Improvement or Innovation?

Saw a thought provoking comment from Matt Bloom on the idea of innovation.  Matt is the Associate Professor of Management at Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame.

"Innovation is about thinking differently about those very things we know well that are deeply habitual in our lives (or company) and then dramatically changing them.  So part of innovation begins with a caveat. Innovation leads to radical change. Do we want to make radical change? If not, then let’s just improve things….You hope to have radical change, but you really aren’t ready to embrace this idea of thinking differently….So you’re better off just trying to improve what you’ve got.”

This is where leadership has a big challenge.  Many leaders are in their role because what they have done or tried has worked well and they want to duplicate the success.  We might tell our teams that we want them to be creative – but put too tight of restrictions on them to allow new ideas to transform the situation.  We frustrate our team giving the illusion of openness when we really already have in mind what we want.  A much more positive environment may be created by asking our teams for improvements to the process or idea instead of innovative solutions.

I think it also ties into the clear vision and expectations we share with our team.  The continuous improvement model is built on incremental changes that enhance existing services, products, and models.  We need to support and encourage ideas that improve what we already have.  The innovation model requires thinking differently at a high level and being prepared to take calculated and sustainable risks – even when it might challenge our own prior innovation.  Our teams need to know the expectation in advance.

Both models are valid and can claim successes – and we can also find times they were utilized in the wrong situation.  The key is knowing which one to communicate to your team to keep them engaged, focused, and on the right task.

What is your comfort level and what does your organization need – improvement or innovation?  How are you going to communicate the need?