Modes in innovation and design by Living Enterprise, Inc.

Value-systems The purpose of innovating is to bring about deliberate change in a value co-creating system with the intent of enhancing overall value. Alternatively, the objective is to create new pathways to alternative systems of value over time.

modes in innovating

Strategic Governance

Enterprise/business

Value System

Exploitation/ Operations

Exploration/ Innovation

Value Co-creating Systems consist of several entities, one of which is traditionally termed ‘enterprise’ or ‘business’.

value system

offerings

The enterprise system dimensions consist of value propositions, offerings (products, services or some combination), processes/functions (demand, supply, manufacturing etc.), business models that enable value capture, and a set of shared capabilities that support one or more business models.

process/function Irrespective of the focus of a particular innovation effort, the whole system or a constituent part, successful innovation is observed to display certain patterns of activities that are described in this document as modes.

business models

Grouped into two broad classes strategic and design-centric, the ten modes enable breaking down the complex challenge into manageable parts, simultaneously recognizing the somewhat fluid nature of the overall task. Strategic modes are primarily oriented towards the objective of ensuring that the innovation effort is targeted towards the correct challenges and have the resources and support necessary for path-creation. The design-centric modes on the other hand are targeted towards creatively exploring desirable, viable, and feasible, alternative solutions, some of which might be implemented to create new value.

capabilities

Innovation targets the value system or one or more of an enterprise’s dimensions, always maintaining integrity of the overall system.

Purposeful innovation projects typically exhibit certain interrelated patterns of activities, termed modes, each directed towards achieving distinctive objectives. Together these modes for innovating.

•  strategic •  design-centric

grammar

We group modes into two broad classes, strategic and design-centric.

Thinking about the process of innovating in terms of modes allows us to recognize distinctive patterns of activities related by an objective, without constraining us to follow any pre-determined sequence of process steps. Objectives might be and are achieved by working through several different modes, often iteratively. Modes might consist of sub-modes, though these are likely to be leveraged within the parent mode itself.

framing

discovering

mobilizing

envisioning

staging

strategizing

assessing

architecting

evolving

Modes and sub-modes generally achieve their objectives through three types of activities – research, analysis and synthesis – the last of these delivering on the objective of the mode.

implementing

It is useful to organize the research and analysis activities in a manner that leads to the objective of the mode. This can be done by carefully framing the objective in the beginning. Various methods, tools and techniques specific to the mode might be drawn upon depending on the needs and constraints of a particular situation.

modes&classes

form

Modes and the enterprise Strategic Governance

Value-creating system OR Enterprise/business Value System

Exploitation/ Operations

Exploration/ Innovation

strategic modes also provide an interface between designcentric modes and the rest of the enterprise – strategic and operational

interaction between modesiterative+fluid framing

discovering

mobilizing

envisioning

staging

strategizing

assessing

architecting

evolving

implementing

(i.d.e.a.s) design-‐centric modes

strategic modes (fr.a.m.e.s)

modessub-modes Research +data

Research +data

analysis

synthesis

mode

analysis

Research +data analysis

mode

Modes might consist of one or more sub-modes that are often unique to it. Each mode and sub-mode has distinctive objectives and makes contributions to the larger innovation process. Modes or sub-modes achieve their objectives through a series of research, analysis and synthesis tasks.

synthesis

mode

synthesis

modesmethods Research +data

Each mode draws flexibly on a body of methods, tools, and techniques to realize its objectives. Often, the focus/target of the innovation activity determines the methods, tools or techniques that might be used, even though ostensibly the mode is the same.

analysis

Common techniques for research, analysis, and synthesis might be leveraged in many different modes.

mode

All activities in the various modes are to the extent possible designed for collaborative co-creation.

synthesis

Though the methods, tools and techniques used in a mode might be different, the process of arriving at the objective often follows some patterns – research including data gathering, analysis, and synthesis.

