It is humanly impossible to see yourself from the outside unless you have the help of a mirror and that really is what businesses need…. A mirror to look at themselves from the outside in. Can you imagine going to work ladies without a chance to fix your hair in a mirror or gentleman trying to get a good blade shave without that handsome guy looking back at you? We wouldn’t go for more than a few hours without a look in the mirror let alone a day or a month but sometimes we will let our businesses go for years without getting a real good outsider perspective. Economics history professor Nathan Rosenberg once said, “Innovation often originates outside existing organizations, in part because successful organizations acquire a commitment to the status quo and a resistance to ideas that might change it.”
Even with the help of a mirror there are usually things we miss since we don’t look critically at ourselves after a certain number of times. “New and different” requires more effort and energy than “routine and normal.” It is so human to look at ourselves and our organizations with the intent of justifying our current status so we don’t have to change. Even when we are conscious that we shouldn’t be trying to justify status quo and we are actually looking for opportunity to change it is still an uphill battle. For instance, when you produce sub quality work on the rare occasion by accident you are more likely to accept a lower quality product just to avoid the extra work of a re-do, it is a pretty natural human tendency. That is why so many industries separate their inspection departments from their production departments. Inspection doesn’t have the commitment to the work already produced. That is what an unbiased view of the inside of an organization looks like, an unbiased or un conflicted view has no commitment to the status quo. If you have personally labored to create the current business environment your mind is apt to miss or filter out a lot of opportunity just to enjoy the current success of the organization and ride with the cruise control on. That is why getting a truly outside perspective usually comes from the outside. So invite the outsider, the senior citizen or the dare I say a “know it all teenager” and certainly if you can afford it, the consultant just to get that oh-so-valuable look in the mirror.
Innovation has its own set of glasses, it is a unique focus on a problem. The goal of an innovation focus is not to fix a working system and restore it to previous levels of health but to make it better, simpler or reinvent it. Often it takes at the very least some outside technology in the form of new and improved ways to inspire and engage people inside and outside the organization, new and improved tooling, strategies, communications, investment and so on. It wouldn’t be new and or improved if it was already inside the organization, that is why the scary but necessary outside perspective is key. Yes, there are times that the best technology for one or all the above is right inside your organization but don’t believe it for very long.
Even with the help of a mirror there are usually things we miss since we don’t look critically at ourselves after a certain number of times. “New and different” requires more effort and energy than “routine and normal.” It is so human to look at ourselves and our organizations with the intent of justifying our current status so we don’t have to change. Even when we are conscious that we shouldn’t be trying to justify status quo and we are actually looking for opportunity to change it is still an uphill battle. For instance, when you produce sub quality work on the rare occasion by accident you are more likely to accept a lower quality product just to avoid the extra work of a re-do, it is a pretty natural human tendency. That is why so many industries separate their inspection departments from their production departments. Inspection doesn’t have the commitment to the work already produced. That is what an unbiased view of the inside of an organization looks like, an unbiased or un conflicted view has no commitment to the status quo. If you have personally labored to create the current business environment your mind is apt to miss or filter out a lot of opportunity just to enjoy the current success of the organization and ride with the cruise control on. That is why getting a truly outside perspective usually comes from the outside. So invite the outsider, the senior citizen or the dare I say a “know it all teenager” and certainly if you can afford it, the consultant just to get that oh-so-valuable look in the mirror.
Innovation has its own set of glasses, it is a unique focus on a problem. The goal of an innovation focus is not to fix a working system and restore it to previous levels of health but to make it better, simpler or reinvent it. Often it takes at the very least some outside technology in the form of new and improved ways to inspire and engage people inside and outside the organization, new and improved tooling, strategies, communications, investment and so on. It wouldn’t be new and or improved if it was already inside the organization, that is why the scary but necessary outside perspective is key. Yes, there are times that the best technology for one or all the above is right inside your organization but don’t believe it for very long.
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