Technical Module - The Five Disciplines of Innovation

Trainer: Assoc. Prof Dr Khairudin Damhoeri

Date: 7 - 9 April 2010 

The FIVE disciplines of Innovation 

• Discipline 1 - Important Customer & Market Needs
• Discipline 2 - Value Creation
• Discipline 3 - Innovation Champions
• Discipline 4 - Innovation Teams
• Discipline 5 - Organizational Alignment 

1# Your product or service must target a customer value (as opposed to a company, shareholder, employee, or public value). A customer's value = benefits - cost. You can optimize either the benefits or the cost to achieve high value. 

2# You need a value proporsition. High customer value results from providing superior benefits per costs compared to the competition and alternatives. Quantitative value of proposition is the core of your "elevator speech" (ie NABCs = Needs + Approach + Benefits + Competition) that addresses:

• What is the important customer and market need?
• What is the unique approach for addressing this need?
• What are the specific benefits per costs superior to the competition's and the alternatives?

3# Success require teams lead by Champions which are committed and passionate. To bring innovative concepts to fruition, Champions exemplify the Five Disciplines of Innovation while serving the best interest of their enterprise.

4# To innovate, you need collective intelligence. Innovation teams must have a shared vision, complementary skills, and shared rewards. 

5#  Upper management needs to remove barriers and provide organizational support. This is the advantage of smaller businesses. Align your team first, then the overall enterprise - everyone can create new customer value. Continuous Value Creation (CVC) requires alignment of structure and process throughout the enterprise to maximize customer value.

 

Technical Module - Creative Thinking Skills

Trainer: Prof. Dr. Barjoyai Bardai

Date: 2 - 6 April 2010

Anyone can start thinking creatively, and we all have the potential to think up great new ideas. However, many people haven't had the opportunity to discover that capacity among themselves. Therefore, I am so lucky to have Prof. Dr. Barjoyai Bardai to share his knowledge about this topic. His lesson was interesting and full of beneficial inputs.

What is creativity?

 Creativity is a lifestyle, a personality trait, a way of perceiving the world, a way of thinking, a way of living and a way of growing.

Let's test your mind:

What do you see in each picture after it is flipped?

Look Closely !

The Art of Creative Thinking

Creative thinking skills show you practical ways to become a more creative thinker. It develops your understanding of the creative process; overcomes barriers to create new idea; broadens your vision; builds on new ideas; develops a creative attitude; becomes more confident as a creative thinker. The basic rules in creative thinking are:

• Be imaginative - promote imagination
• Have initiative to provoke your mind by "Thinking Wrong"
• Defer judgement -  better still bt pass judgement
• Use movement in thinking - all the time

The Innovation Process

Technological innovation is a critical factor for the survival and growth of most industrial enterprise, and should not be left to chance if it can be planned and controlled in a meaningful way. The most critical factors in technological innovation process are:

• A marker orientation
• Relevance to the organization's corporate objectives
• An effective project selection and evaluation system
• Effective project management and control
• A source of creative ideas
• An organization receptive to innovation
• Commitment by one or a few individuals

How does one deal with a road block that springs up in the middle of an innovation development process?

•  increase the amount of relevant information available to the problem solver
• increase the number of potential alternative that are generated and thus improve the chances of finding a very good solution
• Increase competitive advantage by producing more unusual solution

Once the team has ideas on how to approach the problem, rank the solutions and select the best approach. Develop the solution or solutions to the problem and select the best solution. During the development process, don't forget to keep the marketplace in mind because for an "invention" to become "innovation" it must succeed in the marketplace.

Communication Module – Week 5

29 & 30 March 2010 - Powerful Presentation Skills

Trainers: Mr Najmi and Miss Amira

Once again we had Mr Najmi and Miss Amira as our trainers. The first task he asked to discuss was the statement 'TIME IS MONEY' by applying creative thinking and presentation techniques that we had learned previously. We are not able to say whether time is money or not. Some people will always believe that time is only money but nothing else; others will defend the opposite stand. As far as I concerned, all of us should realize that the material around us makes time money. Although I do not want to agree with this statement, I confess all of us should be realistic. No one can lead normal life without enough money. People constantly work in order to earn. And they need TIME. It is mainly MONEY for them.

31 March and 1 April 2010 - Presentation

Trainers: Mr Hisham and Miss Amira 

We had an individual presentation today. We need to ensure proper time management, material use, voice quality, content and closure of the presentation. After presentation, Mr Hisham gave his feedback on our presentation. Following is my script for the presentation:

Communication Module – Week 4

22 March 2010 - The Art of Negotiation Skills

Trainer: Mr Hisham Ab Karim

Negotiation is truly an art that involves give and take from all parties involved. Negotiation take talent and skill which has been covered in today lesson by Mr Hisham. We had negotiation activity in the class and it was very interesting. Negotiation is the most vital skills any entrepreneur must have and it is difficult to achieve agreement where there is no consensus between the individuals involved in the negotiation. However, I personally think that negotiation can be better with experience and exercise.

23 & 24 March 2010 - Writing an Article for Publication - Techniques and Styles

Trainers: Mdm Liew Suet Fun and Miss Sarasvati

Everyone can write, but to write an effective article need to be learned and practiced. An expert in this field which is known as Ms Suet Fun had shared her knowledge and experience freely. There are several steps need to be followed in order to produce a good article writing.

Here's the process:

1. Topic - you'll never write a feature article, for any publication, unless it is highly targeted toward a unique subject in the field.
2. Title - You need to have a gripping and thought provoking title when you are writing a feature article.
3. Writing style - Powerful layman technique, commanding authors, whose opinions are original are good writer.

Following these steps is the first step to learn how to consistently find yourself writing a good article. The best and important part is 'PRACTICE' then you'll find yourself writing a good article easily every time.

25 March 2010 - The Role of NLP in Communication

Trainer: Mr Faizal Kamal

Mr Faizal is one of the well known people who have certified qualification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in Malaysia. This is one of the best classes that I ever had. He helps me a lot in improving the way I think and act by using NLP techniques. NLP was specifically created in order to allow us to do magic by creating new ways of understandinng how verbal and non-verbal communication affect the human brain. The basic principle in NLP is that success can be achieved by increasing the positive habits and reducing the negative ones. Therefore, think positive all the time!

26 March 2010 - Communication Concepts and Skills

Trainers: Mr Najmi and Miss Amira

Communication is a necessity as we use it to network, spread ideas and promote. It is easily overlooked, but the ability to communicate effectively is necessary to carry out the thoughts and visions of an organization to the people. All it needs is the concepts and skills which have been covered thoroughly by Mr Najmi in today lesson. In general, effective communication can be achieved if we understand the other person's point of view, avoid one right way communication and be a good influence.