Innovation at Ravensburger

Three Personal Takeaways

As a user researcher, I have been part of a rich and exciting journey over the last five years. My job has been to bring innovation to the core of Ravensburger — a German toy, games, and books company: first as a consultant with IDEO, and for the past two years, as part of Ravensburger’s internal innovation team. I accompanied a structural shift from innovation challenges rather being outsourced … to them being tackled, where things are decided and projects can be realized.

Here are my three key takeaways:

In 2015, I was asked to join the MakeLab, a collaboration between Ravensburger and IDEO Munich. It was initiated by the former Ravensburger CEO Karsten Schmidt in order to prototype an internal lab and to find out what a good setup would comprise. It was quite an experiment: What happens when you put three Ravensburger employees into a room with three IDEO designers? A clash of cultures! Breaking up the clear relationship between client and agency required new rules, which we defined together.

Lessons learned: In one year, we established a common language, iterated on the team setup, experimented, created a test-user pool … and developed four product concepts for kids between six and ten years: from a DIY toy-designer platform to a smart friendship bracelet.
However, we were NOT measured by market impact — which of course made our creativity flourish on the one hand, while it decreased our credibility at Ravensburger on the other. Furthermore, we were not even connected to Ravensburger key stakeholders.

“Yeah, but you did not really launch anything at the MakeLab, right?”

To change this, the Ravensburger Innovation Lab was set up in 2016:

2. Put the Core Business in the Driver’s Seat

First of all, this meant moving out of a fancy, urban IDEO office … and into a makeshift space in the former Ravensburger canteen, spiced up with some IKEA furniture! Together with my former MakeLab colleague Michael, I joined the Innovation Lab in 2016. From then on, we no longer worked in isolation: We helped to set up selected key innovation challenges, so-called “Campus projects”. These were based on the company strategy, tackled by cross-functional teams in six to twelve intense weeks and driven by the core business. A very important change! Finally, we acted as one team with the people responsible for the market impact.
We worked hard on a) bringing in a fresh mindset and skills from the outside, regularly involving external and international experts, as well as users, and b) bringing teams out of the office, into the natural user context — or simply to new, inspiring places. In kindergarten, it is a well-established fact that “space is the third educator.” Why should this not be true for grown-ups as well?

Lessons learned: Yes, we took an important step. We helped to demystify terms like “design thinking” and “agile.” Colleagues from different units got the chance to experience new ways of working firsthand — and would hopefully spread these within the company. By involving key stakeholders from the core business and production from a very early stage, our outcomes were more realistic for Ravensburger. Many of them are being implemented now.
At the same time, we understood that core business teams are not really incentivized to innovate — this is especially the case for revolutionary innovations that involve more risk and long-term thinking.

“You have to understand that we do not earn money (yet) with this project, we have to focus on our daily business.”

We also realized that “after the Campus is before the Campus”: the core team splits up to work again in the same old division, in their regular office space with the same limited resources — just with one more concept to implement.

“I really miss you guys! The Campus felt like a school trip … and then I kind of fell into a black hole.”

If you want to change this:

3. Mean It

For many companies like Ravensburger, the next chapter will be about moving toward a more integrative approach. Referring back to Dr. Mary Lippitt’s model from 1987, later adapted by Knoster, Villa, and Thousand (2000): this chapter should be about designing a culture of collaboration between international teams and units. It should be about growing internal resources and skill sets required for innovation (e.g. research and design). It should be about incentivizing experimentation and innovation — which includes failure and risk-taking. This is, of course, a challenge, especially if there is nothing wrong (yet) and people do not see a reason for trying something new. However, it is a question that needs to be answered clearly. You cannot be a little pregnant.

Wrapping up: This has been and is an amazing journey. I have learned many things, on an organizational and personal level. Most importantly: people trump processes. In order to innovate, you need people — on all levels — who want to innovate. People who want to collaborate, to try new things, to question everything, to share insights. People who are empathic and passionate about the brand and products. I met some great ones like these! People bring processes to life, not the other way around.

Looking forward to what is next!

Related posts:

A garota estava beijando o cara que mais exalava o estereótipo de hétero cis top. Eu poderia dizer, engolindo. Era voraz, teatral. Parecia ter feito de propósito. Virgínia e eu acabamos desolados…