Professor Gary Hamel argues that it is innovation in management — rather than in operations, products or strategies — that will create long-term advantage and fundamentally new approaches to growing winning businesses.
“Today’s business leaders are being challenged to build organisations that are as nimble as change itself, to make innovation everyone’s job,” says Hamel.
Everyone, you ask? How can the receptionist, admin manager, IT support and the engineers all be innovative every day?
The key is in your definition of creativity and innovation. If you accept that creativity is about shifting perception (seeing something in a new way) then innovation is a simple matter of walking into the office/factory floor with new eyes, a fresh perception. It’s like starting in a new department or new company and immediately noticing things they do differently and then wondering how things might be improved.
Leading innovation head first is having the ability to allow everyone space and time to rethink where they are at and having a simple process for reviewing new ideas and insights.
(Gary Hamel visits Australia in August, 2008. )
