At a recent innovation conference in Chicago, Shane Lopez of the Gallup organization commented that there is one place you can go and find 100% of all individuals in the place fully engaged: Kindergarten. Interesting thought, isn’t it? In fact he went on to state that on average in corporations, about 30% of the workforce is fully engaged. So somewhere between Kindergarten and adulthood, we manage to turn the vast majority of corporate workers into people who are just taking up space and managing to make it through a routine. It keeps the motors running and the lights on, but it doesn’t necessarily create environments for innovation and creativity.
Let’s think about what happens in that Kindergarten class. Kids show up, are given some general rules to follow, and then allowed to play within rather wide boundaries. There are no tests, and there are very few people getting reprimanded. There is, however, a great deal of encouragement, quite of bit of celebrating (cupcakes for birthdays), and music and laughter.
As a child graduates to higher levels, more boundaries emerge. There are more lines to walk within, and the education system is more about correcting what a child can’t do well, rather than encouraging what he excels in. Classes are soon defined as “core” or “elective”. Core classes are math, English and social studies. Electives are foreign language, sports and the arts. Tests measure a child’s ability to memorize, retain, and solve problems according to a prescribed format (show your work for math problems, please). There are few, if any, tests that measure the ability to create or build. The older the child gets, the truer this becomes. Timed testing becomes the activity that measures progress – of the child, of the teacher, and of an institution. After all, test results are most prevalently used in comparing excellence in students, educators, and schools.
So why are we surprised that an education system like this cranks out adults who have trouble working in and creating innovative environments? The workplace is a place that encourages production. In many ways, the environment is a continuation of what we’re accustomed to in school. Deadlines loom, policies abound. You are measured by results: Widgets made, widgets sold, and dollars saved. You have more conversations with people when things go wrong than when things go right. There is little time for celebration and recognition – in fact managers often have to create policies to make sure bonus budgets are even spent.
I’m not suggesting that we should have workplaces without boundaries or rules. But we should recognize that most of the environments in which we work are created to produce, and not to innovate. So if innovation is what we hope to inspire, there are things that deserve a closer look -- in both physical design and cultural aspects of our environments -- to increase the likelihood of initiating a creative spark. Here are some to consider:
- Do you have “natural departments” (like accounting and finance) sitting in close proximity? Try and move your marketers next to your research scientists and see what happens!
- What are the consequences of failure in your organization? People who are afraid of failure will never do anything in a new way.
- Do you have the same committees always making the decisions? Try and add some new faces into the conversation. The results might surprise you.
- Do you identify and celebrate the small steps (successes or hiccups) that lead to the big breakthroughs? If you only celebrate the big wins, you won’t have much to celebrate.
- Do you have a “predictable” career path in your organization? If it’s too predictable, you won’t inspire unusual behavior!
- How necessary are all the constraints that you put on all decisions? Time, money, resources? For all decisions, have a good understanding of how the constraints affect the outcomes. You might find some of those constraints are worth relaxing!
We’ve all been trained to produce; yet the greatest opportunity we have to solve the world’s problems is to innovate. As leaders who want to inspire innovation, we need to take a good look at what we can do to engage 100% of our workforce. I think it’s time to return to Kindergarten!
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