HAVE YOU HEARD about innovation lately? It has been on every one’s lips, spoken with a sense of urgency, presented as a hope for the future.
Innovation means something to everyone, ministers, scholars, educators, businessmen, entrepreneurs, the old and the young. Indeed innovation seems to be an answer to all troubles, a salve for all woes. It is being touted as the factor that could enhance a company’s and even a country’s competitiveness.
What becomes obvious from all the views shared is that we cannot continue to do things the same way with an expectation of different results. There’s something in it for everyone. Thanks to innovation, the customer benefits since their needs are met or even exceeded in new and unique ways.
In the workplace the environment becomes more positive due to increased employee motivation, improved teamwork and the resulting synergies, greater employee participation which all add up to overall increased productivity through new or improved processes, products and services.
Ultimately, if innovation is well executed, we all benefit as workers and citizens of this country.
Locally, innovation is feverishly discussed as Barbados seeks to enhance its competitiveness. The consensus seems to be that as a country, we are not where we should be.
In 2009, Dr Paul Pounder in the article Creating A Culture for Innovation In Barbados writes that “though countries can try to create processes to stimulate inventions, it is not the processes that create the innovation, it is the people and their mindset”.
He believed that “creating a culture of innovation should be people focused”. Such a change in culture will certainly create better conditions for future entrepreneurial activity but what about innovation in our organisations? Several factors must be considered.
According to Jay Rao and his associates in their 2009 article entitled Culture Drives Innovation, Not Ideas!, the building blocks of innovation in organisations include climate, values, resources, process, behaviours and success. Together, these building blocks support a stong organisational culture for innovation. Without these the process is likely to fail.
While we are definitely on the right track in seeking educational reform with the aim of promoting creativity and critical thinking, we must be very careful to ensure that this culture which promotes innovation is continued into the workplace for those who decide to be employed in organisations rather than pursue entrepreneurial endeavours.
As we work to improve the efficiencies of innovation in our people from an early age, we must also work simultaneously to secure its effectiveness, we must work to ensure that organisational culture is in sync with the culture promoted through educational reform.
An organisational culture that therefore encourages and supports innovation is extremely critical to innovation success. Internationally, companies have implemented innovation management systems which focus for the most part on product innovation, management of research and development teams and management of data and patents. However, many are directing their focus to employees as a way of connecting the front line to the bottom line.
Many companies are now using the interview and onboarding processes as a means of securing staff who have an innovation attitude.
Even more important however is the need for supportive leadership in creating an innovation-friendly organisational culture. Managers need to manage the process and not the creativity by creating an environment where employees feel safe and free to make suggestions. Managers need to exhibit a positive attitude for new ideas, they need not be crippled by a fear of risk, failure and their own obsolescence but be open to learning and development.
When ideas are executed and fail, there’s value in seeing and using it as a learning experience. What is the typical response to new ideas in our organisations? Very often the opportunity to learn is missed because of a risk averse and/or punitive culture. When employees do have the opportunity to test an idea and it fails, it becomes fodder for office gossip and ridicule. The scapegoat is identified and banished, never to be heard from again.
They resign themselves to just doing what they are hired to do and never making another suggestion, they have ideas for improvement of systems and processes that, added up, could create value for the organisation. Sadly, these ideas are never articulated and they remain a figment of their host’s imagination.
Beyond linking innovation to organizational mission and strategy, there needs to be a culture which espouses values such as freedom, passion, intuition, synergy, curiosity and fun.
Those whose ideas are used should be recognised and rewarded and success should be celebrated! Employees should be encouraged to openly exchange their ideas outside of staff meetings.
Managers should do all in their power to remove obstacles and red tape to ensure new ventures have the necessary attention, resources, and staffing. Most of all, managers at all levels need to lead by example, as enthusiastic participants in the idea generation, implementation, evaluation and feedback stages of innovation.
There are indeed many factors that must be taken into consideration and managed well when seeking to gain competitive advantage through innovation. While the creation of an innovation culture depends on strong and enabling leadership, there is also the need to execute innovation in the proper way.
Executing innovation is daunting and relies on structure, strategy, process and capability. Whether big or small, groundbreaking or incremental, disruptive or continuous, radical or frugal, the development and increased value of a company is dependent on proper execution and management of innovation.
What is certain, though, is that an innovation of any kind, handled incorrectly will never secure the future gains which are promised at its conceptualisation. Therefore, our mission is to equip ourselves with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to overcome our deficiencies and successfully respond to the innovation challenge which lies ahead.
Karen A. Collins is the Training and Development Officer of The Productivity Council.
