Traction: Process as Innovation - Adam Kleinberg

Welcom Adam Kleinberg, our newest MediaBizBlogger.

Someone asked me today what "innovation" means to me. I thought it was a good question and one that's worth answering.

Wikipedia defines it "as the process that renews something that exists and not, as is commonly assumed, the introduction of something new."

I don't agree with that definition entirely because to me innovation is about using creativity and logic to find a way to something better. What the Wikipediers are trying to point out is that it's not about coming up with something new.

It's about solving problems in better ways.

Ironically, the way to do that is sometimes with something new. This is inevitably the case because sometimes the problems we face are new. But just as often, the way to solve a new problem is with an existing solution applied in a new way.

Convoluted stuff, but I don't think it has to be complicated. It doesn't have to be scientific either. It just has to help you do something better. Process helps you do that.

Innovation wears many hats

Here are some examples of things I've seen around the office in the past few weeks that I'd consider innovation:

• Delivering a concept to a client that was a mash-up of content aggregation and contextual advertising to create something that none of us had seemed before, but that clearly could help the client achieve their goals of engaging audiences and driving sales... in an unexpected way

• Our development team recommending a streamlined e-commerce system for a client that was short on bells and whistles, but would help them achieve their core business objectives and their budgetary restraints

• The team that works on one of our largest clients and is responsible for delivering hundreds of pieces of creative each quarter having a monthly meeting to make adjustments to streamline our process without sacrificing the quality of our deliverables

• Our strategy team presenting our methodology for multi-channel communications planning to a client (one of the largest financial institutions in the world) as a better way to plan integrated marketing campaigns based on real-world observations of human behavior

• Someone reorganizing our internal file server to make it more intuitive to find the things you're looking for

This last may seem mundane, but it's not. You may call it renaming folders, but I call it innovation. Why?

It's noticing a problem with an experience ("Hey, that's not where I expected it to be."), stepping into the shoes of the user who might experience that problem ("Hmm, where would I expect that to be?"), and creating a better solution based on a projected observation of human behavior ("Ahh. There's the file I'm looking for.").

The process conundrum

Organizations need business processes to handle tasks efficiently and without gaps. However, every business challenge has a unique set of factors influencing it. Ignoring this fact often results in an approach to doing work that is neither efficient nor gap-free.

Process becomes burdensome and costly instead of a means to doing something better.

The solution is to view process as a framework upon which to layer improvements. Ask simply, "this is how we've done things before—is it the best way this time?"

By viewing process as a canvas for innovation, you can find ways to do things better all the time.

Stir (never shake) a spoonful of charisma, a jigger of positive energy and a mind as sharp as a freshly plucked lemon and you get close to the cocktail that is Adam Kleinberg. Adam is CEO and a founding partner of Traction, an advertising agency and innovation consultancy in San Francisco. He can be reached at adam@tractionco.com.

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