How to Avoid Premature Evaluation

The creative process takes time. Innovation has its time. This means that we can't reject an idea because it doesn't work at that particular time, in that particular place or in that particular guise. Give it time to develop and for the environment to change around it and it will evolve.

Consider the classic case study any MBA student will be able to tell you about - 3M. This chemicals company spent millions of research dollars on trying to develop a new glue that was super strong but at the same time less messy and dangerous than the other "super glues" on the market at that time. However, no matter how many techno-geeks they threw at the problem, the glue they produced was either too messy or not sticky enough. After years of trying and a massive development budget had been poured down the drain, the company gave up on the project.

One scientist with an acute brain for business saw his opportunity and agreed to buy the rights to the last failed batch of glue and the machinery required to manufacture it. 3M pleased to recoup a minute portion of their otherwise wasted outlay were only too happy to oblige. However, our boffin had an inspirational idea of what to do with the glue. He simply pasted it on the back of small, brightly coloured bits of paper. These could then be written on and stuck to computer screens, notice boards, fridges, doors, notebooks - anywhere. The beauty was that because the glue was not sticky (not sticky enough for 3M's super glue remember) the notes could be removed and re posted somewhere else. The Post-It Note was born. As the telephone became a ubiquitous item on every desk in every office, and voicemail was practically unheard of, the Post-It Note became a necessity for the busy executive who didn't want to miss any calls but wasn't nailed to his or her desk.

In the end, 3M saw the potential in this new product and bought back the rights for millions of dollars. The glue, which was utterly useless at the wrong time and in the wrong application was a revelation waiting to happen and Post-It Note has become a part of everyday language.

In this example, 3M could be said to have been guilty of 'premature evaluation' - not giving a new innovation time to evolve and find its place in the world. During brainstorming sessions we do this all the time. Someone shouts out a great idea and everyone suddenly sees the solution to their problem. This then quickly gets adopted as the successful output of the meeting and everyone goes back to their desks happy. But stop right there... Research tells us that the best ideas, those that are most likely to be adopted and add value to a business, come in the last 25% of any brainstorming session. Generally, the most obvious ideas come out first. The least obvious one's struggle out later and it's these ones we're after as if a solution was so obvious, we probably wouldn't need a brainstorming session in the first place would we?

Creative Copying is another example of the timeliness of innovation. This is the process of taking someone else's idea and then manipulating it to suit a particular purpose or re-introducing it when the time is right. Think of Da Vinci's helicopter. It was never going to work - a great idea, but we just did not have the materials or manufacturing technology to realise his designs. I also remember Jeremy Clarkson on the BBC's Top Gear programme slating the new satellite navigation systems because, frankly, it didn't work. The annoying robotic voice of the very expensive system took him miles out of his way on what should have been a relatively simple journey. But look at the SatNav device now and another household name in TomTom. The idea was great, the technology and the market just wasn't ready for it at that time.

In summary, give innovation time to develop. Innovate for the future and remember "tomorrow will be forgotten by the middle of next week" and in any case "tomorrow never comes".