A Culture of Innovation: 10 Key Values (Part 2)

At the heart of all innovation is the ability to learn and grow. Innovation isn’t about coming up with a unique idea that no one has ever thought of. It’s about connections. It’s about taking ideas, thoughts, and concepts that exist today and connecting them in ways that no one has thought of in the past. Innovation thrives best on knowledge and experience. The more knowledge and experience you have, the more connections you have in your possession to work with.

In the last article, we discussed the 4 foundational values of a culture of innovation:

• Leadership and Vision
• Trust and Empowerment
• Accountability
• Quality

In this article we will explore the 3 values that shape our potential for growth:

• Learn from the Past but Look to the Future
• Strengths and Individuality
• Creative Potential

These values, if leveraged properly, can impact the success of innovation within an organization and drive its growth.

Our best tool for learning is experience. Success, especially failure, drives the direction of our growth. This direction can be positive or negative. As individuals, we have control over that direction by learning from our past while still moving towards the future we want.

Learn from the Past but Look to the Future

As cliché as it sounds, one of the key values of a Culture of Innovation that impacts its potential the most is the ability to learn from the past while looking to the future. Despite our best efforts, we have a finite amount of time. Our only hope of making the best of it, both personally and professionally, is to be constantly learning from our mistakes and successes.

Everyone fails throughout life. We try something, it doesn’t work out, and we move on or quit. To some, this is a wasted experience. To me, this is an opportunity. In the Shock & Awe series, I mentioned Thomas Edison’s view on this matter. He has a famous quote that talks about how he didn’t fail, he just found a number of ways not to make a light bulb.

That mental attitude is what Learning from the Past but Looking to the Future is all about. We should always be moving forward, towards some goal. Along the way, we will fail. Those failures are not roadblocks. They aren’t proof that we are wasting our time. They are stepping stones. Opportunities to learn and grow that lead to our true goal.

Innovation is about taking risks. Its about breaking a few eggs in the pursuit of value. The key is to learn from each time we break an egg.

Strengths and Individuality

While breaking eggs is inevitable, we can minimize the number of times we break those eggs. How? By focusing on our strengths and the things that make us each unique.

Focus on building strengths, and your team will naturally become more of who they were meant to be.

But focus on fixing weaknesses, and they will become lesser versions of themselves.

-Jason Ho

Not long ago, our organization invested in #StrengthsFinders. Why? We believe that focusing on our strengths is better for the individual and the organization than focusing on weaknesses. 

I can’t paint a picture. I can’t design a new electronic component. I can’t build a car. What I can do is write code. It makes no sense for me to focus on trying to paint because that kind of creativity is not my strength. 

My canvas isn’t vinyl, its digital. On my canvas, I can craft pieces of software that allow the organization to help its clients in ways we haven’t been able to in the past. Do I make mistakes? Yes. My mistakes are fewer, with code than they would be if I were painting a picture or designing marketing material.

You have to remember the value of your individuality – that you have something special and different to offer that nobody else can.

-Jennifer Lopez

While people in my organization can share some of my strengths, there is only one Don Brown. Our strengths, our experiences, our passions, and our personalities all mix together in a cosmic concoction that forms us as individuals. It is our individuality that is our greatest strength. Ten Don Browns in a room cannot innovate any better than one Don Brown and nine other individuals…despite what my ego might have me believe.

Creative Potential

Innovation is creativity. There is no simpler definition. Anyone that would suggest otherwise is fooling themselves. Creativity isn’t just art or storytelling. The software my team and I write is very much art. It is our art. It takes a tremendous amount of creativity to chisel away at the code until the software is revealed underneath.

Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.

-William Plomer

I believe William Plomer’s quote is spot on. If innovation is creativity and innovation is about making connections, then creativity is about making connections as well. This means innovation and creativity can be interchangeable and complimentary. Our potential to innovate is driven by our experiences, our strengths, and our individuality. Said differently, our creative potential, the ability to create and innovate, is driven by our experiences, our strengths, and our individuality.

This potential is raw. We have to consciously tap into it, nurture it, and develop it. If we do, our potential increases and our ability to reach our goals and provide value increases. A Culture of Innovation isn’t just about leveraging that potential. It’s about:

• Investing in that potential
• Investing in our experiences
• Encouraging our curiosity
• Fostering a learning mindset
• Investing in our strengths
• Honoring and celebrating our individuality

Innovation is a complicated formula of learning, individuality, and creativity. It is the job of a Culture of Innovation to bring all that together, watch the experiment unfold, learn from the failures, and try again.

For those looking for a movie quote, I won’t disappoint.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, James Spader says “If you want to make an omelet, then you have to break a few eggs.” That principle applies to innovation as well. Our job is to go out and break a few eggs in pursuit of innovation.

So far, we have discussed 4 foundational values and the 3 values that drive potential. In the final article, we will discuss the 3 values that drive success and value:

• Fearlessness, Failure, and Action
• Challenge the Status Quo
• The Road Less Traveled

About the Author:

Don Brown: Currently the Director of Software Engineering at Premier International. Passionate about technology, innovation, software development, and sci-fi, he believes that technology can be a force for change within any organization. He also advocates that partnerships between technology departments and leadership are a growth multiplier.