Do you work at fostering a culture of innovation? Encourage your people to think creatively? Do you want them to come up with ideas, large and small, to improve products and processes?
Most managers do.
Do you unintentionally stomp on their creative efforts?
That happens more often than you might think.
How many times has a member of your team (at any level) had an idea or made a suggestion and your initial response was along the lines of, “I know…,” “we tried that already…,” or “Jill already…”
Such reactions dump ice water on the creative process and if it happens several times most people won’t bother mentioning their next idea. Employees understand ideas may not be used, but that’s different from feeling you don’t want to hear about them unless they are perfect.
This happens most frequently with new employees, because they have no history to guide them, but new or not, the result is to kill creativity, instead of nurturing it.
I frequently hear from clients and others about their exciting breakthroughs/ideas for motivating their people, for their culture, or whatever, and it’s often simply their rephrasing of ideas we’ve been discussing or that I, or others, have written about, sometimes for years.
It doesn’t matter; and I make sure not to say anything that detracts from their breakthrough—causing them to feel that it’s not a big deal and that they merely reinvented an old wheel.
You see, the big deal is that they thought of it independently and that’s what I want to encourage—ideas, creative thinking, thinking beyond their knowledge, not necessarily historical knowledge.
To nurture the thinking that leads to creativity you need to acknowledge it, you don’t need to convince them that no one ever thought of it before, they’ll figure that out for themselves or a peer will tell them, what you focus on is the accomplishment.
The critical point is that they came to it on their own, and, because it came from inside, they own it.
And that makes the idea far more potent than anything you or I or anybody can say from the outside.
So when that old idea comes up yet again acknowledge the creativity of the thought first, then gently explain its history, being sure the person understands that the value is in the creativity it took to think of it and that you are looking forward to more creativity in the future.
Each month LeaderTalk’s Becky Robinson chooses a topic and invites some of the best bloggers to participate in the round-up that ends each month and I’m honored to be included on the list.
In his post “Research Lessons: Diversity May (or May Not) Improve Performance,”Wally Bock gives a great overview of the sometimes conflicting conclusions people may draw from studies about the effects of diversity in the workplace. Wally’s conclusions are helpful for any managers who wants to help their teams work together successfully.
Jennifer V. Miller shares the story of one leader and the skills he has that will make him an effective leader of a global virtual team in her post, “The Diverse Leader.”
In another real life example, Jim Stroup talks about the importance of listening to dissenting opinions and being open to diversity.
Innovation and how to make it happen is the highest priority item on any company agenda—and if it isn’t it should be.
Just how do you make innovation flourish?
Collaboration ranks high on the list of required actions; as Saul Kaplan, founder and Chief Catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory, says, “It is humans and the organizations we live in that are both stubbornly resistant to experimentation and change.”
“What if” drives innovation according to Jeff Dyer, a professor at Brigham Young University, who started out thinking that creativity and innovation were hard-wired, but decided after six years of research that they aren’t, “One key characteristic among the visionaries? The tendency to ask questions — a lot of them — and to challenge the status quo — plenty.”
Bruce Nussbaum, who writes about design and innovation for Business Week, talks about Diego Rodriquez, who writes Metacool blog, and has developed his own set of 17 Innovation Principles; he illustrates number 12, cultivating innovation instead of managing it, using a conversation with Porsche’s head of design Michael Mauer, “One of my major goals is to give the team freedom in order to have a maximum of creativity,” to which Rodriquez says, “This feels very much to me like a “cultivation mindset”. … He is a curator, a director, a cultivator. As you can see from the stunning new Porsche 918 Spyder pictured above, his approach speaks for itself.”
Next, Scott Anthony, Managing Director of Innosight Ventures, talks about what stops innovation. “You can almost always find compelling ideas and well-developed plans. … The hard part is in the doing, in taking the requisite steps to translate an idea that looks great on paper into profits.”
Now two looks at innovation in action at opposite ends of the spectrum.
According to Dan’l Lewin, corporate vice president of strategic and emerging business development at Microsoft, “Innovation is overused as a word.We are at the juncture of where… it’s time to be thinking about how to accelerate, and accelerate using technology as an enabler not an automater.” This approach seems to involve investing in startups where innovation flourishes and buy the results.
Then there is true innovation, the kind based on real-world experience and need as exemplified by Michael Wielgat, a Chicago Fire Dept. lieutenant with 22 years of experience. He invented the “Hero Pipe” to help firefighters battle high-floor blazes. He’s been working on it since 2005, bootstrapping the effort. “Homeland Security has invited Wielgat to apply for a grant to continue development of his invention. He could use the money. He’s tried to get funding before from other sources, but has been turned down, he says, because they supported only fire departments or nonprofit organizations.”
