Building a Culture of Innovation – Step 2: Set Proper Expectations

(This is Part 2 of a 3-Part series of posts on “How to Build a Culture of Innovation.” To read Part 1, click here…)

To create a culture of innovation, once you have buy-in, the next step is to maintain and build off of that buy-in. In order to do that you must Set Proper Expectations.

What exactly are you expecting when it comes to being more innovative and creating a culture of innovation? If you don’t set proper expectations, you will:

1. Lack focus and fail to do anything meaningful
2. Lose people’s interest and motivation
3. Have no idea if what you are doing is working

Three Expectations to Set:

Here are three expectations you should set if you want your efforts to create a culture of innovation to not go to waste:

1.  Time – How quickly do you expect results? Building a culture of innovation takes time. Seeing results from any innovation initiative can take time. If you don’t set proper time expectations, frustration can set in and you may run out of resources before you get anywhere. Be realistic and conservative.
2. Resources – Innovation doesn’t have to be expensive, but your “innovation cultural shift” will take some resources. Also, the fastest path to innovation is to be agile, which requires small-scale implementation. This has costs associated it with.  Set clear expectations of how much money, manpower, equipment, etc., you will need, so you can plan accordingly. Keep in mind however, that some of the best innovations come as a result of people being forced to be creative in the face of limited resources. DO NOT delay just because resources are tight. Just be clear on what they are.
3. Success – What does success look like to you? What does it look like to senior management? What does it look like to front line workers? If you don’t know, your activities will be less directed and you will have no idea whether you efforts are working and worth continuing.  You will also make it harder to get future buy-in if you can not either
   • Demonstrate success
   • Explain why you did not achieve success and why next time will be better

How to Set Proper Expectations:

1. Shrink the Goal  – I am all for reaching for the stars, but behavioral shifts happen one step at a time. Rather than overwhelming your people by trying to go too far too fast, set a goal that represents one small but strong step forward. Then build off of that success as people get more comfortable with being innovative.  
2. Set a defined time frame – For particularly resistant groups, setting a defined time frame can be a huge help. Rather then saying, “Here’s the way we are going to do things from now on,” say, “Here is how we are going to do things for the next 90 days. If you give me your full support for one quarter and things don’t work, we can go back to the ways things were.” That line about “…things don’t work…” is why setting expectations of success is important.
3. Create metrics – This is the hardest one, because innovation is not a straight line process. Setting a metric of “we must have 3 new innovative ideas by the end of Q2,” isn’t the best way to go. In fact, that approach can be detrimental. For innovation, in addition to the hard data (new implemented ideas, sales increases, cost decreases, etc.), be sure to measure activity, reward behavior, and consider “soft” skills:
   1. Measure activity – To create cultural change, you want people to try. To take action. To do something different. Measure the activity that happens so you can see whether people are starting to change, even if their efforts yield no real “results.”
   2. Reward Behavior – We live in a world that only rewards results. However, if you are trying to create a new culture, you need to reinforce the behavior you want in the new culture. This means that in addition to measuring activity, you should reward behavior. Even if it leads to failure, if it was the right behavior, reward it.
   3. Consider “Soft Skills” – Some of the key metrics that you are building a more innovative culture will come not in hard numbers, but in soft skills. Things like morale, motivation, collaboration, sense of hope and purpose, etc. These are harder to measure than financials, but they can be measured. Implement systems to track these (in addition to the financials, which are of course very important) and you will get a good idea if your innovation efforts are moving in the right direction.

Setting expectations are important if for not other reason that:

• It forces you to think through why you are promoting innovation and
• How you plan to achieve results.

This process will help you, your employees, and your supervisors be successful in your innovation efforts!

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Do you want help setting expectations as you create a culture of innovation with your team, department, or organization?  If so, contact Avish now to find out how he can help you do just that!