From intention to invention

How a company's cultural DNA can bridge the gap between innovation intentions and results.

FROM INTENTION TO INNOVATION

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WHO ARE WE? Luc De Schryver, CPSB

luc.deschryver@cpsb.eu

Marc Bogaert, One Small Step

Marc.Bogaert@OneSmallStep.be

Research-team: 7 Ideas, Achilles Associates, Arts of Sensing, CPSB, One Small Step, Metamorfase, True Colours

© One Small Step 2008

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OUR GOAL TODAY Report and discuss with you about our findings during a one-year research with 25 companies (50% SME’s) on the relation between

innovation and the company’s cultural DNA

© One Small Step 2008

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GOAL OF THE RESEARCH How to create an innovation-favorable climate, so that

employees and managers display creative and entrepreneurial behaviour?

What

factors are responsible for innovation dynamics? Why in one company and not in the other?

Which human factors are involved? What is favorable, what is counterproductive?

people? How to anchor these behaviours in the company’s culture?

© One Small Step 2008

How to to influence in practice the behaviour of

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RESULTS Insights, leading to new mindsets when starting

the “mutation” of a company’s innovation DNA Tools and holistic processes to support the mutation process By observation and validation with 25 industrial companies (50% SME’s) All results to be bundled online on the internet: In the coming weeks…

© One Small Step 2008

www.innovatieklimaat.be

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FOR STARTERS, LET’S PLAY Short game per table: Make a circle Everyone in turn says “a word” Circle 3 or 4 times Meanwhile: Listen to and concentrate on what is said in your circle Be aware of what’s happening in other circles,

but do not get distracted © One Small Step 2008

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PLAYING IS ALSO WORKING… What did you observe?

Facts Your emotions Your thoughts

© One Small Step 2008

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OVERVIEW Innovation Power

Another view on

© One Small Step 2008

Changing the climate

Innovation management

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OVERVIEW Innovation Power

Another view on

© One Small Step 2008

Changing the climate

Innovation management

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THE INNOVATION POWER OF A COMPANY? = Its ability, capacity to innovate

Innovating = creativity + entrepreneuring

What are the most important, the key-Factors,

that determine a company’s innovation power? © One Small Step 2008

In particular in the fuzzy front-end of innovation

WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE THE INNOVATION POWER? (DURABLE) INNOVATION POWER

“must” +

MOTIVE

“can” VISION

“may”

DESIRE

+ COMPETENCES +

“do” RESOURCES +

“dare”

RISK

DIVERSITY

“want”

FREEDOM

COMMITMENT

• priority • initiative • creativitime • perseverance • opportunities • selfdiscipline • concept strength • game / play • humour, relativity • stopping

THE COMPANY’S INNOVATION CLIMATE

© One Small Step 2008

• ambition, passion • willingness • several perspectives • challenge, inspiration • decisions • cooperation • trust • openness • energy • idea support • contradictability • involvement • in ST actions, LT vision • attitude vs failures • conflict handling

PROCESS

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OVERVIEW Innovation Power

Another view on

Innovation management

© One Small Step 2008

Changing the climate

Becoming innovative is a matter of climate change!

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND CLIMATE Culture and Climate are two related - but very different concepts

CLIMATE

The values, beliefs, history, traditions, etc., reflecting the deeper foundations of the organization.

Recurring patterns of behavior, attitudes, and feelings that characterize life in the organization.

What the organization values

What organization members experience

© One Small Step 2008

CULTURE

CULTURE AND CLIMATE

© One Small Step 2008

SOQ NORMATIVE GRAPH International Organizations

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GOING TO ACTION: 3 INGREDIENTS CONTENT

Subject

PROJECT or PROCESS

EXPERIENCE

Procedure, steps, plan, Technique, method

© One Small Step 2008

How people experience it, relate to it.

What they think of it.

What emotions, feelings it generates.

STRUCTURE

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HUMAN FACTORS ALWAYS! At every moment the behaviour is strongly

influenced by emotions, how people relate to the events or actions What they expect What assumptions, mental models they make

You can’t leave out human factors

© One Small Step 2008

nor handle it separately, or give it to HR It’s an integral part of your management, your style, your company’s cultural DNA.

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DANGER OF LEAVING OUT 1 INGREDIENT CONTENT Too little attention to structure: “Praatbarak”

PROJECT or PROCESS

EXPERIENCE

Too little attention to feelings: “Spreadsheet-fundamentalism” Fake, mechanistic solutions, Abundance of small projects, Discussions in the hallway, Inexplicable resistance, No real committment, Individual tensions, No passion

STRUCTURE © One Small Step 2008

Too little attention to content: “Georganiseerde navelstaarderij”

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DIFFERENT FOCUSSES Content Feelings Structure

For the top management: “WHAT” : results

For the people on the floor: “HOW”: structure and feelings

© One Small Step 2008

All three are important!

