Innovation does not happen alone
Let's imagine the situation. You've been tasked with thinking of new ways to develop your skills and you've set aside a couple of hours of quiet Wednesday morning to do this thinking. A couple of hours go by and all those flip charts and post-its reserved for the exercise are still full of ways you've already tried. Why? Because real innovation doesn't happen alone, but with others.
Innovation is rarely something completely new, unpredictable or requiring a PhD. They are born out of ideas that have worked in some way in some other situation and, if applied, could work again in a new way, with better results as the end result. That's why the idea-to-innovation process needs a group of people, rather than an individual, who are willing to throw their ideas out there - whether they are good, easy, wild, sloppy or whatever.
Three killers of innovation
Often, however, innovation tends to stall at the very beginning, because. the group does not have the ability or willingness to think about things from new perspectives. There are many reasons, but in simple terms they can be divided into three parts - default settings, uncertainty and for the obvious.
Assumptions are what we do every day as individuals based on our experiences of things we don't fully understand or know for sure. Such an idea is, for example ”that can't work, because it didn't work there either”. You can't get rid of this in a group if the group is full of people who are too similar.
Uncertainty occurs when an individual or group is unable to be sufficiently honest and open with each other. If the idea-to-innovation process could eventually lead to a situation where the value of one's current skills collapses or results in significantly more work, it is often easier for the individual to just keep quiet and no innovation can take place.
On the other hand, sometimes it may simply be a case of not saying things because everyone knows this - ”it goes without saying!”. But it's not, because we humans don't always know what we know or don't know. So sometimes you have to remember to say out loud the things that are obvious to you, so that others can learn and perhaps turn that obvious statement into an innovation.
What can help you innovate?
Creating innovation requires three things:
- Promise to brainstorm and throw out some unfinished business
- A diverse group of people from different backgrounds (and mutual trust!)
- Time to think
Front page of, as a facilitator or HR manager, this means. you must lead your team's brainstorming and innovation and create spaces for open wondering.
So, first, your calendar should include some ”free time” for your group to brainstorm together with a diverse group of participants. Your responsibility is then to increase the group's courage and ability to weed out unnecessary criticism and instead foster a culture of experimentation.
The experiments are then reflected on together after a short period of experimentation, leading to a decision to continue, refine or stop the experiment. And yes, some ideas are bound to fail completely and mistakes are bound to happen - you just have to endure them and learn from them.
Are your own resources sufficient?
The fact is that all this takes time and perhaps new skills. You don't have to do everything yourself, but in this and many other things. in transition is ultimately about active leadership. Of course, at the same time, you have to remember to be a role model and be open to new ideas and thoughts, and not immediately reject even the wildest ideas.
So at the very least, make sure that there is time to manage innovation and, where appropriate, use other skills in the organisation or external partners to support the things you can outsource or delegate - such as facilitation or life skills development. The worst thing you can do as a leader is to burn yourself out in developing your capacity to think and innovate - when you are burnt out, you are rarely at your peak.
Towards ideas and innovation!
PS: Do you want some thoughts in video format? Check it out. Retrieved from YouTube our Short videos on topics such as innovation - or watch the video below on team brainstorming!