innovatingwith modes modes Researc h +data

Research +data

Oﬀerings / Services

Processes

Business Models

Enterprise

framing

analysi s

analysi s synthes is

Researc h +data

Systems / Solu-ons

analysis

synthes is

mobilizing

synthesis

staging assessing

Researc h +data

mode analysi

evolving

s synthes is mod e

discovering envisioning strategizing

The methods associated with the modes and sub-modes are often shared among various objects of design as shown in the table (illustrative only). However, they might be specific to the object as well, giving rise to variations within the same mode.

architec-ng implemen-ng

mod e

framing the challenge correctly; organizing for pathcreation and impact.

strategic modes

strategicmodes framing

mobilizing

They together frame, guide and assess the effectiveness of innovation and ensure stakeholder support.

assessing

evolving

Innovation is fundamentally a social process that happens within and impacts social or socio-technical systems. It is important to understand how a target system functions and will be impacted as a result of the innovation. Framing the challenge through this understanding is crucial to addressing the right challenge. In order for an innovation to be successful it must mobilize the overall social system to understand and participate in the process of innovating, assessing and stay involved with the evolution of the solutions. Strategic modes work flexibly and iteratively with design-centric modes.

The five modes, framing, mobilizing, designing the innovation approach or staging, assessing and evolving constitute the strategic modes class.

staging

In particular, stakeholders use cognitive frames that originate in their respective practice domains. A dominant sub-group and/or sponsor often describes the objective of an innovation initiative. If the challenge is not correctly framed, the innovation effort is not effective or successful.

We recognize that all innovation efforts have a bearing on value systems irrespective of the level and scale at which they are carried out. Opportunities, or dysfunctions, that motivate innovation might be based on symptoms and not on systemic understanding of causes. Objectives of innovation are best framed in terms of the desired impact on a target system or aspirations for alternative systems.

Framing is one of the most important modes in any innovation initiative. Getting it right ensures that efforts and resources are directed towards generating meaningful impact. It is also one of the most challenging modes, since it requires some effort to understand the extant models and the underlying issues that manifest as dysfunction or opportunities. It provides an opportunity to broaden the space of the innovation effort from inception, enabling consideration of a wider range of alternatives. Framing might happen over time in the course of a project and often requires revisiting after being in the discovery mode, where modeling value creation might reveal the need for a shift in the frames and the statement of objectives.

framing

System innovation efforts are often complex and require the commitment and participation of a number of diverse stakeholders, each of whom have their own interests and unique perspectives about the issue, opportunity, or challenge.

mobilizing

Systems innovation brings all stakeholders to contribute to the process of value creation.

The target system that is meant to be impacted has many stakeholders with diverse interests, that are invested in existing regimes, bound by other constraints including the possibility of potential change in status or other losses, or simply by the limitations of conventional wisdom.

Stakeholders need to understand the benefits and implications of the potential innovation and participate in its creation and adoption.

Successful innovation requires all impacted stakeholders to participate in the co-creation of new value. Success also requires the mobilization of adequate resources.

It is critical to obtain the support, commitment and participation of all impacted stakeholders. Mobilization concerns itself with ensuring participation of all impacted stakeholders.

the

Mobilization occurs over a period of time in stages. Once identified, the critical group of stakeholders, particularly those with influence and power, must be made aware of and convinced of the need and planned approach to innovation. Stages of mobilization might include building awareness, education, participation in the framing mode, and in particular during the stage where a case for change has been firmly established and resources including stakeholder participants are identified for project initiation. The full-scale commitment of resources might happen at the end of the Envisioning mode. It is also important to keep stakeholders and resources mobilized throughout the innovation process.

Innovation implies deliberate change and transformation from an existing state.

Each innovation initiative requires the design of unique approaches, even when it draws upon standard modes.

Complex tasks and resources requiring coordination across the enterprise need leadership and management.

An appropriate leadership and management infrastructure must also be designed and established, as must systems, and platforms for learning.

An effective interface to sponsors and stakeholders is critical to ensure ongoing communication, reporting, and resolution of critical issues. Stakeholders and participants not understanding or buying-into the process, its underlying points-of view, and theories, leads to conflict and misdirection of effort.

