Don’t Put the “No” in Innovation!

Innovation is one of those words that many people use to brag about their new idea. It is a spin-off from the word ‘innovate’ which we often see broadcasted on license plates as INNOV8, INOV8, or NOV8. Innovation gained its prominence in the technological world and became the official buzzword of the century. It has now climbed the corporate ladder, and is claiming lives under the term artificial intelligence. Despite the hocus pocus, however, there are stories to be told about how Innovation has advanced its own agenda to cause us to say, “Nooooooooo!” As a result, many of us stay stale in our thinking.

For example, a few years ago, I taught a class on Innovation to a group of 23 civil engineers. Civil engineers specialize in building infrastructures, such as bridges, roads, pipelines, airports, and so forth. The engineers in the class described themselves as linear thinkers, so attending a class on Innovation posed a challenge for many of them. However, they aspired to become senior-level managers, and they were genuinely interested in understanding and applying principles, tools, and techniques that would enhance their leadership capability and advance their careers.

First, I introduced basic leadership skills, such as having a personal mission statement, a vision statement, a plan with goals, and key performance measures. Next, I introduced the concepts behind Innovation, and rotated them through a series of small group exercises. Throughout the class, I encouraged them to embrace innovation by assessing the constraints that might be hindering them from action, and impeding their ability to create flexibility in the workplace. Blah, blah, blah.

At the end of the first day of the 2-day training, I gave them an overnight homework assignment. I challenged them to ‘think INSIDE the box, but make the box bigger’. I expected there would be some pondering, but I certainly did not anticipate what happened as a result of that statement. The next morning, the group returned, but before class started, the ring leader announced, “we stayed up all night, and came up with a solution for making the box bigger”. I said, as I often do, “really?” He said, “yes, we will make the box out of rubber”. I was a bit startled, and asked, “why didn’t you just take something out of the box?” To which he replied, “Howze, never give an engineer a problem to solve. If that is what you wanted, you should have just told us”. Ooops! I learned a valuable lesson that day about how engineers think, and praised them for their efforts. But, since I had the mic, I put on my leadership hat. I attempted to help them understand that leadership is situational, and that sometimes it requires flexibility in one’s own thinking, rather than going straight to a solution. Further, I explained that involving others in the decision-making process who might have a different point of view could add value to getting a more meaningful outcome. They finally picked up on what I was laying down, and each of them has now advanced in their careers. The ultimate point is to never get seduced by your track record. Just because your past results have been successful, doing the same thing over and over again the same way does not necessarily guarantee your success the next time. Innovation is not just a buzzword, it is a challenge for all of us to re-think how we interact with and include others, how we solve problems, how we complete our daily work, and how we handle our lives. In other words, don’t put the NO in Innovation—thinking and acting non-traditionally can, and often does, lead to more creative results!