MANAGE-WISE

Enemies of ideas and innovation

If we were fully capable of inventing novel solutions to every challenge we faced, all our problems would be solved quickly. What I have found is that we are all held back to some degree by enemies of ideas. We will explore some simple ways to stop these enemies in their tracks before they shut us down completely.

“Of course,” you say to yourself, “I have good ideas. I’m a creative problem solver. I am open-minded. I’m not like those cartoon middle managers who hide in cubicles and squash any new ideas that cross their desks. No, I want to break boundaries, push the envelope.

Everybody wants to be innovative. Nobody wants to be known as the guy who said that the lightbulb was a bad idea that would never work. The tricky thing about the enemies of ideas, though, is that you can’t always recognise them.

It’s ironic that many patterns of behaviour and modes of thinking that work well in performing certain structured activities (take testing, for example) only get in the way when we try to use them to come up with new ideas. We’re taught from an early age to know the right answer, to be polite, to be sensible, to stick with the tried and true, to try harder. It’s not so easy to abandon the behaviours that we know to be “right”.

The tools and techniques that many companies employ provide an exquisitely sophisticated snapshot of what is; however, those same tools and techniques simply don’t work to show what could be. Many companies rely on expensive and exquisitely detailed reports that show every nuance of brand sales, product usage, brand-switching behaviour, cost sensitivity, and so on. What these reports don’t show is how the power of an idea could change things.

In my work, I have encountered the same enemies of ideas over and over. Some of them turn up everywhere, while others seem more specific to particular organisations. We’ll look at some most prevalent enemies of ideas that I’ve experienced.

The first step to eliminating these barriers is to recognise them. Which ones are most prevalent in your work? In your life?

Enemy one

I’m afraid of how I’ll look to someone else.

This is a big one, but it’s a hard one to admit to. No one is willing to own up to being afraid. Cautious, prudent, perhaps even conservative, but not afraid. In the corporate world, admitting fear is tantamount to admitting failure. It’s just not done.

But the fear is there, even if it is well disguised.

We all remember only too well the feeling of being in front of the class and making some kind of mistake. Your face reddens; your adrenaline starts pumping; you feel sweat trickling down the back of your neck. It’s not an experience that anyone wants to repeat.

We go through elementary school, high school, college, graduate school, and up through the ranks of companies, always with an authority figure that we have to please. Even CEOs have to answer to Wall Street. And underneath our well-coordinated busin-esswear, somewhere there’s a fourth grader who has resolved never to look stupid in class again.

Maybe you don’t call it fear; how about anxiety? Apprehension? Stress? Worry? When you don’t feel secure in a situation, you won’t allow yourself to risk. You can imagine pitching a new idea to your colleagues, clients or superiors and getting the eye roll, the puzzled look, the dismissive comment (“interesting, but not what we’re going for here”).

Enemy Two

Having a “fixed” vs a “fluid” point of view.

All of us, especially those of us who are ambitious and driven, are used to advancing our own point of view. We have a particular way of seeing things, and the more focussed and specific that vision is, the more successful we are.

This kind of mindset can work brilliantly in a debate, but it doesn’t serve you as well when you’re trying to see fresh solutions to issues or opportunities. From any one perspective, you can see only 180 degrees of the world. What you need is to see the full 360.

It’s easy to forget that there are many people involved in any business transaction, all of whom have different needs and opinions.

If you can shift your point of view and get inside the skin of someone else—your consumer, your supplier, the guy from R&D—you’ll be able to dramatically expand the number of possibilities that you can see.

There is the hidden fallacy that if you can somehow push your own particular point of view, amplify it, and make it loud enough, everyone will fall into line.

If you consider any monopoly, you’ll find this mode of thinking: You can have a car in any colour, as long as it’s black. A one-size-fits-all approach dismisses the validity of any alternative opinions.

Excerpt from ‘Secrets from the Innovation Room’ by Kay Allison. Reproduced with permission © 2005, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. E-mail: vishwanath_mum@tatamcgraw-hill.com