Co-creating participants must be made familiar with the approach and methods that will be leveraged and prepared.

Jumping into a complex innovation effort without adequate preparations or readiness is a formula for failure. There are many approaches to innovation that vary in scope from incremental to radical, top-down vs. emergent, open innovation etc. A choice appropriate to the demands of the situation must be made. The staging mode concerns itself with readiness and preparation of the innovating ecosystem. A core team that leads and manages the innovation effort is established. It designs and communicates a unique process, organizes resources and ensures systemic readiness. It also puts in place a management infrastructure that obtains and provides resources, ensures regular communications with sponsors and stakeholders, and manages the escalation and resolution of critical issues.

staging

Every innovation effort is unique in terms of the task at hand, its objectives, and resources available. Standard methods and approaches do not always work well or could be sub-optimal.

Learning is a critical attribute of such co-evolving systems. Effective learning drives maturity of innovation practice and accelerates time-to-outcomes. When continuous learning is not embedded into the value-creating system, innovation practice does not benefit from the experience of prior efforts.

Learning is a distinctive feature of co-creating/co-evolving enterprises. A reflective and learning orientation is important to improving innovation practice maturity. Regular assessment not only allows path-correction but is an important learning mechanism that feeds back into practice, and contributes to ongoing capability development. Assessing is concerned with evaluating the impact of a desired innovation effort on a target system. Regular and effective assessments can provide systemic insights into the mechanisms and causes that lead to particular outcomes. Learning needs to be built into the practice as an ongoing activity, while more comprehensive assessments might be appropriate at significant stages and milestones. It is also important that assessing facilitates the learning process and does not create bureaucratic barriers to ongoing innovating practice.

assessing

Value Systems innovate on an ongoing basis. The process involves m u c h e x p l o r a t i o n a n d experimentation and is not risk or error-free.

Conditions might change and approaches to creating an impact might also need to correspondingly evolve.

When an intermediate impact in the course of execution of an innovation initiative has been accomplished the approach to shaping the system through innovating evolves to its next stage, taking into account the co-evolution that has simultaneously occurred.

The evolving mode is concerned with assessing the evolution of the overall value ecosystem and the role of the enterprise within it. The mode revisits the desirable end-state for the overall value system in accordance and alignment with overall strategic objectives of the enterprise. Through this process it sketches a path for the evolution of the overall system to its next logical stage, and its own role and approach to impacting the system.

This approach to impact becomes the basis for the next iteration of the innovation effort, in an ongoing effort to shape its own destiny.

evolving

The desired impact of the innovation process on a target system is often not achieved in a single stage or iteration of an innovation effort.

expand value-space and establish desirable, viable, and feasible paths to impact

design-centric modes

design-centricmodes discovering

envisioning

Together they expand the space for value creation and find desirable, viable and feasible pathways to generative impact.

architecting

implementing

The task of innovating begins with developing a deep understanding of existing systems and their boundaries, so that foundational strategic concepts may be critiqued. There are many approaches to expanding the potential space for new value creation, including foresight, new insights, the understanding of shifts in need spaces, the use of technologies, and leveraging new design principles for building offerings. Successful outcomes create new lexicons for value, design systems and architectures. The iterative process is sensitive from the beginning to the challenge of introducing change and ensuring adoption.

The five modes of discovering, envisioning, strategizing, architecting and implementing constitute the designcentric modes of innovating.

strategizing

The targeted system of innovation is embedded in a context comprised of other systems. Often designed during other regimes, designed systems exhibit dysfunction or misalignment with purpose from not having evolved.

The discovering mode provides a vital foundation to the entire innovating process. It is meant to develop a deep understanding of the systems of interest and their context.

discovering discovering

envisioning

strategizing

architecting

implementing

Through this process we develop insights into the historical reasons for why systems are the way they are, including the strategic concepts and forces that have shaped them. We also understand the current drivers of change and develop foresight about emerging futures. The purpose is to reveal and deconstruct structures, so we might critique them, test their viability and loosen boundaries. An understanding of emerging issues and forces, shifts in needs etc., provides the basis for creating an expanded space for exploration of alternatives.

