Innovation killers
Companies need to focus on what drives innovation (see main story), but also on how to avoid deadly innovation killers
Just as our panel of four business school professors agreed that proper culture was key to drive innovation, the panel agreed that fear is the number one deterrent to innovation. Punishing managers for failed innovation is the big no-no: “There cannot be punishment for staff that do not innovate or have poorer innovation ideas,” explains professor Loh of Singapore NUS. Professor Rao of Stanford joins in: “Companies have to eliminate any sort of ‘murder board’, where innovative ideas are put through a selection process and shot down in a committee. That approach is the death bell for new ideas.”
Professor Kaipa of ISB-Hyderabad also evokes Freudian overtones: “When fear comes in, then it is bad. This is a dampener to creativity and innovation. Staff cannot be fearful of not achieving results, else…” he trails off. Professor Rao was even more – shall we say ‘Californian’? – in stating that innovation had to be fun (see main story), or just the opposite of a fearful environment.
There are further reasons not to punish poor innovation, as professor Ribera of IESE-Barcelona emphasises: “Even when an innovation fails, there are lessons that will be learned. Furthermore, too much innovative success can sometimes be a dampener, leading some companies to rest on their laurels and wallow in complacency.”
Does everyone in a company need to be innovative? Professor Kaipa reminds us that not everyone is Edison or da Vinci. “Companies need both poles: the innovators and the accepters. Top managers have to be careful in how they communicate: be aspirational, explain what the social mission is, and appeal to the larger heart and spirit.”
Last but not least, professor Ribera suggests some ‘recipes’ for innovation management:
- Maintain a depository of past ideas, and keep track of which failed and which were never tested out
- Assign a manager to handle the process aspects of innovation
- Rely on low-tech solutions, often as simple as keeping a simple archive of paper folders
- Plan an annual cycle for innovation stimulation, during a period when things are less hectic, for example during company retreats
