{"id":898,"date":"2019-09-13T01:30:54","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T06:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lindagorchels.com\/blogs\/?p=898"},"modified":"2019-09-13T07:08:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T12:08:31","slug":"inspiring-a-culture-of-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lindagorchels.com\/blogs\/inspiring-a-culture-of-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Coaching a Culture of Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Innovation is the Holy Grail in many of today\u2019s\norganizations. Amazon lists over 50,000 books on the topic, and a Google search\nfinds over 40 million results. With that much information available, why don\u2019t\nwe have THE answer yet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it has to do something with culture. Sustainable\ninnovation requires a stable culture of innovation. That can be a challenge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While organizations are not creative per se, they set the stage\nfor employees. They provide the environment (culture and blueprints) that\neither enable or stifle it.  I described \na basic motivational blueprint (Teresa Amabile\u2019s Componential\nTheory of Creativity) in my post on organizational\ncreativity<\/a>. Here I want to focus on culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Culture is essentially the personality of an\norganization\u2014its mores, social dynamics, and ambiance. It\u2019s \u201cthe way we do\nthings around here.\u201d According to Henry Mintzberg:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCulture is the soul of the organization \u2014 the beliefs and values, and how they are manifested. I think of the structure as the skeleton, as the flesh and blood\u2026. Culture is the soul that holds the thing together and gives it life force.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What does it take for innovation to be the \u201csoul of an\norganization,\u201d its life force? Quite frankly, it takes work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diagnose your existing culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve spoken with dozens of individuals interested in helping\ntheir organizations build a culture of innovation. Some were in human\nresources, others in various line functions. They came from for-profit,\nnon-profit, small businesses and mature firms covering the gamut of industries.\nYet, the challenges they articulated were similar. How could they drive\ntop-line and bottom-line results by nudging employees toward fruitful creative\nexpression? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start by diagnosing your current culture as it relates to\ninnovation. Is there a greater emphasis on the long-term or the short-term?\nWhat are the current attitudes toward (and consequences of) risk-taking,\naccountability, and failure? How much focus is there on stars versus the solar\nsystem of employees?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several years ago, I had a professional services client facing\ndisruptive industry change. Innovation was critical. The new CEO correctly detailed\nthe current culture. It embodied high professionalism, integrity, customer\nfocus, and compassion\u2014but also inertia, insularity, and a process over results\nemphasis. To compete in the new dynamic environment, change was necessary. The\nculture needed to accommodate risk-taking, accountability and an external\ncompetitive and market focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The culture needed new roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultivating innovation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A culture isn\u2019t changed from a big pronouncement. Or from a\nfew training programs. It\u2019s an ongoing process of conscious actions, a process\nof planting new roots and cultivating them toward harvest.  Much has been written about the freedom side\nof innovation. Employees need autonomy and flexibility. They need to embrace\nfailure. And they need a psychological safety net. But that\u2019s only one side of\ninnovation. The other side is results and accountability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Waguih Ishak, chief technologist at Corning Research\n& Development Corporation, recognizes this fact. In his McKinsey Quarterly\narticle, Creating\nAn Innovation Culture<\/a>, he urges leaders to embrace what he calls innovation\nparenting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my experience, innovative cultures start with a philosophy and a tone\u2014one analogous to the classic parenting advice that children need both \u201croots and wings.\u201d As an innovation leader, you must ground creative people in accountability for the organization\u2019s objectives, key focus areas, core capabilities, and commitments to stakeholders. Then you give them broad discretion to conduct their work in service of those parameters. Obsessing too much about budget and deadlines will kill ideas before they get off the ground.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Gary Pisano, in Harvard Business Review\u2019s The\nHard Truth About Innovative Cultures<\/a>,  expands on the two-sided nature of innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c…Innovative cultures are misunderstood. The easy-to-like behaviors that get so much attention are only one side of the coin. They must be counterbalanced by some tougher and frankly less fun behaviors. A tolerance for failure requires an intolerance for incompetence. A willingness to experiment requires rigorous discipline. Psychological safety requires comfort with brutal candor. Collaboration must be balanced with individual accountability. And flatness requires strong leadership. Innovative cultures are paradoxical. Unless the tensions created by this paradox are carefully managed, attempts to creative culture will fail.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Get started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned earlier, creating an innovation culture is\nnot a one-and-done deal. There will be ongoing setbacks. A focus on outcomes\ncan dampen risk tolerance and vice versa. Tolerating failure, even when it is the\n\u201cright type\u201d of failure, can wear thin when results aren\u2019t visible. And\ncreative energy can evaporate when stress is high. But keep going. Accept that establishing\na culture is a process, not an outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Innovation is the Holy Grail in many of today\u2019s organizations. Amazon lists over 50,000 books on the topic, and a Google search finds over 40 million results. With that much information available, why don\u2019t we have THE answer yet? Maybe… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creativity-and-innovation"],"yoast_head":"\nCoaching a Culture of Innovation - Linda Gorchels blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lindagorchels.com\/blogs\/inspiring-a-culture-of-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coaching a Culture of Innovation - Linda Gorchels blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Innovation is the Holy Grail in many of today\u2019s organizations. 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