Creating a Culture of Innovation & Agility – on Purpose
Years ago, I worked at a large mountain resort company, one with thousands of employees and multiple locations; it was (and is) a place that was well-established, with a vision, clear values, a supportive organizational structure, and leadership in place to help permeate those things throughout the company. In many ways, it was a well-oiled machine.
But even the most well-run of teams have space for growth. Case in point: one day, after I’d come on as a newly-hired manager, I came across an employee who’d been there for over a decade. I noticed that she ran the same report each month, and learned later that she had been doing so every single month for the past 10 years. I also learned that, despite this employee diligently spending several hours to create this resource regularly, no one was looking at it.
When I learned this, I was shocked – a significant amount of time and energy had been put towards something that created absolutely no output for the team. What really struck me about the situation, though, was that no one had noticed – not even the woman creating the report; it had taken a newcomer, someone with a fresh pair of eyes, to see what the team might have easily discovered had one person made even the slightest of inquiries.
When we did finally discover how little her report was being used and how much of her time was being wasted, we changed things; we got rid of the report, and we put a tenured employee’s time to better use.
Do you know what that’s called? Innovation.
That’s right – innovation. This concept is so often associated with big, revolutionary ideas – the introduction of motor vehicles, the internet, smartphones, AI. All of those things are no doubt innovative, but at its core, innovation comes down to a simple concept: creating change with the goal of improvement. This can look like a lot of different things – streamline a process, creating a new product, asking for employee input that’s never been requested before. Any time you move forward in a different way with the aim of getting better, even if it’s by asking a simple question – Is this thing that we do still necessary? – like we did when we got rid of that ten-year-old report all those years ago, you are innovating. Whether you’re innovating locally (meaning you have never done it before), globally (meaning the world has never done it before), large, or small – it all counts.
Innovation & Agility: Being and Doing at the Highest Level
To dig a bit deeper into this concept, we spoke with an innovation expert, if such a thing is possible.
Over his 15+ year career, Brian Van Winkle has worked as an executive, a strategist, and a thought leader, leading innovation initiatives for teams working to take some of the world’s biggest strides in healthcare. He’s spent the majority of his career designing innovation initiatives and helping teams implement them to increase their impact on the ground, improving access and experiences for patients around the world. Now, he works as Co-Founder and Partner at Manos Health, a digital health research and advisory company that aims to accelerate the build and adoption of digital healthcare solutions.
Also – side note – he’s a first responder on the Breckenridge Ski Patrol, a drummer in the Ski Patrol Band, and he just so happens to be my neighbor; this just goes to show that you never know what amazing people and stories are within a stone’s throw from where you live!
When we spoke, Brian had a lot of wisdom to share, but one thing that struck me most was his take on his role in helping companies to innovate. “I don’t see myself as innovative,” he said, completely throwing me for a loop. “I see myself as fostering conversations and approaches that remove barriers, agendas, and biases [on teams]... There’s a misconception that [I am] there to innovate, when in reality, [I am] there to support innovators.”
And herein lies the key to creating innovative teams: innovating yourself as a leader is meaningless, in the long run, if you don’t have a culture of innovation that permeates throughout your entire team and encourages innovation amongst them in their everyday actions. Brian realized this with his work, as well; it wasn’t his job, necessarily, to create innovative solutions alone, but rather to create spaces that allowed innovation to take hold and flourish.
Innovation, in this way, is not just something you do; it’s a mindset shift, and – as exemplified in my initial story of the colleague who’d written the same report for a decade – it’s a shift that creates the most benefit when it’s implemented at every level of an organization. Because when everyone is encouraged to go beyond their repetitive, everyday tasks and to think critically and ask questions, you find yourself with a resource whose value far surpasses any other you might be able to purchase with money: you find yourself with a team of people empowered to promote efficiency, productivity, and forward progress, despite the challenges and unexpected roadblocks that might (read: will) come up.
This is what it means to create a true culture of innovation; when you remove your focus from innovating on your own, and instead focus on creating the conditions for your team to be able to do so, you are creating a culture that promotes new ideas and critical thinking at every level, which further supports the continued growth and longevity of your organization as a whole.
And when you do this consistently and over time, you can likely expect another positive side effect on your team – what I like to call the sibling to innovation: agility.
If innovation is a way of being, agility is a way of doing; it is a team’s ability to respond to change quickly and with confidence, something they can do well when they have a culture of innovation already in place. So that client who changes their mind about what they want last minute? That emergency expense that cuts your budget in half? That supply shortage, new competitor product, critical piece of feedback given by a board member, or even that conflict between members of your team – none of those can permanently stand up to a team that has built the dual habits of innovative thinking and acting with agility.
