Ignite Innovation and Light Your Way out of the Recession

The recession is in full swing, and companies everywhere are feeling the pain. Yours is likely no exception. Shrinking budgets, sweeping layoffs and a smothering malaise that’s settled over your workforce make it hard to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Innovation is the only ticket out of this recession.

I believe this is true for America as a whole and it’s certainly true for the individual organizations that make up our nation. I’m not just talking about product development, but about new services, business processes, means of communication and methods of collaboration. Companies that can churn out innovative ideas will be able to adapt to the new realities. Those that can’t, won’t.

The heart of innovation is people working together eagerly, intelligently and productively. When this happens, ideas pour forth like water from a newly tapped underground spring—or like fireflies showing up en masse at dusk. Innovation is all about good teamwork. You can use innovation principles to direct their anxious energy toward solving critical problems for the company. It helps them; it helps you; it helps everyone.

So how can you deliberately create a more innovative culture at your company? Here are some tips to help you get started:

• Understand the (non-flashy) new role of leadership. In America as well as in the rest of the world, the focus is moving toward such “right-brained” skills and talents as creativity, empathy, intuition and the ability to link seemingly unrelated objects and events into something new and different. That means leaders must create and maintain a safe, respectful environment where individual creativity can emerge to its fullest potential; and focus that creative energy in the right direction based upon the core purpose of the team and the targeted goals.

If you’re a “command and control” type, you’d better start rethinking your style. Today, successful leaders aren’t flashy and aggressive. They lead through inspiration and collaboration. Look at your current behaviors and determine which are helping you achieve your vision for leadership through engagement and which are holding you back.

• Search for untapped talent on your team. Frankly, it is in our individual and corporate nature to try to deal with differences by eliminating them. However, in the same way that what look like plain old fireflies are actually comprised of more than 2,000 known species, employees are far more complex and unique than they might appear at first glance. Unearthing the hidden talents your employees possess is the first step toward using these areas of hidden development to your team’s advantage.

• Encourage creative abrasion…but swat ferocious fireflies. Are you uncomfortable with conflict in the workplace? Don’t be. Conflict is natural, expected and, because it’s a sign of diverse thinking on your team, even desirable. I call productive conflict “creative abrasion.” However, leaders must take steps to keep the conflict focused on the issues, and not let team members direct their ire at one another personally. And you must deal with ferocious fireflies: toxic, manipulative employees who gain the trust of others on the team only to viciously turn on them later.

• Deal with other, more insidious “trust busters,” too. In all my years of working with teams, I consistently see (besides the presence of a ferocious firefly) three other problematic behaviors that damage or limit trust. They are: 1. a refusal to share personal information; 2. sarcasm disguised as humor; and 3. one or more disengaged members of the team.

In order to innovate, people must be able to connect with each other in a real, deeply personal way. If just one person refuses to open up or truly engage, or if he throws barbs at other team members under the guise of humor, he’ll cause an erosion of trust. And in the absence of trust, no real progress can be made.