2 | Innovate With a Napkin

When you need a short and simple way to communicate a new concept, grab a napkin.

The napkin pitch, a design thinking method espoused by Jeanne Liedtka and colleagues at the Darden School of Business, provides a simple, consistent format for summarizing and communicating a new concept. The name comes from the notion that a good idea can be communicated simply, often on the back of a napkin.

“The reason for using a napkin is to keep it short, simple, and under 60 seconds. If you can’t sell the premise in that time, then chances are the problem is not well defined or you haven’t locked in the real outcome,” Heather Wringe wrote in an Integral blog post.

What Is the Napkin Pitch?The napkin pitch incorporates ideas from the problem-solving repertoire of design thinking and marries it with the simplicity of Dan Roam’s ideas from his book Back of the Napkin. The napkin is an ever-present staple where people gather—on planes and trains and in restaurants and snack shacks, for example.

Generally, napkins are small, so the space is limited and forces a focus on the critical few. And

the informality of it encourages drawing pictures and visuals. There are numerous frameworks to use to solve conundrums in innovative ways, but the napkin pitch uses Darden’s model that asks What is? What if? What wows? and What works? to create a four-quadrant framework for communicating a concise summary of an idea or concept:

• The Big Idea: Icons, words, bullets, and even sentences to describe a summary of the big idea solution you are

recommending. It answers the question, “How does this idea create value?”

• User Desirability: This section documents how the big idea meets the needs of or benefits the user or customer. It describes how the solution seems to address a critical or unmet need of the user. It answers the question, “Which of the attributes or characteristics of the user does the concept address?”

Innovate With a Napkin Copyright 2020 ATD | All Rights Reserved | By MJ Hall

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• Technical Feasibility: This section is a description of the operational abilities and challenges involved in implementing the concept. The technical feasibility lays out steps for how this big idea can be implemented. While it may address technologies needed, the use of the term technical feasibility is not just technology. It answers the question, “Does the organization have the right people, tools (including technology if needed), and processes to implement the solution?”

• Business Viability: This section describes how addressing this need will result in a net-positive outcome for the organization. It answers the question, “How will both the users and the organization benefit from this idea?”

According to Liedtka, co-author of The Designing for Growth Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide, teams should develop at least three napkin pitches prior to moving forward with a proposed change. Some of the goals for the pitches are to obtain feedback from the stakeholders and respond to questions from those not involved in creating the big idea.

The napkin pitch is only one of multiple iterations for a possible concept; it is not the solution. It provides the opportunity to look at an array of options and possibilities and to get feedback prior to moving forward. Besides capturing the What if? concepts, the napkin pitch engages everyone in further conversations. It enables others to easily share What if? concepts and How could we? ideas.

Example in Practice: Large Group From Various OrganizationsClient: 55 senior talent development professionals

Industry: More than 30 companies including international, private, and public

Goal: Synthesize ideas presented on modern learning and, as a group of six, develop a pitch for one idea that included visuals

Background: While this tool is typical for an intact work team, it also can be effective with a group of professionals representing various disciplines from different organizations. Prior to the napkin pitch activity, the group needs to work on the What is? to clarify the current reality and some of the What if? stages of the issue to determine future

options. At a recent ATD Forum lab, this method was used with 55 senior talent development professionals to examine options for modernizing learning.

One of the complex problems the industry faces is to make content and delivery approaches more learner-centered to meet the needs of the workers and the demands of the work. Much of this effort is falling under the umbrella called “the modern learner” and is about modernizing the learning strategy.

Prior to the napkin pitch activity, the participants used various tools and techniques to understand the What is? component of modern learning.

The activities included:

• An interactive panel discussion with four thought leaders on the topic

• A review of references for modern learning

• A keynote address by a thought leader on the topic

• Developing a persona for a modern learner

• Benchmarking a modern learning practice

• Conducting self-guided research on the specific topic associated with modern learning, such as

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chunked content, including microlearning; experiential learning, including action learning and simulations; on-demand learning, including 24/7 access for pull learning; personalized learning; collaborative or social learning; and multimedia learning

Process: Each of the 11 groups worked to take one nugget or idea that was most relevant and developed a pitch to present as an option for modernizing a learning strategy—albeit on a large poster sheet and not on a napkin. Each group walked through the four steps in a nonlinear and iterative way.

Results: One group decided to design a pitch for focusing on social learning. The group’s big idea was creating communities of interest that are accessible and have the capability for being autonomous, experiential, and hyperlinked. The usability quadrant included a list of needs that can be met, such as a safe and trusted place to share, where people can learn together. The technical feasibility includes purchasing

a private and secure platform for employees to create together such as Double Dutch as well as a tutorial for using the technology. The business viability was increased engagement, productivity, and more efficient knowledge sharing.

Although these pitches were not presented to a panel for critique and feedback, several groups committed to taking the pitches back into their organization to their team to get feedback.

Pitch It!The napkin pitch is a simple format for communicating a new idea as well as the business case to support its adoption. So many times we have this grand aha moment and want to rush into action. This simple process forces the team to dig a little deeper to determine the critical components associated with the idea—the stakeholders and their specific needs for the business challenge they are trying to solve, the ability of the team or organization to execute or deliver the idea based on required

resources, and the business rationale in terms of benefits or impact. The napkin pitch is low-tech and replicable. As a process it can be used organizationally to standardize presenting new ideas, used by teams for feedback, and used with individual projects for discussions.

