In recent weeks, I've been bombarded with articles, quotes, training classes, tools, and video segments about innovation. A California-based design firm called Ideo has become famous for their success in the innovation/design business. They demonstrated their process for an ABC Nightline program a few years ago, and it has been ABC's most-requested/purchased program ever since. Their task was to improve the shopping cart, and in just a few days, they impressively demonstrated their ability to innovate.
A collegue shared an article from FastCompany that is a book excerpt from Tom Kelley, general manager of Ideo, about the personality types it takes to "keep creativity thriving and the devil's advocate at bay." Until recently, I always thought playing the devil's advocate was just good business. Afterall, we can't walk around with our heads in the clouds. We have to face reality, right? Right. However, I believe we all need to understand the need for--and appreciate the importance of-- people who bring wildly innovative ideas to the table. Secondly, we need to adopt a practice (or even process) where we allow those innovative (maybe even wacky) ideas to come alive. Then, at a later point in the process, there is an appropriate time to bring critical thinking, healthy challenge, etc. to the table. Innovation AND critical thinking are necessary, but knowing WHEN to pull out the "critical thinking" or "devil's advocate" hat and when to let the "creative/innovative" hat run the show seems an important skill for business people to develop.
Speaking of hats...if this topic interests you, you may want to check out Edward de Bono's, tool/framework called Six Thinking Hats. This framework separates out the different aspects of thinking--allowing time for each component (new ideas, information, feelings, risks, etc.). I was recently exposed to this system/tool and I believe it has some practical application for any organization.
Do not allow Mr. Kelly’s negative view of the role of the devil’s advocate sway your belief in the value of the devil's advocate in organizational learning. The role of the devil’s advocate in challenging our mental model of how we view the world is essential in innovation. A healthy challenge process causes all involved parties to reassess their view of the world, this is essential in assuring that our vision and the mental models that it is based on is correct for our environment. Innovation for the sake of innovation is a dangerous path to go down. Creating such a single focus within an organization. Misaligned mental models prevent members of the organization from developing a true understanding and appreciation for the system. Optimization of the system cannot be achieved by optimization of its parts, in this case innovation. A couple of companies, that come to mind, that have suffered the consequences of a narrow organizational focus on innovation are Polaroid and Wang. Both of these companies focused their efforts on innovation, to the exclusion of all the other necessary functions in the organization. Yes, they were successful for awhile but their failure to understand the system or the primacy of the whole lead to their eventual demise.
In reading the article “The 10 Faces of Innovation” in which Mr. Kelly expressed is disdain for the role of the devils advocate, I came to the conclusion that it is not the role of the devils advocate that he dislikes. But, rather the utilization of the devil's advocate role as an excuse for poor interaction skills. The value of constructive criticism is essential in the development of innovation; the vitriolic communication that Mr. Kelly describes in the article can most certainly be detrimental to the innovation process. Mr. Kelly’s focus should not be the elimination of the role of the devil’s advocate in constructive criticism but rather the building of effective communication skills within the organization.
Posted by: Guy Sisler | 24 October 2005 at 05:11 PM