Are we not all ‘entrepreneurs’ in a big company? Why not actively Disrupt and Innovate?
It is extremely energizing meeting incredibly competent people at the various companies that I visit. Fabulously talented, educated engineers, designers and other company employees at various ranks who ‘really’ know their business. They know how the products are build, their use applications and marketability. In addition they are uniquely connected with the customers and understand the customer’s needs and requirements. This applies to all companies that I meet. When I meet folks in Sales I love it, they are so connected and aware of the customer, their current and future needs.
Two additional things strike me about these employees:
- They know very well what parts of their products and services don’t work and what is lacking in the offerings.
- They have extremely creative ideas about new offerings. They are great advocates of disruption in order to innovate. True members of the Culture of Disruption. Their energy is inspiring!
However, it becomes clear that these same individuals do not embark on disruption to innovation in their respective companies and roles. In fact, a good while ago they stopped being disruptive and innovative. There are many reasons often quoted. Such as, not having management support or not being in an environment that encourages innovation and fear that they would be perceived as being ‘de-focused’ if they pushed too hard in new business areas. Sometimes, out of frustration the best and the brightest leave the company, searching for a place where they can be inspired and flourish, to a startup or another big company.
The biggest loser in this scenario is the company. There is nothing more painful for an organization than to lose talented, dedicated and creative staff. Not only does it cost an enormous amount of money and time to build highly functional teams, but the loss of talented employees is a great loss to the company and leaves a sour taste for the one’s remaining.
So, we start discussing alternatives: How to innovate when the path is not that simple?
Here is my recommendation:
I often recommend that if you have a great idea and want to introduce it into your company as a new offering/innovation, WRITE A SIMPLE BUSINESS PLAN! Don’t expect to walk up to your manager and unveil your thoughts and expect immediate acceptance, rather, view this as a real business plan, with pros and cons, risk and reward and upside analysis. Exactly as an entrepreneur would do. Difference is that instead of asking for funding from VC’s, the ‘funder’ is your company. Learn to be patient and collaborative in the process and don’t make rash decisions.
We are all entrepreneurs in big companies. The more passionate, enthusiastic and innovative we are , the more we will succeed in infecting others with our passion and vision. We need to crisply articulate the vision. We will need to prove that the idea has legs to stand on, and the company take a closer look.
Be patient as this process takes a long time. If your innovation is good and warrants the disruption, you will find someone in the company to champion you. That is all you need. Knowing your champions are key. Remember that failure is part of trying but failure is BECAUSE you tried. So, sure maybe the best support is not there for you immediately, but there is a lot there for you.
People respect genuine passion. Harnessed right, it can be infective and you will get the support. And if one idea fails, there are tons others. Like an entrepreneur we buckle up and try again. That is what entrepreneurs do . There is a ton of failure before great successes happen.
What do you think? In ProVoke I discuss this in the Chapter titled: The Culture of Disruption and the Enterprise. Would love to hear what you think.
Let’s talk….
This is a great post Linda! I agree completely that it is difficult to innovate in some companies and the reason is usually because of the culture. Some people in leadership positions (especially new ones) seem to think that leadership is all about laying down and enforcing “the law of the land.” They think that it’s their job to have the first and last opinion about everything and then expect everyone else to just accept it and follow orders. This is just plain poor leadership and sadly, is all too common. This is a culture that makes people hate their job, and ultimately quit.
There is no way of knowing now, but looking back, I have to wonder what would have happened if I had presented business plans to my former boss rather than having just expressed my thoughts in meetings and conversations.Would he even looked at the business plan? Would he have been slower to shut down my ideas? Sadly, I feel that nothing would have ever convinced this guy to buy into an idea that wasn’t his. I think his ego was just too big and the terrible culture he cultivated was just too strong.
The point is well taken. Surely if someone has a great idea and is passionate about it, they should be willing to think it through and present it to their employers?
I can see why this does not happen more often though. Oftentimes a great idea will come from a technical person, who may not think they have the necessary business skills to even put together a rudimentary business plan. Another reason could be the company culture – does it reward such behavior? Or is the typical reaction “Ok, that’s nice, now go do your job and leave this stuff to someone who’s job it is to do this”?
Ideally the company culture is such that it rewards, encourages and supports this behavior. This could include institutionalizing the practice, and providing support in terms of a business mentor, time and some kind of a reward system. And a reward system does not have to be financial, but based on recognition and opportunities within the company).
Shorbo, what you describe here is what I have seen work in some successful incubation groups: engineers are paired up with business strategists, and across the discipline they look for ways to apply new technologies to bring to market. Working together, a multi-disciplinary team is able to evaluate proposed new innovations in light of both technological & business needs/constraints/opportunities.
Why it is so hard to innovate. As from the article by Kurt Lewin a stationary quasi equilibrium can only be changed by adding forces in the desired direction or diminishing opposing forces. So to innovate you need to diminish the institutional imperative.
