Five Ways to Turn Everybody into an Inventor

As social inventing emerges as one of the most important skills in the modern workforce, companies (and individuals) that fail to participate in this culture run the risk of becoming obsolete. Companies that create a culture of social inventing are more profitable, have more opportunity to strengthen relationships with existing customers, retain top talent and engage their networks with a compelling, ongoing story. Workers who strive to participate in this culture have more professional options.

Social inventing includes, but isn’t limited to, the creation of patents and other intellectual property. It also encompasses imagination to discover and implement new ways of including your extended network in the continuous process of transforming your organization and yourself.

Science House Founder James Jorasch is an inventor named on over 500 patents related to the interaction between human nature and technology that are now owned or licensed by companies such as Priceline, Facebook, HP, Zynga, eBay and Groupon, to name a few. He now directs social inventing sessions at Science House. Here’s what I’ve learned about social inventing from James after two years of collaboration:

Innovation isn’t just for R&D anymore.

Innovation has classically been primarily confined to R&D, where new products and features were created. That model needs to be extended. Innovation is everywhere. It’s not just about new products and features, but also about improving every aspect of your business, including marketing, HR, finance, distribution and customer service. If your company lacks a method for generating, prioritizing and getting ideas into the pipeline, you have every reason to be concerned.

Include your extended network.

The inventing process shouldn’t just stop at the edges of your company. It needs to include the company’s entire network: collaborators, customers, suppliers and distributors. Everyone in the network has an insight into how you might improve or what you're doing well. Seeking and incorporating this feedback to deliver a better experience is the heart of social business. How well you manage this process is a story your company can share socially to attract even more engaged participants.

Rethink what to rethink.

Once a culture of innovation begins to take root, putting it into practice requires each department to look at everything it contributes to the company and ask questions. A clearly articulated company mission is a necessity for successful goals-based innovation at the departmental level. Is every deliverable from your department shaped and packaged in a fresh, clear, inviting way? Is your department so used to doing things the way they've always been done that you don't even try to think of a new way to move forward? Is the department striving to collaborate to make sure the company’s mission is being fulfilled? Focusing on outcomes instead of the broad notion of “innovation” leads a team toward success.

Cognitive diversity is critical for inventing teams.

The myth of the lone inventor creates a false impression that one person in isolation gets a creative idea like a lightning bolt out of the blue. This is rarely the case. Even Thomas Edison, the most famous American inventor, was a collaborator who assembled diverse teams. While it’s important to include a mix of genders, ethnicities and people of various ages at a brainstorming session, special attention should also be given to cognitive diversity. The cognitive diversity that emerges from a group of people who have had truly different experiences in life is a powerful tool for generating fresh angles and creating imaginative solutions.

Reward and compensation.

Back in the 1950’s, H. Tracy Hall worked for GE. He had fantasized about working there since the fourth grade because he idolized Thomas Edison and associated the inventor with the company. During his time there he invented the first reproducible process for creating lab diamonds, which sparked a sparkling multi-billion dollar industry. The $10 savings bond he got as a reward from GE, however, was enough to make him quit in disappointment. Times have changed. Now GE can celebrate Edison’s birthday and reach the entire world with its #IWantToInvent Twitter campaign.