Why is it so hard to find innovation?
Everyone wants innovation in the workplace, yet it is frustratingly elusive. Why?
There are numerous solutions, tools and methods designed to encourage innovation: incubators, innovation centers, brainstorming sessions. However, this rarely equals innovation, and sometimes has nothing to do with it whatsoever. The actual innovation is incredibly rare to find these days, despite everyone talking about it.
A survey of CFOs from Robert Half, examining barriers to workplace innovation provides an interesting insight into the reasons for such an oddity.
The survey noted that almost 9 in 10 employees say a company’s reputation for innovation “is an important consideration when evaluating potential employers.”
However, despite such interest, innovation can be difficult to find for a number of reasons. In the aforementioned survey, Chief Financial Officers were asked, “What is the greatest barrier to your company being more innovative?”
Here are the results and responses:
- 30% answered “too much bureaucracy.” This, frankly, sounds like an excuse. Bureaucracy can certainly bring a lot of frustration, but prevent the introduction of innovation? Not so much.
- 27% of respondents put blame on “being bogged down by daily tasks and putting out fires.” This is a more legit reason and certainly a problem in many workplaces. Quite often people are spending all their time on fighting symptoms instead of focusing on the cause. This is the opposite of innovation-fostering environment.
- Finally, 25% replied “lack of new ideas” and 16% complained about “ineffective leadership” – serious obstacles to introducing the culture of innovation.
These figures reflect an interesting trend – innovation is often considered to be a secondary priority among managers and executives. There is simply not enough time for it. Or so we are led to believe.
However, what separates a great manager from a good one is the desire to take time and a little bit of risk in order to do things better, which inevitably requires some degree of innovation. The desire to encourage their employees to take the initiative and make things happen is only present in a select few.
Management should be able to identify creative people at their disposal and let them do what they do best – improvise and create. At the end of the day, it’s all about getting the most out of every single member of your team. Don’t be afraid to try new things – it is worth it in the end.