Innovation Through People Chemistry.

To enable sustainable change and innovation it’s obvious to create the right customer-centric strategy and tactics combined with the right technology and processes. However, one aspect is often overlooked, which is the human aspect of innovation, the human skills, the human culture, the people chemistry.

Having the right product and process “chemistry” is critical, but “people chemistry” is vital and at the heart of innovation and change, as innovation is “by people for people”.

With this article I wanted to take the opportunity to summarise a couple of critical “people chemistry” insights from a recent conversation with Lego’s director of APAC customer logistics and fellow innovation fan, Emily Orcullo.

“Innovation comes only with big disruptive product & service launches, doesn’t it?”.

Often, many of us connect innovation with transformational, disruptive product & service launches. These are important outputs of innovation, but there is equal merit if not more in continuously improving or innovating “smaller” aspects of our day-to-day life e.g., the way of we collaborate, the way we conduct meetings, the way in which we share information, the way we experiment. These “human” innovations are key to survive & prosper in today’s ever-changing landscape. 

In order to get the big innovations & transformations out of the door, we must focus on building a continuous track record of small steps of learning, supported by the right mindset. As Aristotle said:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Greatness is not an act but a habit.”

Ask yourself, how can we set our team or organization up for success? How can we provide the right structure but also the right consciousness? Especially the latter can create a lot of gains through small rounds of experimentation whilst listening and speaking with presence about the observations & learning.

Start small, identify your leapers and bridge builders & make it real

Changing the way of working, the way of innovating is not something that can be rolled out across large organisations overnight. As the book “Creating intelligent teams” by A. R?d and M. Fridjhon says, you need to know within your organization the leapers and bridge builders. Start with a small team out of the spotlights, but well-protected and empowered. As with every living system, an organization wants to survive and find a balance. Exposing something new too soon will activate the immune system and will likely kill the idea before it is born. 

Within this newly created bubble of innovation, the focus should be put on outcome. What customer or client behavior do we want to change for the better, how to create real value? Once this is known, get moving and make things real so they can be tested, assessed to generate learning and in this way increase trust in the new approach, which in return helps preparing for the next steps of learning.

So, ask yourself, how will you create your specific bubble of innovation, protected and empowered? Who are the best people to take the leap of faith? Who are the bridge builders to support the necessary holding space and connect the old with the new by sharing stories about the learning journey?

Leaders go first. A personal journey before the organisational one. 

Often organisations will embark on an innovation or transformation journey without focusing on the right outcome or having the right intent. In this case, change is often delegated by the leadership team towards the “special project team”. Unfortunately, change is one of the things that cannot be delegated based on the fact that organisational behavior follows leadership behavior. In order to instill a new way of working, instill a creative mindset, leaders need to go first in this growth process by taking on personal growth opportunities and leading by example.

Ask yourself, how do you embody change as a leader? How to bring your beginner’s mindset? How do you personally approach creativity, empowerment, resilience? How to become personally active example of a learning organization?

Purposeful innovation & knowing your “leading principles” 

Keeping an organization energised, motivated to keep thinking creatively, constantly looking for better ways of collaborating, enhancing the culture and creating more value for the customer, is not a straightforward task. It requires a continuous investment of time and energy. 

Having a common desire to strive for a better tomorrow is key, nothing less than this will result in success. A desire not only brought to life by leadership, but also carried by all levels and functions. What are the common motivational denominators, common values in your organization? Is the organisational purpose in sync with the individual purpose of its members?

Next to creating a powerful and purposeful vision, it could be very valuable to think about the “leading principles” of your organization. Over time these principles often get overlooked and forgotten. “What was the purpose of the founder for creating the organization?” Is that purpose still present today? “What does the outside world expect from the organization?” Is this expectation at the heart of the company’s mission? Visions and strategies can be altered frequently but leading principles often stick for a very long time to an organization. And it’s in combining these leading principles with the vision that creates purposeful innovation. 

 Want to discuss your organisational people chemistry and how it can have a positive impact on your change and innovation process? Reach out to me and happy to connect over a coffee.

Wesley Boers - Systemic innovation coach

Helping leaders and leadership teams optimise their people chemistry to enable transformation & innovation.