INNOVATION SPECIAL How to Build a Culture of Innovation by Killing Mediocrity
Innovation Suffocates in a Culture
of Mediocrity: How to breathe life into company culture to compete for the
future
Ideas are a dime a dozen. Everyone
seems to have one or more. I just wish that more organizations would appreciate
how plentiful and beneficial ideas are to the future of their business. The
challenges are all too common. Often, ideas are shared in fleeting moments with
the same zeal as observing the weather. Once expressed they recede from view, a
moment and opportunity passed, with life returning to its normal, unvaried
routine. Also common is the lack of people or processes to do anything with
ideas when they are specifically shared with the intention of causing effect or
change.
In a world where the expression of
ideas is a commodity but the consideration and implementation of them is a
scarce resource, how do we create a more inviting culture that fosters their
transformation from concept to manifestation?
To
Err is Human, To Create, Divine
From startups to global enterprises
I see two things. One, I’ve observed the voicing of ideas that immediately
vanish into the ether of complacence, politics or blatant disregard. Two, I’ve
witnessed the escape of morale where employees refuse to share ideas to improve
or innovate or are uninspired to do so. In each condition, fervor wanes and
mediocrity prevails. Weary spirits become a symptom of a diseased culture where
hierarchy, process, and survival suffocate a democracy of ideas.
When ideas are extinguished, the
ability to evolve and grow is hindered or completely crippled. The compromise
of competing for today is simply business as usual. To compete and thrive over
time though necessitates a culture of innovation, one where ideas are expressed
but also shaped, enhanced, or combined into practice. This is the difference
between any company that manages itself toward common goals and efficiencies
and one that leads people toward creative destruction. Said another way, the
difference between competing for now and for the future is a keen sense and
supporting infrastructure to improve or re-invent the way people work and also
what it is they create—even at the risk of competing against legacy processes
and systems.
Change
Happens to You or in Spite of You
If companies do not disrupt
themselves, disruption will eventually disrupt them.
In any risk averse culture, this
premise sounds absurd of course. Why would anyone challenge the status quo? Why
would anyone dare to think different? As many executives I’ve worked with
initially would point out, “We are profitable today why would we rock the
boat?”
The number of answers or excuses
voiced to these questions is beyond great, it’s blinding.
- Technology is affecting customer behavior to the point where expectations and values are becoming radically different than what you stand for today.
- Technology and changes in behavior are opening and closing customer touch points.
- Today’s executives are out of touch with how younger customers and employees think, relate, and communicate.
- Workforces are aging and are not challenged to learn new skills or systems.
- Millennials are overwhelming personnel balances and creating conflicts in how they work versus how they’re trained to work.
- Supply chains are squeezed as businesses compete in real-time.
- Competitive threats are rising out of nowhere as anyone with an idea can use new platforms such as Kickstarter and indiegogo to generate customer awareness and support.
The
list goes on. This is why any and all companies must accept that this is the end
of business as usual.
To survive, they must find leverage in digital Darwinism. They must accept that
technology and society are evolving faster than current infrastructures, and
philosophies, can adapt. Those that refuse to change now and over time will
ultimately succumb to digital Darwinism by intentionally competing for
irrelevance. Times change. So must you.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Swords: The New
Kodak Moment
Remember
that “Kodak moment?” Well, you’re among the last generation to appreciate its true meaning.
The Kodak moment was powerful. The words alone struck an emotional connection
with human beings around the world. It evoked a warming sense of nostalgia.
Kodak’s leadership team however didn’t share the same appreciation for what the
Kodak moment could mean to future generations.
Rather than compete for relevance,
Kodak ultimately fell to digital Darwinism by becoming irrelevant to new
generations of consumers. This evolutionary milestone is particularly sad as
Kodak was home to some of the most forward-thinking scientists around digital
imaging who helped the company secure industry-leading patents. Competing for
the future wasn’t part of the company’s everyday culture unfortunately.
