Innovation is in many ways like the proverbial lightning bolt. It is rare and random. It has tremendous power. One never knows when it will strike.
Yet there are those individuals who are lightning rods for innovation. How can they be identified? Better yet, is a talent for innovation present, to a greater or lesser extent, in all of us? Can you foster a culture of innovation?
Before addressing these questions, let’s explore some of the prevailing misconceptions surrounding innovation. One: Innovation does not equal invention. Invention is about inventions, whereas ideas cannot be patented. Most of the great breakthroughs are conceptual — paradigm shifts that rephrase the questions and redefine the playing field for everyone. These breakthroughs are the products of innovation.
This doesn’t mean that the next great widget won’t result from innovation. It’s just that its greatness will come because it reshapes the market, either by identifying a need that is not being addressed, or by providing a new perspective on an old problem. That is innovation.
With all due respect to the creative power of talented people working together, innovation is not a team sport. Group activities designed to spur creativity like brainstorming, while useful to those who would innovate, are more akin to the pep rally than the actual game.
Innovation is not the exclusive purview of designers, creative types, or so-called geniuses. It is blind to every creed, color, and class. Who better to recognize a need than the person literally in the trenches?
So what does it take to become an innovator? While innate talent and intelligence certainly help, innovation requires an attitude, an orientation, even a world view, that encompasses the following:
- Baseline assumption: A better way always exists.
- Baseline assumption: There is always someone better at anything one might attempt.
- Inveterate curiosity over a wide range of topics as well as one’s specialty.
- Full immersion in one’s area of specialty or focus, irrespective of rank or status.
- A desire for deep understanding of all the underlying issues.
- A bias towards the elegant solution.
- A willingness to incubate to allow the subconscious mind time to work.
- A willingness to keep the problem open, even after a solution has been identified.
- Confidence, even faith, that something positive will eventually result from one’s efforts.
Because attitudes, assumptions, and biases are internal states — and can therefore only be inferred from observed behavior or self-report — the manager or executive who wants to identify potential innovators should consider the following:
- DON’T announce that the firm is attempting to target innovation, even to upper level management. This will result in false positives, as employees try to outdo each other to seem innovative. “Something worthy of identifying” automatically has value.
- DO brief supervisors on techniques of “talent identification.” Specific qualities include the employee’s engagement, curiosity, information-seeking behaviors, and ability to focus. Emphasize to supervisors that the focus is on appropriate (and profitable) work assignments — not compensation or advancement. Performance, not promise, is what generates those. Keep the briefing low key, but follow up.
- DO take note of those employees who attend (and are actively engaged with) brown bag lunches, seminars, and other opportunities to learn about areas outside their department, profession, or specialty. For example, an architect who attends a seminar on large-scale storm water solutions for airports may be someone to watch.
- DO focus efforts on the young; identify innovative people early and take immediate steps to foster them. People with these qualities are quickly bored and may conclude that the firm “isn’t a good fit.” When this happens, the firm suffers a small silent death. Repeat this too often and prepare to be left behind.
- DO pair seasoned, experienced employees with those identified. Suggest an informal mentoring relationship during a private lunch. This communicates the importance of the suggestion in a low-key way and reinforces that identified talent is valued.
- Finally, DON’T expect anything. Innovation cannot be forced, only fostered.
While working on this piece during a long flight, I accepted the flight attendant’s offer of coffee and received an object lesson in innovation. The Styrofoam cup was different than the cups I’ve used for 20 years. Its ergonomic lip inspired confidence against spills and felt perfect against the lower lip. Who realized that the unassuming Styrofoam cup might be improved? More important, how else could a cup manufacturer differentiate itself in such a commodity market? Finally, was my flight more pleasant because of the tiny detail of the lip of that cup?
As I deplaned, the crew must have wondered why I carefully cradled that Styrofoam coffee cup as if it were the Holy Grail.
Hugh Lester designs jails and prisons for HSMM in Washington, DC. His solutions center around operational integration, staffing efficiency, inmate management, and life cycle costs. He may be reached at hlester@hsmm.com.