Innovation Culture Horibe, F. (2001).

¶ … Innovation Culture

Horibe, F. (2001). Creating the Innovation Culture. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

The Need for Innovation - Modern business structures are so highly complex and competitive that the old paradigm -- improving efficiency and the bottom line, is no longer all it takes to be successful. Instead, continued reinvention of both the company's product line and industry capabilities is not only necessary, but will help decide which companies succeed and which fail. Too, because the half-life of technology is so short, radical and category breaking innovation is needed not just to compete, but to provide the global environment with positive growth.

Talking Points

Innovation is the key to long-term, sustained growth.

Innovation must be radical, not incremental -- take a chance and do something. Not everything will stick or be profitable, but being timid is not an option.

Motorola, for example, was timid about moving from analog to digital and therefore completely lost its edge and market share in the cellular phone market.

Some companies are good innovators, most are not -- and innovation is a learned skill.

The true test of any organization's success in strategic planning and innovation is getting a new product or service to market.

Struggling with innovation is natural, and actually encouraged. If it were easy, everyone would do it and there would be too many new products for the market to absorb.

Chapter 2- the Efficiency-Innovation Dichotomy- Unfortunately, innovation does not always have a cogent pattern for every situation. Sometimes it is trial and error. More often than not, companies and individuals see innovation as being synonymous with efficiency, which is definitely not the case. In struggling to continually make their group more efficient, then, they often kill any chance for innovation. Goal orientation and efficiency are not the same thing.

Talking Points

Oddly, while trying to make American business more efficient, we have inadvertently done the opposite -- created organizations that are wary of innovation.

Even a visionary organization can actually prevent innovation from succeeding.

Efficient managers can also quell innovation in their struggle for continued efficiency and organizational methodology.

Sometimes work groups that are put together in order to be innovative stifle innovation by a status quo "group-think."

Sometimes it is simply not possible to innovate on everything; some products and services, frankly, demand that one does not.

The desired culture is one in which innovation occurs because of the culture and not in spite of it.

Organizations in America have been harping on efficiency for three decades -- it has worked, not it is time to become more innovative.

Chapter 3 -- the Need for Dissent -- in most cases, innovation is not clean, neat, and pretty. Instead, by its very nature, it is disruptive to the patterns and procedures within an organization. Often, this disruption takes the form of dissent -- meaning that individuals prefer to go in a different direction or pattern than the status quo. The difficulty for most managers, and all levels, is to encourage dissent without feeling threatened by it. As the axiom of a wise CEO said, "I don't shoot messengers -- that's why I have them."

Talking Points

Organizations that do not allow dissent inadvertently discourage innovation.

Speaking truth to the powers that be is an important component of innovation.

An innovative culture must begin at the top -- it can end at the top by being squelched prior to even occurring.

Self-sabotaging patterns are rife in American business, even encouraged by some authors and business schools. Of course not overtly, but covertly by asking the individual to pay more attention to the system than the product.

Many mangers feel that dissent will create chaos and anarchy.

In fact, managing dissent can sometimes make the organization healthier.

The amount of dissent that a manager allows is based on a number of things: type of industry, expertise of the dissenter, manner and appropriateness of the material, and venue.

There is a reason that the children's tale, "The Emperor's New Clothes," remains popular and understood as an archetype.

Chapter 4 -- the Nature of Dissent in Organizations- Human nature being what it is, dissent does not always stay confined to areas that managers and owners find agreeable or even acceptable. However, the human psyche works in a way that it is typically "all or nothing" when giving an opinion. It is not typically possible to find an organizational culture that encourages dissent and free thinking -- but only in limited subjects defined by management. If we think of Animal Farm, and the quote, "All animals are equal, some just more equal than others," we find a perfect analogy for those organizations that think they are being innovative by allowing "certain topics" to be discussed, only to find that by setting up these structures they have sent the message that only certain topics may be broached. Dissent is often "managed" by: 1) arguing with the dissenter; 2) listening but not hearing; 3) laughing it off; 4) ignoring; 5) masking the issue; 6) forbidding talk of the situation; and, 7) simply getting rid of the dissenter.

Talking Points-

It was really the old style of management in a manufacturing economy that caused a rather sophisticated system of continued suppression of dissent.

Dissent is on a continuum and can certainly be unwelcome, impolite, and even silly and inane.

Keeping dissent up out in the open, though, rather than parcels of lunchroom gossip, it becomes acceptable and even welcome.

Despite allowing dissent to occur, one must clearly remember that the business must be profitable and still viable in order to continue to employee those who would dissent in the first place.

Chapter 5 -- Ways You'd Never Suppress Dissent -- Would You?- One of the most interesting things about observing managers at almost every level -- from ground floor to the corner office, is how quickly and effectively they tend to shut down dissent. In most cases, they are unaware that their body language, verbiage, or actions are doing just that. Most are surprised and believe that shutting down dissent is the last thing they want. It is important, then, to note, that it is not just the intent of the message regarding dissent, but the actual words, tone, timbre, and interpretation. In this case, it is more important to understand how the message is perceived as opposed to how it is given.

Talking Points-

Shooting the messenger sends a signal company wide -- management cannot tolerate hearing bad news.

Sending mixed-messages promotes a "see no evil," "hear no evil," "speak no evil," therefore status quo, culture.

To NOT apologize creates a climate that drives dissent underground -- mistakes are not acknowledged or considered areas of growth.

The dinosauric "playing politics," and spending more time managing one's career than doing actually work signals that secretive behavior is the way things are accomplished within the organization.

Behaviors that are abusive or intimidating will cause most individuals to simply clam up -- it sends the message that there is simply no room for discussion -- the old "my way or the highway" mentality.

Chapter 6 -- Surprising Ways to Suppress Dissent -- as we noted, there are a number of subtle signals that suppress dissent, but there are some less obvious ways to do the same thing, particularly for those managers who are pushing towards efficiency and productivity. Almost every organization, from teachers to medical professionals, has what it calls a "best practices" paradigm. What these organizations really mean by "best practices" is using knowledge management to take what was learned by trial and error in the past and making sure the same mistakes are not repeated. This, of course, is logical -- who doesn't want to profit from past errors. However, in most organizations, "best practices" then are this sterile set of ways of doing things that does not allow for much in the way of innovation or dissent.

Talking Points-

Best practices can be counter-productive for innovation.

Treating everyone equally may become translated as treating everyone the same.

Looking for people with your own skills (as a manager), values, and cultural expectations prevents you from encouraging questioning of the very values which your organization is trying to attain.

Individuals are not equal -- each is unique in learning style, ability, and in an organization that values dissent, the ideas and innovations they can embrace. Treating all equally means this uniqueness is not appreciated.

Designing a process to capture good ideas is much more effective as a random collision of ideas instead of a dedicated and organized process that by its very efficiency discourages the ideas it was most intent on capturing.

Chapter 7 -- Who Are the Dissenters- Dissenters are sometimes a double-edged sword: they can be an exciting source of innovation, information, and energy -- but they can also cause dismay and problems for managers who have other, non-dissenters, and more strict processes to manage. The key for management is to be able to quickly and easily differentiate between genuine dissent and simply troublemaking or disruption. Both dissenters and innovators are outsiders -- thinking and acting outside the box. The very qualities that make these individuals annoying (e.g. arrogance, single-mindedness) are also part of the types of qualities (passion, drive, confidence) that are needed to keep ideas alive and vital. A good manager can deal with the package and manage the wheat with the chaff.

Talking Points

Usually impossible to get the type of innovators one wants without getting some of their own negatives (arrogance, inability to compromise, etc.).

Managing means eliciting the needed strengths out of each individual employee, and harkens back to the idea that not all employees are equal.

Managers often have the urge to tame the wild nature of a dissenter; to "bring them into the fold."

There are people who provide dissent because they are simply unhappy -- regardless of the situation. These types of dissenters rarely contribute innovation, but instead provide a litany of all the things they perceive as wrong with the company.

Recruit innovation -- don't be afraid of it.

