Some years ago I was a Group Director of a very large company where we implemented 15% free time in an endeavour to achieve innovation outcomes. It was a complete failure.

Why? Because the production people or people whose output was quantitatively measured just never had such freedom of time available.

As for the type of job functions where metrics are somewhat less quantitative, the problem is no different.

In these days of excessive time demands courtesy of e-mails, mobile phones and the like, busy executives are already working 60 or more hours per week just managing their jobs.

Would I now expect them to put their feet up on the desk to think innovatively for an extra 15% to 20% of their day? Of course not, this can never work.

Many ideas occur spontaneously - but you shouldn’t rely on serendipity.

The real fact is that innovation and “opportunity capture” often occur at the most random of times whilst “on the job” and at the most unexpected times.

People just need to know what to look for and how to see things with some simple opportunity capture tools and the mindset that realises that nothing we do or sell today will be the same in even five years’ time. Indeed, no Apple product is even two years old, much less five.

Furthermore, this is simple. It’s not high tech rocket science but as simple as even listening for a curse, understanding the reason for that curse then assessing whether a means to remove that curse represents a realisable opportunity.

I have used this approach successfully in many industries and even primary schools.

There is always a better way. We just need to inspire people to be always looking for better ways with an open mind, the right tools and most of all to “Keep it Simple”.

Roger La Salle, trains people in innovation, marketing and the emerging art of Opportunity Capture,  www.matrixthinking.com