Canadian HR Reporter

STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK'S PANEL of thought leaders brings decades of experience from the senior ranks of Canada's business community. eir commentary puts HR management issues into context and looks at the practical implications of proposals and policies. CANADIAN HR REPORTER December 14, 2015 EXECUTIVE SERIES 11 www.scnetwork.ca Getting those innovative juices flowing GROW OR DIE — this is the mantra of to- day's organizations. Easy to say, hard to do. It's hard because it involves change and many employees, especially the most senior execu- tives, are averse to change because it is associated with risk. Take the person at the very top, for instance. Why would she welcome change? She thinks she has the most at stake and, in her mind, there is only one way to go — down. So, instead, many executives just sit there, watching the world go by. And the world is definitely go- ing by, whether they like it or not. We have only to think of Sears, IBM, Motorola and even McDon- ald's, for example. Can you imag- ine the amount of brain-power each of these companies possess- es and how each could have used it much more effectively? e only way these companies are going to get back in the game is by buying their way in, through acquisitions. It would take too long to reinvent their way back or try to change their current cultures. It's hard to imagine how they must feel when they witness what young startups are able to accomplish on shoestring budgets — feats these old stalwarts could have financed out of petty-cash alone, but didn't. Look at BlackBerry. Once the world's leader in smartphones, now it's having to completely re- invent itself from the ground up, just to stay alive. Luckily, a few years ago, it bought QNX Soft- ware Systems, which is now en- abling BlackBerry to completely metamorphose itself from being a hardware company to a software and cloud services provider. The one key common com- ponent each of these companies lacked was a culture of innova- tion. In order to grow, companies must change; and to change, they must innovate; and to innovate, they must create an innovative culture. How? Well, they have to tackle these three requirements in re- verse order — beginning with culture, because without a cul- ture that embraces innovation, the other two preconditions are impossible. But are employees receptive to working for organizations that are constantly changing? As an an- swer, just ask Google (or Alphabet as it's now called). Here's a com- pany that started off as a simple search engine provider that now boasts at least 186 subsidiaries. This kind of innovation and growth explains why there is a steady stream of bright, talented, hopeful people beating a path to Alphabet's door, eager to shape the future of the world. It's cer- tainly not because Alphabet has the best ping-pong tables or the best hot lunches. It's because Al- phabet is changing our world and these people want to be a part of it. People are driven by their emo- tions. Consultants such as Brady Wilson and his aptly named com- pany, Juice, know that in order to create a culture that encourages and rewards people to go beyond their normal engagement level to one of passion, they must be en- ergize. And he lists 10 ways on his website. Here are a few other sugges- tions to get the innovative juices flowing: Practise equality: No matter what a person's position, he must know his job is no more impor- tant, nor less important, than anyone else's. Each person just has different areas of responsibility. Include everyone in goal-set- ting: To maximize buy-in from all employees, they have to feel com- mitted. How? Have them actively participate in creating the plan. Balance responsibility with authority: When an employee is assigned a set of responsibilities, she must also be given the author- ity to carry these out. Change is constant: Getting people to step outside their sphere of comfort can be challenging. So management should think of the change process as a series of con- centric rings on a disc. e goal is to help this person move from the outermost ring to the innermost. Because of a person's sensitivity to change, the best approach is to help him move to the next adja- cent groove only. Before long, the centre and final ring is reached. en, the focus should be on what was accomplished overall, and the typical response is "Great, let's keep going." Change perspectives: Look at the organization through different eyes; through various employees' eyes, customers' eyes, suppliers' and the other stakeholders in- volved. What would each of them like to see done better? Be proactive: Being reactive is a loser's game. Only by proactively innovating and moving forward can a team truly gel and achieve sustainable success. Every employee wants to make a difference. Every organization wants to survive and grow. It's up to management to marry these desires together and release the passion to make it happen. Morgan Smyth is an SCNetwork thought leader and a change manage- ment consultant who launched his own IT services company which soared to Profit Magazine's 50 Fastest Grow- ing Companies. He is based in Toronto and can be reached at msmyth@brae- gen.com. What makes creative energy so elusive? BRADY WILSON'S vision is to create a world where businesses pulsate with creative energy. No surprise that his focus is to teach organizations how to build the flow of energy by un- locking people's potential to achieve A.B.C.D. or go "Above and Beyond the Call of Duty." For Wilson, this means employers have to begin by stimulating inno- vative thinking. In my experience, this is a tough yet not insurmount- able feat that requires leadership to have courageous patience. Innovation can never be a one- time event. It has to be a continu- ing, never-ending practice. Or- ganizations need to continuously change; maintaining the status quo does not build great compa- nies, increase revenue growth or deliver that tantalizing competi- tive advantage. It's intriguing that leadership continues to require and expect more innovation, with fewer and fewer resources. So what makes innovation so elusive? We know people want to be given the opportunity to think for themselves, to know where they fit in the bigger picture and to know how they can play a more meaningful part. We also know it's no longer good enough to believe an organization's vi- sion, mission and strategic plan is all it needs to automatically in- spire people to deliver innovative solutions. Often, leadership makes the mistake of selling people on in- novation as being a fun and cre- ative activity. And leadership believes that by choosing spe- cific managers to be "innovative champions" and using new tools and processes, innovative ideas will naturally happen. e reality is that quick, feel- good brainstorming sessions do not enable people to promptly and relentlessly change the way they think or see. Innovation is about looking beyond limited thinking patterns, habits and beliefs, find- ing new angles and raising new questions and new possibilities. Encouraging and enabling people to unleash their creative minds requires a process that goes beyond any brainstorming ses- sion. Both Google and Apple are consummate examples of how or- ganizations can drive sustainable and long-term innovative results. Both continue to achieve re- cord-breaking results that other organizations have yet to match. Both organizations have made working on possibilities the new standard of thinking and doing. ey know how to harness and leverage people's creativity in a way that many other organiza- tions discount and even avoid. To some extent, innovation is a paradox. So many times, leader- ship wants people's brilliant and different ideas, however, they don't necessarily have the patience or confidence in letting it happen. Sometimes, they can let the sense of urgency impose quick results or a quick fix. Innovation, however, is an in- cremental process and entails hard work. People have to stay fo- cused, be persistent, diligent and fully committed. e easiest part of innovation is the creative problem-solving part, the first step in the process. Unless there is a process to manage ideas, leadership runs the risk of wasting not only the content, but also the goodwill that comes with it. e challenge can be in man- aging the flood of ideas people generate. Selecting the best ideas, and implementing and executing them, can call for the reallocation of resources from other key strate- gies and priorities. If people see no follow-through on the implementation and exe- cution of their ideas, discourage- ment and skepticism can surface. People have to know they can be bold in their thinking, confi- dent and unselfish in expressing their ideas and thoughts, trusting with their collaboration and have absolute permission to question everything and anything. A cul- ture of innovation calls for mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual influence. A final thought to mull over comes from author and consul- tant Edward de Bono: "An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea." Trish Maguire is a commentator for SCNetwork on leadership in action and founding principal of Synergyx Solutions in Nobleton, Ont., focused on high-potential leadership develop- ment coaching. She has held senior leadership roles in HR and OD in education, manufacturing and entre- preneurial firms. She can be reached at synergyx@sympatico.ca. Morgan Smyth Leadership in Action Trish Maguire Leadership In Action Join our professional community of Canadian HR & Organizational Leaders: • Connecting @ monthly events • Collaborating with peers • Challenging conventional thinking The Power of Human Capital CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP FOR 35 YEARS Great Leaders GROW www.scnetwork.ca

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