How can you equip your team with the right skills and resources for technological innovation?

💡 You should also consider the dynamic nature of technology and its impact on team capabilities. 🔍 Skill Evolution Tracking To stay updated on skill evolution, monitor emerging technologies and how they impact your team's skill requirements. 🌐 Interdisciplinary Integration Blend diverse skills to meet technological innovation demands, ensuring alignment with cross-disciplinary needs. 🔬 Analyzing Competency Depth Assess proficiency depth in team members to uncover strengths and areas for improvement. 🔗 Connectivity and Collaboration Foster innovation by promoting seamless knowledge sharing and collaboration within your team.

In our organization, we have meetings under the title of a cup of tea with a taste of progress. Meetings that bring nothing but being up-to-date, encouraging learning and teaching, promoting development and knowledge management, etc.

Cultivate a culture of continuous change (Kaizen). Innovation is not a one-off project. Critical ingredients: - Continuous “refreshment” and empowerment of team members’ skills on technology, business and leadership, i.e. hybrid specialization, entrepreneurship, experiential training - Climate of trust in the team - Tolerance for failure, certainly not for repeated mistakes - Create "local" change leaders as well as change communication and facilitation mechanisms - Reward publicly mainly groups but also individuals with leadership potential - Persistence and patience for the success of innovative changes. But don't hesitate to make necessary corrections or pivots.

One of the most important skills is the innovation mindset. Your team can have all the hard and soft skills, but if they do not have the innovation mind set innovation will not happen. Is your team: Innovative or Stuck? Collaborative or Siloed? Customer Focused or Self-Serving? Passionate or Mundane? Working a Job or Pursuing a Calling? Trustful or Skeptical? Following Through or Dropping the Ball?

Consistent monitoring of capability and capacity inline with emerging trends. Dedicated budget lines for opportunities for staff at all levels to engage in professional development and a collaborative approach to identifying those opportunities

Estamos sempre atentos as inovações tecnológicas de mercado, e testamos tudo o que é qualificado com grande potencial para agregar qualidade e diminuir o prazo dos nossos serviços. Incentivamos nossa equipe, criando grupos de trabalho e investindo em testes de ferramentas que possam promover essas melhorias. Esses times preparam suas avaliações e apresentam em forma de dashboards para as equipes internas, destacando os pontos forte e fracos de suas avaliações. e o grupo que qualifica uma nova ferramenta que permita o aumento da eficiência operacional, é premiado internamente. Essa ação estimula muito a participação e interesse pela inovação tecnológica

Encouraging constantly innovation culture, learning and teaching, take advantage of brainstorming, promote the art of asking, promoting development and knowledge management.

Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. Encouraging collaboration across all parts of the business can unlock the real value in products. From demand, route to market and continued developments.

I believe it's John Bessant who said "With every pair of hands, comes a free Brain." Understand that your team extends from the Boardroom to the Broom Closet, allows for the use of all the minds within the organization. Understanding the needs of the various individuals and facilitating relevant and timely experiences/training interventions, while presenting real life problems to the team, allows for accelerated personal growth and professional innovation

I believe in Assess, Adapt, and Achieve! To equip your team for tech innovation, start by assessing their current capabilities. My personal experience highlights the power of thorough evaluation - surveys, interviews, and self-assessments are invaluable tools. Identify gaps and prioritize skill areas like technical, creative, analytical, and collaborative expertise. Our success story is a testament to tailored training and development programs based on these insights in Startup Academy Pakistan. By investing in team's growth, you're not just closing gaps but paving the way for groundbreaking innovation. #TechInnovation #TeamEmpowerment #LeadershipSuccess #PersonalExperience #InnovationJourney

10 SOFT SKILLS YOU NEED AS INNOVATOR As facilitator of 100+ innovation projects I like to share the 10 most important ‘soft skills’ you need: 1. Communication: to inspire your customers, - team, - board, and - investors. 2. Creativity: to think outside the box and to solve isssues. 3. Adaptability: to navigate all the uncertainties. 4. Empathy: for great customer understanding. 5. Emotional intelligence: to help build team relationships. 6. Problem-solving: to drive innovation forward. 7. Resilience: to bounce back from failure. 8. Leadership: to inspire and motivate others to embrace new ideas. 9. Collaboration: to build a diverse and inclusive environment. 10. Strategic thinking: to effectively lead in an aligned direction.