Defininition from Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America. 1998
Institutional Imperative – A pervasive force in organizations that leads to irrational business decisions from resistance to change, absorption of corporate funds in suboptimal projects or acquisitions, indulgence of the cravings of senior executives and mindless imitation of peer companies.
example s-1. As if governed by newtons first law of motion an institution will resist any change from its current direction.2. just as work expands to fill up any time, corporate projects materialize to soak up any available funds 3. any business craving of the leader will be supported by ROI and strategic studies 4 the behavior of peer companies whether expanding acquiring , setting ceo salaries will be mindlessly imitated.
The Merriam-Webster definition of Entrepreneur is like this “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise”. This is a loaded definition. An engineer or a sales person to understand what it means to organize, manage and assuming risk requires lot of work out of his/her regular engineering work. I think we may be using this word very loosely and getting confused on why can’t everybody an entrepreneur. I think the companies need to foster innovation and create a well defined and balanced channel to bring innovation to market and to bring value to company rather than expecting employees to be entrepreneurs.
Indeed one of the best posts in this blog. From my experience, fear of failure and rejection are probably the top reasons why employees curb their enthusiasm when it comes to surfacing strong ideas and opinions up the management chain. Employees who have had success with this are usually also the ones who have high credibility within the organization. But, building credibility does not come easy. You build credibility by saying what you will do and then making sure you succeed in doing what you said. This takes time, effort and discipline to pull off.
Having a business plan, as Linda points out, is the best way to build credibility when proposing new innovation. And within most established organizations, it’s not enough to merely present a plan that details the new technology; it must be contextualized alongside of the company’s current portfolio, rationalized with respect to current strategy, and tied to the organization’s measurable long-term goals, financial and otherwise.
The flip-side of this, however, is “randomization.” Except for rare instances in which management is has actively tasked the team with innovation goals, spending time pursuing, framing, and socializing a plan for any new innovation will be in contrast to assigned goals, and will take time away from other expectations. While high performers may be able to manage both, many rank-and-file employees run the risk of distraction, or giving the impression tha tthey’re prioritizing non-organizational goals. Even when crediblity is high, it’s a risk that innovators run. What’s a good way to combat this?
I have personally created some innovations, written them up (without risk and financial) & presented them to some of my employees. What was inspiring was that most employees liked it and in fact made some updates to the ideas. I then presented it to my manager me it would not be possible but encouraged me to take it to the leadership above. I have since not had the time to update it for higher management and am moving to another job soon. Based on my experience i think there is window of opportunity but i think i need to be persistent. Lesson to other is to be persistent and do not take a NO unless there is a solid reason not to pursue the idea.
The other reason is some people have warned me that some employees might snatch the idea and have you taken to another project.
I totally agree – people with great ideas and passion are everywhere and very often they are never heard. I know in my environment the mentality is to avoid rocking the boat. Fear of being let go keeps everyone’s head down and the status quo humming. Certain industries are more viable for this sort of behavior though and I think we as future managers need to always remember who makes the company successful.
I think it’s a great idea to encourage people with innovative ideas to write a business plan to present to their senior management. The problem I see is getting your senior management to give you time away from your everyday functions in order to do the necessary research to put together a great business plan and presentation. How would you suggest one go about solving this problem? Especially, if you’re low on the totem pole and are only expected to work your 8 hours and go home.
In response to the logistics problem of involving senior managementin every idea, it is impractical to flood the senior management’s inbox with suggestions from low level employees and expect responses. The lack of response will disincentivise employees from making suggestions. What needs to happen is reporting in the chain of command. That way, the individual managers can review the ideas and offer immediate feedback to the employees. Furthermore, the management should have the power to implement ideas that inv of lve a small investment of time and/or resources. In addition, management needs to have a regular meeting to discuss the ideas and the state of innovation in their particular groups. This structure needs to be integrated into the culture of innovation.
Passion definitely is very motivating especially to me. However from my experience talking with some engineers, there are several reasons they are not actively engaged in innovation. Some of the reasons include just avoiding the extra work if not needed, no incentive or pay raise for the innovation. I believe companies should give incentive to employees to encourage them to be innovative.
I found the employees that hold creative talents and understand the processes initially present their opinions. After the red tape comes out and the managers present all the excuses why they don’t work these employees get fed up and leave.
What I have also noticed is the further up you go in the management chain, the less the managers know how processes in the business actually work.
Yes we are all innovators in the company except there are limitation. For example if you are in a group which focuses on delivery more than innovation then you might not be supported with your innovation. However if you are in a group with resources and supports innovation, then you chances of being supported are high and you should be innovating.
Everyone blames employers for not being more receptive to employees ideas for innovation. It is also important to look at how the employee pitches the idea. There’s not a VC on the planet that would even considering someone that didn’t have a business plan. There are many ideas, but so few actually work that employers are smart to set the bar high.