The dictionary definition says Innovation is "to introduce something new". In an organisation where innovation is only done by the R&D department, the rest of the organisation's employees will not feel that it is their job to bring new ideas or ways of working to their manager's attention as this would (in some companies) be frowned upon. Why is this the case? Culture, is the answer. In organisations where the wall segregating functions is so thick that anyone who has ideas outside of their domain is shot down in flames or made to feel that they are over-stepping boundaries that could also be career limiting. So no-one wants to upset the applecart.
The "I Am"- cultures in some organisations is so stifling for "creative" people that even if they came into an organisation thinking that they can make a valuable contribution, they soon realise that they were not employed for their "potential", but rather for their transactional skills. This is both limiting and frustrating to the individual, but more importantly, that individual will soon leave the organisation as job satisfaction will be nil. The organisation also loses out by being so rigid as no cross-working teams or projects will ever see the light of day bringing with it improved morale, shared goals, better investments, etc. It is not just innovation that dies a death, but also the organisation to some degree as it will never be more than the sum of its parts and it will also start to lose ground against its competitors who have broken down the cultural walls.
Changing an organisation's culture is a hard one, but not impossible. I have seen it done and more than that, I have seen it take an organisation from being a minor player in its industry to being in the top 3 of that industry. For Business Leaders, ask yourselves, why is my company not achieving what I/the shareholders need it to achieve? Then look at your culture and see whether people are made to feel that they can contribute ideas or whether ideas are only received from certain section of your organisation.
Emeryst brings Innovation & New Ways of Doing as part of our standard offering to our customers. Why? Because as Consultants, we need to bring more than the transactional piece and have to add value over and above the cost to the organisation of having us there and the only way to do that is to bring something (new) to our customers. Innovation to us is not only something new - it could also be bringing new ways of doing, thinking, behaving that will help improve the bottom line of our customers.
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