Shifted HR

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I am currently studying Managing Innovation and Continuous Improvement. When some people think of innovation they think about new technological advances. For organisations to survive in today's fast changing world, innovation should exist at the strategic, tactical and operational levels.

To create a culture of innovation you need to foster an environment where employees are encouraged to explore, to learn, to extend themselves, to fail and to be able to suggest ideas without the fear of being judged. This sounds so simple but in reality it just does not happen!

Think of a time when you have been in a meeting where a suggestion has been made and instead of the group extending on the idea, somebody shoots it down in flames. Or a suggestion is made to management but no feedback is given... it somehow got lost in that management black hole. Depending on how resilient the person is, they may make a few more suggestions, but in the end people eventually stop trying to suggest ideas, become unmotivated and may even start looking for work elsewhere. In the end this is not good for business. Your organisation may even have innovation as one of its values, but if employees are experiencing the things I discussed, then innovation will not grow.

Innovation and Imagination at Work by the Australian Institute of Management states seven barriers to delivering innovation and ten factors for success.

Seven barriers to delivering innovation:

1. Underestimating what is required
2. Inadequate formal systems
3. Inadequate resources for the change process
4. Insufficient front-line input
5. Lack of knowledge management
6. Inadequate governance
7. Inadequate strategic planning

Ten success factors for building an innovative environment:

1. Ensuring commitment of the leadership team
2. Ensuring adequate management capability
3. Incorporating systematic innovation
4. Identifying key skills gaps
5. Using the front-line as a business driver
6. Building adequate infrastructure
7. Implementing formal structures and systems
8. Developing capabilities
9. Developing accountability
10. Ensuring organisational continuity

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to encourage the team you are in to look at the work they do, how it impacts the business and to make suggestions on improvements. Give employees time to research and explore what other organisations are doing. Encourage them to network outside of the team. This could be with other people within the organisation, with clients and with other people outside of the organisation in similar professions. This will help them expand their knowledge and encourage different thinking.

Further reading:

• Leader to Leader Institute
• Thought Leaders Forum - Peter Drucker
• Society for Organizational Learning
• Innovation Network
• The Doblin Innovation Discipline Model
  
• Making ideas happen

Here is a great presentation from Tara Hunt from Citizen Agency on fostering creative teams.

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