Innovation and Change, the ability to evolve

Innovation and change are so important to the success and sustainability of any organisation. It’s not possible to solve new problems with old solutions in a constantly evolving landscape, which is why innovation is a necessity. It provides the fuel to adapt to shifting market dynamics, address evolving consumer preferences, and stay ahead of competitors.

However, organisations that pursue innovation for its own sake, without a clear purpose or alignment to core business objectives or genuine market needs, can face many challenges and pitfalls. Blindly seeking innovation can squander resources, dilute competitive strengths, and risk the organisation straying from its vision. Whilst innovation is undeniably the lifeblood of any organisation, its true value comes from ensuring it is relevant, practical, and ties in with overarching goals and strategies.

Why Innovation and Change is Important

Embracing innovation and change allows organisations to seize new opportunities, improve efficiency, and build resilience against challenges that are unknown and unforeseen. Here are some compelling reasons for organisations to innovate:

Long-Term Survival

Industries change, and without innovation, even once-successful businesses can become obsolete. Innovation ensures that organisations adapt and evolve, securing their position in the future.

Attracting and Retaining Talent

A culture of innovation is appealing to prospective employees and helps retain top talent. Innovative environments tend to be dynamic and provide opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Adapting to External Changes

External factors, such as regulatory changes, technological advancements, or shifts in global markets, often require companies to innovate to remain compliant and competitive.

Driving Revenue and Growth

Innovation often leads to the development of new products or services, opening additional revenue streams and opportunities for business expansion.

Risk Management

Innovation can also be a form of diversification, spreading risks across different products, markets, or technologies.

Organisations that innovate can differentiate themselves from competitors creating innovative products, services, or processes that provide an edge and make it difficult for competitors to catch up. More importantly, as customer needs and preferences change, evolving to meet these needs ensures you remain relevant to your existing base and have the edge to attract new customers. Treehouse has a researched and tested (with the Ministry of Defence!) approach to generating game-changing or ‘generation after next’ future concepts called Imaginate. Use Imaginate if you want to outsource innovation instead of or alongside developing your own people’s capability.

Cultivating a Culture of Innovation

Creating a culture of innovation drives an organisation forward and fosters an environment where employees feel valued, motivated, and engaged. This leads to increased contributions from employees. However, it can’t be a half-hearted effort, to achieve a culture of innovation organisations must genuinely commit to creating an environment that supports and reinforces innovative values.

This is where the Treehouse Contribution Curve, a management and leadership competency framework, can offer invaluable insights and guidance. This framework empowers managers and their teams to become top contributors within their organisations. The Contribution Curve consists of five levels, each representing an ascending level of managerial proficiency. As managers ascend the curve, their impact on their team, colleagues and the organisation's success amplifies. With their growing ability to make a positive difference, both they and their team flourish.

Innovation and Change at the 5 Levels of Contribution

Reacting

Managers at the bottom end of the contribution curve are too busy reacting to day-to-day issues and putting out fires to see the benefit of innovating within the team/department. When it comes to change, reacting managers resist making any adjustments, believing it will obstruct both their own efficiency and that of their team. These managers react to change only when it is forced upon them.

Controlling

A manager at the controlling stage is skilful at pinpointing inefficiencies in processes or customer interactions and creating innovation opportunities to improve how their team operates daily.

When it comes to change, the main aim of the manager is to shape their team’s reaction to change and the potential disruption it can cause. While it’s not possible to directly influence the change, they guide their team on how to respond to it positively. These managers proactively coach their teams, addressing both their emotional and practical reactions to change.

Directing

In the directing phase of the contribution curve, managers begin to actively champion a culture of innovation. They nurture individuals who drive innovative initiatives and work towards embedding innovation throughout their team. These forward-thinking managers recognise the business advantages that innovation brings. While the initial phases of innovation might present challenges, these managers understand that the long-term business benefits far outweigh these temporary hurdles.

When it comes to change, these managers adopt a calculated approach. They evaluate its implications for themselves, their projects, and their teams. Based on this assessment, they tailor their response to wider change and determine how to shape the reactions of others, such as their team and peers.

Facilitating

Managers at the facilitation stage of the contribution curve play a pivotal role in fostering a culture of innovation. They not only lead in nurturing new ideas but also inspire the organisation to think differently. These managers actively seek to champion innovation by organising and coordinating collaboration with their peers across the organisation.

When it comes to change, these managers evaluate it within a broader context, particularly focusing on the complexities of hybrid working. While hybrid working has become the norm, not all organisational structures, communication flows, or working practices are ideally aligned to support it. Although many organisations have made immediate and mid-term adjustments, the deeper-seated ways of working, such as how teams communicate, collaboration, office layouts, and inherent work habits, still require transformation.

Facilitating managers delve into these deeper aspects of hybrid working. They consider the long-term implications on the organisational, communication methods, and the overall dynamics of teamwork. Their role involves anticipating and addressing the needs of different audiences within the organisation, ensuring that the change to a sustained hybrid work environment is seamless and effective.

Leading

As forward-thinkers, these managers act as internal entrepreneurs, championing an ethos of innovation throughout their ecosystem. Rather than focusing inwards, their attention spans across the broader ecosystem, encompassing customers, suppliers and industry stakeholders.

These visionaries can identify emerging opportunities, have good customer insights, swiftly detect shifts in market conditions, and recognise new potential capabilities within the organisation. By connecting these dots, they can identify potential new revenue streams.

As the book Rocket Fuel[i] suggests, a successful business often requires two distinct leaders – the Visionary and the Integrator. When these two leaders work in tandem, they can propel a company to great success, much like how rocket fuel propels a rocket. The Visionary dreams big, thinks about the organisation’s long-term strategy, and often sees the big picture. They are the source of inspiration and ideas. The integrator excels in execution and turns the Visionary’s ideas into reality.

Leading managers have a clear vision for the future and are always seeking ways to establish meaningful connections that can benefit the organisation. Their deep understanding of customer needs is complemented by their ability to collaborate with integrators, who help translate their visionary ideas into tangible results.

When it comes to change, leading managers proactively address the evolving business case for change. They assess potential future scenarios, determine the necessary organisational responses and formulate actionable plans accordingly.

These managers are good at recognising when the business case requires modification. They champion the necessary changes, navigating the organisation through the process. Their role involves making tough decisions and trade-offs, understanding that an organisation can't pursue every opportunity. They weigh the options available, predicting the future outcomes of each choice. The best decision might be a challenging one, but they recognise its necessity.

A significant obstacle many organisations face is the reluctance of leaders to make hard choices. The most impactful decisions might involve job losses or cause considerable change. However, at the leading stage, it's necessary that managers can make and stand by these tough decisions, ensuring the organisation has a clear future roadmap.

[i] Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters

How does an organisation become more innovative?

Innovation starts with people. For an organisation to be truly innovative, the majority of people (66%!) need to be actively engaged in either fostering or enabling innovation.

• Enabling Innovation - is the ability to innovate oneself or facilitate others to innovate.

• Fostering Innovative Cultures - the ability to shape a culture in which innovation can flourish.

It’s as simple as that. All your people need to be doing one or the other. If not, what are they doing to contribute to innovation? But do your people know how to foster an innovative culture or actively enable and facilitate innovation? Treehouse can help develop knowledge and skills to do just that.

Dive deeper into Enabling and Fostering innovation below:

Innovation and Change Management Courses

Innovation and Change Management Theme Articles