A great example of operating in the mindset of this dynamic duo is that of WellPower, located in Denver and known nationally as a model for innovative and effective community behavioral health care. A continuous challenge the organization has faced is documentation; a combination of their patients’ complex needs and the strenuous rules not always applied to therapists in private practices have created a high administrative burden that uses up time that could be better focused on clinical care. In order to address this issue, WellPower worked with Iliff Innovation Lab to explore the possibility of using AI to find a solution. Though there have been a number of concerns around using AI ranging from data security to data biases among many other things, WellPower bravely explored the potential uses of ethical AI for their needs, and ultimately found an avenue that both protected their patients’ data and reduced their staff’s total documentation time by 60%.
As Wes Williams, PhD, VP & Chief Information Officer of WellPower, is quoted saying elsewhere: “Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.”
In other words – don’t get attached to forcing a solution, but instead, get super clear on what the problem is that you’re trying to find a solution for and be curious about what the solution might be. In this way, you invite innovative thinking into the very process of problem solving, and you make yourself open to acting with agility as unexpected solutions reveal themselves.
Building Your Own Culture of Innovation & Agility
When I asked Brian why he thinks it’s so important for companies to create cultures that promote innovation and agility, he put it this way: “If you don’t transform and evolve, someone else will. There’s a darwinism associated with constantly evolving, no matter what you do or what organization you’re in. Thinking differently or trying new things or supporting questions or questioning the status quo – the concept of innovating really just means, ‘How do you change and do things differently…either to survive or excel in a hypercompetitive world.?’”
If you’re at the beginning of your journey with building a culture of innovation and agility on purpose, the good news is that there are resources out there to help as you build a strategy that’s right for your team. One such resource is the F.I.R.E framework, which shares a way to walk through the steps of operating an innovation-forward team:
Focus | Define the problem or opportunity clearly
Ideation | Brainstorm ideas that address the opportunity / problem statement
Ranking | Use a ranking approach to identify the best ideas based on established criteria
Execution | Take the best ideas and run experiments / test to ultimately launch the best ideas as a new product, service, or process
Final food for thought: As you build your culture, remember that it may take some trial and error before you hit your stride. Brian shared two examples of companies he worked with (amongst the many) that operated at opposite far ends of the spectrum of an innovative, agile culture. One, he affectionately termed the “Wild Wild West” – their team was great at ideation, with new ideas welcomed openly from any and everyone. The challenge this created, though, was that their lack of structure for choosing and supporting ideas often resulted in employees feeling disenfranchised, as their ideas consistently fizzled and died. On the other end of the spectrum was a company with a very clear process for receiving new ideas, but their challenge was that their system was bogged down in red tape, going through committee after committee that ultimately left most ideas unrealized, while the ideas that did get honored reflected much of what had already been championed in the past.
The moral of this comparison – and this article as a whole – is this: However you approach building your innovation and agility strategy, the important thing is to remember the most foundational elements: “Find ways to create safe spaces to innovate, provide basic instruction and support to all ideas, and be quick to prioritize which ones you’d like to invest in,” Brian said, sharing his last bit of advice for teams intent on supporting an innovative, agile mindset. “And understand your risk tolerance; if an idea has to succeed, then you are doomed before you start.”
Welcome new ways of thinking and doing from your team and provide the right support and guidance so that their time and efforts aren’t wasted.
“The magic,” he ended, “is in the balance.”
About Manos Health: Manos Health is a research and advisory company that helps build and scale digital health products for companies from start-ups to Fortune 100s. They bring their vast network of experts and buyers, clinical trial experience, and their performance-based lead generation offerings to support digital health products throughout the build to market life cycle.
Reach out to Manos Health here: hello@manoshealth.com
Integrated Growth has been developing leaders, mobilizing teams, and transforming organizations since 1998. Founded by Gretchen Reid, their team of highly skilled consultants and executive coaches are known for building award winning leadership development programs, facilitating strategic planning and team development initiatives, and providing executive coaching to help you achieve your greatest mission. We invite you to schedule a free consultation or visit www.integratedgrowth.com for more information.
AUTHOR – Gretchen Reid is the Founder and Chief Change and Leadership Architect for Integrated Growth. She has spent over 25 years coaching leaders and creating award-winning Leadership and Talent Development Programs, directly contributing to multiple awards for her clients, including Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, Forbes America’s Best Employers List, Forbes Best Employer for Diversity, and ASTD BEST. She is an Adjunct Professor of Change Management in the Strategic HR Masters Program, Denver University, University College. (MS, Career and Human Resource Development, Rochester Institute of Technology, BA, Psychology & Business Management, University of Rochester)