Creativity and Innovation at Kraft Foods
Employing 3300 scientists, chemists, and engineers in 15 major research and development locations worldwide, Kraft Foods Inc. knows the importance of creating a culture of creativity and innovation. These employees design and develop the products that keep the company profitable and growing. The success of the company depends on their ability to create novel products that consumers want and need – even before consumers are aware of that need.
In an e-mail interview, Carol Oman, associate principal scientist of consumer innovation, Kraft Foods Research, Development and Quality, answered questions about how the company builds value through innovation.
AllPsychologyCareers.com: Briefly describe how the “creative” or “innovation” groups are organizationally structured at Kraft – those groups that develop new products.
Carol Oman: New product development teams that work on innovation are spread throughout the business units at Kraft Foods, and are typically organized around a product category or brand. These teams create the products that are innovative solutions in response to a well-defined consumer problem or need.
Innovation really starts with consumer insights – creating ways to meet these needs and solve problems…even the problems that they may not even be aware of yet!
The team comes up with a concept to meet those needs, and the concept gets tested with consumers. Next, prototypes are created and tested with consumers, refinements are made, and then it's off to market!
AllPsychologyCareers.com: Do you look for “creativity” when you hire? If so, what are the traits, educational backgrounds, and personal characteristics that you are looking for?
Carol Oman: It’s not easy to measure or predict creativity, but we can ask interviewees questions about creative solutions they had developed or other creative moments in their careers.
Creativity would be a valuable skill to have in an employee, but it's not the only quality we look for when hiring someone for an innovation position. In my opinion, it's equally important to have flexibility, and the willingness to try new and different approaches. Being able to work on a team, appreciating diversity of people's thoughts, backgrounds, opinions and experiences -- and seeing the big picture — are each valuable traits that supplement creativity.
AllPsychologyCareers.com: How does the creative process work at Kraft Foods in product development?
Carol Oman: I like to think of the overall ideation process as divided in two major phases: diverging and converging.
Diverging is the "creating" portion, when the mind is free to wander to develop ideas, but still focused on the issue. Coming up with ideas is what most people think of as being “creative.” Converging is also creative, in the selection and critiquing of ideas. Idea creators need to select, prioritize, and refine ideas as they move toward finding suitable solutions.
Beyond the ideation framework, it is important that the team be properly informed about the background of the project, and to have a clearly defined objective. Basically, participants in an ideation session need to know why they’re there, what they’re going to do, and the history of the challenge. This is the best preparation for successful brainstorming so that everyone is working toward a common goal.
Capturing top-of-mind ideas, like those “aha’s” that immediately grow from current knowledge and experience, as well as the ideas that are built from or inspired by others, is the main part of the diverging phase. A short incubation period can follow, at which point the team may decide to re-group to think about the ideas or build on each others’ ideas.
Next would be the converging phase, which may be considered the evaluation portion. In my opinion, this part can occur immediately after diverging or on another day, but it’s absolutely important to have a period of evaluation. First, most ideas are not final -- they require modification in order to evolve into something useful. Second, an ideation will result in many ideas, so having an evaluation allows for sorting and prioritizing of ideas, which is a critical step in innovation.
AllPsychologyCareers.com: An incubation period, depending on the product, idea or invention, can take hours or years. How long does this usually take at Kraft?
Carol Oman: Incubation time is rarely constant, and has the potential to be a continuous activity. If a person considers the all aspects of a problem and devises many solutions, this process can occur in an hour or over the course of months, depending on many factors. A person may also get input from others. Incubation time usually is limited by the project's constraints, however, as speed to market is important!
AllPsychologyCareers.com: Insights or “aha” moments tend to come to those who are well prepared. How do you nurture creativity at Kraft so that product innovators are well prepared?
Carol Oman: For me, being well-prepared for insights is really about three things: having prior knowledge and experience with the problem; understanding science and technology; and being practiced in creative thinking.
Creative skills come from many sources – natural talents, learning from others, practice, or learning creative tools. The more often creative thinking is used, the easier it becomes. Think about a jazz musician, for instance. When jazz musicians “trade fours” and solo, their melodic riffs are created in an instant, right on the stage. Their ability to do that comes from a solid foundation of talent, specified knowledge, teamwork, and practice – lots of it!
AllPsychologyCareers.com: How do you lead your creative innovators at Kraft? Do you foster convergent as well as divergent thinking? Do you believe that creativity can be taught? Do you have creative training programs?
Carol Oman: I lead by influencing. I share my expertise and consult on projects. In my consultations, I foster both divergent and convergent thinking.
I absolutely believe that creativity can be taught. That's because a person can focus on a particular creative skill set and maximize it through practice.
For me, creativity goes beyond being able to make art or music or write a book. It’s about observing, understanding, researching, relating, clarifying, modifying and making things. Everyone can do at least one, if not several, of these things. If you can “connect the dots,” as it were, or you can imagine the dots being connected in another way, then that’s creativity.
AllPsychologyCareers.com: Does Kraft design its workplace to increase creative thought? If so, what does this environment look like or include?
Carol Oman: Kraft does have areas that foster creativity and collaboration. Some rooms include white boards for writing, or flipcharts for capturing ideas. Other areas have little toys to tinker with, or images for inspiration. My personal preference is to carry a creative toolbox that I made for myself. This toolbox can be used to make any space more suitable for creative thinking. I use my creative toolbox a lot, and I even lend parts of it to others. Creative inspiration is personal: I've decorated my space with colors, images, and text that inspires me. When I get stuck on a problem, there’s a lot around me to stir my imagination.
AllPsychologyCareers.com: Do you encourage key employees, such as managers, lead scientists and executives, to meet with leaders from other food companies? If so, why? How does this help with innovation?
Carol Oman: Keeping up with what other companies are doing is important. Not just for information, but as motivation for continuous improvement. That sparks the inspiration to create new ideas. Company employees have opportunities to meet each other in conferences and workshops, and have discussions, as long as nothing confidential is revealed. Innovation benefits from the sharing of ideas and the back-and-forth discussion between well-informed people. Sometimes companies even decide to collaborate on a problem, which is known as open innovation.
AllPsychologyCareers.com: How does innovation and creativity increase productivity as well as profitability?
Carol Oman: Innovation by definition results in profitability. Innovation is the useful or profitable implementation of focused or strategic creativity. In other words, it’s not innovation unless someone else can use it and wants to buy it. In addition to profitability, productivity is an important outcome. Saving money, energy, or finding better ways in how we work are extremely valuable.