MANILA, Philippines – Change is constant, and in this world were time does not stop running, what can we do but cope? How do businesses then address this certain future of change with their business strategies, ideas, and experiences? How do companies conquer business risks and challenges today? First Pacific Leadership Academy (FPLA), the first Corporate University established by esteemed Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, aimed to answer all these through the Innovation Congress.
Held last February 2-3, 2017, FPLA conducted its 2017 Innovation Congress, titled “Create, Break, Iterate”, at FPLA’s Griffins Hall and facilitated by Laszlo Gyorffy. Speakers from the group: Ramon Fernandez, Oscar Reyes, Ma. Elizabeth Sichon, and Orlando Vea shared their insights on Innovation and Culture. The packed venue was filled with delegates composed of their innovation teams and company executives from the different MVP companies including PLDT-Smart, Maynilad, Meralco, and MPTC.
Before the two-day Congress, a “Training the Trainers Session” was held on February 1, 2017 to provide the necessary skills and viewpoints on the Culture of Innovation. This was conducted to hail “Innovation Champions” who would guarantee the formation and sustainability of the Culture of Innovation within their respective companies long after the Congress ends.
THE CULTURE OF INNOVATION
The Innovation Congress began with an evolution video presented by FPLA’s Head for Innovation & Digital Programs Niño Cabredo. It was followed by a welcome speech made by FPLA’s General Manager and Executive Director, Roy Agustin K. Evalle. In his speech, Evalle said that much has changed in the business landscape today, but there are still more to come, and there will always be change. An inescapable fact. “The Business Landscape today, where much has changed and is continually changing, offers us no other option but to perceive the change that is going to happen”. The need to constantly change is pressing as it is the only way to sustain and succeed. “Time is fluid, it wont wait, to continually re-invent and iterate, for us to be timeless”. The time to be timeless is NOW.
Enterprise Development’s President and CEO, and renowned Innovation & Disruption facilitator and speaker, Laszlo Gyorffy discussed the critical role of leaders in establishing a company culture on innovation. According to Laszlo, Innovation can be done through various ways; creating the right kind of innovation experience; generating the most productive concept about innovation and its possibilities; and having a collective ideology on the desired behavior towards inventing the future.
The Congress also had a forum wherein companies shared their culture and programs on innovation. Chief People & Culture Officer of PLDT-Smart Elizabeth Sichon said that organizational behavior impacts company culture. She mentioned, “If you don’t understand how culture works, it can get very difficult and frustrating to make sustainable changes.” Maynilad’s Head of Human Resources Mikoy Arcaina talked about one of Maynilad’s projects – an online portal for their people to share good practices, critical incidents, and business cases. Because of the company experiences, the discussions encouraged innovation because, “it created a safe haven for people’s ideas to be born and be tested.”
The Meralco team, composed of their team of advisers and heads including Head of Human Resources & Executive Sponsor of Digital HR Ramon Segismundo, presented their various innovation projects. They described how Meralco is aimed and geared to become a digital company, pursuing excellence through innovation while using Gyorffy’s innovation guidelines and concepts. Voyager President & CEO Orlando Vea, Ideaspace President Butch Meily, and Executive Director Dianne Eustachio also participated in the forum.
INNOVATION INTEGRATION
Once the culture of innovation is established, “operation-alizing” innovation is next. This is done when companies create objectives, goals and projects founded on advanced and modern ideas. Implementing these results in a company that practices innovation integration. Gyorffy discussed his Blue & Green Core Innovation strategies to help business expansion through optimization, procedural improvement, development of products and services, and tapping a wider market base. He imbibed how these strategies can be fully integrated in an organization’s business practices and leverage on the group’s scale, brand and assets to fully transition into espousing Innovation Integration.
The 2nd day of the Congress made the companies apply the various innovation tools in forming their own strategies and projects. They also formed synergistic partnerships with other companies, collaborations adopting the culture of innovation and resulting a more integrated organization.
Embracing the challenge and recognizing the need to change, the 2-day Innovation Congress was, indeed, a success in showing how and being a business that can cope with the demands of the modern world. As FPLA’s GM & Executive Director, Roy Evalle closed the conference with an inspirational note for everyone, “Culture may be outdated, but is certainly not dead. Technology is timely but to innovate is Timeless.” Indeed, because change is constant and time never ends, our Organization should always be ready to Create, Break and Iterate. An Organization ready for the challenges ahead and championing the stance to be Timeless.
For more information about FPLA and its upcoming programs and activities, visit
https://www.fpacademy.net/ You may also contact: Tel: (+63) 02 696 3051, Fax: (+63) 02 696 1026
