I love butter. So when I discovered that people might be missing out, it prompted me to write this blog.
Creativity and innovation are both fundamentally about solving problems. Creativity is about having the ideas and innovation is about putting the ideas into action.
I’m often asked about how best to develop and structure creativity and innovation in organisations.
Culture is more important than process.
Firstly, I believe that successful creativity and innovation is more about culture than it is about process. You need some sort of focus, process or framework to ensure ideas address a strategic problem or unmet need, are tested and progressed, but the most important thing is how people work together, how they interact, their values and behaviours, their approach to solving problems, their individual ability to lead and their confidence to take action. That is culture.
There is no single right way to embed creativity and innovation in your organisation. There’s pros and cons to any approach. Your decision will depend on what you want to achieve through innovation, your current leadership style and working culture and the skills and resources available to you.
Some organisations make innovation a separate function, removed from the core business to test ideas quickly in a slow moving or bureaucratic culture. Like British Gas did when developing Hive. The pros were that fast progress was made away from the constraints of the main organisation but people working in the main organisation didn’t feel engaged with innovation or felt that it was something they could do.
Some organisations encourage everyone to be an innovator. No separate innovation team – it’s a free for all. This can work well in a culture where creativity and innovation already thrive, perhaps smaller organisations that have had to move quickly to survive, but without focus and structure it can feel chaotic and scattergun.
Everyone involved or a separate team?
The two are not mutually exclusive. You can do both. Although it comes with a word of warning. The mindset required for incremental change is different to the mindset required for more radical change. If you ‘tick the innovation box’ through incremental changes take care not to miss a shift in the market and consumer trends that may leave you obsolete. Think Blockbuster, Lovefilm and Netflix.
My preference is towards developing a culture where people are encouraged and given permission to think creatively to spot and solve problems, to be curious to respond to audience needs. I see that as business as usual. It’s how organisations will thrive today’s working world.
When I hear phrases like ‘’it’s above my pay grade’ ‘I’ll just stay in my lane’ ‘it’s not my problem’ makes me worried. These phrases are not a culture where problems are solved and shared, where creativity and innovation happen. It’s not a culture where everyone is lined up behind a big, shared idea or vision. It’s a culture of each for their own and work is just a transactional relationship.
There’s no silver bullet for creativity and innovation to flourish and there’s many factors at play, including legacies from past working practices, job descriptions, pay grades, flexible and hybrid working and leadership. It can be exciting and difficult to navigate at the same time.
What about the butter?
Recently I was staying at a hotel. A novelty in itself after the last two years. Breakfast was a buffet. As we arrived the person on the breakfast reception said. ‘People often miss the butter – it’s a bit further down the counter. I have to tell everyone’
Why not move the butter to where people see it and don’t miss it?
It’s been bothering me all week. Perhaps there’s a good reason. Maybe further down the counter is cooler and therefore better for butter storage? Or perhaps it’s not in the breakfast persons job description, above their pay grade or they feel safer to stay in their lane. Is it a red flag that employees are not able to, or willing to think creatively to innovate and solve problems? Either way people are missing out on butter.
What are the red flags in your organisation?
A thank you to Caroline Hull for the inspiration!