Genelec’s goal is to develop the paradigm of operations and their management, so that in the future, all management at Genelec will be innovation management. The development of management is based on Genelec’s product development project carried out in 2019, in which the entire product development team sought new ways and operating models for demanding product development. Based on this, the idea was born in autumn 2020 to start a systematic and long-term coaching programme that includes all the company’s functions and the persons responsible for them from the managerial level upwards. The aim is to develop the company’s culture and way of thinking so that innovation management is not only a matter of product and technology development, but the management of all Genelec operations is innovation management. The first steps have now been taken – the work continues.
How innovation management was developed
“Genelec’s employees found the Innoman´s Innovation Path inspiring. During the path, they learn how to work in multidisciplinary teams. In addition, they used several new innovation and conceptualization tools that can be used effectively in the future,” says Siamäk Naghian, CEO of Genelec.
Siamäk Naghian, CEO of Genelec
“A key tool for innovation management in this development project was the Innovation Path developed by Innoman,” says Pekka Berg, Chairman of Innoman’s Board of Directors. This is a series of five workshops productized by Innoman, which was attended by the company’s entire top management and managers from all functions – a total of approximately 30 people in five (5) different teams. Each team produced its own innovation concept, which was finally pitched to the company’s board of directors.
What insights were made?
During the implementation, Genelec employees realized the following:
- Ideas and creativity are not born in a vacuum but require continuous basic work and competence development.
- Genelec knows how to manufacture top products, and its employees are prepared to look for new things.
The innovation path was a learning path where cross-functional teams learned to work effectively together using innovation tools. The focus was on each participant’s own personal learning process and better serving customers, consumers and users. Inventing something new is demanding – Innoman helped in the learning process. This required collaboration between people from different backgrounds and suitable innovation tools.
The goal of each team was to develop an innovative idea or concept for Genelec. During the path, each team refined the idea with the help of innovation tools from different perspectives. It is important that the idea can be evaluated in a versatile way – for example, from the radical innovations, different scenarios and future users.
“The development project was particularly rewarding and motivating because the ideas and concepts created are genuinely such that they have significant commercial potential,” says Siamäk Naghian, CEO of Genelec.
How do we proceed?
Innoman’s Innovation Path brought up several ideas for the future. Naghian reflects: “We must continue this paradigm shift in operations and management in a systematic and long-term manner. In order to adopt new thinking, we will consider the following measures in the future:
- Strengthening process and strategic continuous development.
- Strong support for operations – instilling a new way of thinking and tools.
- Strengthening enabling factors and mental space – such as already started “slow thinking Fridays” approach
Why Innoman?
“We chose Innoman because I’ve known Pekka for a long time. Innovation management is interesting and Genelec is an innovative, pioneer in its own field. Pekka has a long history in innovation management, and Innoman has a lot of fresh expertise on a global level,” concludes Siamäk Naghian, CEO of Genelec.
Siamäk Naghian, CEO of Genelec and Pekka Berg, Chairman of Innoman’s Board of Directors discuss innovation management.
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