Innovation post COVID-19
In the space of just 4 weeks, our day to day realities have been turned upside down. People are dying, economies are being tested beyond anything seen since the 1930’s, and organisations of all shapes and sizes are being forced to rapidly adapt in order to survive. Yet in the midst of this chaos, we have witnessed an expression of views that purport innovation is dead, that the doubling down on efficiency, control and hierarchy must be core to our response in the post COVID world. On the other hand, we hear from a cohort who claim the time has come for innovation, where we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to reassess the way we organise and operate in relation to our societies, environment and existence.
We are witnessing the emergence of age-old tensions between the old and new, and this is bought into sharp relief by our current circumstances, leading to the emergence of new narratives and perspectives that warrant exploration.
With this in mind, we have created the Post COVID Conversations, a space for innovators to share dialogue, explore and make sense of what is emerging in the post COVID world through virtual conversations.
To kick things off, Mike Oliver and I will explore thoughts based on ‘virtual water cooler’ conversations that have occurred since the emergence of COVID-19.
What will Innovation look like post COVID world?
Matt: I think it’s fair to say that we are witnessing the emergence of a number of narratives as people fight to make sense of the disruption caused by COVID-19. Things get particularly interesting when it comes to the topic of innovation. What are your thoughts on this?
Mike: Hi Matt, well first I would say there is there is significant and widespread thinking that the COVID-19 Pandemic, could lead to a paradigm shifting moment for economies and society. There is much commentary on the outcome being a “V” shaped bounce back, a medium-term recession to a depression not seen since the 1930s. This influenced my thinking on the implications for Innovation teams. The last 10 years have been focussed around, “Moon Shots”, “Innovation hubs”, “Digital Transformation”, “Agile” and “Disruption”; with old industry, looking for new opportunities, chasing well-funded venture capitalist start-ups looking to scale and capture new value opportunities. The main driver, or motivation has been focussed primarily on financial return. What the current situation has done is to create a new focus and urgency for innovation driven by a fundamental societal need that affects us all. This is something that was highlighted in a recent conversation with a colleague who described the current situation as:
“proving once and for all how important incentive and urgency is for innovation, you need challenges to stay truly creative”
And we are certainly seeing a creative global response in the innovation community.
Matt: This reminds me of the old adage of ‘necessity being the mother of invention’ and I’d certainly agree that we are seeing a tremendous bottom up, community driven effort to deliver innovation in response to COVID, you only have to look at the number of virtual hackathons, design jams and innovation calls to realise this. I find the predictions of a V shaped bounce back interesting, if we turn back the clock by 6 month’s we see that there was little commentary about a global pandemic and economic down turn in the near future, so why should we be so sure in the predictions of a bounce back, especially when we find ourselves in unchartered waters? Furthermore, I suspect predictions of a bounce back of this kind are largely based on the assumption of a return to business as usual, and if that were to be the case, we will have missed the greatest opportunity to radically redefine how we operate in a world where overconsumption, inequality and impending climate disaster loom. It would be interesting to understand the diversity of views right now and revisit them in 6 months’ time.
Mike: Undoubtedly COVID-19 is raising some pretty fundamental questions, and simultaneously having impact across all industries. I’ve been engaged in a number of conversations with forward thinkers across my network, the following quotes should give a feel for the range of perceptions:
“There’s a higher appetite for innovation, as old ways are being proven not to work, we need new thinking”
“I think Innovation or product ideation and process renewal will accelerate but there will also be more business as usual”
“Everyone, even in lockdown is starting to realise other paradigms, ways of working, how to be engaged with people and how to drive innovation”
“Autonomy v’s Hierarchy: you can have all the control you want, that won’t help when the next unanticipated event comes along. Plus, we are really seeing how inefficient a hierarchy is at making decisions. A new paradigm is emerging”
“The last thing anyone is looking for at this time is innovation.”
Mike: From my perspective, I have been reading a lot about comparable historical events, such as wars, economic crashes, the great depression and previous epidemics. There are many lessons learnt, some specific to each event, either military, technological, medical or financial. However, what is very clear is it is these types of events that have led to some of the biggest, economic, industrial and societal changes ever experienced in such a short period of time. That means, Innovation Leaders need to support businesses who are facing a more uncertain future than they have experienced to date.
