DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
  1. DZone
  2. Culture and Methodologies
  3. Career Development
  4. Report looks at how innovation is killed

Report looks at how innovation is killed

Adi Gaskell user avatar by
Adi Gaskell
·
Feb. 25, 15 · Interview
Like (0)
Save
Tweet
Share
1.12K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

Innovation is one of those organizational behaviors that it seems most aspire to.  In a world of rapid change, being able to come up with adaptable solutions is seen as a prerequisite for success.

A recent report from i4cp looks at some of the ways that organizations stifle the innovative capabilities of its employees.

“Are Google or 3M able to give their employees free time because they are successful, or are these companies successful because they give their employees free time?” says Cliff Stevenson, i4cp Senior Research Analyst.

The report identifies four things that tend to stifle innovation:

  1. Lack of leadership support – by its very nature, innovation tends to be something that involves a degree of risk.  I wrote about a study last year that explored eight behaviors that go into supporting innovation.  They included things like encouraging thought diversity and providing good feedback.  They might provide a good start point for leaders wishing to become more innovative, especially as the study found that most managers were lacking in the areas identified.
  2. Lack of clear goals and priorities – knowing where you’re going as an organization seems a healthy start point for all manner of things, but it’s certainly the case for innovation.  Numerous studies have highlighted how top performing employees want to work for an organization that not only does produces great things, but does so in the right way.  Alas, a recent Deloitte survey found that 66% of employees didn’t think their organization was doing a good job at communicating a clear purpose.
  3. Fear of failure – fear is something that’s regularly touted as a barrier to innovation, whether that’s fear of mistakes, fear of losing status, fear of moving from the status quo.  I would personally say that a reluctance to experiment is a bigger issue, as they are a great way of implementing ideas at relatively low cost, and should be encouraged, but to do so requires a cultural willingness to try things out.
  4. Lack of time – once again, this is a topic that has been touched on a few times, and the report cites some well known examples from 3M and Google of 20% time style initiatives being used to allow employees time to innovate.  A lack of time is something that probably afflicts many things, not least of which is innovating or collaborating with others.

Are there other things that harm innovation?  Almost certainly, but these four provide a good start point for any organization looking to create a healthier environment for innovation.

You can download the full report here.

Original post 

Clear (Unix) Google (verb) career Barrier (computer science) POST (HTTP) IT Download Initiative

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • Hackerman [Comic]
  • What Is Policy-as-Code? An Introduction to Open Policy Agent
  • Key Considerations When Implementing Virtual Kubernetes Clusters
  • The Importance of Delegation in Management Teams

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: