I recently gave a workshop to a leadership group at a big hotel group.
One of the questions I asked them was:
What do they ‘think, feel and do’ about innovation?
Think about innovation
This was easy.
The leadership group used words like essential, vital and important.
Feel about innovation
This is where it gets more complicated.
They used descriptions like:
– exciting
– rewarding
but also:
– scary
– risky
– too big and too hard
– failure
– fear
Do about innovation
As a result of the disconnect between the think and feel it is no surprising that leaders behaviour is ambivalent.
They use expressions like:
– paralysis
– inertial
– more talking than doing
How to break free of the think, feel and do innovation disconnect?
My advice to leaders is the reverse the cycle.
The aim is to get leaders and managers actually starting to do innovation.
We need to focus on shifting behaviour.
To do this requires that we start small.
If you are trying to get fit then running a marathon is not possible but a small walk around the block is an easier ask.
This is why I have developed small wins innovation.
It is why in every workshop I run I try and get people to do something innovative.
To use for example my 5 step small wins innovation process and address a small problem.
With this process leaders reconnect with the feeling of creating.
As i remind them they are experiencing innovation.
And from my observation they seem to like it and hopefully will try it again.
Behaviour is changing feeling which is reinforcing what they already think.
It’s a new way of embedding innovation in your organisation.