Does Improvement = Innovation?

written by Bradley Rebelo

Not that long ago, I had a discussion with a friend about whether innovation in the public sector is possible. He argued that innovation is not likely and I suggested that it is possible. As the discussion went on, I realized that we were actually arguing the same point but we had differing definitions of what innovation is.

My friend believed in the MaRS Discovery District’s theory that innovation should lead to new ways of working that create significant value in the magnitude of 10x the productivity of the previous solution. Why? Because 10x the productivity really forces you to re-examine fundamental assumptions, deviate from business as usual and experiment with new technologies (among other reasons). This makes sense but can you name an idea that has achieved a 10x increase in productivity? I can’t. Does this mean that we’re not innovative? I don’t think so.

I was of the notion that incremental improvements can lead innovation over the long-term. That is, each incremental improvement comes from the identification of a gap and changes our existing processes to make it more productive. Each improvement builds on the previous one and the gains in productivity become more and more noticeable when you reflect on the changes made over time.

Measuring the outcome is an important step in the innovation process. Some outcomes are difficult to quantify and, unfortunately, we’re not great at this yet. I am of the belief that innovation is more about the ideas that simplify our lives (or the way we work) rather than an arbitrary productivity gain.

The public sector is notoriously risk adverse so I feel incremental improvement is the best way to gain traction and build on an idea. Once you’ve implemented a small improvement, you can work on garnering support for the next incremental improvement. #Incrementalism