Facilitation or consultation? The choice of the 'right' management methods increase innovation potential in practice

//ABSTRACT IN DANISH: Når man arbejder med innovation i praksis og herunder skabelsen af nye ideer via input fra forskellige brugere, er forfatternes erfaring den, at såvel ledelsesmetode som den operationelle proces oftest tages for givet af de ansvarlige. Dette har skabt en undren, som vi ønsker at belyse via denne artikel. Vi præsenterer og sammenligner resultaterne fra fire forskellige casestudier med forskellige set-up, som alle blev gennemført i samarbejde med fire forskellige virksomheder i forbindelse med BDI-projektet 'Handyvision'. Casestudierne opdeles således: Case a) workshoplederen faciliterer og deltagerne er fysisk til stede Case b) workshoplederen konsulterer og deltagerne er fysisk til stede Case c) workshoplederen faciliterer online-kommunikationsplatform Case d) workshoplederen konsulterer online-kommunikationsplatform Vores analyse indikerer, at facilitering hovedsageligt skaber ideer til inkrementel innovation og konsultering giver større potentiale for radikal innovation. Samtidig opstiller vi på baggrund af analysens resultater 6 suppositioner, som bør undersøges nærmere. I artiklen introducerer vi desuden begrebet Near Lead User. //ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: When the authors work with innovation in practice, including the generation of new ideas through input from various users, they experience that both management practice and operational process are often taken for granted by those responsible. This experience is what they want to shed light on in this article. They present and compare the fi ndings of four different case studies with different set-ups, all of which were conducted in collaboration with four different enterprises in connection with the BDI project 'Handyvision'. The four different categories: Case a) the workshop leader facilitates and the participants are physically present Case b) the workshop leader consults and the participants are physically present Case c) the workshop leader facilitates an online communication platform Case d) the workshop leader consults an online communication platform Their analysis indicates that facilitation generates ideas mainly for incremental innovation and that consultation allows greater potential for radical innovation. The authors propose six suppositions which, in the light of the analysis, should be investigated further, and the concept of Near Lead Users is introduced.