El primer elemento a considerar es que la capacitación tradicional ya no es funcional en tecnología por la velocidad de cambio. Las personas deben aprender mas a compartir el conocimiento en foros como hackatons, en foros de discusión por ejemplo para comprender los que ocurre hoy.

Most people believe that innovation consists in inventing something completely new while biggest innovations are often a baby step after a baby step, that all together make something big. A relevant and consistent training starts with proper methodology to routinely incorporate innovation in everyday tasks, such as journaling, commenting, keeping tracks, archiving and being organized, and having the proper management to keep the machine running. Innovation involves a company to adapt its process, its equipment, its timing and the way a team can work. Training shall not overload a team with irrelevant information. Instead, leadership can schedule simple tasks that are routinely assimilated by each member of the team, each in their expertise.

Consider the learning styles of your Team. Some people learn by reading, some by watching videos, others by doing. And take into account the type of technology - is it hardware that they need to install? Software they need to configure? AI engines that they need to customize? Also consider whether Working remote, in the office hybrid, flex, etc. there is a lot to leverage from colleges and schools that can help tailor training for your organization.

In my experience, training is not a one-time event, but a continuous process that adapts to the changing needs and demands of the project and the market. I always try to provide my team with relevant and up-to-date training that covers both the technical and the soft skills needed for innovation. I use a variety of methods and formats, such as technical exhibitions, online courses, workshops, mentoring, coaching, and peer learning. I also encourage my team to seek out their own learning opportunities and share their knowledge and best practices with others.

This can also be fun, allowing teammates to post and share books/podcasts/videos to internal slack channels or other chat groups. A LinkedIn learning or other subscription can also make engaging in ongoing learning easy and accessible.

What matters rarely gets measured and what is measured rarely matters. In a post pandemic world, we need to challenge the status quo and disrupt what we know about continuous learning. Beyond online learning & micro learning modules, peer and group learning have become very powerful mediums for social learning.

I have had success with the application of LEAN Continuous Process Improvement principles when it comes to training related to innovation. As the innovation evolves, so to must the team and the individuals within the team. This may require shifting of responsibilities and roles within the team based on strengths & weaknesses. The innovation process is very dynamic and will require the team to be open to continuous absorption of skills and knowledge.

Equipping your team for technological innovation is fundamentally about providing relevant and ongoing training that aligns with their needs and objectives. In today's rapidly evolving AI landscape, it is critical to not only rethink business processes but also to foster an environment where experimentation is encouraged. Guiding AI strategy and responsible data collection are essential elements of this approach. Integrating AI into everyday work and enhancing employee skills in this domain can significantly boost operational performance. Adopting these principles can profoundly influence the speed, cost-efficiency, and revenue potential of AI-driven initiatives, ensuring that your team is well-prepared to innovate and excel.

The heart grows when employees develop, but if this knowledge is assigned only to them, the organization loses. This is why knowledge needs to be managed in an organization, not just individual training. A system should be created that makes it easy to deposit this acquired knowledge by employees and then make the properly tagged and understood know-how widely available to all participants in the organization. If a problem has occurred, a solution should be described in the system, which will become a base for people who encounter a similar problem in the future. Keep in mind that it is only a baseline, but solutions should not be copied mindlessly.

Para impulsar la innovación tecnológica, es crucial establecer un "Sandbox de Experimentación", un entorno controlado donde los empleados pueden explorar y probar nuevas ideas con un riesgo calculado. Este enfoque no solo fomenta la creatividad y la innovación, sino que también permite a los equipos comprender y medir el nivel de riesgo asociado con cada experimento. Al proporcionar este espacio seguro para la experimentación, se promueve un aprendizaje más profundo y se acelera el desarrollo de soluciones innovadoras, manteniendo al mismo tiempo la integridad y estabilidad de las operaciones principales de la empresa.

One thing I’ve found helpful to foster a culture of innovation is to create a safe space for experimentation and feedback. I remember when I introduced a new tool to my team, I asked them to test it out and share their opinions and suggestions. I also created a feedback loop that allowed them to report any issues, bugs, or improvements. This way, they felt more involved and engaged in the innovation process, and they learned from their mistakes and successes.

A well defined Experimentation development life cycle process framework has helped in many of the cases when teams needed to learn new skills. Physical, psychological and emotional safety is important for people to feel confident to learn new skills. Early exits, and which map to the a indicator criteria in the process life cycle can help in minimising wasted effort. Learning from the failures and applying the learning’s systematically in subsequent situations, acknowledging and recognising people who created experimentation insights will inspire others to follow the path. A good adaptation of the system to ensure that knowledge and insights are captured, while at the same time not making it a chore and a boring job becomes prime.

Safe, supported and systemized experimentation can bring great minds together on an exciting new adventure. Sharing new workflows, solutions and best practices during the experimentation process can help to formulate best practices that can then be rolled out more broadly.

Give your team some free space to think and be creative. Some kind of own time, so that they can follow ideas without regret. Could be a game changer in most places.

Find those explorers who excel in uncertainty, are strong at pattern recognition, and can navigate between the big picture and details. Create a culture where iterative experimentation, embracing speed, failure, learning and rapid adaptation are the norm.

Equip your team with the tools, yes, also the time, and reward their discovery and experimentation. Build in structures around budgets for both access to equipment and time allocations, reporting on findings that can be verified and corroborated, and encouragement all along the way.

In my most recent experience, many companies doesn't know all the potential of the digital tools they are already using. So, don't assume that there is necessary to aquire new tools. Take your time to assess the level of use of the tools.

In the field of carpentry, we often have to create our own tools in order to achieve innovation. Part of our innovative process is to create the tools and to create the tools, we need to provide the resources with proper security training, then be prepared that tools involve sub-contractors and teamwork out of the box. We have done it with machinery and softwares, needing processes that traditional carpentry did not offer. To make it work, it is important to not be limited with specific partners but rather to have a very good knowledge of innovation contracts, confidentiality and law, in order to explore the bests resources and diversify resources. It empowers the team and it brings better quality work with bests results.

En una de las empresas que colaboré existía un programa de capacitación continua. El problema de estas capacitaciones es que eran muy generales, guiadas a diferentes aspectos lejos de lo que los departamentos de ingeniería necesitaban, por ejemplo. Se necesita tener un objetivo claro con las herramientas que se les entrega a los miembros de tu equipo, no soy enemigo de tener un conocimiento general de todo, pero para evolucionar e innovar, es importante marcar el camino claro en el conocimiento que queremos entregar.

When thinking about resources needed for successful innovation, it's worth considering the mix of personalities and skills your team has. Highly-skilled teams full of specialists with deep, narrow expertise can be complemented by generalists who are skilled at seeing the bigger picture and finding potential connections across functional areas, leading to more cross-pollination of ideas, challenges, and solutions.

In addition to what has been said, Ownership of idea and its delivery is critical to see the success Tailored fit for purpose innovation process is essential to balance the creativity, speed and seeing the desired outcomes When team deals with uncertainty, it is essential to focus on speed of delivery as well by taking quick calls and moving on. Engage and communicate with the stakeholders is very essential as idea matures at different steps, to build trust and support

I like using Design Thinking (DT) when the problem being solved is particularly thorny or complex. DT also helps team building because you build empathy with your "customers" by interviewing them and working to understand their problem..

