The personal Innovation Pathway is an enhancement of the performance of the Introvert team members.

The reasons for having Management Teams and Innovation Teams are our needs for many competences and an organized collaboration during the realization of Mission and Strategy in Concepts and final Products and Services.

As human beings some of us are extrovert and some are introvert. It is my observation that working in teams usually seems to be more ideal for the extrovert persons but less ideal for the introvert. As ’’beneficial utilization of Knowledge and Creativity’’ is the core of Innovation must your working method and working philosophy  facilitate the optimal contribution from the extrovert as well as the introvert team members. I have during my 45 years of experience in innovation learned to take that into consideration.

The extrovert team members often share verbally their knowledge and creativity in the team, and often in a convincing and seductive way. The introvert members do not want to be seduced and they have another approach and express their contributions in other ways.

We have developed the Innovation Pathway to be a working method which enhances both characters contribution to ’’beneficial utilization of Knowledge and Creativity’’. Information Technology has further facilitated making the Innovation Pathway to become “the vehicle” for Innovation Teams and their mix of Extrovert and Introvert members. Every template, from Project Specification, Status Report, Stakeholder Overview, Innovation Tree to Idea Evaluation, facilitates the collaboration and management of the Extrovert and Introvert team members in “realizing what does not yet exist”.

Using our Innovation Pathway I often find that the introvert and extrovert team members both end up being high performers in the team work. I enjoy when my innovation teams benefit from both “worlds”.

Erik Keldmann