How can the PM Become More Innovative in a Dynamic Environment Dennis Mhangami Dr. Lynn A. Keeys CEO President Corporate Entrepreneurs PMI South Africa
What to expect from our presentation • You will gain an overview of business model innovation • Your thinking on the role of projects in innovation will be questioned and expanded • Your perspective on how project managers can assist innovation will be stimulated • We will engage in creative discussion on the innovative project manager!
The Innovative Project Manager in a Dynamic Environment
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
EVERYONE is Responsible for Innovation "The best innovations occur when you have networks of people with diverse backgrounds gathering around a problem" Robert Fishkin “Innovation is a collaborative process where people get together to challenge the status quo. It’s not an individual effort” Clayton M. Christensen
What is Innovation? New value to the world Invention Commercialisation Innovation is a multiplicative relationship between ideas and business models
What Drives Innovation? Commercialisation (Project execution) is the key to unlocking value from inventions, products, processes, patents etc.
What is a Business Model? A Business Model describes how an organisation creates, delivers and captures VALUE for itself and it’s stakeholders
The Business Model Canvas
The Business Model Canvas Helps to Answer… 1. Who is the customer? 2. What value do we sell them? 3. How do we interact with them? 4. How do we deliver the value to them? 5. How do we earn money from them? 6. What activities must we be great at doing? 7. What are our key assets? 8. Who are our strategic partners? 9. What is the cost of delivering our VP? Backstage Frontstage
Business Model Innovation – Nespresso Case A great idea by itself was not good enough… Nestle needed another business model
Business Model Innovation – Nespresso Case Turning a failed project into a $4 billion cash machine through BMI…
BMI Has Become a Strategic Imperative • More than 50% of executives believe that in future competition takes place not between products or services, but between business models. Source: Economist Intelligence Unit (2005) • Business model innovation matters and it is a top priority of CEOs. Source: IBM (2006) • More than 60 % of executives believe that their business model will undergo fundamental changes in the next 5 years. Source: IBM (2008)
How Can PMs Positively Impact Innovation? Understand the context of projects from the perspective of AMBIDEXTERITY
Projects in the organization innovation ecosystem — the context • Innovation ecosystem includes-- • Activities (projects!) • Actors and partners (internal and external) • Roles and position of actors/partners • Transfers, flow, sequence and linkages of content (resources, knowledge/information, influence) Innovation Ecosystem An “affiliated” linked (based on Adner,R. 2017. Ecosystem as Structure. system Journal of Management)
To innovate, organizations must explore and exploit (ambidexterity) to take advantage of new opportunities and adapt to disruptions PROJECTS Essential dimension of BMI creation and delivery A Project, a series or a configuration are • Exploration and exploitation channels Organizations leverage both approaches to • succeed in the market (government or private)
It’s about a learning and exploitation cycle to constantly create,deliver and capture value • Exploitation projects — • Exploration projects — executing what we do exploring what we don’t know (existing business know & new innovations) • Products • Products • Processes • Processes • Structures • Structures • Technology • Technology • Frameworks • Frameworks • Approaches AMBIDEXTERITY • Approaches • Context • Context
Ambidexterity means different PM approaches for the different aims and contexts • command, control, linear and predictive PM approaches do not Managing Innovations has fit all contexts and desired Shifted from being outcomes Linear to Highly Iterative • Ambidexterity means allowing room for • uncertainty, ambiguity • experimentation • Learning & applying learning • Improvisation (using what works) • Adaptation Traditional • Emergent strategy Waterfall • Failure approach • Flexible timelines • Emergent outcomes
Project managers at the core of innovation exploration and thus execution — WHY? PM’s are at the coalface of strategy formation & execution via projects AND so must be equipped to deal with the complexity and uncertainty of managing innovations – Innovation management – beyond the triple exploration & execution constraints competence
Ambidexterous projects need ambidexterous organizations & vice versa Organization Innovation Explore/Exploit Strategy is needed Organization innovation Explore/exploit strategy • Aligns organization structures and strategic vision with ambidexterity • Provides senior management support • Creates flexible project platforms & series of connected projects (portfolios) • Allows flexible organizational project approaches • Enable exploration project approaches • Enable project flexibility to identify potential innovations in exploitation projects to capture learning & create potential value Projects Projects • Encourages entrepreneurial/intrapreneural approaches to problem solving
Challenges for the project manager to play innovative role • when project parent organization(s) lacks Organization innovation innovation/exploration strategy? Explore/exploit strategy • when project manager is not involved in project charter development?
Some Approaches for Project Manager as Innovator • Combine techniques where projects have Organization innovation Help Explore/exploit strategy both aspects — exploit & explore; form • Utilize non rigidity in approaches strategy • Employ agile approaches to test ideas, when feasible • Use hybrid methods for different project components Contribute to • Create environment & culture in your organizational project to safely generate new ideas, learning experiment, learn, & adapt content & project management approaches Communicate • Act as facilitator of innovation ideas Upwards & horizontally • Communicate strategically upwards & horizontally to support the case for innovation and inform innovation strategy
How Can PMs Use BMC to be more Innovative? 1. Use BMC to frame a strategic conversation around value proposition 2. Stand in different places in the canvas 3. Empathise with stakeholders 4. Listen for understanding 5. Be a business analyst – observe 6. Think radically. E.g. ask the question “what could we do to completely wreck this project?” and then work back from there 7. Provide solutions 8. Contribute to organizational learning
Thank you LETS TALK ABOUT IT
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