You may have seen the announcement last month that Amazon received several Drone related patents, including one that enables drones to drop packages into delivery “drop zones” from as high as 25 feet. It uses inflatable airbags to provide the cushioning for drops to a person’s backyard or patio.
Upon impact with the ground the airbag slightly deflates, thereby absorbing the contact and providing more cushioning. Also, the technology patented enables delivery of packages to balconies in urban high-rise buildings.
The drone uses cameras and other sensors to ensure the “drop zone” is clear of people or animals and if it is not, it declines the delivery until it can re-assess the situation.
Additionally, as it turns out dropping packages from the air, versus landing and taking off, saves energy because it takes more fuel to land and take off as compared to just dropping the package from the air and then flying on to the next delivery.
The inflatable airbag technology will also enable a drone that has collided with another drone, building, or object to land safely by cushioning itself for the impact with the ground.
A Culture of Innovation at Amazon
Development of this type of game changing technology by Amazon is in keeping with the culture that Jeff Bezos, its Founder and CEO has created at Amazon which is reflected in what he said many years ago – “I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out”.
As a result of posting a record profit of $1.9 billion in the most recent quarter and three years of previous substantial profits Amazon does not have to practice innovation because of the need to be frugal, it still choses to fully embraces a culture of innovation as a foundation of its operations.
A Proper Culture is the Key to Successful Innovation
Various studies have shown that the existence of a proper culture has the highest correlation to successful innovation within an organization. Therefore, it is crucial for people to work in a climate that fully supports innovation like Amazon’s culture.
This may explain part of the reason why companies like Apple, IBM, Procter & Gamble, 3M and General Electric are able to reinvent themselves again and again. It’s in their DNA—their culture—to recreate themselves through innovation.
Research by Tellis, Prabhu, and Chandy found the culture of an organization was a much more important driver of innovation than labor, capital, or a government under which it functions or country where it operates.
Furthermore, having the right climate/culture for innovation and having leadership which supports innovation is the number one factor that distinguishes more innovative companies from the less well-performing ones. Those businesses that create a positive climate for innovation, support innovation at every opportunity, and welcome ideas from all employees do much better at innovation than those that don’t make it a priority.
What Is an Innovative Culture?
Innovation expert Gary Hamel describes an innovative culture broadly as “a marked departure from traditional management principles, practices or customary organizational forms that significantly alter the way the work of management is performed.” Other experts state that innovativeness in an organization is associated with a culture that emphasizes learning and participative decision-making.
The basic elements of culture—company values and beliefs, assumptions that become the guide for future performance, and the resulting demonstrated creative employee behavior—form the foundation of an innovative environment. A conducive climate signals employees to think and act in a certain way, thereby facilitating a comfort level with continual change. In turn, employees have to respond to the challenges management lays before them and the changes that innovation breakthroughs will necessitate.
Evaluating an Organization’s Current Innovation Culture
What if you don’t already have an innovative culture? Is there any way you can build one? Yes, you can.
The first step in creating an innovative culture is to assess what an organization’s atmosphere of innovation currently looks like. For smaller companies this may be relatively easy and may involve thinking about the company, evaluating its operations or informally talking to some of its personnel. But for larger organizations an objective assessment is a very prudent first step.
Utilize an Innovation Assessment Tool
An assessment tool is recommended to discern where your organization currently resides in the continuum of innovation. As well as evaluating where an organization is starting from regarding innovation, it can be a useful benchmark for evaluating the overall level of innovation between different companies or the comparison of various divisions or areas within a company.
Also, an assessment tool can be used to assess specific aspects of an organization, namely: values, climate, resources, processes, behavior and past successes. It can be applied to an entire company or a specific business unit, department or team.
Our company has developed an Innovation Scorecard that provides a practical 360-degree assessment tool. It consists of 54 questions, which can be used to assess the current state of your organization. If you are interested in more information about the tool we use, feel free to contact us.
Whether you are posting a record profits or need to “get out of a tight box” in your company, you want to create a culture of innovation because having the right climate/culture for innovation enables companies to perform as market leaders – just like Amazon.
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
