FireFly Facilitation

Innovation can be spelled with a capital “I” – culturally imbedded across well-known companies such as Apple, P&G, Google and Starbucks – or with a small “i” – going on everyday in many less-recognized companies and myriad teams across the country. So what can we learn from the big innovation players?

Apple – Be very clear on your innovation philosophy.   Apple has a clear focus on the customer experience; design takes priority.  Whenever I ask audiences to share what comes to mind when they hear the word “innovation”, Apple is always named.  We can also see Apple as a cautionary tale – if innovation is too wrapped up in one person. You saw the stock price dip (not only for Apple, but for the tech sector in general) when the world learned Steve Jobs had cancer – because he is seen as the creative genius behind all their new product development.  In fact, I have it on very good authority that he is the leader of a 10-person creative team that is the sole inspiration behind all their incredible new products.

Google – Make time for employee innovation.  Very different than the perceived “lone creative genius model” of Apple, Google believes in making innovation everyone’s responsibility.  You have likely heard they allow their employees to spend 20% of their time away from their “real jobs” to focus on their pet projects. You might have just marked that up to their being one of those “weird, California, bring-your-dog-to-work and get-a-back-massage” kind of companies.  But you want to know the real reason Google does it?  The founders tracked the progress of of ideas they had backed versus ones executed in the ranks without support from above.  What did they find? There is a higher success rate with ideas that came from lower in the ranks.  Maybe the ideas were better or maybe it’s just because the commitment to execute was higher.

Proctor & Gamble – High-tech companies aren’t the only innovators.  Very different from these other companies, P&G is an old company with (in many cases) “old” brands and products.  This company has to find new ways to make money in mature markets.   They have an incredible success rate for their new product introductions – but it wasn’t always that way.  It went from 1 in every 6 new product introductions having a positive ROI when AG Lafley took over as CEO in 2000 (about standard for the consumer packaged goods industry) to 1 out of every 2 new product introductions today.  How?  Like Jobs, Lafley had a laser-sharp focus on understanding the consumer needs & he established disciplined, repeatable, and scalable innovation processes.  He also moved the responsibility and source for innovation outside the walls of R&D, and even outside the walls of their own company. Innovation is now completely embedded in their organization.  It is the way they do business.

Starbucks – There is room in the innovation tent for both left-brain and right-brain thinking.  CEO  Howard Shultz had always run the business based on intuition.  Now with the tougher marketplace, he’s having to gather more data.   During one such deep dive into the data, he discovered they were wasting millions in milk since they don’t resteam milk for product safety reasons.  Did they go with a high-tech solution?  No – one of the employees suggested they simply etch a line on the inside of measuring pitchers versus having the barista’s wing it.  According to an interview with Shultz, this became an incredible internal succcess story – and led to more small changes with huge impacts.

Summary:

• Be very clear on your innovation philosophy. 
• Make time for employee innovation. 
• High-tech companies aren’t the only innovators.
• There is room in the innovation tent for both left-brain and right-brain thinking.  

Three more very doable ways to start a fire under your team today – get better results and more engagement tomorrow!

Make meetings fun, exciting, and inviting. Get team members to bring a creativity toy — interesting enough to engage your hands but not so fascinating that it’s distracting.  Use a whiteboard rather than the dreaded flipchart. Try techniques like mind-mapping (for left-brain thinkers) or brain-writing (for right-brain thinkers) to get creativity flowing. Make this team gathering the most engaging and productive time of the week.  Don’t laugh – it can happen if you really want it and make it a team priority.

Shine the light of accountability on your team. Even the most energetic, productive meeting means nothing if people don’t follow up the decisions they reach with action. As a team, create a common picture of what personal accountability looks like. Then, delegate very specific assignments to very specific people. Finally, set a date for a follow-up meeting in which everyone must report on whether they fulfilled their commitments, and if not, why not.

From time to time, escape the office for a creative excursion. In these stressful times, people need a break from their current reality to think about “what if”.  And I’m not talking about the stereotypical ropes course or fall-backwards-into-a-teammate’s-arms. I’ve led and participated in “adult field trips” to a plane manufacturing plant, a zoo, a firehouse, and a jazz jam session.  We learned how these unique teams worked together and solved problems – and then applied these lessons to our own team.  And they also help you see others on your team in a new light.

After reading this advice, you may be thinking, “Okay, all this talk of toys and trips to the zoo is fine for other companies or maybe other departments, but certainly not for my team. We’re struggling to stay alive. We just don’t have time for innovation.”

