After reading different articles about innovation, I realized a recurrent subject; transformational ideas itself are not enough to promote innovation. Additionally, much has been said about the need for mastery to implement transformational ideas, because it is the successful implementation that will create real innovation and positively impact the community. Reflecting on the topic, I developed a curiosity to identify the key elements necessary to create a perfect environment for the blossoming of innovative ideas and the full understanding of the correlation between innovation and learning culture.
In this post, I invite you to reflect on four elements of learning cultures that are crucial to successful sailing explorations, essential to building disruptive artwork and seems to be equally important to foster innovation in different work environments.
1. Curiosity
“Learning can happen every day in the office if we cultivate curiosity about what worked and what didn’t. Instead of a blame game, we lower our defenses and learn from experiences.” Morag Barrett and Linda Sharkey.
Amyr Klink, the most famous Brazilian sailor and explorer mentions in interviews that his curiosity to understand the failure of previous sailors in their adventure attempts, helped him to plan and execute successfully the lonely rowboat sailing journey performed in 100 days from South Africa to Brazil in 1984.
Curiosity can be random and not motivated by a specific agenda. It happens when we just feel intrigued to understand more about subjects that do not necessarily are related to our current routines and motivates us to engage in the exploration of the subject. As a result, we unveil new possibilities and knowledge that usually fascinate us and capture our attention.
Curiosity is a skill that opens possibilities to innovation as we connect thoughts that look like opposing or disconnected, and allows us to envision different ways to perform our tasks aggregating more value or at least having more fun.
2. Tolerance
“Natural learning is learning without really knowing it, it is learning as you do it through trial and error, through observation, by being hands-on” John Burgoyne
A learning environment requires tolerance because failure is inevitable if we intend to create novelty. It is making sense of failure that we move on towards success. Over history, there are several examples of innovative products that emerged from failure, the microwave, the x-ray, the penicillin and many others. Innovation requires a positive approach to the mistakes produced in the creation process. The reflection and synthesis on the mistakes are insightful as generates learning. As per professor Mintzberg “… the more innovative the organization, the more likely are disturbances to arise unexpectedly…”
3. Enjoyment on the Journey
The learning process is non-linear; it is iterative and discontinuous. Sometimes we move 3 steps forward in a cycle and 4 steps backwards in the next one because learning and innovation imply that the discovery emerges in the living experience.
Recently, I saw an art exposition of linocuts from Picasso at rRemai mModern museum showing not just the final painting, but the printings produced in the building process. It is magical to see the progression of the design and imagine what Picasso envisioned for the final piece over the development of the artwork.
In the pursuit of innovation, the milestones achieved during the process guide us towards the final goal, and it is the appreciation of the journey that keeps the focus and motivation from the beginning to the end.
4. Focus on the collective outcomes
To promote a positive impact with innovation, it is essential to prioritize the collective outcomes and engage all the team members to work in collaboration. Additionally, in the pursuit of novelty, the emotional engagement of each member is crucial to create a healthy environment where people can unleash all their potential for collective achievement. As per professor Mintzberg “A well-functioning professional organization is not just a collection of capable specialists; it is a community of engaged members”.
1. Barrett, Morag; Linda Sharkey, 2017, The Future-Proof Workplace: Six Strategies to Accelerate Talent Development. Reshape your Culture, and Succeed with Purpose. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
2. Mintzberg, Henry, 2009, Simply Managing: what managers do and can do better. ISBN978-1-60994-923-5, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
3. Mintzberg Henry, 2017, Managing the Myths of Health Care. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
4. Systems Leadership Steering Group, 2015, The Art of Change Making, ISBN 978-0-9931400-9-9, The Leadership Centre
Photo credit: Ken Whytock on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC