I was going to write a post on customer service in a recession but then I got distracted by a great article on improvised theatre posted on Innovation Tools. It made me realise that my original impulse – to post a piece on the recently-ended London Jazz Festival was the best one to go for as both the article and my experiences at the festival were inspirational and, yes, they do provide useful lessons for customer service.
Business innovation
Making Change Happen: the definitive book on change?
It’s not often that you read a management book and think ‘everyone should have a copy of this’ but Jane Northcote – management consultant and occasional contributor to this blog – has written a book that everyone involved in change should read. Making Change Happen is quite simply
Business innovation 5) What’s your innovation mythology?
I was in a meeting with one of my clients recently where we were reviewing a document that dealt with how to get the voice of the customer more embedded into their project methodology. Following a battle with Microsoft Word’s spell-checker the document referred to a project mythology. Laughs all round but this got me thinking: methodologies are all well and good but it’s an organisation’s mythology that can make all the difference between successful innovation and unsuccessful stagnation.
Why so? Well, let’s look at myths and what they mean.
Business innovation 4) Revive, re-form, cash in!
I’ve been slightly surprised by the amount of coverage generated by the one-off reunion of Led Zeppelin earlier this week. Although I wasn’t one of the one million people who tried to get tickets for their performance at the O2 I do remember them from the 1970s
Business innovation 3) Innovation and creativity – part 2: practicalities
Most organisations suffer from a wariness of creativity stemming from the myths that I outlined last week. As a consequence, organisations typically don’t set out in an intentional and systematic way to build and maintain their creativity – and this is a wasted opportunity.
This fear of creativity
Business Innovation 2) Innovation and creativity – part 1: myths
You can’t have innovation in your organisation without building and fostering creativity. Unfortunately too many people think creativity is something that is rationed or should be carefully deployed.
This thinking is un-helpful to say the least and stems from a number of myths about creativity.
Business Innovation 1) An introduction
The UK launch of the Apple iPhone last Friday seems a good time to launch a series on innovation. Each week I will post on the topic of business innovation and, specifically, how it relates to the delivery of superior customer service.
Topics to be covered will include: