We all know change is necessary to remain relevant in a constantly changing world. And in the ideal situation, everyone within your organisation takes part in this important journey. But innovating requires a lot of your people. After all, it is pretty scary to deviate from the familiar path to do something you don’t yet know (very well). How do you get your employees and your organisation as a whole into the right mindset? And what is the best approach: to innovate in a fixed team or organisation-wide? With this article innovation consultant Gijs van Zon helps you to find your own way.
An underpinned foundation
“A misconception I encounter quite often is that companies think they have to innovate. Our competition is doing it, so we need to do it too – that sort of idea. This may be true, but innovating as an organisation is not a goal in and of itself. It is a trajectory that emerges in a logical line from the purpose for which your organisation was created.
If you innovate in this way, it’s easier to get your people on board. After all, you’re building on a story they already know, and that makes it less scary or strange. So, my advice is: start from the vision and ambition of your organisation and translate this into strategic goals and frameworks. What developments do we envisage in the market, what is our role in this, where do we see ourselves in three, five, or ten years? And who or what do we need to achieve that?
Share these frameworks in your organisation, so that everyone feels included and your employees feel part of the journey. What can I do or contribute to make this ambition a reality? What is my place in this vision? These are questions to which your employees are looking for answers. After all, everyone wants to do something that has value, and this is how you help them find that value (again). An added benefit: in this way, opportunities – regardless of the level or department of your organisation in which they arise – are also recognised and developed more quickly.”
Start small and communicate
“Change is not something you do overnight. Start with one specific goal and with a select group of people in your organisation. Choose low-hanging fruit; opportunities that are up for grabs in your organisation and that produce returns relatively quickly. Share your experiences, ask for input and allow other colleagues to contribute ideas to make it relevant to them. For example, provide demos of the experiments you’re rolling out and what you’ve accomplished with them. Show what was successful, but also certainly where the experiment showed that the idea had failed. Often, this is where the most interesting lessons are to be found.
I can hear you thinking: “But we want to see fast results everywhere!” You achieve that precisely by starting small. Believe me: small steps forward are the key to change in any organisation. Especially when you’re aiming for good and lasting results. Realise that this is necessary to bring about structural change in your organisation. You will see that this leads to more and more people in your organisation becoming enthusiastic about your new way of working. So, keep communicating. Take the people with you. Until it becomes commonplace for everyone.”
Choose what suits your business
“If you ask me, it works best to use your own people to make changes in your organisation. In fact, it ensures that you have and retain much-needed knowledge in-house. But where to start? Because yes, change is and remains scary!
Bringing in an outside party can be a great idea to kickstart your innovations. They have specific knowledge that may be missing from your own organisation at the beginning. But preferably choose a mixed form, so that you always keep track of how certain steps come about. At Freshheads, we do just that. For our clients, for example, we do interviews with the end users of potential digital services to find out their needs. Those conversations always include someone from our client. At a certain point, things change around. They do the interviews and we just help with the preparation. In this way, the client acquires indispensable knowledge directly and will be able to understand how results are produced and how they can be translated into the next experiment or prototype. Being fully in control as an organisation is the result. The next step? Carry on with the changes that have been initiated, with or without outside help – but above all with your own people.”
Gijs van Zon is an innovation consultant at Freshheads. Together with the client, he looks at whether everything is in place for innovation projects to succeed: the right people with the right expertise, the ability to scale up if it’s a success or to pull the plug in time if the project fails.