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While companies – especially tech startups – tout themselves as “innovative,” most don’t know how innovation works or what it looks like. People use “innovation” as the latest buzzword and join “creator” or “disruptor” without ever really knowing its meaning.
This is why major media outlets like CNN reported on the latest smartphone emojis under the heading “Innovate”. These emojis are getting a lot of press and awards, but are they actually technical innovations? Not really, although it will be interesting to see how many times we can plug a ginger root emoji into a text.
Too often we equate ‘newness’ with ‘technological innovation’. But a slightly enhanced version of a product or service is not an innovation. Truly innovative technology ruffles feathers and challenges orthodoxy. It can cause anger because change is unwelcome, especially within organizations. Remember: the momentum of the organization is real. Companies develop inertia based on the philosophy that what has worked so far should continue. “We’ve always done it this way” is a low-key red flag that your organization is allergic to innovation.
Still, innovation doesn’t have to mean throwing everything out the window. A common misconception about innovative technology relates to its size and scope. Innovation doesn’t have to be a big bang experience – at least not right away. Innovative technology teams can start small, get buy-in slowly and evolve from there.
Related: Why Innovation Matters (Especially In Uncertain Times)
Taking innovation to the next level
Innovation is more than just tired, incremental software and feature updates. The true spirit of innovation lies in larger, bold musings: “What if this process didn’t have to exist?” and “What if there was a new approach to the underlying problem that was never considered?” Finding the answers to those questions requires a strong innovation culture that empowers, empowers and finances teams to experiment.
Unfortunately, most companies don’t know how to do more than make superficial changes, a la new emojis. They confuse iteration with innovation. Leaders need to change their philosophies and lenses around innovation to drive more robust, genuine cultures.
Here’s where to start.
Related: 5 cultural characteristics that employers should implement in the organization
1. Name an innovation czar
When it comes to getting things done, it makes sense to assign a point person. So make innovation someone’s job. Give them resources to support their innovative technology experiments. Put them in charge of educating the rest of the team on how to challenge the status quo, oversee tests, and perform autopsies.
Do you doubt whether you have someone internally who can fill this role? The quickest solution is to partner with an outside innovation expert to set expectations and spark the innovation mindset throughout your organization. An outsider’s point of view can be more than just refreshing: it can shed light on what’s possible with current technology, expose different audiences, or brainstorm new use cases.
With innovative leadership you can move forward to generate more support. PayPal’s response to forcing innovation support was to empower employees place bets about the company’s annual Global Innovation Tournament participants. The bets came in the form of company-funded blockchain currency. PayPal employees who bet on the winning participants could exchange blockchain tokens for experience prizes. According to PayPal, linking innovation, competition and crowdsourcing improved the quality of ideas and the level of participation – it was a “good bet” on innovation.
Related: Why an ukbusinessupdates.com’s ability to innovate will make (or break) future success.
2. Isolate and Reinforce
One of the most pervasive issues in “business innovation” is the business. A company can claim that it wants to be innovative and spend a lot of resources on it. Still, it’s unlikely to succeed until it gives teams the freedom and agency to experiment and explore without the Kafkaesque corporate getting in the way.
I recently spoke with a friend who was navigating his company’s “Innovation Committee.” I thought that sounded very oxymoronic. True innovation takes courage and room to fail. Placing guardrails and approvals and applying old processes will hinder you. A better approach is to set up an “intrapreneur” group that separates them from the rest of the organization and treats them as removed. Working with an incubator or outside company can provide even more intentional distance and help lift and extract that institutional momentum.
3. Tap into everyone’s inner toddler
What do young children ask all the time? “Why?” It’s probably their favorite word — it’s also essential for innovation. Organizations can easily fall into the worn-out routine that has operated for centuries. That’s why their employees never question anything. That is not a recipe for innovation, but for stagnation.
While you don’t want everyone throwing tantrums, you definitely want employees to adopt a toddler’s nosy attitude. For example, encourage your team to use the Socratic Method, where you ask questions, challenge assumptions, build a hypothesis, and test the theory. Do you want a good kick-off point? Question: “Why are we doing this the way we do?” The answer may surprise you.
4. Throw away preconceptions about problems
People tend to approach problems with prejudices. The problem is that those concepts are usually done as quick “mental arithmetic” exercises. They are based on gut feelings, feelings and sometimes outdated data. Bertrand Russell once said, “As usual in philosophy, the first difficulty is to see that the problem is difficult.” The same applies if you try to innovate.
When you drill down into first principles, you can quickly see errors used in initial troubleshooting. Let’s say you started with the wrong information or suspicion. If you built an “innovation” based on that information, your solution might not be the best. So make sure people check themselves for biases when working on innovations. The less they assume, the more likely they are to come up with remarkable ideas.
Note: It can be difficult for people to see cognitive biases in themselves. That’s why it’s important to educate yourself, challenge implicit assumptions, and allow others to challenge your beliefs. Talking to others is a powerful social tool for checking your own biases. While this can be uncomfortable, it can lead to great insights and breakthroughs. Be prepared to model this behavior if you expect it to be embraced throughout the company.
Every company wants to innovate, but few leaders are making the changes their organization needs to become true innovators in the industry. Even if you just started and have minimal working capital, you have the power to innovate. All it takes is a willingness to see problems differently and solve problems.