Making an impact on systems requires an understanding of their dynamics, their history, and forces that will create opportunities and shape the future.

At the heart of the innovation effort is the creative generation of alternatives in an expanded value-space. Building on the foundations of discovering, the opportunity during envisioning is the unconstrained exploration of non-traditional paradigms for making impact.

The envisioning mode postulates alternative possibilities and avenues for value-creation in the context of the changing realities and the opportunities created in various dimensions of an expanded value-space. There are many vectors that provide the source for new ideas and expansion of creative space.

envisioning discovering

envisioning

strategizing

architecting

Among them are ideas brought back from journeys into the future, developed through foresight scenarios and design fiction like exercises, reimagining and reconfiguring relationships among resources and assets, leveraging new insights into systems and capabilities created by technologies, shifts in need spaces and developing denser value propositions.

implementing

The mode involves much experimentation, and prototyping to rapidly find meaningful convergence and plausible alternative locations at the intersection of possibilities and needs.

The process is deliberately provocative, playfully expanding boundaries.

The innovating enterprise is guided by its strategic architecture in the pathcreation choices it makes. From among the possible and plausible alternatives, the enterprise must choose options that are feasible and viable in its context and serve its strategic aspirations.

The strategizing mode develops a rubric for selecting feasible and viable alternatives from among the range of possibilities illuminated during envisioning.

strategizing discovering

envisioning

strategizing

architecting

The extent to which these choices depart from established trajectories depends considerably on the culture of the organization and its appetite for risk. Choices are also constrained by the availability of resources. The enterprise has an opportunity to reframe its strategic concepts, lay the groundwork for redefining value and become a shaper and primemover of an expanded ecosystem.

implementing

Strategizing is the mode that defines the pathcreation approach to making ongoing systemic impact and recurring emergence.

The choices become the basis for defining desired outcomes and an approach for making impact through innovation.

The context of the enterprise continues to evolve over its lifetime and ever more rapidly. The enterprise must anticipate potential variations and be able to respond flexibly as it coevolves.

This mode is concerned architecture and design.

with

detailed

The scope of architecture expands to cover larger business ecosystems that go beyond the traditional boundaries of the enterprise. Architecture creates the language for a new value design system.

architecting

The scope of design incudes the design of a new value-creating system, value propositions, processes and functions, shared service platforms etc. Most importantly, the system is designed to create a value-surplus, the logic of value capture being defined by business models. The surplus is the source of ongoing vitality and emergence of the enterprise and its ecosystem.

discovering

envisioning

strategizing

architecting

implementing

As with the rest of the process, it is critical to involve all stakeholders appropriately in a collaborative innovation and design environment.

An architectural approach accommodates potential variation while providing a platform for hosting multiple designs.

A l l i n n o v a t i o n s a r e interventions in systems. They i m p l y c h a n g e a n d transformation. The introduction of an innovation in an ecosystem must therefore be carefully orchestrated in order to ensure adoption and transition to new states.

The process of realizing innovation value in an ecosystem context requires multi-dimensional abilities, coordinating and orchestrating value across a diverse constellation of entities.

implementing discovering

envisioning

strategizing

architecting

implementing

Successful introduction depends on a thorough understanding of the dynamics of the system, its levers of change, the processes of adoption and diffusion of innovation, transitions and creating pathways for change. Implementation therefore is more than just realizing designs in material terms. It include the development of pilots, preparing and including stakeholders in the process of providing feedback for rapid iterations, and scaling strategically.

The design of path-creation is as important and critical as the design of the valuecreating system itself.

modes+innovation targets of innovation

value system

offerings framing

mobilizing

staging

assessing

evolving

process/function discovering

envisioning

strategizing

architecting

implementing

(i.d.e.a.s) design-‐centric modes

business models

capabilities

strategic modes (fr.a.m.e.s)

Sudhir Desai, Principal www.livingenterprise.net

thank you!