This is the last entry in the "Blueprint for Success" series for me. So, rather than dive into various technologies and trends, I decided to concentrate on the one thing that is different for every organization and makes the biggest impact: our people.
[Blueprint for Success: Are You Experienced?]
In my first two columns, the focus was on the individual. That's certainly important, but we all have to function as a team to really become that game-changing organization that climbs mountains, works through pain, solves problems that seem to be unsolvable at first glance, and leaps tall buildings in a single bound. You get the picture. How do we bring people together as a team and keep innovating?
From the Top
Just because we have the right people in a department does not make them a team. If the team's only interaction is the weekly “team” meeting, it’s not a team.
That doesn’t mean those employees are ineffectual or poor team players; it merely indicates there’s room for improvement, such as building on each other’s strengths and team roles to innovate and improve outputs. It doesn’t matter what area of responsibility—engineering, operations, marketing, or accounts payable—every group can be more effective. But it takes time, commitment, and teamwork to make it happen.
[On Your Business: Technology Isn't Enough]
Fostering a sense of team starts with the leadership. Leaders need to identify and document core principles and clearly communicate them to the team. Keep them simple, easy to remember, and no more than five. However, cultivating teams takes effort and intention well beyond establishing goals and responsibilities.
Leaders need to foster a sense of two-way trust—trusting that the team can attain its goals and trusting in leadership that the team will be supported, especially if (when?) things go sideways. Trust is not always easy to come by. You have to hire the right people for the right jobs, build up trust over time as people meet their commitments and deadlines, and see management supporting them in various ways if they need help.
Leaders need to remember that part of their job is “herding cats.” People have lives outside of work, and emotions and personalities can clash. Leaders need to be sympathetic when situations occur outside of employees’ control (COVID-19, anyone?). Developing an open communication style is crucial to team members being comfortable sharing problems in a timely manner before they become bigger problems.
Open Culture Is a Must
To cultivate a culture of innovation, everyone has to feel empowered to share thoughts and ideas, however crazy they may be. Instead of immediately jumping to why an idea won't work, ask how we can make it work. This change in approach is what breeds innovation. The culture that breeds innovation will not only listen to someone’s idea but will look for ways to make it work or (even better) improve on the idea.
Consider recent or past scenarios when you have seen this or been a part of it. Now think of ways you can participate more openly and inclusively, such as asking clarifying questions. Use phrases like "tell me more" or inquire about other use cases. Ask what needs or problems this addresses—and how you can help move the idea forward.
All this comes before diving into the technical details of how it works. This approach works far beyond new products or gadgets. It can be applied to any kind of business process, such as reducing the number of technical support calls, streamlining the RMA process, or improving on-time delivery.
Spoiler alert for executives and senior management: Very rarely does any one person hold the keys to all the best ways to innovate. If you genuinely want innovation to be a core element of the company's DNA, everyone must feel free to participate and contribute to the innovation process.
[Editorial: AI Can Help Us All Be Lions]
If not, your limitations as a company will rest with you or perhaps a few individuals, which is not a company culture but the culture of a small group of individuals. With this, you may be successful in your mind; however, could you be even more successful in building a culture that enlists the rest of the company? The good news is there’s a high probability of that happening if you hire the right people.
Making the Dream Work
Hiring external candidates brings new ways of thinking and experiences that can positively challenge processes and approaches. Company culture, and by extension, traditions, help define what a company stands for. But sometimes traditions need to be challenged or re-verified as the best way forward.
Constructive conversations between team members questioning the status quo should be encouraged within reason. However, once a decision has been made about the path forward, it’s equally important that team members respect the decision and move on.
Spoiler alert for executives and senior management: Very rarely does any one person hold the keys to all the best ways to innovate.
Maintaining long-term engagement within a team can be a daunting task. Whether a company or a department is purpose-driven or performance-driven, it's crucial to keep the team aligned with the overarching core principles.
For purpose-driven teams, leaders must be adept at articulating the answer to the question, “What is our purpose?” This doesn’t diminish the importance of meeting deadlines and deliverables, but it does provide a deeper sense of inspiration for those working in purpose-driven companies.
Performance-driven companies can be more challenging environments for innovation and highly effective teams because the culture emphasizes individual output. Creating quantifiable parameters for (future) tasks can be challenging and stress-inducing, making employees risk-averse if they miss their performance targets. This can be difficult for some in management and individual contributors to grasp, because many of us have been brought up in a different culture that has shifted a fair amount over the years.
All of this information may seem fairly intuitive, but it is very hard to implement and maintain in practice. Everyone needs to participate actively, with leaders in all aspects of the business playing a crucial role in ensuring it stays part of the company's DNA.
[Viewpoint: Making AI Connections]
Keeping the culture fresh and innovative always has to be front of mind. Success often breeds complacency, and when companies become complacent, there's often a younger, leaner competitor waiting in the wings to help themselves to underserved customers. Team-centric innovation, the ability to try new things, to fail gracefully, and to celebrate even small wins, is what elevates marketplace leaders.
