In the last few years I’ve been seeing a pattern emerge in the strategic objectives of organizations I work with. This focus on innovation and creativity is not just a bandwagon that’s being jumped on. I believe this is an intuitive and direct response to the trend towards volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (the VUCA world) that we’re all living in.
Turning the strategic goal of innovation into reality is the struggle. I think the problem stems from the fact that innovation is a cultural phenomenon and not something that can be easily dictated.
If the organization you work in has innovation and/or creativity in its strategic goals, here are five things you can do to encourage innovation and creativity and start building the organizational culture you need:
- Develop it, at every level. Not only does investment in staff development give people the tools they need to be creative, it also sends a message that says the organization is prepared to invest in a new of doing things. It’s really important that the development opportunities are embraced by every level of the organization. There are lots of options here, from a visit to Stanford’s d.school to local, and more affordable, creativity workshops.
- Demonstrate it, from the top down, by showing commitment to the ideas above. If an organization can find really creative ways to celebrate, train, reward and make time for innovation, then they’ll be in great shape for making it a cultural norm. Walking the talk is the most powerful way that senior leadership influence organizational culture. Innovation and creativity are as much to do with culture as they are to do with strategy.
- Reward it, quite simply, by making it a part of your performance review framework.
- Make space for it, in even the busiest schedules. There are stories going around of how some organizations allow their employees a half day a week to work on anything they like. This might seem outrageous; to give away 10% seems crazy. However, if you consider the value that you get from 90% of an engaged workforce versus 100% of a disengaged workforce, I know which I’d prefer, and I get the added benefit of all those creative ideas from the 10%.
- Celebrate it, especially when it fails. The end of the 20th century and early 21st century has been a time a time to tighten belts and batten down the hatches. We’ve generally become quite risk averse and failure is seen as unacceptable. Being innovative naturally involves trying things out, and not everything we try out is going to be successful. If we’re to be truly innovative we need to celebrate innovation wherever it occurs, and most importantly, we need to celebrate innovation for the sake of innovation, and not just for the successes it sometimes brings.
Any organization that’s really serious about innovation and creativity needs to pay attention to its culture as well as its strategy. The two need to work hand in hand. Org strategy supports and informs org culture. Org culture supports and informs org strategy.
Dave Whittington – June 2014
