Pop quiz: Which trait do you value most in your organizational leaders?
A) Rapid response to emerging issues
B) Ability to foster change
C) Hand-eye coordination
Odds are your gut tells you “A”—that in a fast-paced world fueled by disruption, Leaders must react quickly to stay relevant and survive. After all, it’s what we’ve all been conditioned to, for good reason. When business leaders bury their heads in the sand, the world can quickly pass them by.
But what happens when leaders bury their heads in spreadsheets?
One look at the KPIs in any organization reveals an ocean of quantifiable measures: revenue growth, profit margin, customer acquisition, customer satisfaction, and staff turnover. Leaders are under constant pressure to meet these targets and deliver quick wins in a never-ending game of corporate whack-a-mole—one that prioritizes things that can easily be measured (the known) over uncovering new or hidden opportunities (the unknown). Most organizations place a significantly higher value on maintaining the status quo over innovating, albeit unknowingly.
Survey after survey tells us most executives believe innovation is vital to the success of their organization. So, why do so many organizations fail to innovate effectively? From my experience, it comes down to a misperception of what innovation fundamentally is—and a heavy focus on short-term metrics at the expense of experimentation.
Where innovation goes to die
Maintaining the status quo is literally the job of most middle managers—ensuring tomorrow’s operations look exactly like today’s. Or better yet, like today, plus 2% improvement. The result is a corporate culture filled with spreadsheet-induced anxiety and leaders too afraid to try anything that risks a number not falling squarely where it’s expected.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: An unsuspecting business unit leader is handed a new (probably digitally enabled) solution to pilot and told it will solve their problems. Unfortunately, the leader doesn’t have the capacity, resources, or interest in anything that makes the mindset shift from their managerial focus on the short-term metrics they are responsible for meeting. Even if they see potential in a new solution, the risk of failure is more compelling than the potential for gains. The organization’s KPI tunnel vision has left little or no room for experimentation or creativity.
Overcoming this type of checkbox culture comes down to one thing—permission. When organizations expand their definition of success to one that allows for and encourages novel thinking to solve problems, they open the doors to explore beyond the status quo. Take pilot projects, for example. Simply reinforcing that the goal of a pilot is to see how much can be learned—to experiment, course-correct, and iterate—can set a whole new frame for success.
Instead of measuring a pilot on how quickly the team got (the correct) results, measure success on the quality of learning and the team’s ability to bob and weave. How effectively did they recognize and overcome issues? Did they find a better problem to solve that has the potential to create greater value? Did they gather new insights that can propel the organization towards a better future version of itself? These are the measures of a resilient organization.
True innovation is hard to quantify and easy to discount
What is the value of leaders’ ability to adapt to the unexpected, navigate uncertainty, make high-quality decisions, collaboratively work through conflict, or cultivate an open mindset that encourages exploration? These things are hard to count and, therefore, easy to discount. They are also essential mindset shifts to innovation and necessary competencies for companies striving to stay ahead of the competition and maintain long-term relevance.
When most people think of innovation, their minds immediately go to groundbreaking new products. As an innovation leader, I often face people who assume I will show up with a big bag of cutting-edge solutions ready to plug into their projects. I say “plug” because they also equate innovation with technology. They want shiny silver bullets that will immediately solve their toughest problems. If only it were that simple.
In reality, innovation is a practice—a systematic process that doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a mindset shift to iterate and requires the patience to see success unfold over time as problems are defined and overcome. There are no clear starting and stopping points. Moreover, complex problems are rarely (if ever) solved with one perfect solution but rather from a combination of multiple well-placed interventions that are more like acupuncture points than silver bullets.
Take the metaphor for innovation itself: the light bulb. The invention of the light bulb did not transform the world. It took the next ten years for Edison and his team to develop an entire system to bring electricity into homes, from the power grid to wires, fuses, and switches. Equally important was convincing the public to move beyond the status quo mindset of oil lamps and candlelight and embrace a whole new way of existing.
As experienced innovators will tell you, the true value of innovation lies in the mindset shift necessary for the successful adoption of change. Innovation often requires people to make an active choice to change their habits, beliefs, or ways of doing things. Ultimately, it’s not the solution, but mindset shifts that drive successful innovation and transformational change.
Ready, aim, listen
Driving innovation and change inside an organization, especially a large complex one, is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it something that happens because of a few emails sent out by corporate comms. Communication is key, to be sure, but it should be two-way. The real catalyst for change lies in the mindset shift it takes to foster open dialogue, strengthen relationships, gain fresh perspectives, and illuminate new insights that inspire novel thinking.
Innovation starts with listening and deeply understanding the wants and needs of stakeholders—from employees and customers to the business itself. It gains momentum by placing a high value on hiring and promoting leaders who understand how to ask questions that challenge assumptions and skillfully create psychologically safe spaces for teams to collaborate, without fear of judgment for sharing unorthodox ideas.
Over time, and with intentional practice, leaders can develop reflexes for responding to changing market conditions with adaptability, resiliency, and ingenuity. Transforming an organizational culture into one that fosters creative thinking, active experimentation and iterative learning isn’t magic. The real magic comes as leaders realize the value of innovating by adeptly navigating the uncertainty ahead.