How do you see business life? Perhaps as a series of must do tasks, a collection of repeating targets or an ever-rolling stream in which every task and every interaction builds and enhances the next? If it is the last option then it’s a fair bet that your organisation is reasonably high on the innovation spectrum i.e. has well developed innovation maturity. But for many organisations, daily reality is far more focused towards the ‘structural’ not contextual i.e. task-based or object-based perceptions.
Why shouldn’t it be you ask? After all, some of the classic time management techniques are based around listing and prioritising ‘to do’ lists; getting the task we most fear out of the way at the beginning of the day or starting off with a few ‘quick wins’ so that the list seems more manageable. And after all, business life is circumscribed with tax and vat returns, payroll runs and annual accounts; all tasks which divide up and measure the passing of the year.
However, whilst it is true that certain tasks have to be performed at set times, there is nothing in the rulebook that says that those tasks have to dictate the pattern of business life. It’s all a question of perception. Mark set tasks out in bold letters on the calendar and they tend to rule, their over-blown importance seeming to sideline everything else. And when that happens, even if we have a one-year or a five-year plan, it is the next milestone, which we concentrate on.
On the other hand, if we see every task as a building block to the next; every action and every interaction as a chance to improve, to create or to share experiences then the set tasks tend to become immersed in time’s rolling stream; still things to be done but now as way points towards the future, a journey rather than as a series of end points. It’s one reason why lifelong learning, blended learning and CPD are becoming increasingly popular in business. Our learning doesn’t stop on the day we leave school and nor should it be delivered in fixed chunks as demarcation points which signal the next promotion. Similarly our business life shouldn’t be seen as a series of end points with little or no thought for ‘what’s next’.
Organisations, which have moved onto a pathway driven by innovation, understand this. They understand that in order to collaborate with a view to providing real solutions it is better to prioritise holistic learning over task-based learning. They understand that those who have a task/milestone-focused view of the organisation will struggle to work with others to create solutions for the organisation. For them curiosity and diversity are traits to be fostered in a continuing quest for improvement and differentiation. And as each development leads on to the next then the organisation benefits in a continuing spiral of innovative behaviour and actions.
If you’d like to learn more about shaping the future through building a culture of innovation feel free to email Cris at cris@thefutureshapers.com or visit www.thefutureshapers.com for more information on how Cris and his team help some of the worlds smartest companies succeed through innovation.
