What's it like to work with the Guided Innovation Group? On this page, we'll tell you about the kind of results our clients have experienced; we'll also expand a little bit on our guiding principles and philosophies, our approach to client projects, and what makes us  different from most consulting firms.

What results can you expect?

If you work with Guided Innovation, and put our unique, constraints based approach into practice, you can expect to see:

Impactful new opportunities making up a growing part of your pipeline. Your people will be out in the marketplace identifying unmet needs that offer the potential for real customer value. Value that ensures a promising future.

A focus on the best opportunities. With an 80/20 focus, your people will be pulling together like never before.

Product development teams executing projects swiftly and on time. Clear plans and customer requirement definitions guide teams like a roadmap.

Underperforming projects weeded out before you invest. You'll understand the critical assumptions, those upon which success hinges; be able to assess the realistic chances of success; and prioritize projects for maximum results.

Decisive action taken to fix or stop struggling programs. Product teams will have clear plans and an understanding of feasibility. When projects aren't tracking, everyone will know it, and the team will recommend killing the project themselves because they know there are better uses for the resources and because management doesn't kill the messenger.

Products launched to enthusiastic customer demand. Promised New Product sales volumes are commitments that teams deliver; that's because promises are based on market value and customer requirements gathered well before development begins.

Our guiding principles

Guided Innovations key principles are actually quite simple: 

Innovation is the organization-wide activity of finding and profitably serving unmet customer and market needs.

Focusing on the one constraint that is most limiting your growth leverages your improvement efforts and delivers results you never thought possible.

However, these simple tenets can completely change your business; so it may be helpful to expand just a bit: 

Most importantly, customer value is at the center of all innovation. Invention is about technology; innovation is about solutions. Finding unmet market needs and understanding the value that your solutions can create underpins our entire approach.

If it's not profitable, it's doesn't count. Creativity and invention are just a distraction if they don't lead to commercially viable new business. And continued cost reduction is a key element of competitiveness.

Measureable improvement goals and results against them are not optional. How fast do new products go from ideas to sales and what is the impact on cash flow? Our commitment is to helping you continually improve against these two goals - cycle time and throughput.

Innovation isn't just for the technology folks. It's a team sport and the entire organization must play for maximum effectiveness. Peter Drucker said it best "Companies exist to create customers. Therefore, sales and innovation are the only value adding activities." Of course, that doesn't mean that other members of the company can't add value. Just the opposite. It means that your entire organization must work together to add value in creating, cost reducing, marketing, selling, and supplying successful new products.

There's nothing magic about improving innovation. But it does require 80/20 focus, hard work, and continued commitment. If your organization can embrace our five-step approach, you can develop a repeatable process and culture of innovation improvement: a culture that will pay growth dividends for years to come.

Our unique approach

Guided Innovation works with your team using our market driven, constraints based approach so that you can expect to see results quickly. Most innovation consultants focus on generic stage gate implementation or improving creativity; but we know that innovation issues can cut across the entire organization, from sourcing to sales, and that every situation is unique. Our customized, five-step approach engages your team to identify the issues limiting your new product growth. Then using tools and methods developed over decades of real world experience, we work with the team to eliminate those constraints one by one and gradually create a deep competence in continuous innovation improvement. To learn more, download our 5-step guide.

An important part of what we do is challenge assumptions. Frankly, your team may find this a little uncomfortable at first; after all, you've operated a successful business for years and certain approaches have just become ingrained. But we're not company or industry insiders, so we can bring an unbiased, external perspective that helps smoke out the assumptions, policies, and interactions that are holding you back.

We're always there for you and your team. You shouldn't have to make an investment decision every time assistance is needed, nor should your people have to seek permission to spend money when they need help. In addition to scheduled sessions, unlimited support by phone and e-mail are always included in any project we do with same day response in most cases.

Our unique promise