How to Control Chaos

There is a great appetite for innovation in today’s marketplace. Companies are always under pressure to come up with the "Next Big Thing." So turning creativity loose is a high priority for many managers. We want our teams to step outside traditional boundaries and come up with something special.

At the same time, we are wary of chaos. It’s one thing to free minds to come up with great new ideas. But too much freedom can make it difficult for a team or division or company to function. Without boundaries, chaos may set in.

How can you turn loose creativity while at the same time, control chaos? My tips:

• Concrete goals. When President John F. Kennedy wanted to inspire NASA, he charged them with this specific goal: put a man on the moon. If he’d just said, come up with some great new space ideas, would NASA have been able to respond? A concrete goal focuses the creative efforts.
• Metrics. At Rakuten, we measure everything. We measure every day. We know how much time it takes to complete tasks, how sales are faring at any division on any day, even how long it takes for employees in our building to get from the lobby to our meeting room. Because we measure constantly, we never lose track of our performance and we can spot the first sign of chaos in our efforts.
• Communication. Chaos is a state that starts small and spreads. It may begin with a few elements of a company but it grows behind closed doors and no one in authority is aware of the problem until it is substantial. At Rakuten, I encourage constant communication. For example, on our internal social media platform, I encourage everyone to post about what they’re working on and how it is going. These are not official reports, but they allow all of us to see what’s going on around the company. This helps us foster the hunt for innovation without allowing things to spin out of control.

The next big idea is out there. But you’ll need creativity and control to ensure it comes to its full potential.