Frequent reader and all-around great guy Ben Stafford sent in a link about innovation that got me thinking.
This article's author laments that business gurus galore tell us that we should all innovate. Everyone--from the CEO down to the janitor--should step up to the innovation plate and swing for the rafters. He claims that this is bunk. Some people are just better at innovation, and some people aren't; you should play to strengths, and lose the "innovation" rhetoric.
I invite you to put on your MBM hats (or monocles or berets or what have you) and think about innovation for a moment.
First, what dimension would you put it in? I have my ideas, but would love to hear your interpretations.
Second, is the above author correct in saying that--just like everything else--innovation is a skill that some people excel at and others struggle with, and hence you should have some employees specializing in that skill while others leave it be? Or, should all of us--every employee--innovate wherever possible? [I know, I know.... A false dichotomy, you decry, but perhaps an interesting one.]
Just to add a wrinkle to things, I'll point out the the Guiding Principle "Principled Entrepreneurship" asks that we "demonstrate...initiative...and critical thinking skills," and "Customer Focus" says that we should "profitably anticipate" needs of customers--arguably a poor-man's version of "innovation"--in all that we do (but then again, arguably not).
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
p.s. If you'd like to be as awesome as Ben and send links, questions, blog-post ideas or guest posts our way, please email! [andy dot gillette at cgkfoundation.org]
Apropos of nothing, you might check out the book: How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate by Andrew Hargadon
It's where I got the quote "The future is already here, it's just unevenly distributed," by William Gibson (Awesome author of Neuromancer, Pattern Recognition, etc.
Posted by: Ben | 15 September 2010 at 10:33 PM
Nice. Thank you.
Posted by: Andy Gillette | 16 September 2010 at 11:03 AM
I am one that believes some people are better at innovating than others but I do not believe that there is "innovation rhetoric". Just because some are not good at innovation in their current role) does not mean we just stop mentioning it altogher, stop pointing out it's benefits, or don't try to help them close that gap.
Innovation takes discovery and courage to change. There are some people in our work environment that do not have the passion to change their vision nor the courge to try a solution. As managers, we can lead by example, point out areas where we identify the person could have used another approach, reward/recognize those employees that we do see exihibiting the traits we want to encourage, and most of all make sure that everyone clearly understands what we think "success looks like" in this area. Do they even understand the benefits of innovation? Are they committed to the reasons you've outlined and know "WHY" it's important for long-term success?
As far as the framework, I would say that it's an absolute necessity to incorporate innovation in all 5 of the dimensions.
Posted by: Tammy Carroll | 16 September 2010 at 11:21 AM
I like your phrasing of "the courage to change...." And also the reminder about leading by example.
Perhaps there is a capital-I "Innovation" and lower-case-i "innovation," too. Meaning, some people are excellent at brainstorming and coming up with completely new projects or products, and a portion of their job should be set aside for that purpose (think Google). This would be the capital-I form. Then there's the innovation that we should all do all of the time, the lower-case-i form. Given creative destruction, we need to constantly be on the look out for process improvement, iterative changes, and tweaks to things to make them more effective and eliminate waste.
Posted by: Andy Gillette | 17 September 2010 at 02:24 PM