March 2005

Innovation Tips

...ideas for building collaborative innovation

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Implement Quickly

 

Just as hasty decisions, reviewed in the February Innovation Tips, can short circuit productive reflection, so, too, can unnecessary procrastination. Both wear down the productive social capital of the culture, and with that erosion, the ability to make well-considered decisions.

 

The model for sound decision-making is very simple--learn, reflect and then generate. Groups that use that model will arrive at more productive and beneficial solutions than those that do not. But the patient and reflective search inherent in that model is not an excuse to unnecessarily delay action.

 

Carefully considering issues is an integral element of the thinking process that has made Toyota, and others, such great companies. Reflective and generative dialogue elicit full and robust perspectives while they build ownership and commitment. But if careful consideration is just used as an excuse to indecisively stall action, it will deplete commitment and ownership.

 

Once an issue has been fully considered and the best of several alternative solutions has been generated, it is time to act and everyone knows it. To do otherwise diminishes the significance of the people who participated in decision-making.

 

The learn-reflect-generate model assumes that the solution will be implemented quickly. The time for careful deliberation occurs during the process of making sense of issues and formulating solutions. No decision ought to be hastily shaped. But once the decision, design, or solution is formulated, it must be implemented. The patient process of finding the right solution often builds a reservoir of anticipation and energy. To delay empties that reservoir and undermines trust.

 

Design patiently and deliberately, but implement quickly. That is the formula that will build energy, enthusiasm, ownership and commitment as it builds a more vital and productive organization.

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