“Solar Impulse CEO and pilot Andre Borschberg said, … [+]
My experience in large corporations and as an advisor to startups has led me to conclude that innovation starts with the mindset that change is inevitable, almost always a good thing, and not something to be avoided at all costs. This mindset must start at the top level of the company and be nurtured in every part of the organization and every team member.
Until now, I have not been quite sure how to sustain and nurture such a culture, so I was pleased to see some concrete guidelines in the new book “How To Create Innovation” by Stefan F. Dieffenbacher et al. All of the authors speak from their international consulting experience, having delivered transformational change for clients such as Amazon, BMW, Google, and Pfizer.
The authors believe that the right mindset is crucial and identify five transformational steps that any business leader can take to make innovation the norm in their business. I outline the steps here, adding my own insights, as a personal effort to transform your organization into a powerhouse in today's chaotic business world.
1. Check in and reset your personal innovation mindset. We all tend to recognize that our past experiences have hardwired us into a “comfort zone” mindset. We need to consciously set aside emotional triggers and learn from today's rapidly changing environment. Consciously aim for the next level and confidently evaluate new innovations at work.
2. Enhance team collaboration within the department. Eliminate competition between individuals and groups and foster cooperative collaboration. Evolve complex matrix organizations into more highly networked teams, both internally and externally. Your challenge is to make sure everyone is on the same page as your leadership.
3. Foster an organizational culture of innovation. Today, we need to make everyone aware that digitalization has brought about a huge cultural shift from power over people to empowered self-determination, with a positive embrace of change and innovation, which helps individuals develop and improve their own minds and mindsets.
Four. Flatten the levels of your management hierarchy. Eliminate rigid hierarchical structures and move to a circular organization where all teams are part of the same whole, working together and collaborating through networks. Minimize middle management between staff and management, and allow innovation decisions to be made by autonomous teams.
Five. Adapt to evolving economic development models. I am witnessing a paradigm shift from an industrial model to an information model and even a total cultural model. We have abandoned the idea of infinite growth and have begun to see the world as a finite organism. This leads to new business models, such as donating goods to charity with each purchase.
Our point here is not that previous or current ways of thinking are inferior – they are simply stages with built-in filters that determine not only how your team perceives things, but what they can perceive. In the complex world of innovation, we need everyone to be the most adaptable in today's complex and rapidly changing business world.
In either case, a key task in any effort to change the mindset and culture of a business group is to work with colleagues to identify all aspects of the current culture. You may need outside help or specialized tools to conduct this assessment as a starting point for fresh thinking about innovation, leadership, culture, and the changes needed.
Remember, it all starts with expanding your own mindset and you must grow your worldview to the next level. You must develop a greater “holding capacity” to transcend and integrate your previous mindset, just as a larger bowl can absorb the previous mindset. Only then can you and your business make the real difference in the world that you want to leave as your legacy.