Guess what?  You’re absolutely wrong. You must make time for innovation.  Your survival depends on it.

Start small – just devote one hour of team time to a truly innovative brainstorming session. Not only are you likely to generate one or more immediately usable ideas, you will also have reengaged your people in the excitement of their work. All it takes is for one person to have a bright idea and pass it on to others—like the spark of a firefly that magically illuminates a dark night.

Here are 3 more specific things you can take action on right away to become a positive force for innovation on your team!

Deal with other, more insidious “trust busters,” too. One common behavior I see on teams that damages and limits trust is sarcasm disguised as humor.  In order to innovate, people must be able to connect with each other in a real, deeply personal way.  If one or more members (especially the leader) are constantly throwing barbs at other team members under the guise of humor, they’ll cause an erosion of trust.

Make sure quieter fireflies have a chance to glow. Certain people may naturally dominate the discussion while others tend to hang back and go with the flow.  If your big talkers are always allowed to verbally run over the quieter/less visible members of your team, the same ideas and solutions will always get implemented.  Instead, ask everyone to jot down their initial ideas in silence and then share them, round-robin style.  Ask people to speak in headlines.  Or ask everyone to “self-police” their participation levels.

As a team leader, don’t keep too tight a lid on the jar. Just as fireflies’ lights fade when they’re held captive, a leader who dominates and controls his or her team will squelch creativity.  Take deliberate steps not to do this. Don’t sit at the head of the table. Use positive reinforcement (both verbally and nonverbally). Don’t get into a prolonged conversation with only one or two other team members. Share your opinion on the topic last.

Last post I shared with you the importance of innovation to improve your bottom line and retain your top talent.  In this post, I will share with you the first 3 of 9 concrete steps  you can take to ignite innovation on your team.

Understand the (nonflashy) new role of leadership. First, establish a safe, respectful environment where individual creativity can emerge.  Next, focus that energy in the right direction based on the team’s core purpose and targeted goals.  To be successful today you must lead through inspiration and collaboration. Look at your current behaviors and decide which are helping you create a culture of engagement and which aren’t.  Start small—and stick with it.

Search for untapped talent on your team. Did you know that what look like plain old fireflies are actually comprised of more than 2,000 known species?  Well, likewise your employees are far more complex and unique than you might think.  Use proven tools like the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument to shine the light on these hidden talents.  Employees who are recognized as unique with significant contributions to make, become more engaged and passionate about their work.  It’s almost like hiring a team of new creative superstars.

Encourage productive conflict – aka “creative abrasion”. Are you uncomfortable with conflict in the workplace? Don’t be. Conflict is natural, expected, and can be a positive sign of diverse thinking on your team.  Keep the conflict focused on the issues and don’t let team members direct their ire at one another personally. Deal with ferocious fireflies, those toxic, manipulative employees who work hard to destroy trust and collaboration on the team.  You know who they are; the rest of the team does too.

The recession is in full swing and companies everywhere are feeling the pain. Yours is likely no exception. Shrinking budgets, sweeping layoffs, and a smothering malaise that’s settled over your workforce make it hard to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes, even the most optimistic leader finds him or herself wondering, Is there an end to this particular tunnel? Sure there is, but you’re going to have to excavate it yourself—and you’re going to have to light your own way.

Innovation is the only ticket out of this recession.  I’m not just talking about product development.  I’m talking about new services, business processes, means of communication, and methods of collaboration. Innovation is everyone’s job. It’s no longer the purview of R&D or marketing.  And it’s not one big initiative. It’s a lot of small changes and improvements that, together, make a big difference.

Ultimately, companies that can churn out innovative ideas—good, workable, innovative ideas—will be able to adapt to the new realities we face. Those that can’t, won’t.

The heart of innovation, of course, is people working together eagerly, intelligently, and productively. When this synergy happens, ideas pour forth like water from a newly tapped underground spring—or, as I like to say – fireflies showing up en masse at dusk.

I like to use the firefly metaphor—the image of children working together to catch these glowing creatures—to illustrate how successful teams use their individual talents collectively to focus on critical business challenges. (It fact, it’s the topic of my new book The Firefly Effect.)

So how can you deliberately create a more innovative culture—call it “Operation FireFly”— within your team or company?   Stay tuned – in the coming blogs, I will be sharing 9 targeted tips for lighting your way out of the recession.