Why aren't firms more innovative?

We hold innovative firms up to the light- as rare, glorious examples.

Most organisations have a number of creative people - whether or not in avowedly creative roles.

When these creative people come up with ideas that could become innovations - the ideas tend to be evaluated too early and too harshly.  Evaluators look for ways in which the idea could fail rather than looking for ways in which the idea could succeed.

Some products will fail because they are not technically feasible - they don’t do what it was thought they would do.  Others will fail because they are financially not viable - they cost too much or will fail to generate sufficient additional revenue.

However, the biggest killer of innovation is a lack (rarely explicit) of organisational feasibility. It just doesn’t fit with what we do - or how we do things. We don’t have a department where it fits.

If you have good ideas, treat them kindly - look for ways to make them fit and make them work. Otherwise you are never going to innovate.

India's difficult task

India is often cited as the next major economic powerhouse - perhaps even overtaking China.  This is based on India's recent record in moving up the international GDP league.

However, look just below the surface and you will see that this impressive growth has largely been fuelled by widening employment participation.  India has been very good at creating jobs.  It has been significantly less successful in creating productivity.  India's GDP per worker is very low. This is OK for growth in certain sectors but limits India's ability to compete in some sectors - and in overall terms.

India knows it has to improve and increase skills - and is trying to find ways of doing just that.  But this is much trickier than simply employing more workers.  It is, however, essential to securing and sustaining long-term growth in productivity.

Start (real) coaching

Coaching has become 'fashionable - the number of business coaches has multiplied dramatically over the last 10 years.

However many of thee coaches are 'consultants' under a different name.

What is the difference?

Well, a consultant attempts to improve your business.

A coach, on the other hand, is trying to improve you - so  that you can improve, and continue to improve, your business. The focus, the approach is quite different - as are the skills required.

So, if you need coaching, make sure you employ a coach with the right (personal ) skills and the right focus.

Get them on board - quickly

Careers have been changing for some time. More and more people have portfolio careers, switching industries, roles and employers frequently to fit in with a more flexible lifestyle and give a better work-life balance.

This means most firms have higher labour turnover and greater recruitment costs.

It also means it becomes necessary to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of recruitment and induction processes - what is often called 'onboarding' these days - so that shorter tenure employees get up to speed quickly.

It can take months to get an employee fully up to speed in a skilled job - every week saved is worth money.