulting firm Strategy One covering 3000 senior executives across 25 countries. Among the key innovation issues that the 2013 Barometer explores are the role of government, the importance of international trade and the acquisition and retention of valuable talent. More than ever innovation leaders are recognising that they must drive towards reinventing the business model itself not just drive new products. The dramatic disruption in music, publishing, insurance, travel and the shape of the UK high street shows what can happen when core market mechanics are changing faster than you can launch new products. For example, 52% of the senior executives surveyed believe that it is new business models can drive their business forward better than R&D and product development.

Yet the importance of building and securing partnerships is a powerful recurring theme since the first GE Innovation Barometer in 2011. (You can see my previous posts about the Barometer from 2011 and 2012.) . As Beth Comstock, Senior VP and CMO at GE says; “We are exploring different markets, partnership structures and business models – all in the pursuit of uncovering new ways to better serve our customers and meet the world’s biggest challenges head on.”

Partnerships and Innovation Culture:

Working Alone Can Be A Bad Thing…

GE was not the first and has not been alone in highlighting the need for partnerships and collaborations within innovation. Gary Hamel and Rosabeth Moss-Kanter published seminal essays on the need for partnerships in 1989 and 1984 respectively. And a range of commentators continue to stress the importance of forging relationships in a culture of Open Innovation. In this excellent video piece from last year Stefan Lindegaard points out that for many marketers it was no longer a matter of ‘ if’ they pursued partnerships and collaborations but rather ‘how’ and who with.  Partners can create that clash of ideas, skills and technology that creates the environment for true innovation. As Lindegaard says; “You cannot have strong innovation culture – unless you have a strong networking culture”.

And José Baldaia is another popular writer on innovation who consistently emphasises on the need to partner, forge alliances, collaborate and nurture important relationships. Mirroring the GE Innovation Barometer his recent Intuinovare blog also points out the importance of trust in securing partnerships that can drive innovation;

“Networks work more and more to small and medium-sized companies as a way to learn about business opportunities and about the potential for intervention outside its borders. After a few years since Henry Chesbrough coined the term “Open Innovation” the leaders and managers of SMEs do not yet demonstrate behaviour and practices typical of an exploratory attitude or of a networking of exploration of new territories and environments. There is not a trend or a common desire widespread within companies for advancing collaboration in the creation of products and services or in their marketing, most likely because there is not a climate of trust to promote this collaboration.” – Jose Baldaia, Intuinovare, 22nd January 2013

It is no surprise that 87% of executives surveyed as part of the Innovation Barometer believe that their firms could be more effective by innovating through partnerships and collaborations. Such relationships offer the opportunity to access to new technology (79%) and enter new markets (79%). Whereas previous Innovation Barometers also noted the importance of building partnerships the 2013 Barometer points to what seems to be preventing them. It reports that 64% of executives believed it was a lack of confidentiality and IP protection – and in a common theme, 47% believed it was a lack of trust and 45% stated it was a fear of talent poaching. The common aspect to all of these reasons being – a lack of trust…

And it is Trust that keeps the Partnership Gears moving in the right direction…

Having worked as practitioner in marketing partnerships and collaborations I have identified three vital gears of partnership that I have noted and seen in action over the years. I define these gears as FIT (of mechanics, markets, culture and people), PLANNING (leadership, consensus, joint objectives and measures) – and MOMENTUM (balance, capability, resources and delivery). All have to keep moving forward, gradually building the relationship and improving the value and output. And TRUST is the oil that keeps Fit, Planning and Momentum gears moving in the right way. Personal trust between project teams and leaders, trust that the other party will deliver to the plan and commit to the relationship. Without trust any key business relationship stalls and then grinds to a halt.

How To Build Trust Between Innovation Partners:

It is often said that without genuine trust all that remains is words. Words which are just the hollow clanking gong announcing a new relationship that will eventually wither and fail. Without trust, a business (or personal) relationship does not feel or sound right. How do you create the kind of trust so needed to secure vital innovation partnerships? How can marketers, traditionally educated and cultured to be competitive leaders and self-promoters learn to make better decisions and products by working with others in the spirit of collaboration?

