Attributes of an Innovative Culture
No two innovative cultures are alike. There is not a direct formula that will take you to an innovative culture. Some attributes, however, make a culture more likely to support innovation. These attributes fall into two categories: psychological environment and physical environment. We will start with the psychological environment.
Failing Forward
In an innovative culture, failing and learning from failure are encouraged. Risk taking is encouraged. Experimentation is encouraged. Following clues into new territories is encouraged. As we have seen, the lives of entrepreneurs and innovators, over the ages, are littered with failures. From painters tearing up their works to bankrupt businesses to inventions that no one wants, the road to innovation is not all iPod-like success. Many clues lead to dead ends.
An innovative environment encourages and embraces mistakes. In the early days of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs allegedly told his managers, “You are going to have to try new things because we are growing so fast. I do not care if those things fail. Just change them if they do fail.” In many cases, such as the fast growth of Apple in the early 1980s, the old ways of doing things don’t work. New things need to be attempted in order for the organization to move forward. Many initiatives fail. If those who try new processes or procedures are punished for failing, the culture will be markedly risk avoidant.
The other part of this “failing forward” equation is the forward part. What did we learn from that experiment? Thomas Edison did not give up after 900 failed light bulbs. He allegedly said: “I now know 900 ways not to make a light bulb.” He learned from those mistakes. One large computer company had a black book that documented errors that the company committed in similar previous projects. They regularly read the errors aloud and laughed at themselves. In this way, they had a smaller chance of committing the same errors over again.
Idea Killers
“We tried that 23 years ago and it did not work.”
“I built that system myself- 18 years ago.”
“Our competition hasn’t introduced that product–why should we?”
“That product will never fit our margin guidelines.”
“Leave the innovations to Product Development people.”
“We are going to table it for now, but keep thinking.”
“Does it really fit with our core mission?”
“That wouldn’t fit in our accounting system.”
Yes, and…
“Yes, but…” is a common-yet-poisonous phrase:
• Yes, it is a good idea, but we have no budget for something like that.
• Yes, it is a good idea but it would never work here.
• Yes, it is a good idea but management would never buy into it.
An innovation culture changes yes, but to yes, and. It is a subtle change that renders large results. Yes, but ends a conversation and kills a subject. Yes, and encourages finding ways to make something happen. It invites others to build upon an idea. Training employees to say yes, and may seem foolish, but it is one step that can yield large results in creating an innovative culture. Otherwise, employees revert back to critical assessments. We are trained more in those critical responses than in build-up responses.
Barriers to Innovation
“We tried that 23 years ago and it did not work.”
“I built that system myself- 18 years ago.”
“Our competition hasn’t introduced that product–why should we?”
“That product will never fit our margin guidelines.”
“Leave the innovations to Product Development people.”
“We are going to table it for now, but keep thinking.”
“Does it really fit with our core mission?”
“That wouldn’t fit in our accounting system.”