Leveraging I and T shaped characteristics through the innovation process
The different skills of I and T shaped people come into their own in the different stages of the innovation process. Most of the time, businesses operate mainly with I-shaped characteristics. The added abilities of T-shaped characteristics – ds – really shine in the stages that benefit the most greatly from a cross-discipline/inter-silo perspective and collaboration. These are the stages where divergent thoughts are most likely to occur.
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Problem/opportunity realisation |
“We have a problem/opportunity.” |
Anyone |
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Requirements gathering |
“What exactly is the problem/opportunity? What outcomes do we want?” |
I & T: I-shaped to provide the specialist input and deep insights; T-shaped to connect the shareholders and ask out-of-the-box questions and big picture patterns. |
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Ideation |
“What if? Why not? Perhaps?” |
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Evaluation and planning |
“Which idea should we pursue?” |
I: Primarily I-shaped skills – decision making, SWOT analysis, project planning, expert execution… |
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Execution and delivery |
“Let’s do it!” |
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Review and improvement |
“Did it work? How do we do better? What new problems/ opportunities have arisen?” |
I & T: I-shaped to provide the deep insights; T-shaped to connect the shareholders and provide cross-silo insights. |
