Improvisational Innovation

In her book, The Risk Factor: Why Every Organization Needs Big Bets, Bold Characters, and the Occasional Spectacular Failure, Deborah introduced a new innovation methodology, and we believe in it so strongly that we brought it back in this chapter to highlight the process needed for the People Equation. Improvisational Innovation solves the problem for the senior executive who ponders the questions, “What do my people know that could be valuable to our business?” “How do I encourage them to give me their best ideas, and how do I most effectively test and implement them?”

Improvisational Innovation shows leaders how to build a system to encourage, stimulate, foster, capture, test, and implement these good ideas, whether they are improvements to the company’s products, services, or a measure for cost-savings on infrastructure.

From the employee perspective, do they even know what to do if they have a great idea? Who do they turn to? Is there an “idea system” in place? If an innovative culture is nonexistent, or a lack of trust exists throughout the organization, does the employee take the risk to share his or her idea with their own manager, who might squash what could be a potentially good idea? Or—perhaps worse—does the manager who sees the value in the idea opt to take credit for it himself? Does the organization offer an incentive to those who want to share a good idea? These are some of the questions that get resolved by implementing a structured Improvisational Innovation process like the one carefully outlined below. The result of practicing Improvisational Innovation is an organization that can sustainably and significantly grow its top line, while retaining, encouraging, and exciting its most valuable employees.

The methodology behind Improvisational Innovation can work for any organization because it is an accessible and actionable approach to building on the assets a company currently has—driving small, incremental steps while also increasing the likelihood of a major breakthrough. It focuses on accelerating ideas that advance the company and builds a culture that is fast and adaptive without interrupting the bottom line. Because this type of innovation encourages entrepreneurship (even “intrapreneur-ship”) and the freedom to experiment in creative pursuits, it just might keep a company’s greatest talent from jumping ship. If an organization can make space for an entrepreneurial-type employee to access the resources and rewards of a big company, chances are the organization will have less of an attrition issue and simultaneously position itself for growth.