1 – Start With Collaborative Conversation:

A Good Cafe Conversation Is About More Than The Coffee…

Firstly, innovation leaders and marketers need to invest time in building open conversations with their partners, where listening is as important as speaking. In 2012 I explored empathy as it struck me how important it was for the creation of genuine cooperation between marketing partners. Empathy is about seeing the world from the others view and understanding (if not always agreeing with) – their perspective. As the adage says, ‘if you can help people get what they want, you are more likely to get what you want’. It all starts with strong connections.

Our own Marketing Workshops and CollaborationCafes are designed exactly for this purpose. They are tailored to break down the behavioural and conversational barriers that too often inhibit genuine cooperation. Cafe Workshops do this by deliberately disrupting the traditional hierarchies and preventing participants from ‘playing their usual cards’. New conversations are encouraged to help create a different view and perspective. A MarketingCafé is not designed to solve complex problems in a few hours with the usual suspects dominating a noisy brainstorm from their own view of the world.  Neither are Cafes about senior executives taking the floor to dictate and lead the thinking. Rather, a Cafe lays the ground for genuine understanding, collaborative ideation and exploratory conversation. The aim is to allow the confident and dominant leaders to take time to listen and think whilst and encouraging technical specialists and experts to share their knowledge.  For more information on Cafe Workshops can help marketing and innovation teams, please see my blog post Stimulating Conversation And The Marketing Cafe.

2 – Learn To Love First Dates:

Secondly, my tactical approach to partnerships has always focused on aiming at simple ‘first dates’ rather than over cooking the partnership expectations based on hope over experience. As my Law tutor always told me; ‘start with little steps Andrew – and see where that goes, before you jump in’. The initial focus for new marketing partnerships should be on delivering a low risk, low-cost and quick to implement joint activity so the relationship can safely move towards working together. If the expectations and objectives are too big and the tactics too complex then do not be surprised if the partnership falters in a quagmire of risk, lack of resources and uncertainty. The value of first date activities is not the outcome of the activity but rather in learning how the other party works. Can the partner obtain resources and seed budgets to kick things of? Do they create and approve materials quickly? Can they implement in full and on time? In very simple terms, do we think we can we work with them more? These activities give you the confidence that the relationship can progress – before you launch into bigger plans, commit greater resources, confidential information, IP and talent. Quite simply, if partners cannot deliver something simple and relatively low risk – then how can you expect to collaborate on something more valuable and complicated?

Some of the best first date deals I managed resulted in discovering that the partnership was not worth spending any more time on. The other side talked a good game, presented beautifully and drank some good coffee – but when it came to delivering I discovered the  personalities, politics, hurdles, layers of decision-making and lack of momentum told me that our efforts were best focused elsewhere. The learning that this was the case was worth the minimal cost we invested. If you need to fail, fail quick and fail cheap.

3 – Create Open And Honest Communications:

Can An Argument Be A Good Conversation?

Finally – trust is fuelled by consistent, open and honest communications. The questions do not end at the pitch and the deal is not ‘done’ just because a contract is signed. These processes are best viewed as the starting-points for an ongoing relationship and conversation. Over the years, I have built hundreds of partnership deals, from simple co-promotions to complex product development initiatives. The most valuable inevitably involve those moments when both parties have to tap into the bank account of trust and confidence that has been built through consistent, open and honest communication.

The 2013 GE Innovation Barometer shows that trust is a big issue for securing successful innovation partnerships. We can build tools, plans, reports and proposals that can perhaps help to secure a relationship we need but at the end of the day building and retaining that trust is a matter of personal effectiveness and behaviour. The late Stephen Covey put it in a way that is as true for building effective marketing partnerships – as it is for any other;

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” – Stephen Covey

Further Information

You can learn more about Andrew Armour and the MarketingCafes and CollaborationCafe Workshops from Benchstone.

To discuss how Cafe Workshops can help improve your marketing and innovation activities please contact Andrew Armour.

