Biologize » Innovation

Infinity Context Free Process for business biomimetics

Phil Richardson — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:23:38 +0000

Infinity Context Free Process for Business Biomimetics

Dr Phil Richardson of Thoughtcrew Limited has developed a new process for the translation between between business problems and biological systems. This, the Infinity Context Free Process, provides an approach for strategic thinking and can be used as a workshop process or can be embedded into the strategy process or the innovation process of a business. Thoughtcrew offer a subscription service where new biological system cards can be added to the process to provide a wider range of analysis. The process has already shown successful results in both the consumer packaged goods and the business services sectors. Because of the integrated nature of biological systems the solutions produced by the ICFP tend to be richer and add more long term value. Further details from Thoughtcrew

Thoughtcrew launches three new business biomimetic services

Phil Richardson — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:02:47 +0000

Business biomimetic solutions

Thoughtcrew has developed three business biomimetic offers for leadership, change management and innovation. The following summary provides an overview of the offers and shows how these could work for your business.

Business biomimetics and introduction

This is a range of education and introduction to business biomimetics talks and workshops. Lasting from a one hour talk to a three day workshop the audience is introduced to the subject of biomimetics, the application to business issues and a number of the business biomimetic models and tools. In the workshops there is an opportunity to apply the models against a defined business issues and to compare this with the audiences current experiences.

Biologize your Business

The ‘Biologize your Business’ offer takes the application of business biomimetics further by applying it to a business issue that is pertinent to the current organisation’s challenges. A bespoke project is defined which then uses the business biomimetic models and the Infinity Context Free Process (ICFP) to innovate around the issue and then to evaluate the ideas generated against agreed KPI’s and alternative approaches. At this stage there is an optional implementation offer which covers the design and implementation of the generated ideas. This option uses the Thoughtcrew Transformation Architecture approach.

Embedding business biomimetics

Here the ICFP process is embedded into the existing companies processes. This is augmented with an appropriate set of business biomimetic tools and techniques. The embedding includes all the training and support to allow the organisation to carry out the process and to develop and evaluate its own idea generation against a defined problem or issue. Once implemented ongoing support includes the provision of biology expertise, new business biomimetic models, ad-hoc consulting and the production of biological data flash cards.

The support could also include specific research around emerging issues or in the hybridisation of other techniques to create an integrated approach. This would be then implemented across a blended learning platform.

www.thoughtcrew.net

Phil Richardson joins the PSL at The Lords for the launch of The Partner

Phil Richardson — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:09:14 +0000

Lord David Evans of Watford hosted the 20th anniversay of PSL at the House of Lords this week. Over 180 business leaders joined together to launch the latest edition of The Partner magazine. Phil Richardson, Thoughtcrew, authored the thought leadership chapter “Fit for the Future” exploring the use of evolution as a model for innovation. With increasing pressures on businesses emerging from the recession, innovation will play a key role in successful business growth.

Also announced at the launch were the five companies that have successfully completed the PAS11000 certification on partnering. Soon to become the new British Standard further information on this exciting development in collaboration and the importance for the future can be found at www.pslcbi.com where you can obtian copies of The Partner. For further information on the use of biology in innovation contact Thoughtcrew on www.thoughtcrew.net

Getting and keeping golden customers

Phil Richardson — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:01:05 +0000

How golden are your customers. This was the topic discussed when I met interim marketing director Nicki Holmes at the Royal Society of Arts yesterday. Her unique approach to marketing which has achieved fantastic results for a wide range of businesses from NatWest to Help the Aged has a secret ingredient.

The secret is a simplification of the brand coupled with a thorough understanding of high value customer segmentation. The challenge is to get away from the mass traditional marketing techniques and to tailor your approach to those customers that are both high value and are likely to provide a high lifetime value.

Getting a change in approach often requires a firm challenge to the existing thinking and this is where business biomimetics can play a key role. To gain additional high value customers you need a combination of golden customer marketing, insightful strategic thinking and focused implementation all of which is available from Thoughtcrew.

You can find out moe about Nicki on her LinkedIn profile http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/nicki-holmes/0/ba/8ba
and Phil Richardson here http://uk.linkedin.com/in/philrichardson

One in a million - an innovation that works for a children’s hospice

Phil Richardson — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:57:45 +0000

Francis House Children’s Hospice is 18 years old. “In January 1990 Sister Aloysius called a meeting of like minded people to discuss how to provide help to the many families around the Northwest who had children with life limiting conditions, the Rainbow Family Trust was born! Never one to let grass grow under her feet Sister drove the project on and it is a great tribute to her tenacity, faith and strength of purpose that on the 25th of November 1991 the late Princess Diana opened a fully operational Francis House and ever since the Francis House family has continued to grow.

