We don’t like you
Introducing Collaborne’s Interaction Quadrant — The IQ!
Iterations are the rocket fuel of the innovation process. But understanding that iterations are of utmost importance is not enough. Employees and managers also must know how to hardwire those iterations into day-to-day personal interactions. Organizations everywhere, large and small, are seeking a way to do this.
“Refining an idea, testing it, going back to the drawing board … that whole process has not been institutionalized.” — Rudi Collin, head of digital transformation, BNP Paribas
At Collaborne, we believe the way to push iterations is through designing for interactions that are collaborative and purposeful. If the innovation process is to continue after this point, the results of such purposeful collaborations must then be evaluated and (re)iterated.
This means crafting evaluations into the innovation process that go beyond a simple “like”, vote, or comment, and that instead actually help employees improve on their innovations.
And at Collaborne, we promise not to “like” you.
To hammer this point home, we are introducing the design thinking Interaction Quadrant, which we call “The IQ.” It is a framework for providing feedback and interacting with projects at key points during the innovation process. It gleans inspiration from Uber’s simplistic method of gathering feedback, in which users rate their ride using a one-to-five-star, comment-based system. We have, however, strayed from stars, opting instead for icons that symbolize the four dimensions of industry best practices in which managers will provide focused, easily digestible, and contextualized feedback on various parts of the canvas: Desirability, Feasibility, Viability, and Legitimacy.
Desirability
During the Visioning phase, managers will rate teams’ Unique Value Propositions (UVP) based on their desirability. Does the UVP fit the needs of Target Users? Expressed needs or unexpressed needs? What killer features, benefits, and experiences does your solution provide that makes it a must-have for users?
Feasibility
During the Prototyping phase, managers will rate teams’ Prototypes, based on their feasibility. Managers should focus on whether their organization will be able to produce said prototype. Is the technology readily available? Does the organization have access to it, either internally or through its ecosystem? Does the organizations have the skills required? Build, buy, or borrow?
Viability
During the Scaling phase, managers will rate teams’ Economic Models (Cost Structures and Revenue Streams) based on their viability. Are the cost structures clear and assumptions solid? Does the organization have a cost advantage? What are the envisioned revenue streams? Are there non-monetary benefits (such as increased retention or other indirect benefits)?
Legitimacy
During the Visioning phase, managers will rate teams’ Unfair Advantages based on their legitimacy. Do users perceive the organization as legitimate to offer the proposed value proposition? Does the organization have potential innate differentiators (market access, partnerships, etc.) on which it can capitalize to out-do competition?
Each of these four dimensions has been baked into the Collaborne application, meaning employees and managers are able to interact with one another from anywhere, at any time, driving innovation performance by pushing for iterations.
Obviously, both participants and managers will make use of The IQ.
Innovating Teams
Providing structured feedback allows innovators to reiterate their outcomes in the dimension that matters — there is no point, for example, improving the viability of a Value Proposition. Feedback allows people to iterate zooming in more and more on continually improving the relevant dimension.
Managers & Sponsors
As part of steering innovation, managers are expected to provide feedback to teams. But managers might not know what feedback is expected of them. By structuring this, we allow managers to focus on the dimension that is most important during a particular point of the innovation process. In addition to reducing clutter, this also allows managers to use the rating system as a decision-making tool. If, for example, profitability is the core objective of your annual plan, you will naturally push the projects possessing the best Economic Model and not the those that are, say, the most desirable.
Contributing editor: Adam Kohut
