Game-changers

Pandemic.  War.  Erosion of democracy.  Climate change.

Organisations are having to adapt and pivot to survive in an ever-febrile world.  Innovation is now seen to be essential, as indicated by the dramatic increase of “Innovation Leader” roles promoted on LinkedIn.

But perhaps it’s not quite innovation as you know it…

The orderly strategy formulation process that many established organisations had become used to in the last 2-3 decades has been disrupted.  Even relatively stable sectors like water treatment have been shaken up.   Organisations are having to deal with multiple crises of the here and now, whether it’s sourcing key raw materials in a highly interdependent global supply chain, figuring out the impact of hybrid working project management, or hiring key skills from shrinking talent pools.

If you’re a technologist, you probably thrive on pushing the boundaries in your chosen specialism, and making a contribution that only you as an expert could.  You no doubt get a thrill building outstanding tech solutions and generating ideas for the future.

But the game has changed.

Innovation now needs to be addressed by everyone, not just those charged with product development.  And product innovators themselves now need to be thinking beyond their specialist realm.

If you happen to be a product innovator (or lead them) this may require you to make some important mindset shifts.  But if mindsets are unconscious, you’re powerless to deal with them.  So here are some concepts that might help your awareness.

Organisational “stickiness”

Over time, a successful organisation tends to drift from its initial match to customer and stakeholder needs.  This is due to a variety of human peccadillos that keep organisations stuck in the past.  Even in such disruptive times as these, you can spot this tendency when people use language such as the “new normal” – reflecting a very human desire for a return to certainty and stability.  However, this desire is fed bya flawed belief in “normal” being a permanent destination rather than a transient state in an eternal cycle that has phases of stability, disruption, chaos and consolidation.

We should all be aware of what works to prevent us moving healthily through these stages, if progress is to accelerate:

Premise

A big danger is mid-senior management’s long-held beliefs about the organisation’s premise, i.e. what it’s there to do.  A prime example of this is Eastman Kodak.  One of their engineers, Steven Sasson, was the first to develop digital photography in 1975.  Senior management decided that this innovation didn’t fit the core business of manufacturing photographic film.   Big mistake.  We can easily, in hindsight, judge their lack of imagination.   In their defence, senior management teams rightly take their responsibility for organisation’s future seriously and so tend to the err on the side of caution.  Ideally to mitigate this they need to listen to other voices.  They need to invite the voices of innovators in their organisation.  And the innovators – people like you – need to make themselves heard.

Principles

Rightly or wrongly, many people become guardians of the principles and values that once made their organisation successful.  It’s particularly difficult for those who have been around a long time to make a shift in what matters to them in daily work life.  For example, shifting from a focus on quality to volume production (or vice versa) can grate against a person’s personal values and beliefs.  Although this is understandable, when values are elevated to dogma they can seriously stifle change.  Changing people’s minds is not easy but it does need addressing – a lot.  And can be much aided by circumstance.

For example, an interesting shift is currently taking place around the value of social connection at work.  With most staff having been offsite by necessity in recent years, some organisations are holding more activities specifically to encourage social connection between employees when they are back on site.  This is more attractive to some personality types than others.  Forward-thinking organisations are exploring what’s the best balance to be had and how to flex their approach to suit different cadres of staff.  Rather than showing a lack of principles, this willingness to experiment and explore is a sign of organisational resilience.

Processes

Another source of stickiness and drag on innovation is the comfort that arises from familiarity with established systems and processes.  As an organisation grows out of the start-up phase it absolutely needs to develop systems and processes that serve its operations and free up the energies of the innovators to focus on customers, product development and delivery.  Inevitably, though, as the organisation succeeds and grows, those systems and processes become more established and with higher head-count,involve more people.  At some point they cease to be fit for purpose.  Either the organisation’s needs will have shifted and/or there is better technology available.

But changing organisational habits and establishing new ones can be extremely uncomfortable for many.  Having a burning platform that everyone can appreciate is a tremendous help.  So current circumstances provide a massive opportunity.   Smart organisations will take advantage of this, before people attempt to revert to the “old” normal.

People

It should come as no surprise that as social creatures, humans get comfortable with the people they know and trust.  However, if we are not careful, we can become overly reliant on our familiar contacts, and build too narrow a base of stakeholder relationships.  This is something particularly for the more introverted and task-focused to watch out for, and many technologists have these natural tendencies.

On an organisational level we’ve seen the dangers of e.g. a small list of approved suppliers and a narrow global supply chain.  This has left many firms vulnerable when disruptions occur, such as when the Ever Given blocked the Suez canal, and more recently the global supply of silicon chips faltered, given the fluctuating automotive sector demands and the key manufacturers affected by severe flooding.

Proximity to customers at times of great change is also crucial – no longer can an organisation afford the frugality (if that’s not an oxymoron) of sending only salespeople and product managers to meet customers.  Product innovators – engineers and technologists need to meet customers too.  If you’re a technologist, this should be on your agenda – as should getting to know and work well with the salespeople and product mangers in your own organisation.

Organisations are now being forced to think more about whole systems resilience.  That involves building more relationships, which inevitably requires more time and resource, and increasingly involves people right across the organisation.

As a technologist, building new relationships on an ongoing basis is something to add to your duties – internally becoming an ambassador for your team, and externally not just with customers, but counterparts in other organisations.  The latter is one of the best ways to avoid cultural blindness – that unconscious lack of awareness of what is causing the stickiness in your own organisation.  The goldfish can’t see the water is its own bowl.   So meeting and working with trusted peers from other organisations on issues you share is a powerful way to give your creativity boost and shine light on the hidden assumptions holding you and your colleagues back from new possibilities.

From technology innovator to organisational innovator

Time was when innovation in a technology company was all about the tech.  In larger organisations the development of new products could take years, with time to cross TRLs at leisure.

Today’s disruptive environment requires a new level of flexibility and responsiveness of the organisation as a system.  It brings opportunities for technologists to contribute, not just to product development, but to the innovation of the whole organisation.

So as an innovator, what’s arguably as important as your tech savvy, is your ability to

• Exercise and build your skills as an influencer of the senior leadership team; your imagination can mitigate the risk presented by their caution
• Be an active ambassador for your team – build relationships across your stakeholder landscape, listen well and promote the contribution of our imagination. Particularly invest time with sales and product management, with customers, and with peers in other (non-competitive) organisations
• Actively contribute your intellect to the innovation of systems and processes, as well as products

You’ve probably never had such an opportunity to step beyond your tech focus and help innovate the whole organisation.

Over to you…

© Siobhan Soraghan BSc MBA DipM MCIPD    July 2022
Facilitator: The-Innovation-Network.com
Founder: Active-Insight.com