Matt: I’d argue that many businesses need to be ready for that support, especially where the perception of innovation can often be framed within industrial age, somewhat Taylorist /Fordist outlook. I read a great article on the post COVID futures by Jeremy Lent that touched upon the concept of the Overton Window, and how this informs a limited number of ways for organising society that are acceptable in mainstream political discourse. For most Governments, COVID-19 has blown open the Overton Window, clearing the way for radical policy innovation that was not viewed as possible pre-COVID-19. I believe every business has its own Overton Window and true innovation can be bought to the fore if a business is ready to consider the impact of this on its potential to innovate. So, with this in mind, what do you think Innovation leaders need to focus on going forward?
Mike: The needs of many businesses, big and small will be to focus on the core, and create efficiencies, but it’s definitely not time for the Innovation functions to stop, it’s the opposite. Now is the time these Innovation leaders should bring to bear the skills they have learnt to support their organisations.
Matt: For many large organisations, especially those with a strong industrial heritage, the instinct will be defensive, with a focus on protecting cash, creating short term efficiencies, optimisation and control, and if anything is going to close down an innovation function, it’s this. That’s not to say innovation does not happen outside of these functions, and we can argue that this may be necessary for short term stabilisation. The risk will be that this consumes all effort at a time when many organisations should also be looking at the longer-term response to an uncertain and volatile future, and given our poor ability to plan and predict; the traits of an innovator; resilience, adaptability and creativity will be critical in navigating this turbulence. Given this, I would say the response of innovation leaders needs to be thought about in the context of something like the Cynefin or VUCA Framework, with a portfolio of interventions ranging from analytical, planned activity, to iterative experiments, or even rapid reactive action as the local context dictates. This is not the same as blanket application of best practice!
Mike: What does that mean? well I think, innovation leaders need to particularly focus on:
- Prioritising action in the short term; Think in periods of weeks leading to impact in quarters; no more! Your organisation, the external context and customer landscape will change as quickly, and you will need to learn, unlearn and re-act.
- Future Thinking; Keep a lens on potential future scenarios, and the Possible, Probable and Preferable impact these may have on your core business. Create tests / hypothesis on these outcomes and send individuals / teams exploring different outcomes. As per one, keep these tests, rapid and in weeks, not years.
- Customer & End-User; Having a focused lens on them, this is critical and more important than ever, as their context will be changing as quickly as yours and you will need to adapt fast.
- Distributed Team Autonomy; Current innovation models around enabling empowered micro teams to operate in a more flexible, knowledge driven and creative way, will be more successful at navigating uncertainty and volatility.
Matt: These are good suggestions, especially where high uncertainty exists, and you’ll get no argument from me regarding the importance of user focus. I’d also add a nuance to the mix. I find that the term innovation is often conflated with the search for game changing, disruptive outcomes in relation to technology. Often, innovation can be found in creating new ways of delivering existing value propositions, or new ways of organising and this spans across the spectrum of business activity, whether that be product, services, HR, organisational, commercial or another dimension. Secondly, distributed team autonomy really refers to the delegation of decision-making authority to the teams at the chalk face and is necessary to counter slow hierarchical decision making and its impact on adaptability in fast moving situations. The nuance is context, where things have gone a bit VUCA, networked/distributed decision making is key, this implies autonomy and trust. Where things are stable, measurable and predictable, more classical management approaches may apply. The real challenge for leaders is to understand these nuances of context in order to release innovation potential in an appropriate way. Two big influences on my thinking in this regard are Dave Snowden and Stanley McChrystal, I would thoroughly recommend exploring their work.
Mike: Thanks for the recommendation! I agree with your comments, as long as it’s done at pace, recognising the changing context, with the end user in mind, by teams given autonomy to decide and act.
Matt: Just remember context Mike, our response cannot be a one size fits all approach.
Mike: Those organisations that capture knowledge and information rapidly, adapt systems, business, and teams to new norms, will be the ones that proposer during this period of significant economic and social change. With such an unknowable short-term future, and most likely significant change across all industries (for good or bad), this really is going to become the time where “Innovation” comes of age. Without it many companies risk dying or being surpassed by a new norm in a time scale that has not been experienced by the working population before.
Matt: Obvious tragedies aside, I am excited by this period. I don’t pretend to have the answers, but I’d be extremely interested in other people’s thoughts.
Mike: Let’s ask!!!
If you enjoyed this discussion and would like to submit your own conversations on innovation in a post COVID world, please reach out, we’d be happy to engage and help share your narratives.
Until then, stay safe!
