When your boss says: “How can we be more innovative?”

Uh, dude? Are you being rhetorical?

Innovation. Innovative. Innovating. This word has become such a parlor trick, business buzz word, that you have to decipher what a person really thinks innovation is any time you hear someone use it. Does it mean a completely new idea? Does it mean being a nimble organization, able to adapt to new directions quickly? Both? Some frankenstein of the too? Is your lack of innovation just an easy excuse for failings elsewhere in the business? Do they mean they want faster results? We all know intrinsically that there are multiple forms of “innovation”, especially in software development (e.g., my favorite: operational), but when an Executive wants “innovation” you have to be cautious of what that really means to them.

It does, however, almost always mean they aren’t satisfied with what you’re doing.

More often than not, I do find that to a non-technical executive it will mean: “I want more results with the same or less resources.” Being “innovative”, to them, means producing amazing, profitable, product without spending any additional money on new resources. They have all been reared on the teet of stories about the Apple, Google, and Facebook’s of the world and think that their organization should be one of those. It is dangerous thinking; while we can all aspire to be one of those top .01% companies in healthy ways, using them as a benchmark for the average business sets your expectations totally out of control. More of us are like Jason Fried’s 10 million dollar company than the 1 billion dollar companies that get all of the press.

So what are you to do when an executive lobs that innovation landmine at you? You have to immediately diffuse it or you’ll be in trouble. But first, fight your reaction to roll your eyes. Realize that what they are really expressing is some sort of dissatisfaction with the results of your organization. It could be profits, it could be speed to market, it could be both. What they rarely are saying is that they expect you to germinate some new billion dollar idea. Those don’t happen.

My advice is to turn it immediately into an information gathering session, with three basic questions:

1. Ask them why they feel you aren't already an “innovative” organization? Last you checked your had a product team, you had developers, and you were iterating as quickly as possible. This will help you figure out more specifically what they are dissatisfied with today.
2. Ask them how they think you should benchmark “innovation”? This will help you triangulate what they think innovation really is. This will also help you frame future discussions when they read a Techcrunch article about XYZ thing and want to be that type of “innovator.”
3. Ask them if they know what your short-term and long-term roadmap is? If they do, ask for feedback. If they (more than likely) do not, ask for a time to walk them through it. This will show that you’ve already realized the same thing and have a viable product strategy to fix it. Assume they’re ignorant and educating them could get them off your back.

In the end, if someone is asking your team to be more innovative you’re in trouble. They might be a clueless exec, but something is facilitating their thoughts. And with such a loaded word, you really need to figure out what their real issue is before you find your product killed or your team realigned to other business goals.