Narrow down potential
Open up scope for action
The generation of knowledge in innovation processes passes through several stages. In order to open the space for a solution to form, we have to further refine our soundings. This can sometimes feel like passing through the eye of a needle. There are various approaches to narrowing down innovation potential. What they all have in common is an enormous mental effort combined with prescient intuition.
Identify opportunities
We can use the Potential Construction Kit to locate and analyze identified needs and obstacles at various insight levels. This allows us to build chains of reasoning that help us access potential for systemic improvement. The spectrum ranges from foreseeable results to sustainable effects.
From status quo to useful principle
Once we have identified what conditions the status quo, we can draw on that knowledge to identify one or more useful principles. These principles can reveal approaches that are conducive to identifying the keys to effective change.
In the course of our venture, we pave the way to solutions by means of ambitious questions. In innovation work, questioning techniques are established tools for getting to the heart of challenges and defining the space within which a solution can emerge. Really good questions are the starting point for thinking from new perspectives.
Questions as a mindset
In terms of our “How Can We ...” Questions, two aspects are crucial: a focus on the problem to be worked on and a solution track that motivates us to develop something for which we don’t yet have an answer. Here, we consider different versions in order to formulate questions that skillfully cluster our existing knowledge:
Potential Construction Kit
Method
Potential Construction Kit
What is it and what purpose does it serve?
The Potential Construction Kit promotes differentiated further processing of needs and obstacles. By distinguishing between different insight levels it is possible to identify systemic patterns and areas of potential for innovation.
Added value
The analysis of desirable states and hindering factors opens up perspectives that otherwise remain implicit. Once the structural level becomes clear, it is possible to derive useful principles. These can indicate potential for change, which can in turn serve as the key to a solution.
Potential Construction Kit
Work sheet
Procedure
- Transfer template with layers and fields into a large format.
Note: It’s useful to read the descriptions out loud as you go along, working together to categorize and formulate the insights or answers.
Select a concise pair from the Need-Obstacle Filter.
Start with the desirable states. First of all, place the need in the individual insight level. Discuss whether it matches the description. If not, move the sticky note to the functional or structural insight level and decide which level fits best. Based on this, reread the remaining two field descriptions. Derive appropriate points and note these down.
Repeat the procedure from 3 for the hindering factors.
When the fields of the three insight levels are filled on both sides, focus on the structural level and work on the useful principle area. Follow the three steps to identify the principle, formulating and noting down essential aspects together.
Save the outcomes of this round coherently as a construction kit. They will serve as a working basis for creating the “How Can We ...” Questions.
Repeat 2 to 6 to work through further need-obstacle pairs.
How Can We ... Questions
Method
“How Can We ...” Questions
What is it and what purpose does it serve?
“How Can We...” Questions cluster insights gained by meaningfully combining desirable states and hindering factors in an open-ended question. With their simple and flexible structure, they point in the direction of possible solutions but without prescribing them.
Added value
HCW questions strengthen individual and collective problem-solving skills. Their challenging nature stimulates the development of multiple, less obvious ideas that are targeted towards a common goal.
“How Can We ...” Questions
Work sheet
Procedure
Transfer template into a large format. Provide all insights from the Potential Construction Kit. If there are several Potential Construction Kits, compare the Fields I+ to S- and if necessary N+ individually in order to identify overlapping aspects and continue working with them.
Select a desirable state and place it at the center column. Note the associated actors or groups of actors on sticky notes in the left-hand column.
In addition to the selected desirable state, assign various hindering factors in the right-hand column and try out which combinations offer intriguing potential. What goes together? Proceed according to the trial-and-error principle. Say out loud “How can we enable WHO to do WHAT WITHOUT ...” several times and adapt it so that it becomes a rounded question. Don’t note it down until this has been done.
Check: Does the question already contain a specific solution? Is the question too abstract and lacking in direction? If this is the case, look for new combinations.
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 several times at your own discretion. Document all reasonable variations, take a look at them again with a certain detachment and refine them. Elements that can’t be combined can be included later on in the process, e.g. during brainstorming.
Joker: If a useful principle has been identified in advance, it is possible to apply the variant “How can we enable WHO to do WHAT BY ...”.