I strongly believe that top talent is the most important asset for any business that aspires to a leadership position in the knowledge economy. Talent enables a company to better cope with, adjust to and thrive in our fast changing, unpredictable world.
But while the presence of top talent is a necessary condition for leadership, it is not sufficient. You need to put that talent to work, not only contributing to the operational excellence of the business, but focusing on innovation, so the company can survive the onslaught of new competitors and retain its leadership position into the future, as well as be able to evolve and become a leader in important new areas
Fostering a spirit of innovation among talented people is very difficult. Why is that? Lots of excellent management books have been written on the subject, but I would like to offer a more personal explanation.
The main reason innovation is so difficult to foster in a business, I believe, is the fear of rejection that people have to overcome when they are championing a new idea. This is particularly true when it comes to disruptive innovation - which by its very definition is going against the grain of what the business is currently doing.
Lots of books and films have focused on individuals that surmounted the odds and valiantly succeeded in realizing their innovative dreams, overcoming initial ridicule and rejection by the powers-that-be around them. While the ending of these movies is typically very uplifting – glory and honors, perhaps even love and riches, - the first hour of the film is all about dealing with and overcoming rejection.
Rejection is painful. Few make it through that barrier - which is why we publicly celebrate those that do. Without a doubt, one of the most important qualities successful innovators must be blessed with is a very tough skin.
Just about all the cards in a company are stacked against the nurturing of innovation - and innovators. The managers in the business are consumed with operations - improving products and services to keep up with competitors and new technologies; supporting existing customers and acquiring new ones; making sure that employees, business partners and other constituencies are as happy as possible, or at least not so unhappy that they will cause problems they then have to deal with. Last, but far from least, are the all important business results, which a public company must achieve in order to satisfy a fickle, fierce, short-term oriented financial community - quarter after quarter after quarter.
On top of that, these beleaguered managers are doing their best to avoid burnout and have some kind of personal life - partners, children, friends, family, maybe even some fun now and then - what we have been wistfully calling work-life balance.
If you work for one of these harassed managers, and come to them with a wonderful new disruptive idea that will radically change everything around them - don't be surprised if you get less than a stellar reception. The better managers will politely listen to you, provide some encouragement and give you good advice on how you might be able to further pursue your ideas. But they will honestly tell you that they barely have the time and budget to personally help beyond a pat on the back now and then. The not-so-good managers, will roll their eyes and essentially telegraph that you should go back to work and stop wasting their precious time with your far flung ideas.
I think that this reflects, - more or less, - the environment in most companies, an environment that is only going get more intense given the rapidly changing, global, competitive world in which we live. How then can you nurture innovation in the company in spite of all the forces stacked against it?
Let me offer a couple of suggestions, that I believe are absolutely necessary to create the proper environment for innovation to thrive, based on my personal experiences through my long career at IBM, as well as my involvement with other companies.
Innovation is very much a collaborative endeavor, - a team sport. When people come up with a new idea, they very much need to bounce it off other people. New ideas are almost always rough and ill formed at first, so they require a constant back-and-forth dialog in order to properly shape them into something a bit more understandable and actionable.
Where are those people that you should be bouncing ideas off at these early stages? As discussed above, don't expect much from you line management at this point. The bulk of the support needs to come from colleagues within and outside the company, especially those who are themselves thinking about new ideas.
I strongly believe that isolating people in organizational silos is one of the biggest obstacles to innovation. Companies that are serious about innovation must do everything possible to encourage horizontal communications and collaborations across the organization. They must help their people self-organize into communities of interest that cut across the hierarchy. They must help them meet each other by providing the right opportunities for them to physically come together from time to time, as well as the right tools and platforms so they can continue their collaborations once they are back in their separate locations and day-jobs.
Regardless of how talent-rich a company is, the outside world is obviously many time richer. Consequently, companies that want to foster innovation need to also encourage their people to participate in professional organizations and attend external meetings every so often to make sure that they know what is going on out there and get to meet people who share their interests across academia, the business community and the public sector.
But, what do you do if your manager not only does not provide encouragement for your new ideas, but actively discourages your moonlighting efforts to pursue your new ideas by working with others across the company and beyond – even on your own time. After all, fleshing out disruptive innovations takes time and energy that your manager may feel are better spent on your current responsibilities, regardless of how good a job you are already doing.
