When you are in technology PR for a long time, you can’t help but feel a little jaded about the usage of ‘innovation’. New feature? Innovation. New function? Innovation. Slight upgrade? Innovation. A little faster? Innovation. It’s easy to slap it on anything that moves in the technology world, and it is done too often.

But what exactly does innovation mean?

The standard Merriam-Webster defines it as "the introduction of something new" or "a new method, idea, or device." The web, of course is full of contextual definitions: some say innovation has to lead to "tangible societal impact" while others believe it simply captures "the ability to deliver new value to a customer."

The discussion history behind the Wikipedia page on innovation is an example of the challenge to reconcile different interpretations. And Bruce Nussbaum started a good debate by suggesting that "‘Innovation’ died in 2008, killed off by overuse, misuse, narrowness, incrementalism and failure to evolve." If one thing is clear, it is that innovation means different things to different people.

In preparation for a brainstorm session, I read a few articles and online discussions about innovation. But I also wanted to get a feel for its everyday perception: “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear ‘innovation’?" I threw this question out there through email, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and was happy to get more than 100 answers, which I put in the video above.

Now, the video is a collection of anecdotal thoughts, not an attempt at a definition. I just wanted to know the first thought that people had when hearing ‘innovation.’ People who responded are either people I know or colleagues/friends/family of people I know – with all sorts of backgrounds. It’s a quick, subjective litmus test on the perception of the word, and I was mostly wondering how many people would react negatively to it. It also turned out to be a nice visual kick-off for the brainstorm session with a client.

I was amazed by all the great, fast responses I received, and actually encouraged that the majority was positive or neutral. This should be an incentive to keep filling innovation with meaning – not just with verbiage – especially in a business context. I also found it interesting that a number of people included in their answers that innovation does not necessarily have to be something altogether new. Does an idea need to be original to be called innovative, or at what point can an improvement on something existing be called an innovation?

Scott Berkun’s perspective is that innovation is always relative : "[...] the trick to innovation is to widen your perspective on what qualifies as new. As long as your idea, or your use of an existing idea, is new to the person you are creating it for, or applies an existing concept in a new way, you qualify as an innovator from their point of view, and that’s all that matters."

That approach is quite broad. But when push comes to shove, I’d say benefit trumps originality. If something has had a positive impact for a group of people, it may be okay to call it innovation, even if it turns out that the concept – in a slightly different form – has been around elsewhere. And one man’s innovation may be another man’s incrementalism. But it is important that the outcome of "innovation" is actually meaningful to people beyond the one coming up with the idea (or the description).

As one of the respondents to my question put it: "something others say about you rather than what you say about yourself."

Here are links to websites and blogs about innovation:
BusinessWeek Innovation & Design
BusinessWeek: The most innovative companies 2009
McKinsey What Matters: Innovation
Business Strategy Innovation
Scott Berkun’s essay: How to innovate right now
Scott Anthony – Innovation Insights Blog
Scott Anthony – What makes a company "The World’s most innovative"?
Knowledge@Wharton: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
USC Stevens Institute for Innovation

Don’t start a boardroom brainstorm in the boardroom. It is important to manage the process (if you are the organizer) and show up prepared (if you are a participant):

1) Management starts days ahead of the brainstorm. It only works if you apply discipline to your process. To think outside the box you first have to know what’s inside the box.

2) Prepare and send out a brainstorm briefing. If you take care of the preparation and anticipate the biggest questions, you make it a lot easier for everyone else to free up their minds and focus on creative ideas.

3) Choose your participants. Not everybody in the company needs to come to every brainstorm. Everybody has a different background and a different way of thinking. Put together a good mix of people.

4) Ask everyone to come prepared with a few ideas based on your briefing.

5) Facilitating the brainstorm meeting is critical. Just like a good moderator improves a talk show or press conference, you need somebody to be leading the meeting and keeping it focused.

6) The biggest mistake made in brainstorms, and meetings in general, is keeping the participants thinking in the same direction. Brainstorms are made up of two essential elements: a) diverging out to search for new ideas; and b) picking an idea you want to converge on and exploring the possibilities and scope of that idea. If everyone in the room is converging and diverging separately then they’re not working toward the same end goal at the same time. You need to know how to run a good session.

7) There are a number of different brainstorm techniques. Apply them. It works. I found the techniques that sounded the worst on paper actually helped me come up with some of the best stuff.

Keep in mind that a boardroom brainstorm is just a productivity tool. You don’t need a team brainstorm for everything. Choose wisely!

But we have used this approach for internal meetings and for joint brainstorms with our clients, and it has been quite a success. Not only does it help us to come up with new ideas, it also allows us to do it without wasting time or resources. And it makes it more fun for everyone.

Brainstorming techniques are just part of a service that my colleagues Natasha Compton and Hugh Scholey have started. Take a look at our Innovation Strategy Sessions or contact High Road for more information.

[This is an edited and shortened version of an earlier post on Martin's personal blog]