Articles
& Special Reports

• 7 Strategies for Sustained Innovation
• Secrets of Great
  Change Leaders
• Business Persuasion:
  How to Influence Groups
• Why Change Initiatives Fail: And What You Can Do About It(pdf)
• Building Confidence: The #1 Challenge for New Leaders (pdf)
• Why Promising Transitions Fail: Hidden Barriers that Sabotage Succession (pdf)
• Motivating Sustained High Performance: Psychological Lessons From Toyota (pdf)

The need for constant reinvention is a given in today's business environment. And while a breakthrough product or concept can catapult your organization ahead of its competitors, in these fast-paced times, that advantage is often short-lived.

Although major product or service breakthroughs make headlines, it's regular, incremental innovations that give your organization the sustained growth it needs.

So how do you encourage sustained innovation? You need to develop a clear and collective sense of purpose and then unleash the creativity and contribution of people throughout your organization.

It Starts at the Top

While not every factor influencing performance is under your control, as a leader, it's up to you to create the psychological conditions that encourage innovation. You need to appreciate the value of small innovations, understand the factors that encourage creativity and take the lead in promoting an innovative culture.

Otherwise, it's just not going to happen.

Establish A Clear Sense of Direction

A clear sense of direction helps to organize and direct people's creativity. What is the purpose of innovation in your enterprise? Is it to add customer value to existing products and services...to speed delivery...to increase on-time arrivals?

A well-defined mission encourages everyone to focus on innovations that deliver the greatest value. As ideas surface, employees can immediately act on the ones that further your company's objectives.

Open Communication

Open communication sets the stage for an atmosphere of trust. But if you want to establish a more trusting culture, you can't expect employees to take the first step.

As a leader, you initiate the process of open communication by sharing information with employees on a regular basis. Then you offer opportunities for them to contribute.

While the size of your organization may not allow for regular face-to-face contact, you need to find ways to enable front-line workers to feel heard. From lunches with cross-sections of employees, to monthly division meetings between employees and the general manager, to open intranet forums for idea sharing and feedback, you can communicate your openness to hearing innovative ideas from those who are closest to the customer.

Reduce Bureaucracy

While larger organizations are often considered less entrepreneurial and inventive than their smaller counterparts, it's not the size of your company that inhibits innovation - it's the systems.

As Jack Welch reengineering General Electric, he said, "My goal is to get the small company's soul and small company's speed inside our big company." The way he accomplished this was by reducing bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy slows down action and is a serious impediment to innovation. Think about it. If you had an innovative idea that required weeks to clear channels and months to get funding, would that diminish your enthusiasm for further contribution?

Instill A Sense of Ownership

An ownership mentality creates a powerful incentive for inventive thinking. When people are clearly aware of how their interests are aligned with those of the company, they have a strong reason to "go the extra mile" to further your mission.

Stock ownership is a significant incentive for employees. However, on its own, profit-sharing doesn't guarantee your employees will act like owners. You need to make sure employees know how their work affects company performance.

During the Gulf War fuel crisis, Southwest Airlines' policy of freely sharing information with employees paid off in a big way. As other airlines' profits sank, Southwest pilots acted decisively to reduce fuel consumption, since they already knew its impact on the bottom line. They pitched in enthusiastically because they recognized the link between company performance and their own profit.

Make Sure Recognition and Rewards are Consistent

While financial rewards are often tied to innovations, rewarding only the individual or team responsible for the "big idea" sets up a subtle competitive atmosphere that discourages smaller, less dramatic improvements. It also hampers the cross functional collaboration so critical to maximal performance.

Companies that successfully foster an innovation culture design rewards that reinforce the culture they want to establish. If your organization values integrated solutions, you can't compensate team leaders based on unit productivity. If your company values long-term leadership development, you cannot base rewards on short-term performance.

Develop A Tolerance for Risk and Failure

Tolerating a certain degree of failure as a necessary part of growth is an important part of encouraging innovation. Innovation always involves risk, and employees won't take chances unless they feel secure that they won't be punished for failure.

Toyota has been uniquely successful in encouraging employee contribution to process improvement and cost savings. Yet many people who observe Toyota's systems first-hand are unable to duplicate that success.

Why? Because they don't understand the psychology behind the method.

At Toyota, workers trust their bosses. They are empowered to take immediate action if they see an opportunity for improvement. If the innovation works, the employee is recognized, if not, it's chalked up to experience.

Eliminate Projects and Processes that Don't Work

As you innovate, you need to practice what Peter Drucker calls "creative abandonment." Terminate projects and processes that no longer contribute, to make room for more valuable activities.

While no organization wants to squander financial resources on unprofitable activities, it's the irreplaceable resource of time and energy that is wasted when you hold on to outdated methods.

Innovation requires optimism. It's about an attitude of continually reaching for higher performance. You can't expect employees to maintain an optimistic attitude if they feel compelled to continue in activities that are going nowhere.


© Dr. Robert Karlsberg & Dr. Jane Adler
Dr. Robert Karlsberg and Dr. Jane Adler are experts in leadership development and the psychology of high performance. They work with business leaders to identify and capitalize on new opportunites, accelerate key business results, and develop unique strategies for market preeminence. Visit www.ExpertPerformanceSystems.com for more articles and information.


Articles may be reprinted in electronic media or in print, provided that the author information and resource box above is included.