Where Have All the Builders Gone?
Companies struggle to innovate not because they don’t run enough programs or spend enough money; companies don’t innovate because they don’t have the right people to innovate.
Discussion of corporate innovation often center around issues like strategy, organizational structure, internal culture, and programs. Companies create physical innovation spaces, establish innovation partnerships with startups, and form innovation departments and positions to facilitate new ideas. Everyone across the company says innovation is necessary and claim to possess an innovative culture.
These are just the veneer of innovation. I believe that each of these individual elements contribute to a stronger foundation to support the growth and acceleration of innovation, but it doesn’t generate the kernels of innovation itself. New ideas come from people, are pushed forward by people, and eventually realized by people. Post-its are just the tool to help people get there.
However, in my observation, the very people who possess new ideas, who push ideas forward, who convert those ideas into viable businesses are simply no longer working in companies.
Builders vs. Operators
Most employees can be separated into two groups: builders and operators.
Operators execute on what they’ve been given, whether that is a machine or a vehicle or an Excel sheet. They follow the rules, learned from those before them, and strive to do the best they can within those parameters. When met with a new challenging situation, they can adapt and adjust and usually fix the problem at hand, i.e. the machine stops working, or the vehicle is stalled, or the formula needs to be corrected; however, they cannot create something new from scratch. Operators essentially are great at continuing what has already been built and continually making it better.
Builders imagine what else is possible and strive to build something new, i.e. can we use this new program to generate reports rather than Excel?. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t, but builders are restless and never satisfied with the status quo. However, once something they’ve built reaches a certain level of maturity, builders get bored and need to move on to the next idea, turning over the growth and execution to operators. Builders make lousy operators.
The Lack of Builders in Companies
Companies in their nature seek to hire and promote operators simply because companies execute known, proven business models and they hire people to fill specific positions and reward the accomplishment of specific tasks. In order to keep the massive corporate machine moving forward, they need people to follow the rules, processes and systems that have been put in place in order to generate margins.
Builders don’t fit comfortably into this environment. They ask too many questions, they go on too many diversions, and they spend too much time spinning their wheels without making actual, measurable progress within specific time increments. They also don’t find operational work fulfilling, and thus give less than full effort.
In my experience, the builders I’ve found in companies fall into one of three positions at companies:
- Dead-End Meaningless Job Drone: the builder just does the 9–5 routine, watching the hours tick by, until he/her can leave and work on a hobby or other interest that actually inspires him/her
- Overburdened, Overworked Team Leader: known as a creative problem solver and high achiever, the builder is given more work, more responsibility, and is left with little time to explore other things
- “One Foot Out the Door” Associate: the builder does his/her work competently but is ready to flee at any moment, always scouring other job opportunities or contemplating starting their own venture
As startups and small studios and freelancing has become more commonplace and accepted, builders are leaving the corporate confines in droves to pursue their own interests, finding niches where their talents have value. And thus, as corporations seek to launch new innovation programs and ventures, the people who can drive those efforts are no longer around.
Operators are great at executing established systems, but not so great at searching for new ones. When challenged to develop new ideas, they are stuck on incremental extensions (let’s add this feature, or sell this other product). They don’t have the capacity to think exponentially, radically, and re-imagine their entire job, the entire company. Everyone can be T-Shaped and creative, but not everyone can go around breaking things until they find a new approach that works. Those people are gone, having been pushed out, bored out, or simply overworked to the point where they’ve lost their builder edge.
Thus, despite all the fanfare of innovation efforts, startup programs, and creative spaces, the fact is that the people who would benefit the most from those programs are not around.
What can corporations do to reverse this downward spiral?
I’ll save that for my next blog post.
Until next time.
Make Innovation Work
Core Strateji is a strategy consulting firm that specializes in supporting leading companies to transform into ambidextrous organizations. Are you ready to move your innovation activities forward?
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