You can see the full 2013 GE Innovation Barometer here.

Thanks and credit to General Electric.

You can read more from Stefan Lindegaard at 15Inno and from Jose Baldaia at Intuinovare

Related Articles

• Challenging Marketing Summaries; Gamification, Collaboration And Innovation (andrewarmour.com)
• The GE Global Innovation Barometer (florence20.typepad.com)
• GE reports ‘innovation vertigo’ in latest global innovation barometer (siliconrepublic.com)
• The Best Marketing, Collaboration And Innovation Articles, Research And Blogs From 2012 (andrewarmour.com)
• GE Global Innovation Survey – Leaders Feeling Effects of Innovation Vertigo (innovationexcellence.com)

In no particular order… here are my top picks for 2012

The Best Marketing Articles And Blogs From 2012

In Traditional Strategy is Dead – published as an HBR blog, Nilofer Merchant confidently and   succinctly explains why the new era of social business is about a lot more than social media.You can see my blog piece about this here

Team Geek – by Fitzpatrick & Collins-Sussman brilliantly looks at the challenges and opportunities of managing highly talented and creative people. The book includes my quote of the year too “working in isolation, leads to disappointment”. You can see my full review of the book here.

Capgemini’s Innovation Leadership Study provided an interesting look at the challenges of innovation from around the world – and the difficulties many large organisations face when trying to create an innovative culture.

IBM’s Global Marketing survey also reinforced that social media, big data – and the need to build collaboration across silos would continue to be a hot topic for marketing leaders.

There Is Evidence That Working Alone Can Be A Bad Idea…

The Collaboration Imperative – published in Ivey Business Journal in February highlighted that the best leaders and innovators are those that understand and nurture effective collaborations – with a focus on customers, listening to others and building strong relationships across their businesses

The Best Marketing Sites 2012

Innovation Excellence –  continues to be a great source of comment, trend news and smart writing too. Great year of work with pieces by Tom Peters, Steffan Lindegaard and Braden Kelley.

The Financial Times – proves that if you have great content you can charge for it. Not cheap but the research, rigour and great writing of people such as Luke Johnson and Lucy Kelloway make for superb reading

HBR Blogs – which can be accessed for free, provides a constant stream of diverse range of articles including some of the most influential business thinkers and researchers. Always something useful available.

Strategy+Business - published by Booz And Co is consistently excellent and a fine free source of the latest research and thinking.

TrinityP3 – Darren Woolley and the team at TrinityP3 do not pull any punches when it comes to jabbing some of the sacred but often under-performing fashions of agencies, digital marketing and business communications. The truth sometimes hurts…

Uh-oh. Its Time For The Creative Brainstorm…

And My Year In Marketing Blogs?

The Challenge Series of White Papers were developed by me with Duncan Thomas from Pomegranate Group with each piece featuring a different set of contributors and experts. They have so far featured both Steve Hemmings and Paul Sloane, one of the world’s leading experts in lateral thinking. In 2013 we’re looking to publish future versions of this Series and so if you would like to feature – please get in contact with me.

How Superteams Can Help Marketers… was written for TrinityP3 after I heard the excellent Khoi Tu present on Superteams at The RSA in London. Tu’s view of what it takes to make a high performance team struck a chord with my recent look at both the need for collaboration – and the increasing challenge that marketers face to balance uncertainty, complexity, data and metrics.

Good Connections Fuel Great Innovations…

Why We Need More Conversation – And Less Brainstorming. This piece was published in TrinityP3 builds on a previous article by Darren Woolley – and my work developing the Marketing Café Workshops, designed to help marketers and innovation teams build smarter, more focused conversations.

In Building A Collaborative Business – I reviewed ‘ COLLABORATION’ by Morten T Hansen and explore the concept of T-Shaped people and what this means for marketing and innovation teams. This was the piece that many people discussed with me – and it continues to get feedback.

In The Partnership Paradox – I looked at General Electric’s Innovation Barometer and the key marketing dilemma it highlights. Whilst collaboration, partnerships, alliances and better relationships are acknowledged as the driver for innovation – most people and businesses are not very good at it.

