AMCOM Arms Employees With Ideas For Encouraing Innovation

By Ms. Kari Hawkins (AMCOM)September 30, 2015

EXERCISE IN INNOVATION
Jackie Fenn, an information technology research consultant, talks with employees of the Aviation and Missile Command's G-6 (Information Management) management team about their technology innovation during a practice exercise that was part of the Inno... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Innovation -- whether in a corporate setting, a non-profit entity or a government organization -- adds value when it is viewed as a sustaining force of creativity that drives the mission forward.

And, in today's environment, where the newest technologies demand innovative approaches to new products, programs and solutions, organizations such as the Aviation and Missile Command can benefit from finding ways to encourage employee creativity.

As part of the Innovating the Digital Future workshop designed to spur the flow of new ideas, managers from AMCOM's G-6 (Information Management) spent the morning of Sept. 22 learning how to instill a culture of innovation in the everyday workplace.

"There's a creativity side of innovation that must be stoked. There's the sense that creativity is a light bulb moment. But it is more than a light bulb moment. In fact, it's a slow burn leading up to an innovation that breaks through," said workshop lead Jackie Fenn.

"How do you fuel the fire to make the flash happen? How do you fan -- encourage -- the flame? How do you freshen the firepit?"

Fenn is vice president of Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company, and the author of "Mastering the Hype Cycle: How to Choose the Right Innovation at the Right Time." She introduced AMCOM G-6 managers to principals of innovation during the workshop.

"Innovation is the implementation of new ideas in order to create new business value. It can mean different things to different people," Fenn said.

"But all innovation is basically something that has not been done yet, and that carries with it risk. It blazes a trail. It may not be brand new to the world, but it takes on new risk with new technology. And, hopefully, the value is there and that's why you are doing it."

Innovation Management, Fenn said, can be used throughout AMCOM to leverage new technologies and improve processes to support mission effectiveness in an efficient manner. But, to be a mature model for Innovation Management, AMCOM has to have the right balance between being deliberating innovative and being more reactive with innovation, she said.

"Getting beyond reactive requires a more deliberate effort for innovation," she said.

The three pillars of innovation include: Purpose -- Being goal driven and led by strong visionary leaders; Process -- Taking the time needed to try different ideas to find out what works best; and People -- Giving people permission to develop creatively.

When an organization commits to practicing Innovation Management, it changes in several different ways, Fenn said. It changes the way it makes decisions by shortening the distance between the person with the idea and the person with the authority to pursue the idea; the way it communicates by being bidirectional when communicating about innovation and soliciting more feedback; the way it rewards by using non-traditional, intrinsic incentives for innovation; the way it plans by creating plans that accommodate worthwhile ideas when they emerge; and the way it manages staff time by reserving a certain percentage of employees' time for experimentation with new ideas.

"These companies or organizations are smart about their spaces," Fenn said, adding that they find ways to inspire employees in the working environment.

"They want to be proactive and responsive. Innovative leaders ask the question: 'What are the changes coming with technology and how can I make sure those who are relevant know these changes?' They ask: 'What are the barriers that stifle innovation and how can those be changed with mentoring, coaching, removing obstacles and incentives?' And, most importantly, they ask: 'What is the path by which things do get implemented or deployed within my organization. How do I work within limitations to make sure there is progress?'"

Innovative leaders also look at ways to promote innovation in employees at all levels.

"What drives people to be innovative at work? It starts with a creative and open personality, and includes things like length of time with the company, education, job complexity, level of autonomy, supervisor support, leader-member relationships and a positive climate. The biggest drivers of innovation are under management control," Fenn said.

In successful innovative companies and organizations, all employees feel they are part of the team, she said. At Disney, everyone at its theme parks -- from the star performers to the cleanup crews -- are called cast members and seen as important contributors to the production. At a company that develops and manufactures steel drums, employees are called inventors and are required to sign an innovation contract at the same time they sign their employee contract.

At another company, a "Fresh Eyes" program captions the ideas of new employees during their first nine months of employment.

With big problems, big challenges, big opportunities there is a greater need to be innovative, she said.

"To create an innovative environment, companies create inspiring physical environments by engaging multiple senses, and create safe emotional environments by building trust and empowering employees to determine the roadmap to the goal," Fenn said.

"They don't eliminate ideas too soon. They proactively progress ideas by building on ideas to make them even better. They keep innovation and creativity alive year after year by focusing attention on innovation, building on the successes they have and encouraging employees to ask questions. If you can question, then sometimes you can get beyond the obvious and easy to something even bigger."

Everyday creativity needs time to grow.

"It's hard to be creative, innovative or come up with ideas when you are working flat out all the time," Fenn said. "Besides protecting time, you also have to look outward beyond the obvious and beyond your internal world, and you have to feed the senses by encouraging research. The most powerful question in the creative process is: 'What do I want?'"

Easy ways to drive innovation, she said, include starting or ending staff meetings with an "innovation moment," planning weekly meetings to exchange ideas with someone from a different part of the organization, taking 30 minutes once a week to search for innovation bright spots within the organization, organizing team field trips inside and outside the company and asking employees each month, "What are we doing that's innovative?" and "What have we learned so far?"