Do you really want to work in an innovative organization?
We’re experiencing a period in which the speed at which change is adopted, is more relevant than ever. I would always hear my fellow IT friends that the organization in which they are working is not innovative enough or that they don’t even find an innovative organization.
Numerous start-ups and F̶A̶A̶N̶G̶ MAMAA(Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet) capitalize on this subject, I dare to say even some governments. One important aspect that needs to be understood is that innovation can be seen as constant improvement or as a breakthrough.
What kind of innovation?
One of the most familiar forms of innovation is product innovation (where a product sees an improvement in terms of features), followed by social innovation(in which the way consumers interact with the product is changed), and last but not least is the process innovation(improvements in the delivery methods).
Understand innovation?
Innovation is never a monolith or a single event, even though is a breakthrough, usually, innovation is a process that leads to the crystallization of an idea, which means that most probably you need to invest a big chunk of capital in terms of time (your time).
Foster innovation.
In order to create and sustain a culture of innovation, you need to subject yourself to introspection, even more, you should ask the right questions.
The simplest recipe (not the only one) would be something like:
Identify challenges, try to find ideas to solve them, and last but not least validate those ideas with your peers.
Research and development.
Everyone (or at least almost everyone) wants to take pride in working in an R&D department.
This set of activities differs from one organization to another, but one main and common aspect is that the R&D department might not know in advance exactly how to accomplish the desired results. Thus you must be very flexible and embrace uncertainty as part of your daily work.
Understand the complexity.
As a closing note, I will share with you the story of Bohr–Einstein debates which shows exactly how convoluted is the path to innovation. The technological boom during the ’90s is the direct result of those innovative debates that led to the discovery of things like transistors and microchips. So if you expect quickly gather the fruits of innovations you might need to think twice.
