2/6/2014

Overcoming the Resistance to Innovate

Categories: Innovation

In the delivery of our services, one of the more common questions we get asked by municipal officials is “How do we improve our operations?” More often than not, the line of conversation flows into a story about the good knights of change being thwarted by the evil dragons out to destroy everything that is good in government. I smile and wait for the next comment “Dave, we really need to come up with better ideas.”

Nothing in world of business is more overrated than a good idea.

It seems that wherever we go and to whom ever we meet, given a little prompting and encouragement, we are presented with more good ideas than can possibly used. Indeed, most organizations enjoy a surplus, a glut of good ideas. As a rule, a glut of something makes it less valuable, not more. Economics 101.

By contrast, I have never gone into an organization where the process of implementing good ideas was fast, cheap, easy and successful. There appears to be a scarcity or famine of good implementations.

Simply put, good ideas are cheap; good implementations are not. Experience has taught us that we do not need better ideas which make more sense. We need better implementations that make or save more money. If organizations can boost their productivity by focusing more on good implementations than good ideas, than that’s where they should apply their efforts.

Despite the fervent hopes of bright people with brilliant ideas, successful innovation cannot be divorced from successful implementation.

The best insights into innovation cultures do not come from the quantity and quality of its ideas, but in the nature of the resistance to their successful implementation. Whenever a good idea is proposed, you will find the core value of an innovation culture in the words that follow this common phrase: “we cannot do that because……”

Whatever reasons, excuses and evasions people use to explain away why good ideas cannot be implemented is the organization’s innovation culture. Period. We cannot do that because… it is too expensive, the boss will not like it, the attorneys will not let us, it is not in the budget, we do not think it will work, the vendor will charge us too much for changing the code, the person championing the project is a credit hog, it distracts us from our main mission and so on.

It is human nature to resist.

Sound familiar? These explanations are the real attributes of an organization’s innovation culture. Listen to them, learn them and respect them. They are how an organization truly defines innovation. Do not fool yourself in thinking you are just a good idea away from innovative success. Resistance, not ideas, is the most powerful lens for viewing innovation behavior.

Doubt that? Most people in the Western World are significantly overweight. Perhaps you are one of them. Fortunately there is a proven algorithm, a very good idea for successfully alleviating this condition. Eat less and exercise more. To no avail, only a small fraction of this population regularly implements this very good idea.

But honestly, how good is the idea of eating less and exercising more if so few people implement it? The economic value of an idea, if it is indeed a good idea, lies more in its successful implementation than its clever articulation.

Just as actions speak louder than words, implementations are more compelling than ideas. The infinite permutations and combinations of how people cheat on their diet or exercise program is insightful to the organizational frictions innovation can generate. After all, liposuction is one of the world’s fastest-growing surgical procedures for a reason. It really is faster, cheaper, easier and more successful than “eat bless and exercise more”.

Consequently, the real challenge we face as consultants is the challenge of diagnosing and overcoming organizational resistance. When you hear, “We cannot do that because it will be too expensive”, the serious innovator’s obligation is to demonstrate that in fact, the proposed innovation is cheaper. Build a demo or simulation that makes the case. Offering a “better” idea in response to the objection will not do that.

When the resistance is that the boss will not like it, the appropriate response is to determine if the boss’s boss is a more appropriate person to speak with. Perhaps some other constituency can make the boss see the effectiveness of the innovation.

However resistance is overcome, it must be overcome. The models, simulations or prototypes we build are not as much mechanisms to solve problems than ways in which to surface the real reasons for resistance. Insight and experience tells us that individuals and organizations do not hesitate to offer less than accurate or non-confrontational reasons for not wanting to implement an idea.

As managers, the smartest thing we can do to boost the chances of success in having change implemented is to invest less time in brainstorming and more thought in targeting the sources of resistance to innovation. Innovation initiatives should have clear strategies in how internal resistance will be identified and finessed. Overcoming resistance should be the driving dynamic for implementing innovations within the enterprise.

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