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OVERVIEW Innovation Power

Another view on

Innovation management

© One Small Step 2008

Changing the climate

Becoming innovative is a matter of climate change!

Climate change is a matter of being innovative!

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OVERVIEW Innovation Power

Another view on

Innovation management

© One Small Step 2008

Changing the climate

Becoming innovative is a matter of climate change!

Climate change is a matter of being innovative!

HOW DO YOU LOOK AT YOUR ORGANIZATION? As a “machine”

© One Small Step 2008

Or as a “living organism” organism”

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AS A MACHINE? Separation between: mechanics, actuators, sensors, cables, CPU “Working” and “working on the organization” The top decides, the management thinks,

the floor executes (“does not think”) Management is often seen as “telling and selling”!

Tension between thinking and doing Supposes controlability, predictability

Change creates automatically resistance Difficult to get committment for innovation or change!

© One Small Step 2008

Difficult for rebellious, creative, thus any minds

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AS A LIVING ORGANISM? Knowledge, initiative are distributed:

The outcome of the system is more than the sum of its parts Selforganizing: “working”+“working on the organization” The top enables and inspires; the floor thinks, decides, executes

Management is often seen as “creating possibilities”!

Tension between controlling and letting go Supposes ambition and discipline at all levels

Resistance is often at the level of management!

Difficult to get committment of the top!

© One Small Step 2008

Difficult for “comfort” players, “control” managers

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AN ORGANIZATION IS A SYSTEM Everthing is connected to everything Reactions are quite unpredictable due to

© One Small Step 2008

interactions and emotions, particularly when in unknown terrain Small, appearingly unimportant, events can have hughe effects Large actions can have no effect at all or only temporarily effects

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DO’S AND DON’TS Do not decompose problems into subproblems and

tackle them, as if they did not influence each other!

Use a systemic, holistic approach

(e.g. entrepreneurial boot camps @ Alcatel-Lucent) We have seen: Oversimplification about human factors

“Send the person to a coach, he’s not functioning as it should be!”

The Touchatag Venture Team “We’ll do some wild teambuilding activities Source: Alcatel-Lucent in the Ardennes first!”

“We have all the belbin-teamroles in our team, problem solved!”

“they” won’t move, “they” are not creative!

It’s the company’s culture: “can’t be changed!”

© One Small Step 2008

Management dispair:

AS A MANAGER, HOW TO ACT? Searching process: many small actions, create options, build on good ones

Complex

Planning process: analyse, determine options, execute

Knowable

Chaotic

Known

No relation

Deterministic relation between cause and effect, between action and outcome

Deterministic

© One Small Step 2008

Standard process categorise, execute

Emergency process: react, evaluate, stabilise

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DO’S AND DON’TS Apply the right approach to the challenge!

Every move, action is a signal and changes the outcome “Diagnose, design, plan, implement” (blueprint) approach

does not work with human factors, does not change the company’s climate! calls for resistance (everything is already predetermined!)

Build the bridge as you walk on it is motivating!

We can influence our own future!

Use searching processes instead of implementing

processes, appeal to people’s participation © One Small Step 2008

Appreciative inquiry, Large group interventions,…

Giving meaning together to the challenge at stake Organizing the work themselves (autonomy, belongness, competence) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXrIoF-sVi8

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DO’S AND DON’TS Manage people’s expectations to avoid desillusions!

Give inspiring guidance, direction

Give direction, boundaries and criteria for ideas and concepts!

Focus on the process and facilitation (the how)

Let a common ground, collective ambition grow Let collective ambition be translated to teams and individuals

Participate yourself and connect good ideas to the vision.

We have seen : Telling & selling the contents of the manager’s own ideas

Management dispair :

“the burning platform” technique to make people so frightened that they follow the leader blindly…

© One Small Step 2008

Desillusions because criteria were not established before

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DO’S AND DON’TS Focus on solutions, not on problems Constructing a self-selected solution motivates

Solution focus technique Appreciative Inquiry

Discussing about problems (=what is wrong),

rarely generates motivation and makes people discuss more about problems, guilt,… instead of solutions!

Work with appreciation, not blame or reprimand

© One Small Step 2008

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OVERVIEW Innovation Power

Another view on

Innovation management

Innovation Management requires Management Innovation!

