The Struggle with Innovation

A couple of weeks ago, I was in a meeting with an acquaintance who leads an innovation team for his company.  He had just come from a meeting with corporate and had heard the news that corporate is re-organizing his innovation team to be part of the “in-line” or baseline business instead of a standalone group as they were currently structured.  Apparently, every few years or so, corporate moves the innovation team in and out of the in-line businesses, unclear on where innovation really should lie.

This is not a new scenario.  I am sure all of us, either directly or indirectly, throughout our careers experienced a shift in an innovation organization structure.  Should it be broken out separately?  Should it be integrated?  Like all options, there are pros and cons of each. So I’m not going to discuss a case for one way or the other.  Personally, I’ve worked in both types of structures and I’ve seen both be successful …and I’ve seen both have its struggles.

What I do want to discuss is that the organizational structure of an innovation team should matter LESS, and the motivational structure of it should matter way more than it currently does.  What do I mean by motivational structure?  I believe that the best innovative ideas, thoughts, connections, etc.  happen because of  people and the motivational wiring of these people.  Just as we have “left brain” and “right brain” people, we have people who are inspired and truly energized by the non-linear, a lack of concrete direction, blank pages, white spaces, wide possibilities.   The key to success in innovation is in staffing the team with people and partners who thrive in such spaces.  Whether they live within the brand team or outside of it matters less than if they are the right people empowered, supported and encouraged to forge new thinking, new grounds, and new directions. 

So the next time your company starts to talk about a re-org to re-energize its innovation capabilities and output, steer the conversation instead to one about the people who make up the innovation team and the partners who help them.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that a change in organizational structure will yield dramatically different results.  Instead, focus on what can truly affect results – the people – and put your energy into building the best motivational structure possible.

--Barbara Hagen,

Managing Director