A Noisy Problem With Susan Cain’s Quietness – explores the challenges of balancing both introvert and extrovert behaviours in a business culture that needs innovation and collaboration.  Cain is right that the world is too fast and too noisy and the time to think, review and analyse is more valuable than ever. But is isolation the answer?

And Finally. It’s Christmas. Exercise The Chuckle Muscle…

Buyral Viral – The classic and rather cheeky video from Adobe that casts a cheeky nod to the obsession with viral marketing stats and clicks. And, Buzz Word Detector. Or should that be BS Detector? Another rather funny (but scarily true) look at the often poor strategy and ideas that tag the latest digital jargon

Thanks to all for reading and following, Tweeting and forwarding, linking and  hosting, the comments and the coffees.

Have a very Merry Christmas all, enjoy the holiday break with friends and family – and here’s to more, great conversations in 2013.

All the best,

Andrew Armour

Related articles

• Challenging Marketing Summaries; Gamification, Collaboration And Innovation (andrewarmour.com)
• Why Superteams Win In The Social Era Of Business – ‘Superteams’ by Khoi Tu (andrewarmour.com)
• A Year of Blogging And Tweeting (andrewarmour.com)

You can read my blog by visiting http://andrewarmour.com/ and read my Tweets by following me at;  https://twitter.com/andrewarmour

The Challenges Of Gamification, Collaboration And Innovation

The recent Challenge Series of White Papers I contributed to focused on three topics that are set to test marketers in 2013. The rise of Gamification, the need for Collaboration – and the demands for Innovation. You can download the full white papers from the Benchstone website-  but here are some of the top facts, statistics, comments and quotes from the three papers in the series.

Ten Key Facts From The Challenge Series

1 – Computer games  is now the single biggest sector of the entire entertainment industry. With annual sales of £1.9 Billion it is nearly double the size of the once mighty UK music industry. (Source: Entertainment Retailers Association, 2012)

2 – By 2015 over 50% of global top-2000 organisations are expected to be using gamification techniques within their innovation programmes – and over 70% will be using games mechanics within their retention efforts. (Source: Gartner Enterprise Summit 2011)

3  - Only 16% of CEO’s surveyed by Capgemini say they have the right culture to drive collaboration and innovation. (Source; Capgemini  Report, 2012)

4 – General Electric’s Global Innovation Barometer reported that whilst 86% of top marketers they interviewed worldwide agreed that external partnerships were critical to innovation – only 21% are able to actively build them. (Source: GE Innovation Barometer 2012)

5 – There are 463 million search result pages for the term innovation management and 35,000 books on innovation available from Amazon. (Source: Google & Amazon Search, October 2012)

6 – Capgemini’s Global Innovation Survey reports that 76% of senior executives viewed innovation as a key strategic priority and 46% agreed their businesses needed to focus on new product development. (Source: Capgemini)

7 – 46% of CEO’s said the biggest weakness of marketing department is their lack of understanding of data – and only 25% of marketers are properly reporting on campaign effectiveness (Source: Forrester ‘Marketing Metrics That Matter 2011′)

8 – 56% of marketers cannot measure results from their social media campaigns (Source: Altimeter: ‘Social ROI Cookbook, 2012′)

9 – Over the past five years the need for innovation projects to show a profit has grown from 39% to 50% (Source: McKinsey ‘Making Innovation Structures Work Survey 2012′)

10 – To innovate, organisations are increasingly sharing information across their business; sharing strategic priorities (76%) , knowledge (77%) and research (69%)

Top Quotes And Comments From The Challenge Series

“With the ever more acute targeting of audience segments, gamification already contains detailed profiling insight to ensure the efficacy. The use of profiles during the planning provides clear direction for crucial areas such as gender, demographic and cultural variances” - Duncan Thomas, Pomegranate Group.

” Beth Comstock, CMO of General Electric summarises it beautifully when she says – ‘we used to think we could do it all ourselves but that’s not how the world works any more” – Andrew Armour, Benchstone Limited.