© One Small Step 2008

Changing the climate

Becoming innovative is a matter of climate change!

Climate change is a matter of being innovative!

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OVERVIEW Innovation Power

Another view on

Innovation management

Innovation Management requires Management Innovation!

© One Small Step 2008

Changing the climate

Becoming innovative is a matter of climate change!

Climate change is a matter of being innovative!

CHANGING BEHAVIOUR Behavioural patterns can be changed,

but if it has to be durably inserted in the culture, (not enforced, but “normal”, persistent) Change initiative

X

Changed behaviour

Reality construction

© One Small Step 2008

It requires the dismantling and reconstruction of the mental model of the reality (change of “culture”)

MENTAL MODEL OF THE REALITY Provides a framework for “good” behaviour Why are we here? For what do we work?

Who is important? What is important?

How do we do things around here?

Comes from people’s need To give meaning to one’s job What is “good”? What is not “good”?

To increase one’s comfortzone

word game

Stronger group-identity, reason of existence

© One Small Step 2008

predictability of reactions : boss, colleagues, others,…

ILLUSTRATION OF REALITY CONSTRUCTION http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFUx3FxtOeM

© One Small Step 2008

CHARACTERISTICS OF MENTAL MODEL Originated in events, signals of leaders,

interpretations Self-organizing social process (can be guided, not controlled) Creates unwritten rules for behaviour Becomes the reality (instead of mgt message) Mental models are enacted (confirmed in acting) Filters out (is this important? Is this good for us?) © One Small Step 2008

CHARACTERISTICS OF MENTAL MODEL Public story and non-public opinions grow apart, As the real world/situation starts to deviate from the

mental model If management does not take mental models into account (telling and selling, enforced behaviour) There are guardians They have some advantage in maintaining the current

mental model There are always alternate opinions living © One Small Step 2008

somewhere

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DO NOT INJECT THE CONTENT, LET IT GROW Frame: global vision, global strategy, boundaries

CONTENT

X

• local vision, strategy • values, opinions, • mental model, culture

PROJECT or PROCESS

EXPERIENCE

Procedure, steps, plan, Technique, method

© One Small Step 2008

How people experience it, relate to it.

What they think of it.

What emotions, feelings it generates.

STRUCTURE

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CHANGING THE MENTAL MODEL Preparation for dismantling and reconstructing Overload the community with contradictory information from

all kind of sources Disrupt traditional patterns, starting with yourself Reduce the influence of guardians by

supporting publicly alternate opinions, even if not in the right direction

Identity the persons with emerging new opinions

passion is often there, hidden beneath link the good opinions to the new vision give them visibility and empower them to continue

© One Small Step 2008

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CHANGING THE MENTAL MODEL Reconstructing a new mental model Invite people to give meaning to the new situation!

Provide time and a social process to guide this

Appreciative Inquiry, large group interventions , search conferences

Participate as a participant!

Let the new reality

construction emerge Focus on the quality of the process and interactions

don’t do it

© One Small Step 2008

If you can’t let go,

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CHANGING THE MENTAL MODEL Support the implementation Support implementation of actions (almost unconditionally) Reward teams collectively by giving visibility/recognition Work on the quality of the interactions in teams Behave consistently (delegation and empowerment) Follow up the new mental model by the distance between

public and non-public opinions (use a team from the start)

© One Small Step 2008

Enjoy the new culture emerging!

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OVERVIEW Innovation Power

Another view on

Innovation management

Innovation Management requires Management Innovation!

Giving meaning to the new situation (mental model) Together with people instead of for people Social self-construction, appreciation, solution focus,

© One Small Step 2008

Changing the climate

Becoming innovative is a matter of climate change!

Climate change is a matter of being innovative!

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CONCLUSION : PROCESSES AND TOOLS AVAILABLE! Innovation Power

Another view on

Innovation management

Innovation Management requires Management Innovation!

Giving meaning to the new situation (mental model) Together with people instead of for people Social self-construction, appreciation, solution focus,

© One Small Step 2008

Changing the climate

Becoming innovative is a matter of climate change!

Climate change is a matter of being innovative!

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THANKS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION! To get the slides sent to you,

to be informed when the tools are online on the internet, leave your businesscard at the door. door Acknowledgements: Funding: Flanders InShape Supporting: Flanders District of Creativity, Innovatiecentra Vl

Alcatel-Lucent, Johnson&Johnson, Betafence, Jaga, Helbig, Brabantia, Boss Paints and many SME’s!

© One Small Step 2008

25 companies: