Innovation consulting

Want to create an innovative strategy or solution?

Conduct an innovation lab.

(And learn how to innovate, to boot.)

An innovation lab is a dedicated period of intensive work on developing and implementing a creative strategy or solution. It takes place in a physical and/or virtual space. My innovation consulting services include the processes, platforms, and people (see the facilitation page) for carrying out the three phases of the innovation process depicted below.

A sampling of the processes used during the three phases

Investigation:

  • Consumption chain method

  • Jobs-to-be-done method

  • Touchpoint analysis

  • Problem hierarchy & scoping

  • Attribute mapping

  • Causal analysis

  • Primary & secondary research

Ideation:

  • Expertise (MECE, Priming)

  • Logic (Deductive)

  • Analogy (Analog maps)

  • Conceptual combination (LCT)

  • Artificial intelligence

  • Multi-criteria decision analysis

  • Elaboration

Implementation:

  • Rapid prototyping

  • Experimentation

  • Living labs

  • Action plan

  • Roll out & scale up

  • Periodic reviews

Commercial, government, and nonprofit entities employ innovation labs to create the following

A solution to a difficult organizational or social problem, such as:

  • Reducing employee turnover

  • Attracting & retaining association members

  • Increasing food security

  • Improving access to health systems

A new or improved:

  • Product (or service or customer experience)

  • Process (production, marketing, hiring processes, etc.)

  • Position (differentiation strategy, branding strategy)

  • Policy (compensation, risk, decision-making policies, etc.)

  • Paradigm (business model)

The labs usually involve one or more of the following kinds of collaboration

  • Cross-sector (commercial, government, and nonprofit)

  • Inter-organizational

  • Cross-functional / inter-departmental

  • Inter-disciplinary