How does your organization come up with new ideas? And how do they use those ideas to create successful new products, services, businesses, and solutions? To be most successful, you must eliminate these myths of innovation.
The problem is never how to get
new ideas into your mind, but how to eliminate the old ideas.
Do you always drive to work the same
way? Most likely. Do you read the same type of publications?
Often. How about TV and the Internet? Watching the same group of shows or
using the same set of websites is also a common habit. When you do this,
how do you feel? You get a lot of
familiar and comfortable feelings.
But
true innovation often doesn’t make us comfortable. It makes us
uncomfortable. And yet, it is in that discomfort that the new ways, the
new ideas, and the new feelings come to
light. When you drive to work via a different route, you see different
places and sights. If you go to the newsstand and peruse the magazines
that you never otherwise look at, you will see things you simply would never
think about otherwise.
Given these results, let’s examine the myths of generating creative innovation:
People love change
Myth
Many people believe
everybody loves to change and be changed.
Fact
The simple fact is that there is a ton of people who resist any change. They are very risk-averse, and change makes them very uncomfortable.
Rewards
Myth
Many people believe
that the best ideas come where the best incentive rewards are offered.
Fact
Daniel Pink discussed
research in his book “Drive” where rewards were shown to have a modest effect on generating new ideas at best
and negative effect in the worst situations. Pink demonstrated that with the
complex and more creative style of 21stcentury
jobs, traditional rewards could lead to
less of what is wanted and more of what
is not wanted.
Completely new
Myth
The belief is that
most innovations are composed of totally new thoughts.
Fact
The simple fact is
new ideas are built from the combining of
older ideas. The novelty comes from the application of the idea or combination
of idea and application, not the idea itself.
Experience and expertise
Myth
Team members often sit back in the hope that the smartest or most experienced among them will come through. Smart is certainly important, as experiences, but the best innovations come from those on the fringes of the subject area or an entirely different subject area expertise.
Fact
Those who
continuously come up with the newest ideas are ones who are great at cultivating
minds from different fields and can most
efficiently connect the dots. Old lessons from a different field applied
to the new field.
Collaboration
Myth
We can certainly find
many examples of teams where cohesiveness abound, but innovation was severely
lacking.
Fact
But the simple fact
is that conflict is equally as important as cohesiveness in generating ideas.
Many companies build conflict into the ideation process for this reason.
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. As the author Steve
Johnson says, chance favors the connected minds. When people are together,
talking, laughing, thinking, exploring — they’re going to throw out ideas.
These ideas trigger something in someone else’s mind, and it snowballs. Before
long, this group of folks has developed a creative change that wouldn’t have
been possible without the collective collaboration.
See
our article on Generating Ideas by Convergent Thinking
Best mousetrap
Myth
The saying goes that
if you have the best mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.
Fact
This path is not the
usual case, however. Often the best innovations
are rejected initially. There are many examples …
here are two good ones. Kodak invented the digital camera and never took it to
market. Smith Corona built a superb word processor and yet decided to stay with
the typewriter, its bread and butter.
Epiphany
Myth
Many assume that the
best insights come to us in a flash of brilliance.
Fact
The best ideas
typically require a time of incubation in our subconscious. We do best when we
constantly shift from one task to another to allow our minds to do something
different for our best idea germination.
Best ideas win
Myth
The cream always
rises to the top. And the best innovations are like the cream.
Fact
But the simple fact
is that the best ones are not necessarily or readily recognized as the best.
Most often, they never get to the winner’s circle.
Your genes
Myth
The best ideas come
from the best combination of genes.
Fact
No evidence supports
an “idea” gene or personality type. On the other hand, there is a wealth of
evidence that shows there is potential inside of everyone. The best place to
see this is in young children.
Lone wolf
Myth
Most people tend to
believe that the best innovation comes from single, very smart individuals.
Fact
The truth is that
most breakthrough innovations come from collaborative teams. For example,
Thomas Edison had 15 other inventors working with him. Likewise, Michelangelo
had 13 other painters helping paint the Sistine Chapel. The best teams are
diverse and include both new and more experienced collaborators.
Ok, now we have
overcome these myths on innovation, here are some useful ways how to help move toward a more innovative culture in your business:
Be
a detective
Creatives and innovators always have enquiring minds. Are you and
the team asking enough questions to get deeper and understand the problem as
much as you can?
Foster adaptability
Change and adaptability have a great ability to drive innovative thinking. Innovative thinking is best when built around a process and can be taught. There are many courses that teach people different innovative techniques. Give your employees the opportunity to acquire skills that will help them become more productive and proficient in what they are doing.
Foster risk-taking
Zappos as a company is known as much for its culture as for
its innovative business model. The company has built a business that is growing
rapidly by allowing individuals the freedom to take creative risks without that
overwhelming sense of fear or judgment.
They tell their employees to say what you think, even if it
is controversial. Make tough decisions without agonizing excessively. Take
smart risks. Question actions inconsistent with business values.
Here is another interesting example: A software company in
Boston gives each team member two “corporate get-out-of-jail-free” cards each
year. The cards allow the holder to take risks and suffer no repercussions for
mistakes associated with them. At annual reviews, leaders question their team
members if the cards are not used.
It is a great way to encourage risk-taking
and experimentation. Think this company comes up with amazing ideas?
Absolutely.
Readily accept mistakes and
failure
There is no success without failure. Ask any successful
person and they will confirm that they have failed in life but that their
failures made them stronger and even more determined to go on. It is perfectly
OK to fail as long as we learn from our mistakes. Your employees should not
fear failure because it will kill their desire to create new and unusual ideas.
In many companies, people are so afraid of making mistakes
that they don’t pursue their dreams. The simply follow the rules and keep their
heads down, which drives nothing but mediocrity.
James Dyson, the inventor of the Dyson Vacuum cleaner, “failed” at more
than 5,100 prototypes before getting it just right. In fact, nearly every
breakthrough innovation in history came after countless setbacks, mistakes, and
“failures.” The best innovators and achievers weren’t necessarily smarter or
inherently more talented. They simply released their fear of failure and kept
trying. They didn’t let setbacks or misfires extinguish their curiosity,
imagination, and ability to change.
Failing means taking risks and increasing the rate of
experimentation… and exploring. Some bets
will pay off; some will fail. The key is to fail quickly. The speed of business
has increased dramatically and every minute counts. The best businesses try
lots of ideas and let the losers go quickly and with no remorse.
Divergent
thinking
Try the quantity approach to innovations.
Use brainstorming to improve divergent thinking. Study and then connect ideas
to get new ideas.
Experiment
Do as much experimentation as you can. Don’t worry about
failures and allow the team to question any and all assumptions and consider
even the craziest ideas.
The bottom line
As we change at a faster and faster pace, ideas adequate yesterday are no longer are good enough. And with digital disruption facing an increasing number of industries, most firms must come up with the best ideas for change or move to a slow failure.
The myths of new ideas must be set aside to let the new idea facts take over.
When things are not what you want them to
be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Do you have a lesson about making your innovation learning
better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add
in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of a business. Find him on Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your
ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration
along the way.
More
reading on creativity and innovation from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Learn How to Think What No One Else
Thinks
Generating Ideas by Convergent Thinking
Amazon and Managing Innovation … the Jeff Bezos Vision