Our service is founded on a belief in the sanctity of life and respect for the dignity of every person. Francis House values the understanding, visions and attitudes to life and death of all of the children and families who allow us the privilege of being alongside them through their times of stress, pain and confusion.” - www.francishouse.org.uk

One of the great innovations Sister Aloysius had was to create the “One in a Million” idea. Here for just £5 per year you could become a member of a unique community supporting the children at the Hospice. Now according to my stats on LinkedIn, Xing and Ecademy I am connected to enough people so this shouldn’t be a problem! Here’s the link to the page you need and if you want more info you can download the newsletter.

Phil Richardson

Feedback from HR directors highlights the importance of biomimetics as a technique in leadership and change management

Phil Richardson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:13:54 +0000

HR Directors that attended the recent HR Forum in London to hear Phil Rchardson give his talk on leadership and change management and the use of biomimetics as a business tool provided some exciting feedback. If you are interested in finding out more visit Thoughtcrew or call Phil on +44 208 133 4728.

“Very passionate about biology. Emphasis on biology mostly lost the impact on change/change leadership culture. Pace could have been quicker through the theory to practical examples. Practical example right at end was quite good looking with journey to growth (crab example). Fascinating”

“Very interesting. Would have preferred more time to work through the business problems at the end”

“Great session”

“Really creative and interesting presentation. Food for thought. Very thought provoking”

“Most enjoyable session so far. Well presented and an articulate presenter”

“Very interesting and innovative”

“Excellent, very interesting content and great presentation”

“Very clever and entertaining and relevant”

“Thought provoking, different”

Nano project management

Phil Richardson — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:25:01 +0000

Project management principles such as Prince 2 are fine if the team is trained and the culture encourages the right behaviours. However on my experience projects are full of business people who don’t get the right kind of training or support. Thoughtcrew has developed a new method called Nano Project Management. Business participants in a project work with a daily or weekly project plan and that’s it. Even in a major business transformation they are only working a few days at a time.

The integration is managed at the weekly PM meeting and everyone is happy. Nano Project Management is also great at the end of a course where people leave with a succinct set of iediate next steps. It reinforces the learning and means actions are more likely.

The next big thing in consulting

Phil Richardson — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:59:39 +0000

Biomimetics is the next big thing in consulting acording to a group of senior business leaders that attended the latest briefing by Phil Richardson of Thoughtcrew.

Exploring the application of the new models and theories developed by Phil on his PhD at the University of Bath the invited audience were enthusiastic about the application of this approach in the current economic situation. An executive summary is available.

Creative solutions to the problems you didn’t know you had

Phil Richardson — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:35:55 +0000

Before setting off down the wrong path it’s worth spending some time thinking about the problem. Typically problems present as a series of clues. These symptoms present as something that is or is not happening.

Very expensive mistakes have been made by designing and implementing solutions for symptoms. Little, if any time has been spent examining and challenging these clues to determine the real problem.

Intuition kicks in with the enthusiasm to create tangible growth and soon phrenetic activity is underway. Teams of consultants are deployed and 18 months later questions are being asked why it’s taking longer and costing more than expected.

Phil Richardson works in a different way. He helps in the pre-change management stage helping you discover the real problem, defining the real plan and scoping out what needs to be addressed to deliver real business outcomes.

You should give him a call on 02081334728 if you are feeling the effects of symptoms.

Adhesives - a chat with Professor Julian Vincent

Phil Richardson — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:50:40 +0000

I have just come from an interesting meeting with Professor Julian Vincent where we were discussing glue. Julian is a biomimetics expert and has published 300 papers on the application of biology to engineering and in particular materials problems. Adhesives play a major role in the way we live our lives today. Julian points out that nature has already created a wide range of solutions from temporary bonds such as seen on the dog burr (later developed into Velcro) and extremely strong bonds as demonstrated by the mussel and it’s attachment to rocks in a hostile environment. One of the ways in which it is possible to understand the challenges that are faced when looking at bonding problems is via the use of TRIZ. If you want to find out more you can contact Julian and the team at BioTRIZ