One can picture a time - back in the early 1800's - in a small rural town, perhaps in Canada, Australia or India when a farmer would wake, before dawn, and set out to the fields. He would grab a bag of seed, and by the handful, he would toss the seeds onto the land. He would let nature take its course, and hope that enough rain would come, and that the seeds would produce enough food for the family as well as some to sell in the town.

Today, farmers rely on the latest technology. Seeds are planted with precision, accurate to the centimetre. Irrigation allows for just enough water, and the seeds are constantly monitored, fertilized, and cared for. The resulting crop is bountiful, and even surpasses the demand.

When it comes to innovation, unfortunately, many organizations are still acting like primitive farmers, randomly scattering seeds, hoping for anything. This approach often creates a sense of panic for employees who believe the only innovation worthy of praise is a "breakthrough" innovation.

The reality is - breakthrough innovations are one in a million.

Today's successful organizations, on the other hand, use well thought out and proven methods and processes that have a better chance of yielding top quality ideas, and then they have an ethic of discipline to carry these ideas to fruition.

Nice Innovation

The situation in far too many organizations today is that somewhere along the line "out-of-the-box" thinking was actually placed in a black box, and moved to a store room somewhere in the basement of Head Office. Goofy brainstorming sessions, and too many PR speeches about how the organization must innovate, have reduced innovation to the business jargon equivalent to the word - nice.

The passion is gone.

The excitement is gone.

The organization didn't take it seriously, and it died.

The problem is that Peter Drucker was right on the money when he said "Every organization…needs one core competence: innovation". Somehow, your organization must "wake the beast" of innovation in order to survive.

Types of Innovation

Now that your organization has realized the error of its ways and is poised to innovate (easier said than done, by the way), the key question then becomes -How are we going to "focus" our innovation?

In her book "The Seeds of Innovation" author Elaine Dundon breaks innovation down into 3 types:

Efficiency Innovation

• developing new ways of using and improving what already exists

Organizational Continuum

In order to develop an organization that is able to innovate effectively, you must also decide where your organization lies on a key continuum of organizational behaviour:

A Farmer’s Life

Even with the latest technology and modern science, not to mention bio genetic engineering and the like, farming is still an exhausting, non-stop way of life.

Innovation is no different.

Innovation cannot be relegated to a single training event, or town hall speech. As a leader you must personify the constant hard work that is involved in innovation.

In Our Opinion
The Beacon Group's Key's to Planting Seeds of Innovation

Fertilize - Farmers use a variety of techniques to enrich their soil. They rotate fields and add nutrients to the soil - your organization has a corporate library, doesn't it?

Cross-pollinate - Gregor Mendel discovered the ability to develop key traits by cross-pollinating certain plants; the same is true when high-potentials are exposed to new areas of your organization through assignments, and job rotations.

Nurture - Wives-tale or not, talking to plants can make a difference. As a Leader, you should invest your time well, by teaching those around you what you know, and encouraging their growth.

Harvest - In the same way farmers take their ripe fruits and vegetables to market, your best ideas must be cultivated, and yes - taken to market

Our Monthly Rant
Bad Seeds

Once your organization has undertaken the key steps to foster a culture of innovation, you must then step back and evaluate your "seeds". If you find that some of your seeds do not yield the necessary crops, does it make sense to use those seeds again?

These bad seeds can grow into weeds that rob your field of key nutrients, and can choke the life out of your strongest plants.

As a leader, you owe it to your prize winning seeds to continually weed your field, to ensure your harvest is the very best it can possibly be.

In short - tend to the harvest, nurture the soil and water regularly.

The Beacon Group can help your organization and its Leaders with our World-Class Organizational Development Expertise.

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