Not just a team, but innovation teams with competence

I was very young when being promoted to be R&D Manager. The company was one of Scandinavias fastest growing companies; from 40 employees to 3300 in 37 months. My department was the source of product innovation for this growth, and I wanted my department to become able to respond to the continuous need for innovation. I needed my innovation teams and project managers to have an innovation Method and innovation Philosophy. But I also needed for myself to acquire a method for Innovation Management which would be coherent with my Innovation Teams. I searched for suitable methods to implement – but did not find what I needed.

I decided to start building our own approach. I knew I had been successful with my own Working Method and Working Philosophy in the projects and tasks I had been responsible for before my promotion. I used those elements as the base for training my employees in my own developed course named: ’’My Innovation Pathway’’. The thinking was: What can be a Working Method and Working Philosophy for one person, must have a chance to work for two persons and maybe for a Team. It worked. We created many Innovation Practitioners, who worked efficiently alone or in Innovation Teams. For a case video with Proof of concept, then search on Google for: Innovation Case Carmen Clairol (Video).

Today, after 45 years of experience as Innovation Executive and Innovation Practitioner, we have developed it into an IT-supported Innovation and Management approach and made it available by e-learning in Innovation courses for Management Teams, Project Managers, Sales-/Key Account-/Marketing Specialists and Intra-/Entrepreneurs.

After “Innovation” became a buzzword, then thousands of “Innovation Teams” have been formed by Managements who know the importance of innovation, but who have not equipped themselves or their teams with a method and philosophy for innovation. That is why many innovation initiatives are not fruitful. Innovation must be an approach to the entire business and should be a competence by the Management Team, Project Managers, Sales-/Key Accounts-/Marketing professionals and Intra-/Entrepreneurs. Our online courses enable a shortcut to establish this innovation competence broadly. We enable companies to compose competent Innovation Teams, who can be lead by a Management Team with innovation competence. In my long experience, this is what enables to respond successfully to the demand for innovation.