The Map is a quarterly newsletter of useful information in quick-read format for business people seeking ways to improve their bottom line.

This publication is produced by Gail Finger of Finger Consulting, Laurie Breitner of Breitner & Associates, and Jeanne Yocum of Tuscarora Communications, Ltd. Drawing on decades of professional experience, these business owners and their guest authors target their message to the needs of other business owners and leaders.

The goal of The Map is to provide information that will help you:

• Become more competitive and profitable
• Work more effectively and successfully
• Create harmony and energy in your organization
• Manage significant change

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Five Damaging Myths About Innovation. by Jeanne Yocum

Innovation is the lifeblood of business growth, but misconceptions abound about the true nature of innovation. Replacing these myths with an understanding of how innovation actually works is essential to establishing your ability to turn new ideas into realities.
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Innovation is the lifeblood of business growth, but misconceptions abound about the true nature of innovation. Replacing these myths with an understanding of how innovation actually works is essential to establishing your ability to turn new ideas into realities.

Myth #1: “An innovation is something that can be purchased.”

New products and new services have always been one of the most visible ways for companies to innovate. But they are not the only means by which you can compete. Important innovations can succeed in many other forums, including some that consumers may never actually see. Potential areas for innovation include:

As the lead-time needed to duplicate the innovations of others continues to shorten, new products will not be the competitive pre-emptor they once were. And, as the world demands more standardization in its technological innovations, the value of technology as a long-term differentiator will diminish. Companies that master innovation in all aspects of their operations will be the leaders in such a world.

Myth #2: “All we need are some good, new ideas.”

Creative ideas are meaningless without implementation. Unimplemented ideas quickly vaporize. Too often, creativity is seen as the beginning and end of innovation, a misconception that impedes innovation from the very outset.

Many innovative market leaders are no more creative than their competitors. What they know is that coming up with good new ideas still leaves you miles away from achieving innovation. Such leaders have mastered the critical part of innovation - the skills needed to steer fragile ideas through implementation barriers.

Myth #3:  “I’ll recognize the breakthrough idea when I first see it.”

It is extremely rare that a breakthrough new idea is recognized for its brilliance when first uttered. This is because most people evaluate ideas at a fixed point in time, usually when we first hear them. It is only with the benefit of hindsight that we come to realize that an idea that originally was labeled stupid was, in fact, brilliant.

This mistaken belief that you will instantly recognize a brilliant idea is extremely damaging to an innovation effort because new ideas almost always arrive with flaws. Given the risk-averse mindset that thrives in many businesses, beginning ideas with brilliant potential are routinely ignored because their inherent value is not immediately evident.

Myth #4: “To be innovative, we need a clearly defined, repeatable process.”

There is no single roadmap for innovation. Corporations have spent billions of dollars in a fruitless effort to map what poet William Blake called, “the crooked road…of genius.” This search for an ordered, logical set of steps and procedures that will lead anyone and everyone to innovation overlooks the inherent messiness of innovation. Innovation efforts do, however, benefit from a flexible process approach that allows you to negotiate the twists and turns on the innovation highway.

Myth#5: “We just implemented a great new idea; we can rest now.”

It is critical to understand that innovation is continuous. You cannot say, “Okay, we've innovated; now we can sit back and watch profits grow.” If you take this approach, someone will come along and start grabbing your market share before you have the time to re-start your innovation engine.

Today’s marketplace is dynamic and constantly changing. To respond – indeed, to stay in business – you must foster a culture that understands how innovation really works and accepts the need for continual change.

Many business owners and executives characterize their organizations as innovative; sadly, in too many cases, it may be more wishful thinking than reality. They would like employees to suggest new products, services and ways to improve operations, yet their actions don’t actively encourage - and may even inhibit - innovation. To keep innovation alive in your organization, follow these guidelines:

Communicate your vision and mission clearly and widely to employees, customers, suppliers and vendors.

If you want people to help you achieve your goals, they need to know what they are. If you don’t have vision and mission statements, gather your employees and create them.

Engage your employees.

Give employees easy access to timely performance indicator information.

If, for example, you want to ensure that labor standards for each production run are maintained, it is essential that employees doing the work be informed about expected hours and actual hours expended. Hours expended need to be readily available – now, not next week - and they must be in an easy-to-understand format. Given timely, accessible information on performance, the team can see what's working and what isn't. This will start their creative engines and help them drive toward innovations that achieve or exceed the desired performance.

Actively encourage suggestions, complaints and comments.

There is a high correlation between the number of suggestions per employee and company success. Don’t just look for big, sea change suggestions. A steady stream of low-budget, quick-to-implement suggestions that constantly improve your business can provide a sustainable, long-term advantage.

Sometimes we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. Leaders who are open to hearing about problems or just comments from everyone – whether employees, customers or vendors – can take corrective action. Some of the best business ideas come from listening to what people don’t like and exploring creative solutions. Encourage suggestions, complaints and comments by acting promptly and appropriately to every communication. Acknowledge what was said and what will be done. Thank everyone for taking the time to communicate.

Resist the temptation to pay for ideas.

Offering a big dollar incentive or reward for suggestions generally results in a boondoggle that fosters unhealthy competition and wastes valuable resources trying to empirically “value” ideas. Recognize and show appreciation for all ideas, big and small. Be sure employees, teams or departments that make and implement new ideas get public praise.

Take action to implement suggestions.

Put in place a simple process to evaluate ideas and quickly decide on next steps. Have a straightforward way to make the go/no go decision on easy-to-implement ideas and establish teams to study complex suggestions and create action plans. Include people at all levels of your organization in the decision process. It will give everyone a chance to learn and contribute. Your stream of good ideas will dry up if they don’t get put into action.

When mistakes are made, learn from them, forgive them and move on.

