Performance Management Frameworks and Innovation

Dr. Nat: In the context of innovation what performance management concepts of frameworks are used? Earlier you alluded to TQM. Was that one of the frameworks?

Dr. Atkins: That was one of the prime frameworks. It offered a disciplined approach prior to me learning about TQM and therefore getting excited about the power of it because I saw the power of it. One of the other aspects of innovation was having good problem sets, having good definitions of what the problem is and having people to think about, and lots of people think about it. I'm a fan of Lionus Pauling, the Nobel Prize chemist who said, “If you want to have a good idea, you need to have to have lots of ideas.” And so you can't get lots of ideas unless you give a good problem set or good problem statement that can get people excited or peoples' juices running, and thinking about how can I solve that problem. And it follows through on a TQM, still wants to know what the problem is as I said earlier with using the quality function deployment approach. The very first step is what are all of the wants, what are all of the things that are required of a solution so you know when you have a solution. So I think the TQM offered that disciplined approach, that consistent approach that assured a more efficient answer and usually your more robust answer than just saying “Here's the problems guys, now give me some answers.” without having something to judge it against, and something to remind you of the steps of which you really wanted to have and to remind the team. They still both revolve around having a good problem statement, and a good understanding, a clear understanding of what one is trying to achieve. Then you can start moving towards that answer using all of the tools available.