Death by Innovation

Many organisations are process-oriented. Their service delivery is industrialised and whether it is a factory or an office the people are more often than not organic cogs. Such organisations are selling efficiency and ultimately are judged on cost.

Of course as the market opens up to the wider world, the cost play becomes a race to the bottom. In turn many process players have latched onto a concept called innovation. This is dangerous.

It is all well and good for the leadership team to come up with an innovation-doused vision. But problems arise when the vision meets the management structure / employees. These have been engineered to believe that creativity is nothing more than a misfiring process in need of repair. And no amount of lateral thinking and thought shower workshops is going to change that. In any case nobody wants a bank manager with the customer-orientation of Steve Jobs. 

So don’t tinker with the existing model. It’s days are numbered, but the number might be quite high.

It is better to create a version 2.0 of the organisation where innovation is at the heart of the organisation. As version 1.0 declines, 2.0 rises. Possibly some of the 1.0 talent might be salvageable despite the baggage of their education and career to date.

The transition to the digital economy is going to be hard for both organisations and people.