by Jim Carroll
I had a conference call with a client with respect to an upcoming leadership meeting. I’ll be helping the organization think about some of the barriers they have toward innovation and what they need to do to overcome these challenges. As we were talking, I scribbled down a short list of some of the issues I was identifying.
tradition: Some organizations are too caught up with the past, which causes them to lose sight of opportunities for the future.
culture: Often, corporate culture can be stifling, if not deadening. Some build up an organizational sclerosis that eventually clogs up their ability to try to do anything new.
tradition: Some organizations are too caught up with the past, which causes them to lose sight of opportunities for the future.
culture: Often, corporate culture can be stifling, if not deadening. Some build up an organizational sclerosis that eventually clogs up their ability to try to do anything new.
organizational memory: It causes people to focus on the past instead of the future.
bureaucrats: Their job is simply to shut down ideas, get people to fill out forms, and reduce the everyday work experience to a series of mind-numbing tasks.
stock markets: They cause too many senior executives to spend their time thinking about short-term hits that can keep the stock price up, rather than working on the big bets that can provide for transformative opportunities. No wonder so many organizations are going private!
job descriptions: They reduce the role of people to a narrowly defined set of activities and small goals. I’ve encountered few organizations where innovation success is actually enshrined into the job description, let alone the HR reward system.
mission statements: They can be a great thing to give everyone an overall sense of purpose. On the other hand, most organizations don’t update and refresh them, which means that in many cases, the mission statement has nothing to do with what the organization actually needs to be doing.
strategic planning: Some organizations get so caught up in the process of strategic planning that they never get beyond the planning stage. Where do you think the phrases “analysis paralysis” comes from - organizations are busy analyzing things as part of their planning process!
lone wolves: They’re often folks who can lead innovation, since they can have the brilliant ideas that are the spark for greatness. On the other hand, they can become so blinded by their belief that they refuse to accept the ideas and insight of anyone else, forgetting that collaboration is often at the root of all great innovations.
That’s a short list of some of the enemies of innovation - there are lots more!
Jim Carroll is one of the world's leading international futurists, with a client list that ranges from Northrop Grumman to Rockwell Collins, Lincoln Financial to RGA Reinsurance, and the Walt Disney Organization to NASA. He loves to golf, but isn’t very good at it, which caused him some amazement when he was invited to open the 94th Annual General Meeting of the Professional Golf Association of America last November, to challenge 500 golf pros to think about innovation and future trends. Jim was the first speaker the PGA has ever engaged to speak at its annual meeting.
bureaucrats: Their job is simply to shut down ideas, get people to fill out forms, and reduce the everyday work experience to a series of mind-numbing tasks.
stock markets: They cause too many senior executives to spend their time thinking about short-term hits that can keep the stock price up, rather than working on the big bets that can provide for transformative opportunities. No wonder so many organizations are going private!
job descriptions: They reduce the role of people to a narrowly defined set of activities and small goals. I’ve encountered few organizations where innovation success is actually enshrined into the job description, let alone the HR reward system.
mission statements: They can be a great thing to give everyone an overall sense of purpose. On the other hand, most organizations don’t update and refresh them, which means that in many cases, the mission statement has nothing to do with what the organization actually needs to be doing.
strategic planning: Some organizations get so caught up in the process of strategic planning that they never get beyond the planning stage. Where do you think the phrases “analysis paralysis” comes from - organizations are busy analyzing things as part of their planning process!
lone wolves: They’re often folks who can lead innovation, since they can have the brilliant ideas that are the spark for greatness. On the other hand, they can become so blinded by their belief that they refuse to accept the ideas and insight of anyone else, forgetting that collaboration is often at the root of all great innovations.
That’s a short list of some of the enemies of innovation - there are lots more!
Jim Carroll is one of the world's leading international futurists, with a client list that ranges from Northrop Grumman to Rockwell Collins, Lincoln Financial to RGA Reinsurance, and the Walt Disney Organization to NASA. He loves to golf, but isn’t very good at it, which caused him some amazement when he was invited to open the 94th Annual General Meeting of the Professional Golf Association of America last November, to challenge 500 golf pros to think about innovation and future trends. Jim was the first speaker the PGA has ever engaged to speak at its annual meeting.
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