Idea in Brief
The Frustration
The conventional wisdom is that successful innovation depends on providing an environment where there’s a tolerance for failure and a willingness to experiment, it’s safe to speak up, and it’s highly collaborative and nonhierarchical. The reality is that these elements do not suffice.
What’s Missing
Each of these easy-to-like behaviors must be counterbalanced by tougher behavior that’s less fun: an intolerance for incompetence, rigorous discipline, brutal candor, a high level of individual accountability, and strong leadership.
The Leader’s Role
Such a culture generates tensions that must be carefully managed. Uncertainty and confusion must be addressed with decisiveness and transparency. People who can’t adapt must be ushered out. The temptation to take shortcuts must be resisted.
A culture conducive to innovation is not only good for a company’s bottom line. It also is something that both leaders and employees value in their organizations. In seminars at companies across the globe, I have informally surveyed hundreds of managers about whether they want to work in an organization where innovative behaviors are the norm. I cannot think of a single instance when someone has said “No, I don’t.” Who can blame them: Innovative cultures are generally depicted as pretty fun. When I asked the same managers to describe such cultures, they readily provided a list of characteristics identical to those extolled by management books: tolerance for failure, willingness to experiment, psychological safety, highly collaborative, and nonhierarchical. And research supports the idea that these behaviors translate into better innovative performance.
