Innovation is a People-First Business!

Innovation is a people-first business! It has always been and it will stay like this for years to come. So even though there is much talk about important elements like digitalization, new technologies and disruption these days, the most significant element to anything related to innovation will always be people.

Why? Because it is people who make things happen and this is you, your team and colleagues as well as your customers and external partners.

What does this mean in an organizational perspective and in the context of innovation??

Well, I see two things in particular here.?

The first is that as this starts with people this also starts with the mindset you cultivate and grow as well as the level of psychological safety that you build within your teams and organization. If you don’t get this right, you can’t succeed with innovation.

The second is that the HR or rather the People & Culture function becomes even more important in the long, strategic run. The people in charge of this function must work closely together with the CEO in order to upgrade the mindset, skills and tool-box of first the function itself and the leadership level and then scale this throughout the organization. It has to be a top-down much more than a bottom-up approach in which the personal involvement and commitment of the leadership level is crucial.

In my interactions with leaders and organizations, I have seen many ways to do this. A constant key element here is that although you can find lots of learning and inspiration on the outside, you must build on the specific situation of your organization. You can’t copy/paste yourself out of this.?

In short, you need to prepare for the long run while having this simple reminder in place:?

Respect the past, but push the future aggressively!