Innovation wasn’t woven into the DNA of Kodak’s culture. The executive team was
spoiled by profitability and managed business decisions and people accordingly.
Ironically, executives feared that digital would cannibalize its lucrative film
business. Rather than invest in creative destruction and compete for the next
generation of customers, the industry evolved without it and sealed Kodak’s
fate.
Now the “Kodak moment” is something
students and executives will examine as “that moment when businesses failed to
embrace creative destruction to compete for the future.”
The key to innovation is to question
everything, challenge convention, and relentlessly pursue relevance.
Practicing
without a Safety Bet
For decades, businesses implemented
proactive strategies to become recession proof when the economy turned. When
companies batten down the hatches, they tend to insulate themselves from any
potential storm as a matter of survival.
The act of survival is seemingly
safe but it also invites new threats from more courageous competitors.
Playing safe seems to be just
that…it’s safe. In a time of persistent disruption however, playing safe may in
fact contribute to a significant loss of momentum. Essentially, people stop
pushing forward and when that happens, fate pushes back. Why? Leadership cowers
to programmatic measures that are as predictable as they are menacing. Spending
is cut. Talent is released. Decisions are synonymous with conservatism. Risk
aversion is pervasive. Confidence is peddled for vulnerability.
Disruption doesn’t discriminate. The
truth is that digital Darwinism and creative destruction are good economic
phenomenon for us as consumers, stakeholders and investors. The question
however, is which side of markets do you wish to be on, those that are losing
or gaining? It’s usually one or the other.
WTF! [What’s
the Future]
of Business?
- Technology isn’t going away.
- Change is inevitable.
- The unfamiliar eclipses what it is we think we know at accelerated paces.
What we know isn’t what we need to
know. Familiarity, process, and our comfort zones are only holding us back.
Leadership, innovation, adaptation
and resilience are traits of today’s successful businesses and also the
foundation for mere survival in the near future.
To compete for the future starts
with investing in a culture that promotes productive thinking, exploration and
experimentation. That’s just the beginning however. Executives need to believe
that managing teams towards goals is one thing. It is leading people in new
directions that surface new opportunities. To do so requires vision,
transparency and trust.
Innovation
is about shifting from a management culture to that of leadership
A leadership culture is one where
people are empowered to contribute to the destiny of the organization as well
as their own.
Everyone must take part…everyone.
This includes management becoming accountable for harvesting and introducing
new ideas and talent. HR programs require modernization to recognize and reward
people for the contributions that go above and beyond their current job
descriptions. Older decision makers should learn from younger employees to gain
insight and empathy into new generations and how they think and what they
value. Most importantly, risk shouldn’t go overlooked. It must not dangle over
the heads of would be intrapreneuers.
If we do not empower
intrapreneurialism, we either nurture the unexceptional or push great people
toward external entrepreneurialism, which benefits everyone but you.
Risk management is no longer an
executive’s leverage. While risk should always be considered, they’re
guardrails in the end. Governance, legal, and decision-making as it exists was
defined for an era of business that is gone or ephemeral. Creativity,
ingenuity, and inspiration are to be celebrated moving forward. The hardest
part is recognizing that the culture that lives today is actually stifling
breakthroughs.
Over the years, I’ve worked with
hundreds of incredible and not so incredible startups. I’ve also fought
political and emotional battles within some of the largest enterprise
organizations around the world. I’ve won much more than I’ve lost. But in every
case, I’ve learned and grown. More importantly, I observed a series of traits
that emerged as organizations successfully embarked upon a journey of change.
As time and experience progressed, I
compared these recurring traits to highly regarded brands known for their
reputation of innovation and leadership. Companies such as Nike, Virgin, Tata
Group, Tesla, Google, Burberry, GE, and many others, each share common
characteristics that we can study, embody, and integrate into other adaptive
organizations to transform. The goal is to more effectively compete for the
future by striving to earn relevance today. The goal is to also recognize
people and how they can help build an alternative yet complimentary destiny.
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