Innovation Contemplation: How One Company Made It Happen
You see a successful company in action or in the news and it all seems well seamless. While many a CEO has mastered their “game face” and spouts no problems propaganda, the CEOs that are near and dear to my heart are the ones that give you the goods – the real deal. And according to neuroscience we get that. When a leader is authentic and speaking from the heart we sense it and respond by fully engaging and giving back with our all.
This week I had the fortune of attending the Golden Horseshoe Manufacturing Network Breakfast session where Steve Meldrum of Eco Waste Solutions shared his perspective on innovation and reverse engineered their project success. A real deal CEO, it became increasingly apparent as he spoke that his leadership played an intricate part in their overnight success (which in reality was made up of many, many nights) and helped his team tackle the task at hand with aplomb . They were awarded a significant contract from NATO to design a remote waste management solution. Sounds pretty simple at first blush for a company that specializes in waste solutions. Ah ah ah, not so fast, there were significant constraints. Like the “must be able to withstand the elements and operate in snow blizzards, sand storms and the rainforest” or the “must be shipped in a 20 foot shipping container”.
Steve shared nuggets of innovation wisdom. I’ve taken the liberty of synopsising them add putting my spin on it.
New ways are much harder than old ways: You design a better mouse track, heck you even create new processes that are going to make it way easier to build. Everyone is going to be excited, jump on board and make it happen ASAP. Or folks could struggle with the idea of doing things differently, want to stay in their comfort zone and it could take a little (ok a lot) longer than anticipated. The salient point – be prepared for resistance (often unconscious or at the very least unexpressed resistance) when introducing new things to your team. Find your change agents, engage them early on and identify and help the resisters get on board.
“Easy changes” take forever: Little things mean a lot. Little things can really stack up. If you estimate it is going to take a week – double or triple the time and the cost. Enough said. Underestimating “easy changes” can kill your project and prevent you from focusing on the “high return” components.
It seemed like a REALLY good idea: You’ve gotta know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. It’s 10 PM, the teams been at it for hours, your all pumped with caffeine – and you find the latest, greatest solution – until the next morning when you realize what seemed really hot is not.
Failing is a part of innovation – failing fast is smart innovation. Know when to let an idea go to make room for a better solution.
They say hind sight is 20/20. However there is something else about hind sight. When you have lived and breathed an experience day in and day out it becomes hard coded in your brain and you have a deep sense of knowing next time around. According to Steve, his organization learned much from overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. Success breeds success and having done it before, gives you the confidence to do it again, so innovation is deep seated in your organization's DNA. A competitive advantage to be sure.
Shelley McQuade