She's a Brickhouse - of Innovation
Can people really innovate when they have to tend to all of their day-to-day responsibilities?
Unfortunately, people don't get promoted for being innovative, they get promoted for getting stuff done, developing people, and meeting or exceeding goals or stretch targets. If people are busy making sure they do all that, when are they supposed to innovate? And if they do come up with a good idea while they are in the shower (after all they don't have time to do it at work), how many hours of sleep are they willing to give up to help move it forward?
This is one of the key problems established organizations have in making innovation happen in their organizations. First, people get rewarded for executing not creating. Second, everyone is so overworked that getting funding and staffing up a project team to make the business more profitable or to ensure its longevity, is incredibly difficult.
So, what's the answer?
I came across an article today that shows that Yahoo! believes the key is a set of dedicated off-site resources charged with taking employee ideas and suggestions and developing them. In the article they site a product development example in which the product was developed in a third of the time it would have taken within the normal Yahoo! reality. 65% faster than an internal project. What does that say?
What this article reinforces is that people must have time to execute new ideas. Top levels of management have to commit to ring-fence a portion of people's time to develop new product or process ideas that will improve the efficiency and profitability of the enterprise OR they have to commit the resources to a group external to the normal operations of the company.
Bringing in outsiders is a third alternative, but not that different from number two with the exception of a little more of an outside perspective that comes from working with multiple clients and living outside the political culture.
So, which approach are you prepared to commit to? Or, are you committed to driving the best ideas and people out of your company and seeing your competitors blow by you?
Unfortunately, people don't get promoted for being innovative, they get promoted for getting stuff done, developing people, and meeting or exceeding goals or stretch targets. If people are busy making sure they do all that, when are they supposed to innovate? And if they do come up with a good idea while they are in the shower (after all they don't have time to do it at work), how many hours of sleep are they willing to give up to help move it forward?
This is one of the key problems established organizations have in making innovation happen in their organizations. First, people get rewarded for executing not creating. Second, everyone is so overworked that getting funding and staffing up a project team to make the business more profitable or to ensure its longevity, is incredibly difficult.
So, what's the answer?
I came across an article today that shows that Yahoo! believes the key is a set of dedicated off-site resources charged with taking employee ideas and suggestions and developing them. In the article they site a product development example in which the product was developed in a third of the time it would have taken within the normal Yahoo! reality. 65% faster than an internal project. What does that say?
What this article reinforces is that people must have time to execute new ideas. Top levels of management have to commit to ring-fence a portion of people's time to develop new product or process ideas that will improve the efficiency and profitability of the enterprise OR they have to commit the resources to a group external to the normal operations of the company.
Bringing in outsiders is a third alternative, but not that different from number two with the exception of a little more of an outside perspective that comes from working with multiple clients and living outside the political culture.
So, which approach are you prepared to commit to? Or, are you committed to driving the best ideas and people out of your company and seeing your competitors blow by you?
posted by Braden Kelley at 3:59 PM
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