Is Management the Enemy of Innovation? – Carla Johnson
May 2, 2019
by Carla Johnson
A couple of
weeks ago I spoke at a conference in Stockholm, Sweden about how to bring new
ideas into an organization. At the end, a woman in the audience raised her hand
and asked a question: What do you do when management kills your great idea?
Hands down, when I talk about innovation and how to launch budding concepts, this is the question I get the most. While the grim reaper of ideas comes in lots of different forms, (in the Swedish scenario it was brand guidelines) a risk-averse management common denominator.
Management: friend or foe?
Without
management, we wouldn’t have business. Companies simply can’t scale without
process and structure. But many internal cultures take this to the extreme and end
up with a command-and-control style. As you go up the chain of command in an
organization, people look to squeeze out inefficiencies and risk. They may also
be looking to secure their place on the corporate ladder and squash any risk
that may create a backslide. In fact, research points out that
leaders who bring too much creativity to their job may jeopardize their chances
for advancement. It’s no wonder that new ideas shrivel on the vine.
Then there
are companies who truly value innovation, but can’t get their teams to step up
to the plate. They’ve used rewards, incentives and hackathons, yet employees
plod along with the status quo. They’ve added more diversity to teams, and provided
physical space and stimulation to help people think outside the box.
And yet,
things still don’t change.
Measure what matters
What both employees
and managers need is to begin measuring what’s happening to they have a true
understanding of the landscape. When I start working with clients to up their innovation
game, this is the first exercise I have management do:
See your true colors
Many leaders
and companies promote innovation and claim they support it. But here’s the big
take away you’ll get if you take the four steps above and put them into action:
We have to manage
as if we expect great ideas from everyone, not just the lone geniuses in our
organizations. This is the only way that management can address its own mental
hurdle about innovation and ensure that its employees stay passionate about the
work they do.
Ready to get started? Download this spreadsheet and track how well ideas fare in your organization.
Need help getting more ideas from your team? Let’s talk.
Photo credit: Pixabay
About Carla Johnson
Carla Johnson is a world-renowned storyteller, an entertaining speaker, and a prolific author.
Over the last two decades, Carla has helped architects and actuaries, executives and volunteers, innovators and visionaries leverage the art of storytelling to inspire action. Her work with Fortune 500 brands has served as the foundation for many of her books.
In her latest project, Fast Forward Files, she contributes to a larger collection of thoughts by some of the world’s greatest minds – Shazam co-founder Dhiraj Mukherjee, activist and entrepreneur Heather Mills and behavioral designer, technologist and mental-health champion Peter Trainor. Consistently named one of the top influencers in B2B, digital and content marketing, Carla regularly challenges conventional thinking.
Today, she travels the world teaching anyone (and everyone) how to cultivate idea-driven teams that breed unstoppable creativity and game-changing innovation.