Chapter 8 -- the Manager as Political Handler -- We've established that innovators and dissenters are able to provide valuable and insightful ideas to the organization, but need to be coached on the political skills necessary to get their ideas past the drawing board, and into the hands of all the other disciplines and departments who may be impacted or will allow a complete implementation. The manager's role, then, of this personality, whether it is an individual or a group of dissenters, is to play to the strengths, reduce the appearance of the weaknesses, and gathering funding and support for ideas that may well provide exactly what the company requires in terms of innovation. Keeping an innovator happy is far more than providing a paycheck, and will take extra time, energy and creativity on the manager's part if one is to keep this personality part of the team.

Talking Points

Innovation has two aspects -- the great idea and the ability to make that idea come to reality -- one cannot have one without the other.

This requires the ability for managers to build coalitions, which is something the dissenter/innovator is almost incapable of.

The sad but true case is that managers, in the midst of everything else they must do, must excel at being political handlers.

The managerial skills necessary to handle these dissenters/innovators are: gathering support, providing cover, taking and giving credit, managing expectations, getting cooperation without co-opting ideas, and retaining the innovators within the team.

Chapter 9 -- Coaching Dissenters- All management is not coaching, but all coaching is management- this is especially true when handling innovators. The correctness of the American business political culture is not debatable -- it is what it is -- and the manager must be a political buffer between the dissenter and the rest of the organization. This is difficult because these individuals are so arrogant and single-minded that they often continually damage themselves and their projects. Thus, the manager takes on a dual role: with the dissenter, the manager teaches and coaches on the way to acquire very basic and rudimentary political skills; with the rest of the company, the manager encourages others to look past certain behaviors and embrace the ideas and enthusiasm with which the dissenter operates.

Talking Points

Even though we acknowledge that dissenters are not political animals, if they are too far outside the normative culture they may threaten not only their own career, but the manager's as well.

The manager must convince the dissenter that there are positives to learning how to relate.

Preparing for a coaching session means taking a honed and strategic approach. One is not going after 101 personality traits, but instead, identifies the exact problem, specifies the desired change, decides how far to push the issue, and anticipates defensiveness and negative reactions.

Coaching the dissenter not only brings the problem to a head; but requires that the issue be changed; and ensures that the manager will follow through.

Chapter 10 -- Identifying Underground Dissent- Another very difficult task for a manager regarding dissent is to identify whether an individual or work unit is getting along well, being productive or simply suppressing dissent and harboring resentment. On the very surface side, both look the same, but there are ways to uncover the truth. There are also times in which managers start to value efficiency too much over innovation and this pushes employees into underground dissent. For instance, legitimate objections like, "We won't be able to meet this goal unless we kill ourselves and work 7 days a week for the next 8 weeks." This is not negative dissent, but truth -- the good manager would find ways to either realize the goal set or adjust it.

Talking Points

Dissent is destructive if it goes underground.

Underground dissent overtly and covertly works against the goals and strategic mission of the company.

The more sophisticated the underground dissent, the harder it is to manage and turn around.

Underground dissent is a way of communicating when employees feel they cannot or are too afraid of consequences.

Ensure employees that consequences to honesty will not be harsh, and honesty is appreciated and valued.

Sometimes there is such an ingrained culture of fear that underground dissent is the only way an individual knows how to deal with conflict; it is then up to the managers.

Chapter 11- Surfacing Dissent in and Around You -- Even if a manager is particularly in tune with the work group and identifies underground dissent, this does not mean it will surface or go away. Managers need to help employees and colleagues be more open, question their motives, and act as change agents within a destructive part of that particular culture. The idea of changing the culture can be both confusing and frightening for managers -- who also sometimes feel that they are simply "cogs" in the machine. While one can certainly agree that a company culture is gigantic -- amorphous, and even sometimes vague, it still is possible to understand that any change begins with the individual and moves outward. One cannot change the culture of a company unless one is willing to risk and change one's own perceptions. This, according to the author, separates out leaders from managers -- leaders can tolerate dissent because they have some of those features internally.

Talking Points

Surfacing dissent within oneself is also important as a process of discovery in management.

If one finds one cannot in good conscience dissent, then one must ask if it is time to leave that position -- if not, either speaking out or attitudinal change is necessary.

Dissent can sometime backfire and cause a breakdown and inability to survive the company's monolithic viewpoints.

Decide where your colleagues lie within the dissent quotient (supportive to neutral to harm).

Chapter 12 -- Surfacing Dissent Above You -- Let us suppose a manager is successful in surfacing dissent in themselves as well as the workgroup. If the communication and openness uncovered does not operate upward to upper management, it will remain difficult to innovate. It is certainly difficult and challenging to raise dissent with one's workgroup, and tough psychologically to raise it within one's own personality. It becomes doubly difficult to raise it with one's superior and there are even greater risks associated with doing such.

Talking Points

In some cases it may not be worth surfacing dissent with one's superiors.

The ability to phrase things in a professional yet diplomatic manner is really the deciding factor of whether are not to articulate the situations that have occurred within the work group. On one hand, surfacing dissent could have grave consequences for the dissenter and the manager; on the other hand, not surfacing that dissent if uncovered later could have similar negative consequences.

The idea of whether a boss is "worth" helping has little to do with personality idiosyncrasies -- instead, is a core of decency and a wish to do well for the company, and his employees, in the long run.

Be prepared -- when a manager loses it, they do it in a variety of ways; dealing with those emotions proactively is an important part of honesty.

Surfacing dissent with one's superiors will depend, in a large part, with the manager's own skills, the personality of the boss, the history and place of the boss within that company culture, and the timing of the conversation.

Chapter 13 -- Kickstarting Your Innovation Culture -- Clearly, everything we have read thus far tells us that although changing the culture of a monolithic corporation is every manager's dream -- so is creating one that supports innovation -- and combining those two may need several techniques to boost. One technique for doing this, and retaining one's career is hiring an Innovation Manager -- or becoming one. Keep in mind, this is a dangerous road -- the CEO's direct reports likely gave positive lip service to your radical views -- at first. but, if their kingdoms are threatened, they will have to choice but to attack. Anticipate that attack with strategies of your own.

Talking Points-

An innovation manager is necessary to build capacity in the organization.

This position must put structures and mechanisms in place and actively support it.

If you, as a manager, want to be this person -- first discuss it with the CEO or figure out if the CEO will support this degree of urgency or whether this type of emerging culture is even welcome in the company.

For any dramatic change or innovation to work, the CEO must make some tough decisions -- questioning of all past sacred cows and revisiting problems that were too messy, complex, or politically incorrect to deal with prior. Remember, the CEO is responsible for selling the innovation to the board and other stakeholders.

The manager's enthusiasm and willingness to put their job on the line, including boldness will likely be the signal the CEO watches for.

Chapter 14 -- Structures and Mechanisms for Dissent - With the worries about job loss, anger, attacks, problems, etc., why bother with dissent and innovation. It is simple -- the most important way an organization can ensure that it will grow and prosper, and be around for its employees and stakeholders, is to encourage dissent and innovation through its managers. However, the organization, if committed, can create a cultural renaissance that will absolutely transform the company -- and allow it several years of new, innovative, product life. Keep in mind that organizations, but their very nature, really do want to embrace and support innovative projects -- that is the entire basis for entrepeneurialship. However, ingrained processes often take organizations into different directions -- all of which involve a fear of risk -- a fear of losing what ground is already covered.

Talking Points-

Some structures and processes in organizations continue to discourage innovation and dissent.

To encourage a greater capacity for risk; managers must train and reward risk-takers -- provide autonomy, mobility and access for dissenters; and model innovative risk-taking themselves. It cannot be a do as I say, not as I do, culture.

It is necessary for the CEO to find seed money for either strategic slush funds or separate innovation budgets that are controlled by managers, or even awarded as a peer-to-peer reward to excellence.

Not punishing failure means changing the risk assumptions for the company.

Chapter 15 -- Encouraging Continued Dissent -- it is hard to imagine a process of continued innovation, especially when it takes the kind of effort, risk, money, and personal effort to successfully complete even one project, yet that is exactly what it takes to revolutionize American business -- continued, aggressive, innovative cultural change.