In previous articles, I discussed the lackluster state of innovation in the country based on the 2018 Global Innovation Index which ranked the Philippines 73rd out of 126 economies, which was steady from a year ago. One of the key weaknesses highlighted was in the area of human capital, which positioned the Philippines as ‘below average’ in regional innovation ranking. My conversations with business and government leaders yielded a clear acknowledgement of the importance of innovation in advancing their organizations. In fact, they all get the definition of innovation right, that is, it’s the introduction of something new, like a new idea, new method, or product. But the innovation gap, based on our assessment, stems from three areas of human capital, namely: Lack of common understanding of what innovation is, lack of disciplined approach to innovation in many organizations, and lack of innovative leaders. Clearly, the kernel of the solution is to enable business leaders and employees to learn how to innovate. But how? Innovation entails analysis, i.e. breaking down an issue or bigger concept into small ones for better understanding and evaluation; and synthesis, i.e. putting together smaller constituent elements forming a more complex whole,”. The former uses logical thinking; whereas the latter requires creativity or “connecting the dots”– the driving force of modern creation and innovation. But how can one learn these skills? Many companies attempt to acquire such skills by jumping into the bandwagon of running design thinking and other innovation workshops, which “forces” the participants to think of “new solutions” to “solve problems” by brainstorming in groups. While these are engaging and interesting, their impact may range from temporary to nothing at all, because brainstorming as a method of collective thinking is limited by the individual idiosyncrasies. In my almost two decades of teaching adults in graduate school, and several years of running innovation workshops in organizations, innovation as a skill is not something that can be developed through a workshop or brainstorming, because of the differences in how organization members think and solve problems. In particular, the younger generations, i.e. millennials, are generally fast in finding a potential solution to a problem by “connecting the dots”; but only once they know the process of “connecting the dots”.While they are quick thinkers, they are constrained by the lack of understanding on “how to connect the dots” and the number and variety of “dots” that they know because of their limited work experience. Therefore, what works well with them is facilitating and imparting mental models – frameworks that are a representation of the surrounding world and the relationships between its various parts. On the other hand, as people get older, such as the Generation X and Baby Boomers, the thinking becomes slower due to chemical imbalances in the brain. Hence, it’s harder for them to be “forced” to think of innovative ideas. What works well with them is showing mental cues – a set of proven ideas and tactics that trigger their older brains to remember the “dots” that they have experienced and can therefore connect. So, for an innovation program to work, it has to be facilitated by an expert (internal or external), and should use mental models and mental cues which make innovation replicable across the different parts of the organization, thereby making it part of the organization culture. In the innovation workshop we conduct, we use a practical mental model or innovation framework, called the 11 Types of Innovation, taken from the work of Keeley et al. According to this, innovation can happen in 11 areas of an organization, namely: Profit model – how the company makes money Network – how companies build connections to create value Structure – the alignment of the company’s talents and resources to deliver greater value Process –the superior methods that the company uses Product performance – the distinguishing features and functionality of a product Product system – complimentary products and services that enhance the value of a product Service – support enhancements that surround a firm’s offerings Channel – how offerings are delivered to customers and users Brand –the representation of offerings and business Customer engagement – the distinctive interactions the firm fosters People and culture –the ways of working and interacting inside the organization This mental model helps organization members understand where innovation can happen, and not limit to themselves to product innovation. For each of these areas, we provide mental cues, much like cue cards, that trigger the minds of the participants on what specific innovation tactics to employ, such as subscription tactic for profit model innovation or predictive analytics tactic for processinnovation. Then we prioritize the tactics to create an innovation roadmap that spans months to even years. Participants experience an “aha!” moment once they choose applicable tactics from more that 100 from the list. This approach not only maximizes the brain power to innovate in an organization, but also make the process scalable across the organization to make innovation part of its culture. The author is President & CEO of Hungry Workhorse Consulting, a digital and culture transformation firm. He is the Chairman of the Information and Communications Technology Committee of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines. He teaches strategic management in the MBA Program of De La Salle University. The author may be emailed at [email protected]