Together We Innovate: Meet BIF-3 Storyteller Andrew Hargadon

BIF Research Advisor and BIF-3 Storyteller Andrew Hargadon co-wrote a good piece which appears in September's MIT Sloan Management Review. Together We Innovate outlines how companies can come up with new ideas. Bottom line: get employees working with one another. 

Organizing for innovation is the basic premise of Hargadon’s research. He shatters the accepted folklore that icons of innovation such as Henry Ford, Eli Whitney and Thomas Edison were "lone wolves" and inventors. In almost every case he’s researched, these inventors “borrowed” existing ideas and brought them together with the necessary people and materials to build on them. “Ford didn’t bother starting the Model T until he had 1500 sales agents on the ground,” he told me recently.

With our inappropriate fixation on invention, Hargadon says it’s time to stop chasing wholly new ideas and instead, focus on recombining old ideas in new ways:

“The idea that innovation must ‘break with the past’ acts as a barrier by forcing people to try to come up with entirely new ideas. And this is not something that people normally do. When it comes to innovation, we seem to be forgetting as much as we learn.”

Together We Innovate highlights 3 problems that stifle innovation: No communication (holistic approaches to idea generation and vetting are what's necessary); Insularity (formal lines of contact is critical among partners); and Bad Gatekeepers (it's not a good idea to have a handful of experts dominate your company's information and decision-making networks).

The article then moves on to provide 5 steps companies can take to clear those barriers and start producing innovative results:

1. Get the right people talking
2. Rapidly Test and Refine Ideas
3. Think Twice About Leadership
4. Make Collaboration Easy
5. Consider "Energy"

Of the five listed above, 'Consider Energy' is the secret sauce. Again from the article:

"Emotion plays a substantial role in networks. If you feel positively about a co-worker, you're more likely to turn to him or her for help and advice. And you're more likely to generate interesting ideas with that person than with someone who leaves you feeling drained or irritated. So, companies should map the energy and enthusiasm in their networks — in other words, ask people to say who leaves them feeling positively or negatively."

Companies - particularly large ones - don't like to deal with psychological issues. Relationship problems tend to be relegated to human resources. But the fact is, a particular cultural climate fosters innovation. It's important to hire people who maintain a broad interest in open-mindedly moving between worlds. As Andy told me, "Diversity of experience leads to understanding of the practices involved in institutionalizing innovation.”

RELATED:

• Andrew Hargadon will be sharing his story next week at our annual Collaborative Innovation Summit. The event is sold out but check back here at the BIFSpeak blog - we'll be live blogging throughout the event.