Innovation remains a popular word; and many people and businesses and non-profits--even various religious institutions--seek out greater ways to innovate, to come up with new solutions.
As I've written countless times on this blog, our world is a very complex one. The problems we have today--many of which are driven by rapid developments in technology--require new ways of thinking and collaborating. A problem is that while technological development is demanding new institutional structures and ways of working, the institutions themselves are often stuck in old patterns of thinking and working. Many people are apprehensive of new structures and patterns for fear of failure, which sets up a seeming dilemma: on the one hand, many organizations are being forced to change in response to disruptions in the marketplace, and yet on the other there is a fear of changing those very structures that brought the company success in the past. This is one of a number of innovation killers, which I will outline below:
1. Stale thinking: This is a big innovation killer. When seeking innovation, it's important to think in new ways, to think about new things, and to think in divergent ways. For example, if you're trying to think about a business solution, think outside business: look at breakthroughs in science, or other areas of research--that conflict of thinking will force your brain to process in a different way, thus shocking it into a new idea.
2. Poor environments: The most depressing thing as a business consultant I had to face was the dreadful boardroom: the conventional polygonal table, rolling chairs, fluorescent lighting, suits, ties, and vinyl portfolios replete with cheap conference ballpoint pens--boring! You need a completely different environment; one that fosters lots of movement, fun--yes fun!--drawing, sketching, researching large picture books and articles and magazines, food--lots of good energy food--, oxygen from plants, music--yes, music during a meeting!--and natural light. Just by doing this one thing differently, your meetings will generate totally different results.
3. Bad attitudes: If you have complainers, and you're trying to get new ideas, leave them out of the meeting until you've got some big ideas marked out and you need people to kick the can--then bring them in. Winers, complainers, black-hat doffers are brutal when you need innovation. Think of your ideas as seedlings--the last thing you need is someone clumsily stomping over them when the poor things have hardly had a breath of air.
4. Conformity: Workplaces are tribes: they have culture, belief systems, and policies that keep everyone in check. The problem is that people not only dress the same (whether the same blue suits and ties, or checkered shirts from Banana Republic), but also talk and think the same. This is thought of as successful cultural development--but it kills innovation. You want alignment around the vision of the company, but not about the ideas that will bring it to fruition. You need misfits, rebels, artists, outcasts--people who are committed to the organization, but not interested in conforming to cultural expectations that mean little to the bottom line.
5. Alignment too early: This is a killer of innovation, because it typically comes a) out of pressure to please the CEO, or b) out of laziness to come to a solution before it's time. Innovation can take a long time, and it often requires a lot of oscillation and conflict for a new idea to emerge. Typically, organizations will jump to the first idea or solution that comes up, not realizing they haven't scratched the surface of the problem their facing and what a solution would even look like.
6. Relevance: Those who try to innovate while keeping every idea relevant to the problem at hand or to the current structure of the organization or 'focused on' the problem often fail. The whole point of innovation is to create something new, and, when it's at its best, disruptive. And to do that, you've got to turn over all kinds of stones, and over turn innumerable boxes--and it's not always going to look relevant. Those companies really good at innovation are working on solutions decades in advance, and unrelated to the current direction of the company.
7. Conventional structures: Innovation is a disruptive activity--its very purpose is to up-end the status quo and create something new. And yet, many organizations believe they can innovate by calling more meetings, or having more brainstorming sessions (whatever that means), while keeping their organizations structured the same. Do you have a full-time R&D department? Do you have a full-time Innovation Department? Do you have people working on stuff that is totally outside of your current issues? Do you have people researching the future, reading Wired Magazine, and taking routine field trips to massive research libraries and zoos and museums and art galleries and hanging out at trendy cafes? If not, you need to rethink.
8. Lack of structure: As Whirlpool, for instance, experienced, it needed to put a series of structures around how innovation would be done by everyone everywhere. This took years to work through and fully understand--but they took the time, and built the structures and practices necessary for it to take place. Innovation is a set of beliefs, it has a cultural expression, and it ought to have policies in place to help it flourish. Innovation is a kind of art; and any artist will tell you that creativity doesn't just happen without structure and routine in place. If you want innovation, you have to go through a process of building it into your organization.
These are only a handful of innovation killers--there are many others. If you're new to all of this, there's a wealth of information out there. Some of it's good, some of it's not--the whole thing takes time and a fair bit of trial and error. The key is if you're leading a company, or starting one, you've got to take this innovation thing very seriously--you've got to make sure you have structures in place to do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment