How to Innovate: Live on the Wild Side!
by Paul Prins at 9:00 am
When leaders don’t fail, no-one else will ever innovate.
Who has ever heard of someone achieving success without failing first? Every professional athlete spends more time practicing and lets not forget they were all amateurs before turning pro.
So why do we manage as if we should only experience/expect success and not failure. Those failures are the building blocks of their success. They might be of yours as well if you don’t push them away.
Leaders have to take risks that both succeed and that fail. Without this no one will feel the freedom to take steps of their own (in addition to your explicit encouragement). This molds the culture that your organization projects, both externally and internally, and will determine if you will raise up innovators from within or not.
The problem here is that we love boasting and reminiscing in our successes. If we only have success, or never talk about our failures, those around us will fear trying to live up to your standards. The more humble we are, the more accessible opportunity (and then innovation) will become to those around us.
In the last post we talked about how the focal point (mission statement) can inhibit innovation through suffocation. Here we’ll talk more about developing that culture.
Do you live on the wild side?
I’m not talking about late nights out, or alternative sports (as in the pictures). I am talking about making mistakes because of trying new things on a regular basis. Trying things that in all reality probably won’t work, but trying them because if they do it will
The next step is to manage your people and resources loosely. I realize that you are working for a non-profit and these resources are hard to get. But if you simply sit on what you have it can’t do anything to help your mission. You have to take chances, and let others take them as well.
If you aren’t, then you will be creating an atmosphere that doesn’t encourage others to try new things. This doesn’t mean that innovative people might not come into your organization, but if you can cultivate them you will have many more.
Note: I’m not encouraging you to throw what has been trusted to you away. But you have to take measured risks if you want to see growth.
It’s important to make sure all efforts are towards the mission statement (see Strategic Planning), and that they are measurable. When things are successful this gives numbers to empower others, and also allows you to pull the plug when ideas don’t succeed.
Here are some quick tips to starting anything new:
- How does it fit into the mission?
- How are you giving them freedom to fail?
- What reward will their be regardless of its success?
- What measures it as successful (time and amount)?
- What is the projected end goal of the effort?
Additional Resources
Strategic Planning: A bunch of resources (I recommend this and this) by the Free Management Library
Plan Implementation: Strategic Planning FAQ – Implementation by the Alliance for Non-Profit Management
Images: Unknown and Lance at the Midwest Skier Open 2004 by Paul Prins