“You have to come back to what the business wants from collaboration.  Most key relationships fail because of a lack of those key soft skills – which are hard to measure around” - Stephen Hemmings

” To innovate people have to realise it’s not all up to them to have that one blinding moment of genius. As the science author, Stephen Johnson says ‘chance favours the connected mind’ “ – Andrew Armour, Benchstone Limited.

“The use of data sounds clinical – but this stuff creates pictures, patterns landscapes which we can view. When you introduce analysis points – that relate to bottom line and brand impacts we have found people are more receptive to bigger strategic thinking” - Duncan Thomas, Pomegranate Group.

“There is a lot of evidence that the most effective creative environment is a small and well focused team. Interestingly though, one with  a little bit of tension within it tends to perform the best.” – Paul Sloane, Destination-Innovation

“Lateral thinking looks at approaching a problem from a different way. As Edward de Bono says, ‘you cannot go in a new direction if you are continually looking at the sane old one’. So, no amount of incremental changes to aeroplane design would ever get you to the creation of a helicopter.” – Paul Sloane, Destination-Innovation

“More than ever, marketing leaders need to prove their department is still the home of creative pioneers – managing new thinking, brand innovation, product development and cultural change” -  Andrew Armour, Benchstone Limited.

If you have a top marketing topic that you have investigated and would like to contribute to the next edition of The Challenge Series please contact Andrew Armour. Thanks to the 2012 Challenge Series contributors and partners; Duncan Thomas, Stephen Hemmings and Paul Sloane and the team from Pomegranate Group.

Related articles

• Why Superteams Win In The Social Era Of Business – ‘Superteams’ by Khoi Tu (andrewarmour.com)
• Can Innovators Put Their Faith In Social Media? (andrewarmour.com)

Great Teams Stay Well Connected…

Effective teams are often not composed of easy-going types. And some degree of ‘creative abrasion’ may be a requirement if you are seeking genuine excellence. Collaboration is not always about getting along but it’s always about peak performance. And when it comes to effectively innovating in the social era,  high performance team-work is still its foundation.

A range of recent research and papers published by Cap Gemini and Forrester have consistently highlighted that collaboration is now recognised as being a key driver of innovation. And in their 2011 Innovation Monitor General Electric reported that whilst 86% of senior executives they surveyed viewed collaboration as vital to innovate, only 21% had the culture and people to do so.

Working Alone Can Lead To Unfortunate Errors…

Exploring the history of entrepreneurship, ideas, commerce and science shows that the importance of collaboration and co-working should not surprise us. Writers such as Steven Johnson, William Bernstein, Scott Berkun and Tom Kelley have all written that innovation success extends from the smart exchange of ideas, technologies, networking – and building of alliances. Berkun famously identifies that a belief in the lone genius is a particularly dangerous myth of innovation and Steven Johnson, who studied the stories of great breakthroughs in science and business in his book ‘Where Good Ideas Come From’ – reinforces this view with his famous comment that; ‘chance favours the connected mind’.

Of course, individual talent, flair, skill, craft & graft is needed in any organisation but getting that hive-like talent to stay focused and unite for a common purpose is the type of difference that can make a real difference.

The need for greater collaboration has led to some commentators such as Nilofer Merchant to suggest that we are entering the ‘social era’ of business – an age that will be highlighted by fluid and open communications, de-layering of management structures and flexible working. Traditional organisations will struggle to compete against agile and nimble players who can embrace a new way of working that goes far beyond ‘command and control’ – and is closer to the style of social media and freelancing than formal conglomerates. For this reason, 2013 is likely to be the year when conversations about Unified Communications and Collaboration Software will fill many a meeting room and call. These modern tools are designed to help speed up the flow of information and decision-making through in-house social media, avoiding or even getting rid of email, shared files and the latest VOIP and conferencing technologies. McKinsey estimates organisations who effectively use these technologies can obtain up to 35% efficiency and quality improvements through the use of these new ways of working.  Whilst these new tools are useful tools to support team work, at its heart, effective collaboration still relies on something very human: the ability of individuals to come together and work as a cohesive and effectively. How do effective teams work? What do they do, that those that fail, do not do?

Last week I was fortunate to hear the excellent Khoi Tu discuss his latest book, ‘Superteams – The Secrets of Stellar Performance From Seven Legendary Teams’ - when he spoke in the stunning surroundings of the Great Room at The RSA in London.

Tu adds a valuable and highly readable addition to the current team work literature. He examines a range of organisations and how they create effective teams; from the cutting edge creativity of PIXAR Animation to the dangerous precision of the SAS. And from the high-speed pressures of Formula One engineering to the bohemian world of the Rolling Stones, he has examined some great examples of team-work success and what it is – and what it is not.

So what characteristics do these teams share? What often comes as a surprise is that great teams are often not composed of steady and easy-going types. By their very nature – high achievers are not satisfied with being average and accepting easy solutions. The SAS for example is often comprised of military mavericks who know when and how to break the rules when they need to (see my previous piece Seth Godin And The Taleban). There is a need for stubborn belief that can lead to them often being seen as radical outsiders. As General Montgomery said about the WW2 founder of the SAS, Colonel David Stirling; ‘He’s quite mad. But in a war, we need people like him’. And the Rolling Stones are comprised of vastly different characters, with sometimes explosive temperaments - who nevertheless can come together to deliver more than they could do when working alone. Or as Ronnie Wood puts it; “I honestly believe that none of us are as strong individually as we are collectively”

Some degree of conflict and unreasonableness, it would appear, is not therefore a bad thing. Indeed, some form of ‘creative abrasion’ may be a requirement to blend a truly great team. A lot of research suggests, as does Tu in this book, that a healthy dose of debate and challenge can help. It is often said after all, that the spark of creativity can ignite in the clash between new and different ideas.

However, teams do not just bicker and fall apart. Tu also identifies the importance of cohesion; sticking together through the hard times and creating a common bond, built around trust. In addition, all the teams explored by him have a clear and compelling purpose that attracts the best talent to focus together. Most importantly, he notes that the best teams are always, always improving the way they are doing things. In this point, his findings reflect those of another prominent researcher into team effectiveness, Humphrey Walters – who says the secret of great teams is ‘consistently doing 100 things 1% better – not 1 thing 100% better’. (see my previous piece on Walters, ‘On The Soft Skills of Winning‘)

Walters was the management advisor to Sir Clive Woodward leading up to the England’s triumphant 2003 Rugby World Cup victory where after seven years of work, the trophy was won in the last thirty-five seconds. He went on to work alongside Chelsea FC and the incredible BT Global Challenge Round The World Yacht Race. Having worked (and sailed) – alongside the very best teams – Walters emphasises the devil and team victory lies most often ‘in the detail’. In his work he notes that great teams develop their own rules and standards, rather than have these enforced from above. Such team rules are often not revolutionary nor filled with the latest management jargon. Rather, good teams are built on simple agreement on the ways of working such as; turning up on time, having the right environment, pride in your work, doing what you said you were going to do. However – constant open and honest communication, even if may lead to some argument and disagreement – is vital.

Even The Smartest Techies Need To Work Well With Others

The importance of being more than just individually good is also important in highly technical environments that require great personal talent. For example, in their recent work ‘Team Geek’ two senior Google software engineers, Brian Fitzpatrick & Ben Collins-Sussman also examined team-work and collaboration from their insight into the world’s greatest software engineering teams. A key piece of advice they offer to geeks and non-geeks alike, mirrors the view of Berkun and Johnson, when they remind the reader that; ‘working in isolation leads to disappointment’

So what do they say leads to success? They identify three simple key pillars of teamwork and collaboration; HUMILITY, RESPECT and TRUST. Success, they point out, is built on winning allies and supporters for your ideas not just being the smartest. And they emphasise; ‘lose the ego and don’t come across like a know-it-all’ – and their advice is that as well as learning your craft, the smartest people need to learn how to ‘play well with others’ too.

