You may have seen the recent announcement by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk that promised to totally change the trucking industry with a 500-mile range, electric tractor-trailer. It will include much of the high end technology Tesla cars possess now. It will also include incredible safety features, have autonomous convoy capabilities, and have an 80,000-pound load capacity.
It will use regenerative braking to give brake pads an “infinite” lifespan and the entire drivetrain will be covered by a million-mile guarantee. Tesla will also create network of solar-powered “Megachargers” that will provide 400 miles of driving range with a 30-minute charge.
But this is just one of the latest innovations that Elon Musk has developed. Let’s look at his track record for innovation:
- Co-founded Zip2, a web software company, which was acquired by Compaq
- Founded com, an online payment company, that later became PayPal
- Founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company
- Co-founded Tesla, Inc., the electric vehicle company
- Created of SolarCity, a solar energy services company
- Founded The Boring Company, a tunnel-construction company
- Is in the process of creating a high-speed, ground based transportation system known as the Hyperloop
So why is Elon Musk so incredibly successful with innovation?
It is because he has created a culture of innovation within his companies.
This month we will examine what it takes to create a culture of innovation within an organization.
Creating a Safe Climate for Innovation to Flourish
Studies have shown for the culture of innovation to take root; the organization must create a safe environment for people to engage in innovative efforts. The truth is that everyone in the company is truly watching what happens and how executives and management respond when a project fails. If members of the team are maligned, marginalized or punished, other people in the organization will say to themselves, “I’m not going to get involved with innovation in this company. It’s not worth the risk.”
Wise leaders, like Steve Jobs, realized failures are just a natural part of innovation. A company cannot expect to hit a home run with every innovation project. This means that management must realize mistakes will be made in the pursuit of novel solutions and they are just part of the creative process – therefore a climate of safety needs to be established.
W.L. Gore and Associates, the Delaware chemical products company famous for Gore-Tex and other high-performance products, typifies these attributes. Its values drive innovative behavior that creates an energetic workplace. This frees people to take the risks that innovation involves.
Introduction to the Six Earmarks of an Innovative Culture
Research has documented an innovative environment is influenced by six factors: values, climate, resources, processes, behavior, and past successes. These key areas are interrelated. For example, the values of the enterprise determine the climate of the workplace and how success is defined and measured. These in turn have an impact on people’s behavior.
Many studies and much research have focused on three of these—resources, processes and past successes—because they are more easily measured and can be quantified more readily. Companies have often given much less attention to the harder-to-measure, people-oriented determinants of innovative culture—values, climate, and behavior.
The Six Areas of an Innovative Culture
Values, climate, and behavior can actually have a greater impact in shaping a culture of innovation, thereby creating a sustainable competitive advantage for a business. Listed below is a description of each of the six areas:
- Values drive priorities and decisions. They are reflected in how a company spends its time and money. Values are reflected in what leaders say, but more so in what areas they invest and where people are directed to spend their time. Innovative companies are willing to invest in entrepreneurial activities, promote creativity and provide ongoing learning.
- A workplace climate displays employee engagement, enthusiasm, and challenges people to take risks within a safe environment. An innovative culture includes learning from all that a company does and encouraging personnel to take an entrepreneurial approach to what they do.
- Resources include people, systems and the means to complete various projects. These include supplying both tangible and intangible necessities to accomplish the goals related to innovation. Part of this involves putting the infrastructure in place to support discovery and development, as well as establishing the concept of “innovation champions” who are required to internally disseminate or externally commercialize innovation.
- Processes and tools have been developed to enable the creation of innovations. They may be standard tools like an innovation funnel used to evaluate ideas or stage-gate systems but there also may be custom tools that have been developed specifically for the entity. These include both hi-tech and low-tech items like standard development and testing processes and procedures.
- Behavior displayed in the workplace demonstrates the embracing of innovation. For leaders, these include a willingness to kill off existing products with new and better ones, to energize employees with a vivid description of the future and to cut through red tape. For employees, actions in support of innovation include determination in overcoming technical roadblocks, scrounging for resources when budgeted funds are lacking and listening to customers.
- A history of successful innovation that has resulted in increased business causes a company to be regarded as innovative by its customers and competitors. This includes having a track record of innovations that has paid off financially in the past. Past achievements create an aura and mindset that lays a foundational attitude that says, “Yes, we can and will be successful with innovation.” This emboldens the company and personnel to take greater risks and in turn drives bolder actions and decisions.
Example of Creating an Innovative Culture
Whirlpool, the multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances, located in Benton Harbor, Michigan took a comprehensive approach to creating an innovative culture. First, to properly prepare the soil for creativity, every salaried employee was enrolled in a business innovation course.
Second, the company trained certain employees, called I-mentors, on their innovation tools. Their role was similar to being internal Six Sigma Black Belt personnel who focus on quality initiatives within their company. The I-mentors kept their regular jobs but brought to their new innovation roles special training on how to facilitate innovation projects and help people with their ideas.
Where to Start
What steps can you take to start creating a culture of innovation within your company?
First, create a safe environment for innovation to germinate and thrive. This starts with ensuring your personnel know you welcome them suggesting new ideas, and you want them to think about innovative ways your organization can operate.
Second, establish a game plan to put in place the six keys of values, climate, resources, processes and behavior to create an innovative culture. If you are new to innovation, the sixth key, past successes, will become a reality as a result of executing the first five keys.
If you need assistance with developing a culture of innovation within your company, please contact us using the below information so we can be a resource to you in this foundational area.
Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. is an Innovation and Business Planning firm. During the past 17 years, we have shown over 1,200 companies how to achieve their goals by using our unique, comprehensive, and systematic FastTrak Innovation Program™, Innovation Academy™, and Structure of Success™ methodologies. Using the components in these methodologies, each month we examine an aspect of how to transform your business or organization into a true 21st Century enterprise.
Office phone: (770) 642-4220
www.FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
George.Horrigan@FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
Tags: Business Planning, entrepreneur, front end of innovation, innovation, invention, small business consulting, small business planning, start a business