A spirit of collaboration and innovation does not come naturally to an organization unless top management actively supports and promotes it. For innovation to be successful, it must become an integral part of the culture of the company, and it is impossible to impact culture without the strong, personal support of the CEO and other top executives. They must really believe it and back up their beliefs with concrete actions, not just give empty speeches about innovation that by themselves lack credibility.
Organizational culture is formed through a series of subtle signals that let everyone know what the company really values. For example, how do top executives react to middle managers that hoard their top people and actively discourage them from cooperating across the organization? Do they encourage their top performers to become prominent in professional organizations and attend conferences? Does the CEO personally meet from time to time with employees in the trenches who are actively working on innovative new ideas? What kinds of people get promoted and rise up in the organization?
My advice to any company that wants to truly foster innovation is to let everyone know that while the company must excel at operations, it must also excel at innovation. It must communicate that the business must clearly achieve strong financial results, but in addition, it must be a leader in uncovering new technologies, new market opportunities and new business models. And, ingrained in the culture must be the knowledge that the highest achievers, - whether on a technical or management track, - have to be good at both – operational excellence and strategic innovation. This is not easy at all, but it is what a company must do if it truly wants to create a healthy environment for innovation to flourish.
from someone who lead IBM thru several disruptive changes, I think you have the authority on innovations :-)
Posted by: James Seng | April 19, 2008 at 09:45 PM
Tom Peter said, "Even if it were supposed that there would be the following tendencies,
the product that the additional value was high and the evidence that service
was overwhelmingly liked exist but a lot of companies fall into the experience-curve".
Posted by: Makio Yamazaki | April 20, 2008 at 05:09 AM
Very well said.
Could you elaborate more on the simple steps that management at all levels can take to encourage innovation, in your upcoming blogs?
I guess every manager could start with reading your blogs :)
Posted by: Maitreyee | April 21, 2008 at 12:59 AM
I was a little surprised to read "The main reason innovation is so difficult to foster in a business, I believe, is the fear of rejection that people have to overcome when they are championing a new idea". I think the main reason is a lack of support, which is often a symptom of the organisations culture. I think your excellent blog post reflects this view more than your originally stated belief.
Posted by: John | April 21, 2008 at 06:11 AM
I am very interested in your blog Irving and am keen to learn more from you in this area. I am grappling with nurturing innovation at IBM in Australia and New Zealand.
Managers and employees are very often innovative without knowing/feeling like they are and I believe strongly that both rejection and lack of support contribute to the struggle.
As we know, majority of our innovation and new ideas will come from our employees and we need to encourage/support these to realisation.
We need to connect our talented people, find ways and time for them to get together - that diversity of thought will lead to innovation.
We are doing some work in Australia around how people connect and identifying who are key connectors who can assist us to join more dots to allow innovation to flourish. I look forward to the outcome and learnings we get from this.
Posted by: Karen Tipping | May 28, 2008 at 03:31 AM
http://www.aj2u.com/Michael_Jackson_Memorial.html Michael Jackson Memorial
http://www.dunk2u.com/Michael_Jackson_Shoes.html Michael Jackson Memorial
Posted by: enjoygame | July 10, 2009 at 07:16 AM
http://www.aj2u.com/air_yeezy.html air yeezy
http://www.max-sky.com Air Max shoes
Posted by: jiaying | July 13, 2009 at 05:33 AM
Most of this information comes straight from the pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that you'll know what they know. - William B. Doyle, http://www.wbdoyle.com/tsfls/
Posted by: | July 20, 2009 at 07:55 PM
China Said Close to Announcing Currency Revision.The Chinese government is set to announce a revision of its currency policy in the coming days that will allow greater variation in the value of its currency combined with a small but immediate jump in its value against the dollar, people with knowledge of the consensus emerging in Beijing said Thursday. While there remains a possibility of a last-minute glitch that could delay the announcement, China’s central bank appears to have prevailed with its arguments within the Chinese leadership for a stronger but more flexible currency, these people said. They insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue in Beijing.
http://www.kicksf.com 英雄合击
Posted by: louboutin shoes | April 09, 2010 at 09:14 PM