This is a point explored further in the work of Morten T Hansen too, who describes the need for ‘T-Shaped People’ in his book ‘Collaboration’. For Hansen, the valuable executives are those T-Shaped people, who combine their vertical depth of expertise PLUS a horizontal breadth, to enable them to effectively work across the organisation, building focused links, connections and new conversations.

‘Superteams’ by Khoi Tue is a great addition to the canon that has explored great team work over the years. Extreme sporting endeavour, commandos and rock stars may seem unlikely to share much in common but ultimately we can recognise the patterns that have driven their successes. Collaboration is often wanted and increasingly a precursor to innovation but it is easier said – than done. In our own CollaborativeEdge Programme we emphasise that successful collaboration and partnership programmes start in the personal behaviour of those involved and we focus strongly on the importance of leadership conversation and building the internal sponsors and networks who can build momentum. Most business partnerships, alliances and innovation project failures are a result of lack of soft communication skills – not the hard mechanics. Individual brilliance is needed – but is simply not enough.

As Tu puts it in the forward of Superteams – ‘Individual excellence is both necessary and critical but the skill and the will to build, lead and perform in a team is often the difference between success and failure. Even for individual stars, failing to work effectively in a team can be a career limiting flaw. In an interconnected world the inability to be a good team player can have the same effect as Krypton on Superman’

Thanks to Khoi Tu for a superb talk – and The RSA.

For further information on collaboration, partnership management please visit Benchstone Limited

You can read more from Andrew Armour at www.andrewarmour.com.

Download Andrew’s white papers on collaboration and gamification - here.

You can read more about Khoi Tu and his work by visiting Inverstar. 

Related articles from Andrew Armour

• Can Innovators Put Their Faith In Social Media? (andrewarmour.com)
• In Turbulent Teams You Need Open Innovation
• Honesty And Cooperation In Business

Being Smart & Social Is About More Than Tweeting..

In his excellent latest book Social Media For Corporate Innovators and Entrepreneurs the excellent Stefan Lindegaard (see his blog 15Inno) provides a valuable guide to how social media channels can become useful innovation tools. As well as explaining the importance of Open Innovation (building in themes from his previous book ‘Making Innovation Work’) – Lindegaard interviews innovation practitioners from organisations such as Nokia, Gijima, Beirsdorf and Psion – to share how they have incorporated social media tools into their successful product development plans. He explains the use of Yammer, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn through the discovery, incubation and acceleration phases of innovation management – and why their smart use is about more than just the latest trendy technology and smartphone apps …

It’s worth pointing out of course, that social media is not a silver bullet for companies under pressure to deliver in challenging times – and nor is its use without due caution and critics. As Seth Godin has pointed out, the expenditure of valuable marketing resources to chasing and reporting meaningless social media metrics, not proven to be related to genuine business objectives or customer value is at best spurious and at best dumb and reckless. It’s the kind of activity that can hasten the viewing of marketing as the ‘colouring in department’ by their more commercially minded critics. Likewise as Morten T Hansen notes, unfocused and random collaboration and networking has no value to innovation or any other business efforts. Focused and relevant collaboration is another matter entirely. Morten T Hansen sees ‘T-Shaped’ people, those who can connect across the business and the important spreaders of insights that can foster development.

Good Connections Fuel Great Innovations…

For Hansen, Berkun, Kelley – and Lindegaard, collaboration sits at the heart of open innovation – the increasingly vital cultural led approach that places emphasis upon engagement with customers, suppliers and partners. And it is not just academic and theoretical. In my previous posts I’ve reviewed the reports and surveys by Capgemini, GE and Forrester all pointing out that innovation is achieved through nurturing partnerships and allies. And successful, innovators such as GE, and Proctor and Gamble now use networks and partners to drive creativity and product development. It’s a trend in business, in art and science too. A recent article in Scientific American, also reinforces that science and technology is driven by collaborations and sharing of knowledge and ideas across the world and across disciplines – not great moments of isolation and personal genius. In a world that is complex, the need to find and work well with the right people is still (as it always has been…) the essence of invention, creativity, capitalism, distribution and commercial success. As Beth Comstock says ‘we used to think we could do everything ourselves but that isn’t how the world works anymore’

Working Alone Can Be A Bad Idea…

Yet, research suggests most people and organisations are poor at collaborating – and building the right conversations. So how can Twitter and Facebook help with this? For Lindegaard, social media channels and skills are relevant additions to the innovation toolbox. Interestingly, he firstly devotes time to explaining the need for open innovation. This has much to do with culture and leadership style. Executives must avoiding the fear of changing how things are done and realise that to share is a valuable tactic. As he says; “The most important thing to innovation is knowledge – and getting access to knowledge” – and he goes on to say “Corporate innovators must pay more attention to terms such as preferred partner and ‘we’re in the match making business’.

Of course, there is clearly no point in launching into dramatic customer pages in Facebook, install Yammer and encourage executives to network extensively within LinkedIn – if the innovation culture and process is still contained within a small group in R&D, senior management and traditional players. You have to believe in open innovation, before you can really believe and benefit from the power of social media. And if you do believe in open innovation then it would be foolish not to embrace the faith and adopt social media channels. Lindegaard provides a very useful explanation for how to use the various channels available at different stages of innovation process, from engaging with customers and suppliers to collating market insight and finding new contacts.  He shows that social media, used correctly – with a clear purpose, can help to build those useful conversations both within and outside of the organisation.

So is social media simple? Do you just dive in and hope for the best? Well no. It should be approached like any other business initiative and tool. Used well, its powerful. Poorly managed, well, it’s just poorly managed. Unfortunately like networking and relationship management, it’s something that can be easily left to chance and the danger is that hope replaces a strategy. As Lindegaard points out - ‘Networking does not take care of itself. Neither does innovation. This is the same with social media’

Innovation requires a willingness to engage across and outside of the organisation and these tools can help. But if you don’t believe in open innovation have faith in that as a  fundamental philosophy for progress then no amount of smart Tweets  and clever blogs can help. The question is, do you believe?

Thanks to Stefan for making available the review copy. You can download your copy onto Kindle – here.

For more articles on collaboration and partnerships please visit andrewarmour.com.

To download my whitepapers on Marketing And The Evolution of Collaboration and Can Business Win With Gamification - please visit Benchstone. For further from Stefan Lindegaard, please visit his blog – 15Inno.com.

If you have not seen it, you should also check out Stefan’s presentation on the importance of networks – here. 

Related articles

• The Death Of Traditional Strategy – And The Rise Of Connected Business (andrewarmour.com)
• Video: Stefan Lindegaard – Innovation Needs Networking & Connecting.. (andrewarmour.com)
• In Turbulent Times You Need Open Innovation – And Collaboration Skills (andrewarmour.com)
• Mars Goes Beyond Brands, Opens Up Innovation Efforts (customerthink.com)
• Employee Driven Innovation: Insights from Cisco (customerthink.com)
• Open Up Your Innovation Efforts – Or Fall Behind! (customerthink.com)

 < Marketing And The Evolution of Collaboration

This paper contains a review of the recent thinking and research relating to collaboration and innovation and features my interview and discussion with Duncan Thomas, the founder of digital agency – Pomegranate Group and Steve Hemmings from Realpoint Consulting. We explore why successful collaboration is often so difficult and what kind of skills and behaviour need to be developed.

Can Marketers Win With Gamification? >

This paper explores how the psychology and tactics used by games designers and entrepreneurs can be used by marketers and businesses to improve their relationships with users, customers and other stakeholders. The white paper contains some of the history (and controversy)  behind the use of gamification within marketing – and a look at how marketers can avoid the hype and use the smart gaming tactics to add value to their innovation efforts.

What are the modern challenges you think marketers now face? Please comment  - and let us know if you have marketing topics that you think need to be questioned. Or, if you would like to contribute to the future editions of the Challenge Series, please get in touch.