Today we have four stories that sit at the intersection of innovation and culture.
The first is the story of Nick Sarillo, founder of Nick’s Pizza & Pub in Chicago. Sarillo set out to build a culture that ignored common knowledge’ about what to expect from hourly workers. Did he succeed? You tell me.
In an industry in which annual employee turnover of 200 percent is considered normal, Sarillo’s restaurants lose and replace just 20 percent of their staff members every year. Net operating profit in the industry averages 6.6 percent; Sarillo’s runs about 14 percent and has gone as high as 18 percent. Meanwhile, the 14-year-old company does more volume on a per-unit basis (an average of $3.5 million over the past three years) than nearly all independent pizza restaurants. And customers, it seems, adore the service: On three occasions, waitresses have received tips of $1,000.
Next is commentary from Daniel Isenberg, professor of management practice at Babson College, who offers cogent reasoning to save passion for the bedroom.
Passion is up there with innovation in what people think entrepreneurs need in order to succeed. I doubt it. My experience as entrepreneur, entrepreneur educator, and venture capitalist tells me that the more scarce and valuable commodity is cold-shower-self-honesty.
Third on our list is a cautionary tale about what happens when a leader looks for external confirmation that am innovative idea is great and passes on it when none is forthcoming.
Innovation is killed with the two deadliest words in business: Prove it.
When faced with a new idea, the boardroom impulse is to ask for proof in one of two flavors: deductive and inductive.
This attitude gives insight on the difference between Apple and Microsoft—only Microsoft’s blockage is internal according to Dick Brass, a vice president at Microsoft from 1997 to 2004.
Microsoft has become a clumsy, uncompetitive innovator. …
Internal competition is common at great companies. It can be wisely encouraged to force ideas to compete. The problem comes when the competition becomes uncontrolled and destructive. At Microsoft, it has created a dysfunctional corporate culture in which the big established groups are allowed to prey upon emerging teams, belittle their efforts, compete unfairly against them for resources, and over time hector them out of existence.
The striking difference between the culture at Nick’s and the one at Microsoft is a real eye-opener.
Is your company fair? Is fairness part of your MAP? Are you fair to your people? How often have you heard (or said), “That’s not fair!”
People accept that life isn’t fair—more or less. Whereas you can’t walk away from life, but it’s relatively easy to walk away from a company or manager you perceive as unfair.
What do people expect within the business world in terms of fairness?
The obvious is that they don’t want to be shafted a la Enron. However, fairness refers to more than the obvious, most often to the company/manager doing what they said they would do, i.e., walking their talk.
Fairness is what people want and fairness is what most companies/managers promise—but frequently don’t provide. For example:
Fairness excludes politics
Official – people will be promoted based on what they do
De facto – people are promoted based on who they know
Fairness is egalitarian
Official – everybody will fly economy class when traveling
De facto – senior management flies first class
Fairness includes parity
Official – similar skills are compensated similarly with any differences the result of merit
De facto – compensation differences result from expediency, prejudice, or favoritism
Besides doing ‘the right thing’, why be fair? What’s in it for you?
Quite a lot, actually.
Fairness reduces turnover (and its associated costs), increases productivity, and fuels innovation, all of which makes you look good as a manager and gives your company a good street rep. Yes, companies have street reps, too, and those reputations have a major impact on the caliber of people applying; a rep that is positive for fairness makes it easier to higher great people.
All this means better reviews, increased compensation, a reputation that’s pure gold and a great night’s sleep.
What’s not to like? And all you have to do is do as you say you will.
Please join me Monday to learn why fairness is monkey business.
A few weeks ago I reviewed The Levity Effect and wrote a series of posts about levity to go with all the stuff I’ve written about the necessity of fun in the workplace, especially when it comes to innovation.
And just as fun/levity/happy juice a culture of innovation, they have the ability to affect what people do and increase desired actions.
I love reading Steve, besides his undoubted smarts, he often leads me to stuff I wouldn’t find on my own—like thefuntheory.com “an initiative of Volkswagen.”
This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.
Best it’s a contest that you can enter.
Find your own evidence for the theory that fun is best way to change behavior for the better. For yourself, for the environment or something entirely different.
The site offers 3 examples of how fun got people to pick up trash, recycle more and even take the stairs instead of an escalator (as shown here).
Check out the site, get some friends together, brainstorm and submit ideas by December 15, then come back and tell us what you did.
You have as much chance of winning as anyone else!
Company culture is a hot topic in the business press; CEOs are working to foster “cultures of innovation;” and culture is being lauded or blamed for a variety of happenings.
The bird’s eye view of what’s important in culture is as varied as the executives, academics, pundits, media and other experts who expound on the subject.
