The Water Game
Where does water come from?
A clean, constant supply of drinking water is essential to every community none the less water is something we all take for granted as a commodity in our part of the world.. When we turn on the tap, water comes out.
In a close collaboration with Grontjemij | Carl Bro, a leading sustainable design, engineering and management consultancy based in 20 countries, framework identity and Built Identity have developed an inspirational “game” called The Water Game. Target groups are water suppliers and the aim is to re-think the significance of water for the modern man. The Water Game raises questions that give inspiration, input and food for thought. It works as a dialogue tool that boards, management groups and employes at water can use in the process of developing the future strategy of their local waterwork.
The Water Game was presented at a recent fair organised by the Danish Water and Waste Water Association (DANVA), a national association of water and waste water utilities. Though scepticism was shown at the beginning several waterworks were curious about the game and its use it in their strategic work.
A brand building process
Building a brand identity that is real, attractive, unique and easily
Whether talking about private or business relations, the first encounter is the “make or break” moment. For companies it is crucial that they have a clear brand identity. Like a human voice or personality that authentically connects with their stakeholders. A brand identity that is real, attractive, unique and easily understood and communicated.
IFU is an independent, self-governing fund associated with the Ministry for Development Cooperation. IFU stands for The Danish Industrialisation Fund for Developing Countries. Together with Danish companies, they invest in commercial projects in developing countries.
IFU were looking to become more visible and well-known in Denmark. The main focus of this a process was to develop a strong and unique brand as a basis for IFU to reach their goals.
As a starting point for the strategic work, Pia Betton and business partner Flemming Andersen conducted eighteen interviews with IFU employees including people from the management team and members of the board. The objective was to identify the brand’s (the business’) core values.
A brand developing process for a self-governing fund.
The next step in the process was to analyse the situation in and around IFU. The values of an organisation are evident in every aspect of the organisations’ business routine even if not communicated directly to the public. Might this be client relations, direct marketing or treatment of its employees and strategic partners.
The results of the observations and interviews led to key conclusions concerning IFU’s future image and communication.
After presenting the results of the process framework identity facilitated two workshops with the management team and the employees where the new brand was refined. Our last contribution to the process was to develop a design briefing for a competition, where Denmark’s two best design agencies were invited to present their idea on how to visualise the new brand.
Innovation and education in Roskilde
For months now we have worked on an innovation process with with Roskilde, a Danish municipality, together with our partners Per Løkken and Build Identity. The aim of this process is to develop a strategy that guides Roskilde in the direction of becoming Europe’s leading, educational city in the year 2030.
As an important part of the process, we wanted “the silent voice” (the users) that are often overruled or ignored by “the known voice” (the professionals) to be heard. In this case, we defined the “silent voice” as being students from Roskilde’s different educational institutions. In many cases, the future work force and citizens of Roskilde. The userdriven innovation process is divided into three stages:
Stage one, Involvement
We invite the students (the users) to become co-developers and share thoughts, wishes and dreams and contribute ideas on the project.
Stage two, Idea- and concept development
The material we are left with form the basis for stage two where the people that normally work with strategy development in the municipality (“the known voice”) take part in transforming all the thoughts and inputs into concrete ideas and concepts. Again, students are invited into this process
Stage three, realisation
Development and realization of innovative concepts for the municipality.
The grand opening
Last Tuesday (November 24) was the highlight of stage one. A one day innovation work shop were we had invited seventy students from various schools and universities to participate in six different work shops. Furthermore employees from the municipality (the educational institutions, politicians etc.) were working together in a seventh workshop. The workshops were designed as an experience for many senses where the participants through play and creativity explored future lifestyles within 6 areas of everyday life and education.
For you Danish speaking readers you can follow this link to watch a small video. A feature by a regional tv station that stopped by on the innovation day.
Innovation in Greece?
From mid July, my family and I will be situated mainly on Kythera, Greece for a period of 6 months. Since Kythera is located only 40 minutes by plane from Athens regular trips to see clients and partners while away is not a problem.
Everybody knows Greece as a great place for vacation. Simple pleasures like sunny weather, picturesque villages, delicious food at reasonable prices and a seemingly endless coastline attract visitors worldwide. But what does Greece have to offer when it comes to business?
It is no secret that the economy isn’t doing so well and The European Commission even predicts a greek recession this year. So what can be done to change things?
Together with the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) the Kokkalis Foundation has pointed out three main factors responsible for Greece’s innovation underperformance: 1) venture capital creation, 2) legal framework and business start up requirements, 3) the relationships between the university and industry. In order to support and guide investors who show interest to the greek market Invest in Greece was founded in 2008. It is the official Investment Promotion Agency of Greece that promotes and facilitates private investment and support and it does so free of charge. They have initiated networks, services and events in order to attract investors over the next years. It seems like Greece is getting around to create the framework for innovation but do they have the potential to develop an actual innovation culture? I’m excited to get a closer view on the greek market and see for myself where the potential lies.
The impact of a positive mindset
Positive Psychology is a term you hear more and more often in connection with employee performance and optimizing work environment. The term refers to how can improve your motivation and performance through your changing your attitude in certain situations. The fact that management behavior have a big impact on the work environment in teams and organizations, has encouraged several companies to introduce their managers to positive psycology.