Considero si no se hace nada de lo anterior y solo este punto es la piedra angular del proceso. Quien no este en el proceso de innovación entrará en obsolecencia pronto.

I found that involving a team is often not enough because all kind of human limitations exist such as rivalries, competition and habits that may work opposite to team work during an innovation process. Especially, you must take into consideration that innovation means also potential discoveries from competitive markets, spying, sabotage and stealing labor. It is very risky to involve too much a team at all levels of a process. Instead, you need to keep your team motivated by having them to know only part of the process. You cannot "empower" an innovation team to lead without running into "innovation problems". I found that it is better to create a system of rewards and incentive, such as credits and bonusses.

It is crucial for companies to involve their teams, in the innovation process particularly when integrating AI. This shows that involving employees in reimagining business processes and actively shaping AI strategy leads to performance improvement. By adopting this approach companies not enhance their employees AI skills. Also promote effective collaboration between human capabilities and AI. Embracing these principles results in enhancements to AI initiatives, including execution, cost savings, increased revenues and improved operational efficiency. This comprehensive involvement plays a role, in driving innovation and ensuring that technology initiatives align effectively with expertise and the potential of AI.

In this regard, I was pursuing Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, which gave me enough knowledge to train associates at the basic level (LSS Yellow Belt). In turn, this translates into their greater understanding of the processes being implemented, awareness of imperfections and a sense of responsibility for their quality. As a result, employees want to look for problems, analyze them at a basic level, are open to solutions and make improvements.

Innovation requires buy-in from users, but it also requires the capacity and willingness to do things differently. Perform an audit of the company's capacity to change and innovate. Sometimes people are uncomfortable changing even when the return is significant. Other times, people are excited for change, but they are involved with other innovative projects and lack the space cycles to fully commit.

Technological innovation is a dynamic and fast-paced field, and it requires constant learning and adaptation. I found it important to keep my team updated and inspired by the latest trends and developments in the industry and the market. I used various channels and formats to share relevant and timely information, such as newsletters, technical magazines, and webinars. I also invited supplier experts to share their insights and experiences with my team and to spark new ideas and discussions.

Here it is important to emphasize to be able to enjoy and celebrate the small things too. In my experience, it's very easy to limit ourselves with a vision of a distant goal of a refined technology, and treat the individual steps to it as important, but not necessary work to celebrate.

Oftentimes, it is not about adding more, but removing unproductive thoughts to reach hyper-performance. A paradigm shift that will transform how we think about increasing the acceptance of emerging technologies and improving the work efficiency on personal, organizational and societal levels.

Building on point 2: Make sure the training is relevant and timely. Just because your team wants to learn AI doesn’t mean it’s relevant to your business or organization. Conversely teaching them old technology doesn’t help prepare them for innovation. Start with your organizations MVVOGS: What is your organization’s Mission? Vision? Values Objectives? Goals? Strategies? And how does your training for innovation support these?

Technological innovation is not only about skills and resources but also about mindset and attitude. Earlier in my career, I used to be afraid of change and uncertainty, but I realized that I could embrace them as opportunities and challenges. I learned to be curious and open-minded, to experiment and iterate, to learn from failure and success, and to collaborate and co-create. These are some of the qualities that I think are essential for technological innovation, and that I try to cultivate in myself and in my team.

Artificial Intelligence is our new best friend: imagine you don't have new ideas but you can give a context to an artificial intelligence (Bard or ChatGPT for example) and ask it for new ideas... You don't need to be a genius, may be you need to use in a right way an artificial intelligence helper, so, let's try it!

Ensure that first principles thinking underlies the process. Question assumptions, plot alternative paths to solve a problem and keep track of the pathways. This is conducive to genuine innovation

It's important to dedicate resources to innovation -- time, space, and most importantly people. Doing innovation an afternoon a week or at quarterly retreats is a fun exercise, but in those situations it can be difficult to separate the conflicting interests of innovating for the future and managing responsibilities to the current business at hand.