If you’d like increased revenues, better margins or a stronger brand, it’s time to start thinking and acting differently. Sounds obvious but after meeting with hundreds of companies, I’ve found that message has not fully sunk into the collective brains of management. They want better output but aren’t always prepared to re-think the inputs.

What’s needed now are new tools and roles that increase the speed of innovation to accelerate the rate that companies learn about new opportunities, generate new ideas and implement new solutions. It’s not that companies have stopped innovating but that the top competitors around the world have innovated at a faster pace.

You need more than formal skills in job descriptions. Successful firms should master innovation techniques that allow groups and individuals to influence the thought and behavior patterns of the corporation. In my new book, The Ten Faces of Innovation, I describe such innovation roles, and have narrowed that list here to three that are relevant to manufacturers.

1. The Anthropologist and empathic observation: This role doesn’t require a degree in anthropology, but a deep interest in watching and learning about human behavior. Empathic observations help you to constantly watch your customers and potential clients—looking for undiscovered latent needs. When you make a discovery, it translates into a business opportunity for your company.
    
   For example, someone doing careful observations of kids for the Mattel toy company made the simple but breakthrough discovery that boys and girls play with construction toys differently: girls enjoy assembly, while boys like to build tall so they can knock things down. That became the tiny seed of innovation for a creative group Mattel calls “Platypus” which three months later created a new category of assembly toys for girls. In its first year, the new “Ello” toys sold millions of units-all sparked by one insight. What are the fundamentals of empathic observation?
    
   Expert Anthropologists practice the Zen principle of “beginner’s mind.” Even with extensive education and lots of experience, people doing empathic observations should set aside what they “know,” looking past preconceived notions.
   True enthusiasts of this role embrace human behavior with all its surprises. Lifelong students of human behavior develop a genuine love of watching and talking to people that cannot be faked. The cultural anthropology can be learned by anyone, but those who master this tool usually find it intrinsically rewarding.
    
   It’s also important to keep an “idea wallet.” Real world anthropologists always carry a field notebook (and camera) to record small insights/ideas. Anything from a PDA to a sheet of paper will work.
    
   My firm, IDEO, has collected 51 distinct techniques for anthropology, but it all begins with observations. So if you want to develop these skills, get up from your desk now and go out to see first-hand how your customers buy and use your products. Profitable innovation opportunities are waiting to be discovered.
    
2. The Cross-Pollinator and insight transfer: The Cross-Pollinator helps you to learn from other firms, industries and cultures by transferring/translating insights found elsewhere. As a bumble bee brings pollen from other flowers, the Cross Pollinator in the corporate world continuously brings in ideas learned from their travels.
    
   Cross-Pollinators can draw power from humility. No matter how big your company, more is going on outside than inside. An R&D executive at one of the largest pharmaceutical firms recently said they spend over a billion dollars per year on research and development. That’s impressive but he stated it represents only 1% of the total worldwide spending at universities and corporations. That means 100 times as much work is happening outside his company. There is plenty to be learned, absorbed and applied. Cross-Pollinators have the humility to recognize that their group doesn’t have all the answers and the energy to go out and find someone who does.
    
   Cross-Pollinators know that value can be gained in translation. They see patterns and spot key differences. But they’ve also honed the skill of applying those subtle differences in new contexts. They think and often express themselves in metaphors, enabling them to see relationships that others miss. They’re matchmakers, creating unusual combinations that often spark innovative hybrids.
    
   Cross-Pollinators look to the past and future as sources of ideas. As students of history, they search for concepts that might have been ahead of their time or may be ready for a revival. Looking beyond the present, they read and mine science fiction, open to the possibility that imagined futures might provide an opportunity in the present.
    
   Firms need cross-pollination for continuous learning. Cross-Pollinators bring in new ideas that challenge conventional thinking and are potentially disruptive to “business as usual.” That’s what makes them so valuable in the 21st-century enterprise. Cross-Pollinators don’t need to be titans of industry. Small insights can make a remarkable difference.
    
3. Hurdler’s Approach to Innovation Obstacles: Every innovation team needs to overcome obstacles. Even with a rich source of ideas and learning generated from observations and cross-pollination, you still need to translate knowledge into action. There are many barriers to innovation that must be overcome. That’s where the skill of hurdling can come to the rescue.
    
   Hurdlers overcome obstacles so naturally, sometimes it seems as if they weren’t even there. Breaking rules comes naturally. They know how to cleverly work outside the system. Hurdlers maintain a quiet, positive determination—especially in the face of adversity. Hurdlers do more with less, and actually get excited by trying something that’s never been done.
    
   Hurdlers are adept at deflecting standard objections. When skeptics warn a new idea “will never work,” good hurdlers will invite them to brainstorm on “How might we make it work?” When a conservative colleague suggests doing more research, a practiced hurdler will respond, “Why not try it on a small scale? Then we’ll know what works and what doesn’t.” Watching an Olympic hurdler, you may notice a couple of things that apply directly to hurdling corporate obstacles: First, the hurdles barely slow the hurdler down and never cause them to break stride. Second, they often brush the hurdles without knocking them down. In other words, they don’t mind rubbing against obstacles, but they do so with an incredible economy of motion—just enough to get safely past one hurdle while saving their energy for the next one.
    
   You may be thinking that hurdling seems to go slightly against the grain of the organization. Yes, that’s partly true. New thinking, behaviors and successes—they all depend on mastering the art of hurdling in your firm.

There are other important roles of course, and lots of other things to get right in order to succeed. But if firms can find a way to build their skills in empathic observation, crosspollination, and hurdling, it will go a long way toward building, reinforcing, and sustaining their own unique cultures of innovation.

Tom Kelley is general manager of IDEO, the renowned design firm responsible for innovations like the Apple Mouse, Palm V and Polaroid I-Zone Camera.