There also are various ways to physically do it. For co-located groups, a hand-drawn poster chart works; for virtual teams, a shared Word or PowerPoint file can be used; and for individuals traveling, the napkin on a plane or at a restaurant works. It is easy to draw the quad chart and there is no pressure to be an artist. The bottom line is that it works and is fun.

This is an excerpt from “The Big Pitch,” a July 2017 TD magazine article.

MJ Hall leads the ATD Forum content arena and serves as the learning subject matter expert for the Association for Talent Development’s communities of practice; mjhall@td.org.

The ATD Forum is a consortium for senior training and learning practitioners and their organizations to connect, collaborate, and share in a confidential environment. The group participated in a napkin pitch exercise in one of its confidential gatherings, where organizations share evidence-based and proven ideas to rapidly improve organizational capability in an experiential environment and no training vendors or marketing is allowed.

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Job Aid: Moving From an Aha Insight to a ConceptObjective for the Session: To use a design-thinking method and approach to develop a concept from an aha insight

Question the Session Addresses: How can we move from aha silver linings to a viable concept that has the potential to evolve into a business case for a new or revised practice?

Tool: Napkin Pitch

The napkin pitch is a process to develop an idea into a more thorough concept—one that can be communicated easily and quickly (for example, captured on a paper napkin). The format for developing this napkin pitch is a variation of the design method from The Designing for Growth Field Book by Jeanne Liedtka, Tim Ogilvie, and Rachel Brozenske.

Tasks and Techniques for Participants: • Identify changes and

adjustments learning practitioners have made with the sudden and unexpected move to remote and virtual work that were silver linings, such as a positive resulting from a negative experience. These can be from experience or research and include actions such as curating content and exemption tests.

• In small breakout groups, review these change actions and vote on one of the changes to develop into a big idea opportunity concept that could be presented as a recommendation to a learning director.

• Using a variation of the napkin pitch format and trigger questions, move this idea into a concept that focuses on why the idea is important to the users in satisfying their needs, the technical capability needed for implementation, and the business viability if it is implemented—for instance, key benefits for the business.

Template: This is the template for capturing the discussion when using Webex breakout groups. Other templates, such as a 2 x 2 table on a poster chart, can be used for in-person sessions. Other apps or platforms may enable other templates.

Use these trigger questions to make the discussion about the components richer and more informed:

1. What is the big idea?• Describe the concept,

including why it is important now. (For instance, what business challenge will it solve or what process will it enhance?)

Big Idea Our silver lining idea (product, process, or service) description is…

User Needs The stakeholders or beneficiaries for this idea include…

Technical Feasibility We can execute this idea by…

Business Viability

The results for the stakeholders will be…

The value to the organization will be…

Stop and Think Questions The questions we are still grappling with include…

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• What is the backstory or context?

• What are your assumptions about the action?

• What questions do you have about this that the group cannot answer?

• What are your “stop and think” questions that need further research?

2. Who are the users and what are their needs?• Who are the primary users

or beneficiaries of this idea?

• What is their current need related to this idea?

• Why would this idea be important to them?

• What questions do you have about the users or customers that the group cannot answer?

• What are your “stop and think” questions that need further research?

3. What is the technical capability or feasibility for implementing this idea?

• What is needed for this idea to become a reality?

• What known tasks must be completed for this to happen?

• What do you have control over? (For example, resources, time, people with unique skills, technologies, change of culture, or permission from superiors.)

• What is the biggest hurdle to implementation?

• What questions do you have about the technical capability or feasibility that the group cannot answer?

4. If implemented, what are the benefits to the business?• What is the business

rationale for this idea?

• What is the key benefit to the user and the business?

• Will it increase performance capability, reduce cost or time, or provide other benefits?

• What is the unique differentiator with this idea or practice?

• What questions do you have about the business viability that the group cannot answer?

Summarize the Concept Into a Four-Minute Pitch Use this format or a variation to tell the big idea concept in less than four minutes:

Pitch: Have a team member give the pitch to another group.

Tips:• Ideate first. Identify various

issues before jumping into the development of the concept for the napkin pitch.

• Make the idea as specific as possible. For example, rather than having a big idea to “make learning experiences more interactive” consider “make learning experiences

more interactive by using apps such as Poll Everywhere or MURAL.”

• It is recommended that several napkin pitches be developed related to solving a business challenge.

• Consider using the napkin pitch process in conjunction with a formal ideation method, such as LUMA’s Creative Matrix (Innovating for People: Handbook of Human-Centered Design Methods, 2012) or Darden’s Chili Table (The Designing for Growth Field Book by Liedtka, Ogilvie, and Brozenske, 2014)

References:Hall, MJ. 2020. “Learning Leaders Find Silver Linings in the Pandemic Chaos.” ATD Insights, June 17. td.org/insights/learning-leaders-find-silver-linings-in-the-pandemic-chaos.

Satterfield, M.G., and T. Montano. 2020. “Making the Switch.” TD, June. td.org/magazines/td-magazine/making-the-switch.

Hall, MJ. 2015. “Concept Posters: Incorporating Brain-Aware Methods Into the Curriculum.” ATD Insights, September 10. td.org/insights/concept-posters-incorporating-brain-aware-methods-into-the-curriculum.

Hall, MJ. 2017. “The Big Pitch.” TD, July. td.org/magazines/td-magazine/the-big-pitch