If you've made the decision to start an innovation programme, you'll likely spend a significant amount of time hiring people who will be responsible for driving new things forward.
Regrettably, many innovation leaders don't always get this right. The reason is that it is tempting to hire people who seem like great innovators, but who are actually poor at converting ideas into products and services that can actually drive a business forward.
Research into this topic has found some key types of people that are more prone to failure than others. Here is a list:
The Gadgeteer. A gadget is something very interesting to an innovator. It seems, on the one hand, to be a fantastic addition to any innovation portfolio, so long as it is sold correctly to stakeholders. On the other, though, there is almost always no way to tie whatever-it-is back to any business problem. This is the key trait of the Gadgeteer - they pursue shiny new things without any linkage to any business problem that needs solving.
The CowBoy. This is the innovator so committed to their specific innovations, they'll allow nothing to stand between them and success. They chase anything and everything needed to make new things happen, and they do it no matter what stands in their way. This seems like a good characteristic for an innovator, but in reality it is very short sighted. Cowboys may get one innovation accepted, but they will have significant difficulty getting the second and later ones out the door. They will have burned too many bridges getting their first success. The danger of the CowBoy is they are detrimental to the long term success of an innovation programme.
The Defeatist. If you got to choose the kind of bad innovator you hired by mistake, you'd want the defeatist. The only danger that comes from having a defeatist innovator is that you have to carry the headcount without getting any return. The reason? The defeatist will look at any new thing and be so overwhelmed by navigating the organisation to get success they are unable to do anything at all. These are the individuals whose first response to any innovation is 'that's too innovative for us'. The problem of course, is that the defeatist doesn't have the right amount of influence to get what-ever-it-is accepted, and for some reason is unable to admit it.
The Consultant. At the other end of the scale (from the Gadgeteer), you have Consultant-Innovators. They don't focus on the answer to the business situation (an answer that will, hopefully, be something innovative), and instead concentrate of defining the problem to be solved. Now, of course it is necessary to have a pretty good definition of a problem before it can addressed in any reasonable way, but the consultant-innovator will write reports and requirements documents till the cows come home.
The Talker. A superlative communicator, you can put a Talker on a stage with a crowd, and you'll get an energising result. The Talker is also a magic network and can get meetings with anyone. However, despite all this, nothing much ever happens, because the Talker doesn't do execution.
The Lone Ranger. This innovator doesn't work in teams. He or she will prefer to have every detail of a new innovation under their individual control. Their thought is that only they can be trusted to make the innovation work, and they'll engage in significant individual heroics to make things happen. Usually, though, they won't deliver very much because innovation most often requires team work.
If you have one of these terrible innovators, you should fire them quickly. If you can't fire them, you need to sideline them somehow. But, of course, the best strategy would be to avoid hiring them altogether.
Ultimately, creating an innovation programme is a big enough challenge without having Terrible Innovators around who make things harder. - 32171
Regrettably, many innovation leaders don't always get this right. The reason is that it is tempting to hire people who seem like great innovators, but who are actually poor at converting ideas into products and services that can actually drive a business forward.
Research into this topic has found some key types of people that are more prone to failure than others. Here is a list:
The Gadgeteer. A gadget is something very interesting to an innovator. It seems, on the one hand, to be a fantastic addition to any innovation portfolio, so long as it is sold correctly to stakeholders. On the other, though, there is almost always no way to tie whatever-it-is back to any business problem. This is the key trait of the Gadgeteer - they pursue shiny new things without any linkage to any business problem that needs solving.
The CowBoy. This is the innovator so committed to their specific innovations, they'll allow nothing to stand between them and success. They chase anything and everything needed to make new things happen, and they do it no matter what stands in their way. This seems like a good characteristic for an innovator, but in reality it is very short sighted. Cowboys may get one innovation accepted, but they will have significant difficulty getting the second and later ones out the door. They will have burned too many bridges getting their first success. The danger of the CowBoy is they are detrimental to the long term success of an innovation programme.
The Defeatist. If you got to choose the kind of bad innovator you hired by mistake, you'd want the defeatist. The only danger that comes from having a defeatist innovator is that you have to carry the headcount without getting any return. The reason? The defeatist will look at any new thing and be so overwhelmed by navigating the organisation to get success they are unable to do anything at all. These are the individuals whose first response to any innovation is 'that's too innovative for us'. The problem of course, is that the defeatist doesn't have the right amount of influence to get what-ever-it-is accepted, and for some reason is unable to admit it.
The Consultant. At the other end of the scale (from the Gadgeteer), you have Consultant-Innovators. They don't focus on the answer to the business situation (an answer that will, hopefully, be something innovative), and instead concentrate of defining the problem to be solved. Now, of course it is necessary to have a pretty good definition of a problem before it can addressed in any reasonable way, but the consultant-innovator will write reports and requirements documents till the cows come home.
The Talker. A superlative communicator, you can put a Talker on a stage with a crowd, and you'll get an energising result. The Talker is also a magic network and can get meetings with anyone. However, despite all this, nothing much ever happens, because the Talker doesn't do execution.
The Lone Ranger. This innovator doesn't work in teams. He or she will prefer to have every detail of a new innovation under their individual control. Their thought is that only they can be trusted to make the innovation work, and they'll engage in significant individual heroics to make things happen. Usually, though, they won't deliver very much because innovation most often requires team work.
If you have one of these terrible innovators, you should fire them quickly. If you can't fire them, you need to sideline them somehow. But, of course, the best strategy would be to avoid hiring them altogether.
Ultimately, creating an innovation programme is a big enough challenge without having Terrible Innovators around who make things harder. - 32171
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