Nothing dampens innovation more successfully than punishing or even making fun of failed attempts. Employees who are rewarded for trying and believe that failures will be viewed as learning experiences will try again. Create controls to ensure that the consequences of failure are minimized. A nimble innovation approval process that puts the person who made the suggestion in charge of a monitored implementation can minimize risk. Organizations that want innovation must be willing if not eager to accept that not every idea will work.

Whether your innovation is about new technologies, new procedures, or new management approaches, if you don’t get employee buy-in to the changes, you are certain to get lots of the opposite: Resistance. Resistance comes in all shapes and sizes. It can range from the discontent of just a few individuals to opposition that permeates every department and causes your organization to implode.

Employee resistance can be extremely damaging, if not fatal, when implementing a new innovation. Just one person communicating distaste for the changes can quickly spread to other areas. Employees who have not been involved in planning the change, or who feel they had no opportunity to provide input, may decide the innovations are bad for the company, themselves and co-workers. With the best intentions, they will commiserate with others who feel disenfranchised and, together, they will thwart the change efforts. Employees will give verbal and non-verbal messages to customers and vendors that they don’t agree with the changes.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to undo the damage such resistance causes. The best strategy is to avoid it in the first place. Here’s how:

1. Include employees from all levels of the organization in the planning stage. Create a cross-functional team with members from all levels of the organization when planning the changes. This is a critical success factor. If you don’t do this, items 2-5 below won’t make a difference. Nothing irks employees more than to have decisions made by a group of upper level executives before soliciting any input from the folks in the trenches. Your employees have ideas about how to improve processes and want to contribute. They are your most valuable resource. Use them when planning change.
   
   
2. The CEO must create a vision and be intimately involved in the change process.  The CEO must personally communicate to employees on a regular basis and take responsibility for motivating and leading the organization through the changes. When this happens, employees will have a better understanding of why change needs to happen, they will feel included because the CEO is taking the time to share information with them, and they will “catch” the CEO’s enthusiasm for the innovations.
   
   
3. Managers must all be trained on how to communicate additional information to employees, solicit feedback from them and respond appropriately to that feedback. Managers must also be trained to recognize when employee stress is high and what to do about it. Nothing spreads resistance more quickly than the rumor wheel in combination with high levels of stress and anxiety.
   
   
4. Create a group of Change Agents to move the innovation forward. Change agents come from all levels of the organization and typically volunteer for the role. They are trained on how to facilitate workshops on the upcoming changes for small groups of 8-10. That way, employees are hearing from their peers, everyone is receiving a consistent message and enthusiasm for the innovation increases.
   
   
5. Communicate empathy and understanding for how difficult it is to change. Whether you like it or not, there is a human aspect to change. Employees might be all for the innovations until it actually hits their own work area!

Your employees will either fuel your change efforts or thwart them. By applying these five simple rules, you will greatly improve the odds that your employees are on board and your change initiative succeeds.

Innovation as Improvisation.
by Izzy Gesell

What would you call a person who can take something with a known use and employ it in an entirely new way? How about someone who recognizes a need and designs an effective solution? Most would say “inventor,” “originator,” “innovator,” or “creator.” But how about “improviser?” The skills that make Improv Theater participants successful are the same ones that innovators rely on.

Improv may seem entirely spontaneous and, at times, a little magical to the audience. However, in truth, there is a method to Improv’s madness. Skilled improvisers create order out of chaos, reason out of nonsense and harmony out of discord. It takes practice and a system to create something from nothing. In Improv, the framework that defines the system actually expands possibilities rather than constricting them. This is accomplished by allowing the participants to focus on the process rather than the outcome. Whether the goal is to entertain or to innovate, four behaviors lead to success:

1. Focus on the present

Improvisers stay in the present. They resist the urge to plan ahead, evaluate, or anticipate what others will do. They respond in the moment and only to what is available to them within the context of the rules of the game. Likewise, successful innovators must keep their minds open and focused on what is happening rather than on what is expected or desired.

An example is an Improv game called “One Word at a Time.” Players construct a story by adding one word each time it is their turn. The only way to succeed is to let go of the need to control the story or fellow players. When this happens, a story that has never been told before easily unfolds.

2. Accept

The basic rule of Improv is known as “yes…and.” This is a short-hand way to communicate that whatever is offered is accepted without judgement or resistance. The “yes” connotes acceptance; the “and” allows the next speaker to build on what was given and move the idea forward. It does not suggest agreement with everything offered, but it does imply willingness to accept it. For instance, while playing “One Word at a Time,” it is inevitable that a word will come that is unexpected or even unwanted. Rather than try to force an outcome, successful improvisers let go of preconceived ideas and thereby gain momentum toward the creation of something brand new.

Innovators benefit from “yes…and” by learning that productive co-creation is fueled by sharing responsibility, being comfortable in taking risks and having unconditional acceptance of all ideas.

3. Build

Once you accept an idea, support it, add to it, and help to move it forward. Avoid trying to make the “right” or best contribution.

Improv Theater is like walking backwards. There’s a clear view of where we have been, but not of where we are going. For innovators, this construct is a helpful reminder that major innovations have come from taking one small step beyond what was. Something that at first glance seems like just a tiny step forward can be the catalyst to significant change.

4. Release

Once an idea moves forward, let the outcome go. Improvisers know that it is futile to try to control the outcome of an Improv structure. They contribute what and when they can. They have high involvement in the process but low attachment to the outcome. This method of innovation, like improvisation, often has a significant end result without being able to point to who did what. The whole is much greater than the sum of the parts.

Izzy Gesell, M.ED, CSP is a coach, facilitator and author of Playing Along: Group Learning Activities Borrowed from Improv Theater. More information and free articles are at www.izzyg.com