Innovation Perspectives - Excellence Only Happens in Context

This is the second of several 'Innovation Perspectives' articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on 'How should firms develop the organizational structure, culture, and incentives (e.g., for teams) to encourage successful innovation?'. Here is the next perspective in the series:

by Holly G. Green

Excellence only happens in context. Think about the last time you had a cruddy boss or your client forgot to give you information on something you were working on. Did you produce or deliver as well as you could have? Of course not.

A system has to work together. And your current system produces exactly what it is set up to produce. So if you want to be more innovative, you have to think about and address the whole system. Just addressing one piece of it will not serve you well.

In our work with organizations, we believe it is critical to think through and get clear on:

• How being innovative helps you more effectively achieve your strategies


• Why creating or refining a culture of innovation including the leadership behaviors that support it will serve you well


• The benefits of creating management practices (everyday ways of working) that generate ideas


• What tools, systems, and platforms will best enable you to achieve innovation

Too often, companies think they need to focus on just generating more ideas. This is only a piece of the system and it is highly likely everything else in your system is set up to shut down idea generation. Have you ever heard or said any of the following:

"It's too much work. Don't rock the boat. Yeah. We've tried that before. You have a point, but... It costs too much. We don't have the time. It won't work. It would take too much effort. We did fine without it before."

These are common refrains in most organizations and they stop innovation in its tracks.

Gary Hamel, business strategist, enjoys shocking audiences by asking about their corporate sperm count. If you need 10 million sperm to fertilize a single egg, then you are unlikely to come up with a winning idea unless you have lots of material to work with. Create an environment where ideas are free flowing, but pre-filtered by the focus on customer value and clarity of strategies. Constantly ask "What if...?" in meetings. Use tools like stakeholder analysis to pause and focus people on considering new perspectives, new lens through which to view the world.

Leaders must model the behaviors necessary for innovation to thrive. It is their responsibility to build and encourage diversity in thought, approach and style; to use supportive language and behaviors themselves; to communicate and acknowledge ideas even if they are not pursued; to use a goal oriented management style so that everyone is clear on how ideas link to achieving the strategies and objectives; and to encourage informed risk taking.

Create a team, a process, tools, etc. to work within your environment. Often, employees don't know what they don't know. Make sure you provide the tools and understanding of how and when to use them. Develop and implement ways of using them in standard, ongoing operations (business unit reviews, quarterly board meetings, all company presentations, etc.) to generate ideas and value them against strategies and objectives.

Without constant focus and specific people responsible, your efforts will quickly fade - remember everything within us works to keep us in our comfort zone. Most of us have great ideas. It is whether they link to the strategy, get heard, evaluated and acted on that are the real hurdles today.



You can check out all of the 'Innovation Perspectives' articles from the different contributing authors on 'How should firms develop the organizational structure, culture, and incentives (e.g., for teams) to encourage successful innovation?' by clicking the link in this sentence.

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Holly is the CEO of THE HUMAN FACTOR, Inc. (www.TheHumanFactor.biz) and is a highly sought after and acclaimed speaker, business consultant, and author. Her unique approach to creating strategic agility, helping others go slow to go fast, will change your thinking.