Together with our network partner Strandgaard & Co we facilitated a workshop for a group of managers from Lundbeck on how to use positive psychology to change unfavorable habits in their teams and support creative and positive thinking. Through theory and practical exercises, we supplied them with knowledge and tools for becoming more aware and alert in their management roles: How to identify and develop personal strategies for flow and energy in daily work situations and to positively affect their surroundings.
We’ve all experienced to feel stressed and drained of energy after a workday. We tend to blame it on the boss, the difficult clients or the daily traffic jam. However, little changes can have big effects. Meeting your colleagues with a positive attitude and optimism instead of stress and short answers creates a very different energy at your work place. We all make these choises many times a day, when we interact with other people. Some situations may be more challenging to change into something positive than others. But in the end it is our own choise, if today’s budget meeting is going to be a dread or a unique possibility to talk about opportunities and (positive) change.
Here is a good little exercise for you: For one day, try to be aware of and focus on things that make you happy, organize your space and devote some time to activities you enjoy. Alone or with collegues. What fosters “A good work day” for you? We think we could all need a new perspective these days
Innovative summer plans
Sunbathing at one of the many lakes in and around Berlin or gaining new knowledge and meeting innovative people for refreshing input and inspiration? If you feel more attracted to the second option, we suggest you join us at the summer camp at Berlin University of the Arts*
Many organisations are challenged by the rapid changes of today’s market and the increasingly high expactations of their stakeholders. To continiously generate and implement new ideas and market opportunities gives you a head start to your competitiors. Most managers are aware of this fact but are challenged in their everyday lifes because of structural and cultural boundaries.
For the Berlin University of the Arts Pia Betton and Prof. Peter Friedrich Stephan facilitate a three day seminar where Radical Innovation – design of concepts, processes and systems, ethnographic field work and cognitive design are on the agenda. Through talks, workshops and coaching you will gain new insight in how to embrace change. You will be introduced to methods and tools that can help you overcome organisational obstacles and actively and efficiently work with innovation in your organisation.
*Read more about the seminar here or contact Berlin University of the Arts for more information!
5 questions about fi
Following a discussion of how easy or hard it is to understand what goes on at fi and what our focus is, I decided to take on the role as an outsider and interview managing director Pia Betton for a few quick answers:
First of all: what’s the difference between innovation and creativity?
Creativity is an ability to change the usual perspectives on a situation or a challenge and through doing so, coming up with new ideas.
Innovation is a good idea that works. If it doesn’t work, it is an idea or an invention. In order for innovation to deserve the title, it needs to be viable (technology, processes, logistics), profitable and attractive. In this case attractive is defined as covering a need, solving a problem, saving time, opening up for new possibilities etc.
What methods do you most often apply in innovation sessions?
At framework identity we work with very different tools and methods, dependent on the challenge we have. Very often we use visualisation as a great way of creating clarity. A lot of the challenges we get from our customers are about creating clarity and overview. For this, an illustration is much stronger than words. We also use reduction as a very important tool. In today’s very complex world, reducing complexity and finding simple answers create overview. If you have overview, you can work on answers. If a group of people try to find a solution for a challenge that they don’t have a shared understanding of, the chance of finding a common solution is very small.
Managers have very little time. They come unprepared to meetings, because they don’t have the time to create overview. By interviewing people and by analysing the answers we can create an overview that can enable them to make the right decisions within very little time.
So… in other words, the goal is…?
To gain overview, clarity, shared perspectives and enable people to make the right choises
In general, what barriers do you find most important to deal with, when helping a company be more innovative?
To think out of the box, to collect the necessary information both quantity- and quality-wise
Not to work on assumptions
To ask open questions
To ask more questions
To see different solutions, dependent on the choises made
How do you/fi document your innovation-workshop findings?
We document our work very thoroughly. That is important for the next steps in the process. We also filter out all the most important decisions and key challenges and focus on them when analysing the results. We give clear recommendations for the next steps
Welcome to the framework identity blog!
1 December 2008, 11:13
You landed on the new framework identity blog. If you don’t know who we are, you can read more about us on the People, Results and Focus pages. If you don’t know what a blog is or what to do here, check out this link.
The intention of this blog is to share our views on business, innovation, design and any combination of the three. We would also be delighted, if you wish to contribute with an entry. We want our blog to be a platform for discussions. So comment, comment, comment!
Pia Betton
Founder, Managing Director and Senior Consultant
Not only is Pia Betton the founder and managing director of framework identity, she is also the personalisation of applying design thinking to business strategy development. As a trained graphic designer, Pia started her professional life in Danish design agencies and continued at the Berlin-based MetaDesign, where she became a member of the management board. Framework identity was founded in 2002.
Over the years, Pia has developed a strong business focus – both due to her managerial experience as well as to her facilitating the strategic decision-making processes prior to the execution of design processes. In her positions as manager, Pia has worked with many global brand clients.
Pia is a requested lecturer and facilitator. With her inspirational talks, she sets the scene at seminars and teaches at executive learning programmes. In her role as a senior consultant, she coaches management groups in change processes. Finally, Pia is a skilled concept developer and project manager with an excellent capacity for managing complexity.
Among other companies, Pia has worked for 180° Academy, G4S, DONG Energy, Stiftung Warentest, the Confederation of Danish Employers (DA), the Confederation of Professionals in Denmark (FTF), Nokia, YIT, Sparekassen Farsø and strandgaard & co.
p.betton@framework-identity.com
skype: piabetton