The outcome of the ANCs long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Many people associate innovation with high-technology, with break-through novelties or inventions where the intellectual property of the innovation can be patented. While these kinds of innovation are of course very exciting and valuable, the benefits of innovation can be far wider.
In many organisations, innovative ideas are shot down as?soon as they are uttered,?as it is part of the company culture to challenge others’ ideas to “test” their feasibility, says Truida Prekel of SynNovation, a consulting and training company that helps clients develop creative ideas into new products and strategies, and make them work.
In a threatening work climate – which may occur because of changes like reorganisation, downsizing or transformation, or an authoritarian management style – people tend to protect their territory and interests, and try to score points at the expense of colleagues by interrupting, pulling rank, being non-committal or only pointing out flaws, she says.
These negative behaviours discourage creativity, and thus novel ideas that might have been developed into groundbreaking solutions to complex challenges are often rejected and written off as valueless. Employees may also hold back on ideas for fear of looking foolish, or because they don’t want to seem presumptuous to higher-ranking staff.
In this climate, employees put much of their energy and time into defending their positions and proving that they are right, rather than into taking the company forward, which may require “risky” thinking.
Prekel says that when new opportunities or unusual problems occur, an organisation’s known methods and solutions are usually no longer effective, and more innovative action may be required. By cultivating a supportive, collaborative climate, staff at all levels are encouraged to suggest ideas, listen to others, and work together to develop winning solutions.
Managers can do much to promote an environment in which innovation flourishes by consciously trying to be open to, and recognising and rewarding new ideas.
“If managers behave thoughtfully and responsively, employees will open up their ‘ideas boxes’ more readily,” she says.
To become creative in the workplace, we must learn to play with ideas. “Even ridiculous or impossible suggestions can be used as stepping stones to other ideas, and developed until they are practical, doable solutions. Ideas that lead to real breakthroughs are often initially regarded as ‘silly’ or ‘crazy’.”
She says SynNovation has adapted and uses the Synecticsworld approach to stimulate innovation, has three main stages: idea generation, selection and idea development.
The first stage comprises open-minded exploration of any thoughts or associations that could suggest starting points for possible solutions.
In the next stage, the “owner” of the problem chooses which of these creative ideas to explore based on the intrigue and promise they hold, rather than their feasibility. Prekel says that choosing on the basis of feasibility, as often happens in brainstorming sessions, defeats the purpose of the exercise. “If an idea is immediately feasible, it can’t be new,” she says.
During the final stage, the group helps the owner to find practical actions that will overcome concerns and obstacles, refining and developing ideas until they are usable. Prekel says a benefit is that group members also have ownership of the solutions and work together enthusiastically to implement them, even if their own ideas were not chosen from the many that emerged in stage one.?
The approach brings various people who provide different perspectives, to suggest a wide range of possible solutions into problem-solving groups. “Often people from other departments, customers, or outsiders who are ‘naïve’ about the problem provide invaluable fresh approaches and insights.”
www.synnovation.co.za
This article is part of a larger supplement. This has been paid for by the M&G‘s advertisers and the contents signed off by the organisers of the Innovation Summit