Archives December 2024

In 2025, Break Routine and Unleash Creativity to Fuel Innovation

Innovation is the lifeblood of success.

Organizations that can adapt, embrace change, and foster creativity are poised to thrive. Yet, amidst the demands of day-to-day operations, many organizations are stuck in a routine cycle, clinging to familiar practices and struggling to break free from the shackles of repetition.

So, why do some leaders, despite voicing support for innovation, shy away from it in practice?

This is not limited to the entry-level or the boardroom, but it often strikes hardest in mid-level management. These managers are the bridge between the strategic vision of top leadership and the execution of plans on the front lines. They are entrusted with maintaining the status quo and driving innovation and improvement.

 

Let’s take Maya.

She’s a mid-level manager who repeatedly expressed her desire to see “out-of-the-box” thinking from her team to get faster, higher-quality service. She and the team’s schedules are filled with weekly back-to-back meetings, leaving no time to nurture or evaluate creative ideas. The one brainstorming session she organized last month was a rushed 30-minute virtual call on a Friday amidst an already hectic day interspersed with urgent emails and calls.

The result?

You guessed it: ideas were safe, familiar, and anything but innovative.

 

The Battle Against Repetition

Leaders like Maya, often unknowingly, lead teams that become world champions of acting like we did yesterday.

In the realm of work, this means adhering to practices because “that’s how it’s always been done.” It means churning out reports in the same format, holding meetings without clear agendas, and avoiding any method or idea that deviates from the norm. There’s an implicit safety in repetition; it’s familiar, predictable, and rarely questioned.

But here lies the paradox: by seeking refuge in the known, we shut out the innovative and the new, stunting potential growth.

 

Understanding Reluctance Towards Creativity

So, why do some leaders, despite voicing support for innovation, shy away from it in practice?

  • Risk-Aversion: Creative ideas are, by nature, untested, which makes them risky. Many leaders fear the repercussions of a novel idea failing, especially in front of senior leaders or the team.
  • Time Constraints: True creativity isn’t instant. It requires time for thought, discussion, and even disagreement. The daily hustle, especially for mid-level managers who must manage multiple tasks and do their work, makes it challenging to carve out this space, particularly when the pressures of your day-to-day life tell you that “you don’t have time for this.”
  • Look For Base Hits Instead of Home Runs: Some might believe creativity is only about ‘big ideas’ and grand innovations. They overlook the more minor, incremental changes (sometimes called ‘little c’ creativity) that can lead to substantial long-term benefits.
  • Resisting Change: It’s human nature to resist change, especially when current systems seem to be working “good enough.

 Read about Resisting Change

Questions to Guide Creative Thought

For managers looking to harness the power of creativity within their teams, reflecting on these guiding questions can be transformative:

  • Re-Visit Assumptions: “Why do we do it this way?” Challenge the status quo. Reassess ingrained practices to see if they still serve your team’s goals.
  • Establish the End Goal: “What are we ultimately trying to accomplish?” Clarify the endgame. Understand the core objectives to ensure that innovation aligns with the bigger picture. You can use a tactic like the “5 Whys” to get at the source of the issue and ensure you’re solving the right problem.

Read about the ‘5 Whys’

  • Brainstorm: “What do we think can solve this?” This is not the time for negativity (that comes later). Encourage an open platform for ideas where No’s, But’s, or “We already tried that” are momentarily set aside.
  • Combine Ideas: Once ideas are on the table, look for intersections where combining them could lead to more effective outcomes. This is sometimes known as looking for the “1+1=3” ideas.
  • Prevent Overthinking: “What if we only had 30 days? What if this were easy?” Imposing constraints can often lead to more ingenious solutions.
  • Identify Hurdles: “What would prevent this from happening? What could go wrong?” Recognizing challenges upfront, potentially through Red Team exercises and frame changes, allows for better planning and resource allocation.
  • Strategizing Solutions: “How can we overcome these barriers? What resources are needed?” Convert challenges into actionable steps.
  • Action and Commitment: “Who is doing what, and by when? How will we know we’ve succeeded?” Define responsibilities and success metrics to track progress through written action plans.

Embracing creativity isn’t about discarding everything you know. It’s about allowing space for new possibilities.

For mid-level managers like Maya, the challenges are twofold: finding time amid the chaos and having the courage to venture into the unknown.

To all such leaders: Take a step today. Dedicate just an hour this week, free from distractions, to brainstorm with your team. Utilize the guiding questions above.

Listen, truly listen to their ideas.

You may find the seed of the following significant innovation for your organization in that hour.

Lessons From The Buddha … Ask ‘Why’ 5 Times

The Buddha’s Upajjhatthana Sutta discourse explains that contemplating five facts can help weaken or overcome conceit, lust, and irresponsibility. The discourse suggests that contemplating these facts can help cultivate the Noble Eightfold Path.

We can take the lesson of the five facts from spiritual quests and apply it to our day-to-day leadership and management activities.  Quite frankly, we spend a lot of our day solving problems. So, turn the five Facts into the five Whys.

The 5 Whys technique is a problem-solving method that involves repeatedly asking “why” to uncover the root cause of a problem. The steps for using the 5 Whys technique are: 

Start with a description of the problem 

Ask “why” and provide a clear and concise answer 

Repeat the process until you reach the root cause of the problem 

The 5 Whys technique is best suited for simple or moderately difficult problems. It can be used in troubleshooting, problem-solving, and quality-improvement initiatives

What is 5 Whys Problem Solving?

The 5 Whys Problem-Solving technique is a simple process for solving any problem. It involves repeatedly asking the question “Why” (five times is a good rule of thumb) to peel away the layers of symptoms that can lead to the root cause of a problem. This strategy relates to the principle of systematic problem-solving.

Proper use of the technique is to help identify the root cause of a problem. (A root cause is the most basic reason that, if eliminated, would prevent recurrence.) Then, to provide a framework for a team to work through more complex problems.

Make sure that you avoid using the 5 Whys to assign blame  for the problem or to turn it into a tedious, desk-intensive project

Read more about silence and asking questions

How?

Write down the specific problem. Writing about the issue helps you formalize it and describe it completely, allowing the team to focus on the same problem. Always describe the current condition and use data whenever possible.

 For example, overall customer complaints are up by 50%.

Ask why the problem occurs and write the answer below the problem.

If the answer doesn’t identify the root cause of the problem you wrote in step 1, ask why again and write that answer down. Repeat step 3 until the team agrees on the root cause of the problem identified.

For Example:

Create a Problem Statement: IE Your company could not get the customer’s product request on time.

1st Why: Why were you unable to produce the product on time? Because the equipment failed.

2nd Why: Why did the equipment fail? Because the circuit board burned out.

3rd Why: Why did the circuit board burn out? Because it overheated.

4th Why: Why did it overheat? Because the air filter wasn’t changed.

5th Why: Why wasn’t the filter changed? Because there was no afternoon maintenance shift scheduled to change it.

Et Voila

Inner peace is found through enlightenment.

Now, go down to the shop floor and enlighten your maintenance team.

How? Read about the 4 Fs of addressing concerns with your boss, or anyone: The 4 F’s (And @#$% isn’t one) of dealing with a boss with low EI

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