As economic upheaval rocks the business world it is tempting to batten the hatches, wait for the calm and pray that you’ll emerge. But a more productive reaction would be to start innovating. Creativity, if used effectively, can be the ideal way to improve business operations, bolster staff morale and adapt for the future. The sad fact is that those companies that have not prepared for the up-turn will inevitably stand to lose market share.
However, though many directors recognize the value of staff creativity they often fail to put in place training or processes to make this happen. Worse still, they may be blissfully unaware that they actually stifle their peoples’ creative potential. Here are some of the most common ways that directors crush imagination in their own companies.
Mistake One: Criticism
A natural reaction to any new idea you hear is to criticize it. Decca Records turned down the Beatles, IBM rejected the photocopying idea which launched Xerox and various major publishers turned down the first Harry Potter novel. The same thing is happening in most organizations today. New ideas tend to be partly formed so it is easy to reject them as bad’. But bad ideas are often excellent springboards for good ideas – within them there are concepts we can adapt to make into workable innovations.
Mistake Two: Neglecting brainstorms
Brainstorming is seen by some as old-fashioned, but good brainstorms remain one of the best ways of generating fresh ideas and involving staff from all levels. Your brainstorming sessions should be short and have a high energy level, with a clear focus in order to generate a large number of ideas. Each session should be chaired by an enthusiastic facilitator who encourages the flow of ideas.
Mistake Three: Problem hoarding
There is a macho concept that directors and senior managers should shoulder the responsibility for solving all the company’s major problems. There is a fear that if people at the grass roots knew some of the strategic challenges the organization faces then they would feel insecure and threatened. But people lower down the organization are often closer to the customer and they can see what is working and what isn’t. If you involve them you will find a rich source of new ideas and a shared sense of purpose.
Mistake Four: Efficiency over innovation
It is natural for managers to focus on improving the current business model. But if we focus entirely on making things better then we can miss the chance to make things different. If you were sending messages using semaphore flags then you needed to learn SMS text messaging rather than improve the efficiency of your flag waving. You have to improve the current process while looking for new methods of delivering value to customers. An exclusive focus on efficiency is a dangerous blinker.
Mistake Five: Overworking
Often allied to the focus on efficiency is a culture of long hours, with the mistaken belief that hard work alone will solve the problem. But as Edward de Bono says, You cannot look in a new direction by looking harder in the same direction.’ If you are trying to solve a problem by focusing on one way of doing things, how can you find time to try new ways of reaching your goals? If you had been making gas lamps and you worked all day to produce more lamps then you would have had no time to learn about electricity. Our working day needs time for learning, fun, lateral thinking, wild ideas and testing of new initiatives.
Mistake Six: It isn’t in the plan’
We cannot try that idea because it is not in the plan and we have no budget for it.’ Organizations that plan in great detail are placing themselves in a straitjacket, limiting themselves to a vision of the world as the planners saw it. Markets and needs change so quickly that the view we had last week can be out of date today. So how accurate can the plan we did last December be? Corporate plans should be loose frameworks to be used as guidelines, allowing for sudden changes in market conditions, new threats and opportunities. The plan should not become a bunker within which unimaginative managers can hide.
Mistake Seven: Laying the blame
A culture of blame for failure is a sure-fire way to halt entrepreneurial spirit in its tracks. Most innovation projects will fail but they are still worthwhile because it is only by trying them that you can determine which ideas are duds and which are winners. Edison had thousands of failures in his experiments which resulted in the invention of the electric light, but he believed, They were not failures, each one taught me a new way which did not work.’
Mistake Eight: Outsourcing change
Consultants can provide many useful skills and by looking at your business as an outsider they are not bound by the assumptions and beliefs that you hold. But the risk is that if you hand over all responsibility for conceiving and implementing new methods, products or processes to external consultants then very few people in the organization feel ownership. Consultants should be used as catalysts to innovation, whilst involving many staff early in the project to get their ideas and input. Front-line staff are closer to the customer and the action, so they can help shape ideas to make them more workable. They will also be much more committed to making a change a success if they helped to design it.
Mistake Nine: Giving innovation projects to productions units.
New products or services are like seedlings which should be kept in the greenhouse until they are stronger and not left to fend for themselves. The regular business manager is too busy meeting his monthly deadlines and targets to give the prototype business the attention it needs. It is better to put the seedlings in the care of a special department, sometimes called an incubator, that has different goals and objectives, working to a longer schedule and headed by an innovation director who has clout in the organization.
Mistake Ten: No training
Can creativity be taught or is it a rare talent possessed by a handful of gifted individuals? The answer is that every one of us can be creative if we are encouraged and shown how to do it. We were all imaginative as children but gradually most people have their creative instincts ground down by the routine of work. With proper training people can develop skills in questioning, brainstorming, adapting, combining, analyzing and selecting ideas. They can be the innovative engine your organization needs.
Paul Sloane was Managing Director of Ashton-Tate and CEO of Monactive. He now consults and trains on lateral leadership. His new book, the Leaders Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills, is published by Kogan Page. His website is http://www.destination-innovation.com.
