APPRECIATION AND INNOVATION:

‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ the saying goes.?Obviously, if there’s no necessity, then the value of the invention is questionable. On the other hand, innovation happens even when there’s no current necessity, but rather as an answer to a present or future necessity that no one has yet addressed.

In the technology industry, we’re always looking for ways to preempt those unrecognized and unaddressed necessities. Situations and circumstances that are evolving and requiring new solutions, facilitations and systems.

How do we create an organizational culture that promotes innovation??

What can we, as leaders, do to help foster that free-thinking, the sky’s the limit, enthusiastic and energetic creativity that precedes truly great innovation??Is it by hiring the top innovators and keeping them through extravagant perks and pay? Is it by fostering competition within our teams??Is it by offering bonuses for big ideas??Is it by providing elaborate campuses with every possible convenience for both work and recreation??Is it by offering flex-time working arrangements? Is it by allowing our teams to work where and when they please?

Well some of those things are certainly attractive - on the surface. But are they what really fosters innovation??They all could certainly help, but, is there a more fundamental strategy that will work even better? I think perhaps there is - and it’s called ‘appreciation’.?

It’s kind of like those experiments where you see subjects trained to do something by providing a reward for the desired action.?That sounds a bit crass, I know, but bear with me as I certainly don’t mean to be crass or demeaning.?

The fact is that we humans tend to react very positively when we are appreciated and praised for something we’ve done. ?

When someone raves about an idea we’ve had, something we’ve made, or written, or talked about, it does wonders for our self-esteem and validates whatever is being praised.?We all like being praised, do we not??So when we are, the message we receive is that if we want more praise to do the same things that earned us praise to begin with.

Bringing that into a business perspective, isn’t it logical that if we show our team members appreciation and praise their efforts when they are being creative, thoughtful or innovative that they will be more inclined to continue in that behavior than if their good efforts are ignored or taken for granted??

Part of the impetus for innovation at work is the security of knowing that you are appreciated and you will not be judged or penalized if you try something new and it doesn’t work out.?

You can’t make an omlet without breaking eggs and you can’t innovate without experimentation. As Thomas Edison proved so graphically, it might take many, many experiments to find out what doesn’t work on the way to finding the one thing that does. ?

Imagine if he’d held back on that experimentation process because he didn’t want to fail and was intimidated by the judgments and scorn of his peers? Just think about what that would’ve meant at that time and for some time into the future until someone brave enough and secure enough took up the challenge.

When it comes to appreciation and praise, we don’t have to be insincere, or gush over anyone.?A simple expression of personal appreciation, or a sincere word of praise in front of the person’s peers will do wonders for enhancing their ability to experiment and innovate - and it will do wonders for the organization as a whole.

Giving credit where credit is due is the mark of a good leader. ?

When someone has done something and the leader gives them the credit,?that person is not just validated, they understand that their actions are appreciated, valued and rewarded.

A good example of how this can result in sustainable and profitable innovation is the entrepreneur Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx.?

She tells a story of how, growing up, at dinner her father would ask her about what failures she’d had that day. Each failure would be greeted with congratulations and praise - because she’d had the courage to try something new and had learned valuable lessons from those failures.

If we took that attitude with our teams, I think we might be surprised by the innovations we’d see happening within our organizations. It doesn’t cost anything and the return on investment could be amazing!

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