But what about the worm’s eye view—what do plain vanilla employees think and want? It’s important, since without them there is no company.
It used to be when I talked with people that it was easier for them to articulate the attitudes and behaviors they didn’t want to encounter in the workplace.
Even today, with a far more savvy and sophisticated workforce, people still tend to focus first on what they don’t want:
Too much politics: personal, group, or in senior management.
Unnecessary bureaucracy.
Poor management practices such as erratic management; intimidation; micro-management; belittling or contemptuous treatment; poor scheduling; no loyalty; the attitude that “we don’t have enough time to do it right but we have enough time to do it over;” workaholism; etc.
Any form of harassment, whether overt or covert
A generally negative attitude, i.e., the glass is half empty
Arrogance or an elitist attitude.
An unwillingness (at whatever level) to seek and implement the compromises necessary to meet most of the organization’s needs within the required timeframe.
But when you get them to focus on the positives, the sophisticated and savvier mindset of today’s workforce is even more obvious when discussing the factors they desire.
Here are some of the high points that people say they want for themselves and from their managers and company:
The opportunity to truly “make a difference.”
To be treated fairly.
To trust the management and be trusted by them.
To embrace the idea that work can and should be fun.
Accurate prioritizing of company, team, and individual goals while keeping them synergistic.
A positive “can-do” attitude (aggressive, but realistic—the glass is half-full).
Continuing development and quality improvement in people, products and services, and processes.
Committing to employees, customers, and investors—and meeting those commitments.
An open, accurate, company-wide flow of information starting from the top.
An environment that encourages people to reach their full potential, professionally and personally.
A conscious effort to stamp out “not invented here” syndrome (in all its varied forms) so as to not waste time reinventing the wheel.
There’s great value in this worm’s eye view. By eliminating what employees don’t like, and giving them what they want, you create a foundation on which to build the kind of innovative, profitable culture—the kind craved by investors, customers, and the rest of the outside world.
Restaurants have much in common with other businesses, especially when it comes to innovation. Like lemmings they copy each other, trying to keep both customers and the Center For Science In The Public Interest happy. Not an easy task.
However, anyone who ever watched Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Channel knows that not all toe the line; there are plenty that focus on pleasing the former and say to hell with the latter.
It’s called thinking way outside the box and the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, AZ is the leader of the ‘to hell with’ pack.
Heart Attack Grill is a great example of how an innovative combination of delicious, socially unacceptable food and a culture of exceptional customer care turned a restaurant into a destination and a major hit with people who aren’t intimidated by the food police.
A reader phoned me and asked if I could recommend one action item that he could do that would jumpstart a change in his organization and put them on the road to having a true culture of innovation.
I get asked that a lot and wrote abut it way back in 2006, so it seem like a good time to repost the original with a few additions here and there.
MAP and QF (questioning fundamentals)
Looking for a good way to make your company more innovative? Or to move it from where it is to where you want it to be?
Creating an innovation culture means encouraging your people to question the fundamentals (QF) of the company. This is one of the best ways to overcome the “…but we’ve always done it that way.” school of thought, as well as “not invented here” syndrome. Both are major stumbling blocks to innovation, productivity and a host of other positives moves.
Start by identifying your company’s fundamentals, not so much the official ones, although they can also be problematic, as the unwritten/unspoken ones your employees deal with every day. It’s easy to find them, just ask—but ask knowing that you may not like the answers.
Depending on the trust level in your current culture the identification process can be anything from a public brainstorming session with a whiteboard to some kind of truly anonymous “suggestion box.” Expect to be surprised at some of the perceptions that turn up. One client found that, contrary to its stated policy, their people believed that quality wasn’t as important as shoving the product out the door.
Once you have a start on a list of fundamentals you want to open them up to debate—the more passionate the better—using a combination of technology (forum, wiki, etc.) and in person discussions. The object being to decide whether to modify/jettison/keep each one, as well as what to add.
Unless your MAP dictates a company that functions in Dilbertland, QF is an ongoing, proactive management task that encourages employees to question/rethink/revamp the company’s fundamentals.
Even when QF is deeply embedded in your culture you can’t assume your people will do so, since new people coming from other corporate cultures will need assurance that QF is indeed part of your company’s DNA.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Do you work at fostering a culture of innovation? Encourage your people to think creatively? Do you want them to come up with ideas, large and small, to improve products and processes?
Is your company fair? Is fairness part of your 
Company culture is a hot topic in the business press; CEOs are working to foster “cultures of innovation;” and culture is being lauded or blamed for a variety of happenings.
I get asked that a lot and wrote abut it way back in 2006, so it seem like a good time to repost the original with a few additions here and there.
