It would seem that it is completely natural to frame the innovation challenge as a battle between an innovation hero and a bureaucratic octopus. In the real world, however, innovation heroes get strangled, almost every time. Therefore, we need a more productive approach…
... what is needed is mutual respect between innovation leaders and performance engine leaders…innovation leaders must recognize that conflict with the performance engine is normal. It is not the result of people being lazy or unwilling to change. Quite to the contrary, it is the result of good people doing good work, trying to make the performance engine run as efficiently as possible. Performance engine leaders, for their part, must remember that no performance engine lasts forever…(Beyond the Idea, p. 48).
First, a few things
about what the book is not:
With the exception of a
couple of brief appendices on strategy and change,
which I’ll discuss below, it’s not a guide for strategic or
systemic approaches to innovation.* It picks up where the generation
of ideas leaves off so doesn’t explain (directly) how innovation
supports desired outcomes, needs and/or solutions to problems. It
also doesn’t speak to innovation diffusion. There’s a deliberate
focus on project-level innovation initiatives based on
the authors’ survey of the field, which was primarily private
sector companies...so the public sector is not the intended audience.
The book, therefore, does not tell a complete innovation story, nor
does it attempt to.
If I haven’t lost you
after that preamble, I think the authors have some important insights
with respect to managing innovation initiatives vis-à-vis ongoing
operations. There are a number of jumping off points for further
reflection and discussion.
The book’s premise is
that orgs must shift time and energy from a focus on generating ideas
to executing innovation initiatives. An innovation initiative
is defined as “any project that is new to your
organization and has an uncertain outcome.” The
definition is intentionally broad.
The way the authors see
it, most orgs are not built for innovation. They’re set up to
deliver ongoing operations via the “performance engine.”
“…Innovation execution is its own unique discipline. It requires
its own time, energy and distinct thinking.”
Three models for
executing innovation initiatives are presented. Orgs can have any
number of innovation initiatives on the go; what’s crucial, say the
authors, is to match each initiative to the proper model to ensure
they are executed effectively. “The criteria for choosing the right
model are internal. They are tied to the physics of getting the work
done.”
EACH MODEL HAS ITS OWN STRATEGY FOR DEALING WITH THE PERFORMANCE ENGINE
Model
|
Strategy for Dealing with the
Performance Engine
|
What It Delivers
|
S
Small
|
Squeeze It In
Squeeze innovation into the slack in the system.
|
A very large number of very small initiatives.
|
R
Repeatable
|
Make It Repeatable and Predictable
Make innovation look as much like day-to-day operations as possible.
|
A series of similar initiatives.
|
C
Custom
|
Separate It
Separate incompatible innovation tasks from day-to-day operations.
|
One unique initiative at a time.
|
-
Beyond the Idea, p. 15
Model S, for small initiatives, “squeezes innovation into the slack time” of the ongoing work of the performance engine, spontaneously and organically. This model is largely dependent on motivated employees, individually and/or collectively, doing their regular work plus the work to innovate, but only part-time given the performance engine has got to keep chugging along. For that reason, Model S can work for small initiatives only, but the cumulative impacts can be significant. E.g.:
Model R, for repeatable initiatives, is all about the process and making innovation systematic for a series of similar initiatives, big or small. It aims to make innovation as repeatable and predictable as possible. “…for all of Model R’s strengths, it is also its own worst enemy. Its drive for efficiency eventually becomes its undoing.” Systematic, process-driven innovation for specific initiatives requires some flexibility (e.g. time, budget) at times to allow for breakthroughs to occur. E.g.:
- Product development teams that
pump out the ongoing series of your favourite smartphone,
- An HR team that develops and
implements a new performance management directive using a similar
process and people as the previous year’s exercise.
The bulk of the book is dedicated to
Model C, for custom initiatives, which is the most difficult and robust model. This model is used for all other initiatives beyond the limitations of either Model S or Model R. Model C initiatives require a structure for disciplined experimentation that is incompatible with the performance engine. Each custom initiative has a “Special Team” and a “Special Plan.” The Special Team is made up of “Dedicated Staff”, who work full-time on the initiative and “Shared Staff”, who provide part-time support (as needed) and continue their role in ongoing operations. The Dedicated Staff is assembled as if you’re putting together a new, custom-built organization: the culture, ways of working and make-up of the team, which could include external talent, is designed for the specific initiative. The Special Team and Special Plan emphasize rapid learning to design and execute the initiative, and the work of the team is evaluated more so on that basis. E.g.:
I buy Beyond the Idea’s
argument that we have to acknowledge and manage the inevitable
tension(s) between our ongoing operations and innovation initiatives.
There’s some truth to “innovation heroes get strangled, almost
every time.” Often, the performance engine is busy doing other
things. Motivated employees with brilliant ideas get swamped or
directed to work on other priorities. Or, the culture and ways of
working of an established org unit (or an entire department) do not
lend themselves well to adapting to new ways of working to achieve
desired outcomes. The book includes info on the roles a Chief
Innovation Officer and/or innovation support team can play in
coordinating initiatives, providing support and guidance, and
managing the potential conflicts.
There’s more to it than that though.
An argument that innovation requires
“its own time, energy and distinct thinking” doesn’t mean that
it happens in isolation of everything else.
Alex
Howard recently wrote about the launch of 18F, a startup within
the US General Services Administration that is setting up to “hack
the bureaucracy.” “18F builds effective, user-centric digital
services focused on the interaction between government and the people
and businesses it serves. We help agencies deliver on their mission
through the development of digital and web services.” Also
mentioned in Howard’s post was
Clay
Johnson’s response to 18F: “Is 18F a complete solution to the
US government’s IT woes? No. But, like
RFP-IT
and
FITARA,
this new office is part of a broader strategy.” Ah,
strategy.
Buried at the back of Beyond the
Idea is an appendix on “Strategy.”. The authors claim that
“everything a company thinks and does can be put into one of the
[following] three boxes:
Box 1: Manage the present;
Box 2: Selectively forget the
past; and
Box 3: Create the future.”
Most organizations spend a lot
of time on managing the present. Blueprint 2020 and the recent
planning push have got us thinking about the future, but as we do
that, are we making deliberate, well-informed decisions and
challenging the enduring assumptions of the performance engine to
selectively forget the past? We need to address the underlying
problems and (sometimes perceived) barriers to new ways of working.
Innovation is not just about doing new things. Sometimes it’s about
making deliberate choices to stop doing old things.
The guidance in
Beyond the Idea will not get us there alone, but being mindful
that innovation initiatives come in all shapes and sizes and require
appropriate models to effectively execute them is timely advice.
Managing the tensions between ongoing operations and innovation
initiatives and selectively forgetting the past will be crucial if
the federal public service is expected to meet at the desired
Destination 2020 rendezvous point.
