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Sometimes the best innovations come from revisiting new workflows or innovations with fresh eyes. Take Grammarly, for instance. Back in the day when Grammarly came out, I thought Grammarly was horrible. Then, it didn’t really do the trick, didn’t really work. And now today, I couldn’t live without it.
That example, while business, highlights my adoption of new tools and how they evolve. Another example involves when I pitched to a media company that they should publish audio versions of their articles. The idea was poo-pooed. “Nobody would want to listen to that.”
Today, most media sites do that and now entire companies have sprung up offering this service – using AI. Maybe I was ahead of the times, or the newspaper was behind the times. Regardless, it was not a way to foster innovation. And then others did it.
These experiences highlights a crucial lesson about innovation and the danger of dismissing ideas or new products and workflows simply because they didn’t work in the past. While many organizations get stuck in the “we tried that once” mindset, success often comes from being willing to reevaluate previous attempts with new context and technology.
But are excuses and dismissals of ideas getting less common or more common?
“Honestly, I think it’s getting worse,” said Larry Mietus, author of “We Tried That Once” and business consultant with 20 years of experience, on an episode of “The Business Storytelling Podcast.” “What I’ve noticed in my business consulting is that it’s really convenient for people, myself included, to make excuses that are just convenient, and it sort of becomes an ingrained part of the language system of those companies.”
The excuse culture
Corporate environments can breed a culture of convenient excuses that prevent innovation from taking root. Common refrains like “no one’s going to want this” or “if it’s not broken, why fix it” create barriers to trying new approaches or exploring opportunities for improvement.
These excuses often mask deeper organizational issues. Many companies become complacent with their current success, failing to recognize that competitors are constantly innovating and evolving. Success, while celebrated, can breed a dangerous form of contentment that stifles growth.
“Someone right around the corner, around the block, halfway around the world, is already messing with it, and you don’t know it,” Larry explained, highlighting the risk of maintaining the status quo.
The path to fostering innovation
Rather than seeking dramatic transformations, successful innovation often comes through small, incremental improvements. Focus on making consistent minor adjustments that compound over time.
“It’s not about giant Quantum Leap steps,” Larry emphasized. “It’s about tiny, one degree, two degree levels of improvement, and all of those degrees add up over time to great strides.”
One effective approach to fostering innovation involves actively seeking customer feedback. Southwest Airlines exemplifies this approach through its evolution. Initially, they implemented their unique queuing system based on direct customer input, said Larry.
“They went to the airport and said to people, what would you do? What would you do at the airport to get the seat of your choice?” Larry explained.
More recently, after surveying customers again, they found that non-Southwest flyers would consider the airline if they offered assigned seating – leading to their seating model change.
Leadership buy-in
Building an innovative culture requires sustained effort and commitment from leadership.
“Cultural change in an organization takes 24 to 36 months of non-stop effort being applied,” Larry noted. This process demands consistent communication and demonstration of commitment to change.
Leadership plays a crucial role in fostering innovation. CEOs and business owners should focus on three key areas:
- Communication
- Culture development
- People management
Rather than micromanaging day-to-day operations, leaders should remove barriers that hinder their teams’ success and create an environment where new ideas are welcomed and seriously considered.
Modern workforces, particularly younger generations, actively seek opportunities for growth and learning.
“When you look at the two youngest generations in our workforce now, Gen Z and millennials, they’ve come right out and said, I need access, immediate access to competent leaders who can teach me something,” Larry shared. These generations have demonstrated they “would rather work for less money in a company with a better culture that has a better social conscience.”
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Moving forward successfully
Innovation efforts must be tracked and measured to ensure effectiveness.
“We’re going to measure this for 30 days or 60 days or 90 days, or whatever is reasonable based on the challenge, and then we’re going to analyze and make a decision,” Larry explained, emphasizing the importance of setting realistic timeframes for evaluation.
Organizations seeking to foster innovation must first acknowledge and address their excuse-making habits. This requires creating an environment where:
- New ideas are welcomed and seriously considered
- Failure is viewed as a learning opportunity
- Incremental improvements are celebrated
- Customer feedback drives decision-making
- Data informs strategy and execution
“Culture beats strategy every single day of the week,” Larry emphasized. “Give me an A culture and a C strategy, and we’ll put a winner on the field. Give me an A strategy and a C culture, and we might win. But I’m probably not going to bet on that.”
The journey to fostering innovation begins with recognizing that “we tried that once” should never be the end of the conversation, but rather the beginning of a new approach to solving challenges and creating value.
