Golden Eagle
Last weekend, a Golden Eagle flew by very close to me during a hike. It was wandering around. Did you know that most Eagles spend 80% of their time resting and perching and 20% soaring to scan the environment? It is often during that 20% that they come across essential resources that guarantee their survival, such as prey or a safe nesting spot.
Why is it that wandering around has developed such a negative connotation in humanly constructed organizations and systems? Our obsessions with efficiency and future telling contribute to it. We want to predict the future. But even experts in forecasting are reluctant to look 400 days out, and that’s with exhaustive analysis. Innovation is called out and seeked after for the survival of any organization and at the same time hindered by complicated structures and rigid plans. All of that knowing that adaptability is a must to navigate complex and volatile environments.
You will most likely read this and still think...that’s great, but we have so much to do that we don’t get the luxury of innovating or wandering around. That’s the point I want to dispute. Whenever we have a group of people working together, there’s always going to be the need of coordinating efforts to be productive. Of course that’s important and needs to be looked after! But we can be productive in a way that also encourages creativity. Our creative selves are happier when we play an active role in solving problems. That is complementary and necessary for running a well functioning organization. Find here a few tips that I have learnt over the years and can help multiply the contributions of you and your team towards innovation:
Have a strategy to anchor efforts. A strategic framework provides guidance to teams on what’s important to prioritize. As your organization or team matures and grows in size, the strategy typically becomes more stable. Always be open to changing it when there’s big changes in conditions that require it. Regardless of how stable it becomes, give it a shake, at least every two years. Scenario planning provides great tools to engage teams in this exercise. Even more useful than the outcome of it, it is the process of cultivating a culture where individuals discuss trends and uncertain factors, practice critical thinking and prepare to adapt in case possibilities become a reality.
Build a roadmap for the big rocks. Big initiatives are likely to require cross-functional alignment with different individuals and teams with competing priorities. Align those upfront with the understanding of where trade offs are possible. Get to the common acknowledgement and commitment that trade offs are not only possible but will most likely be needed. Building the roadmap is a very critical part. Grooming a backlog and constantly updating it as new information and new needs appear will be critical to stay relevant. Create on-going forums of discussion with the right decision makers and experts to be able to shift.
Size it small. Even the big rocks should not take longer than 2 Quarters to complete. When I see a project roadmap that lasts more than 6 months my eyebrows always go up together with my skepticism. Sizing smaller gives us greater adaptability. It doesn’t mean that an effort should not ever be longer than that. It’s about testing, learning and moving on to the next phase. This simple rule of thumb forces us to stay nimble and don’t get too attached. It minimizes the chances of stagnation and political logrolling.
Keep 20% of time to experiment and wander around. Don’t let the big rocks and the day to day small task take 100 % of everyone’s time. Yes, 20% is arbitrary so make it whatever % works in your context. I chose 20% as a way to start taking control of a small but still significant part of my time. We often feel the victims of our circumstances and put the blame elsewhere for not having the time to be creative. Nobody will make the time for us. As creative beings, we need to claim that time! Innovation won’t happen without experimentation. And experimentation is a great way to play and wander around. Design thinking and a customer centric approach will bring us closer to understanding the real challenges people face. Prototyping and learning quickly without the obsession of hitting certain marks will increase our chances of coming across the next big idea.
Open a forum for new ideas to pour in. Ideally with the same decision makers and experts that helped build the initial roadmap. Keep the business cases with new ideas coming and let everyone come in to present. I have seen “shark tank” type of forums work really well. Provide teams guidance on the criteria that will help decision making but don’t make it too complicated to raise new concepts afloat. Teams that experiment will get more of their ideas resourced and prioritized. They will have MVPs and prototypes.They will be able to share end user feedback and early results.
What are you waiting for? Start thinking of that hypothesis that has been hovering your mind and you did not dare to give a try. Gain control of your creative spirit, put a team together, experiment and bring innovation to life.