Three things we learned at ILN that you can immediately use to “blow up” your organization’s approach and capitalize on innovation:
Our CEO, Joe Conrad, recently came back from the Innovation Learning Network (ILN) in Charlotte, NC. Surrounded by the top innovators in health, wellness and digital health, Joe shares his key takeaways:
1. Sure, you must always “focus on the customer,” but go a step further and use empathy maps to truly understand your customer and their perspectives. Empathy mapping can help you go beyond consumer journeys so you can immerse yourself in their mindset, life experiences and worldviews. There are many templates out there, but this is one of our favorites.
2. Flip your product or service on its head. What job does your product serve? Think of it like this: what job is your consumer paying your product to? What is the product's ultimate job function? It’s a great way to get out of your product roadmap ruts and familiar solutions. Check out this 5-minute video as Clay Christensen , the Harvard Business School professor who coined the term ”disruptive innovation,” walks you through a clever and relevant case study.
3. Stop using the same team to innovate your products as the one that’s maintaining and deploying them. Yes, at some point an innovative product will move to maintenance and deployment, but in order to keep these teams focused on clear tasks and processes, you’re best served if you separate them into different teams based on where your products and services are in their life cycle.
