Making the Invisible Visible:
The Human Principles for Sustaining Innovation
The Current Situation
Leaders know two things:
- Innovation – new products, services, markets, processes, etc. – is the life-blood of any organization. Without innovation, organizations die.
- All innovation happens when people effectively work together to blend their technical skills (scientific, artistic, etc.) with their business skills (financial, marketing, strategy, etc.).
Our Universities and Colleges can provide a steady stream of highly qualified people who, with a little additional on-the-job training, can bring the technical and business skills we need for innovation.
Yet we know that innovation seems illusive in many organizations. If it happens, it almost seems serendipitous. And when it happens, we can always look back through the “rear view” mirror and see how we did it. Yet, even with this, we are hard pressed to isolate and define the principles that would allow us to repeat the process over and over again in the future. Why?
The Solution
Enter people. It requires so much more then technical and business skills, as necessary as these things are, to make innovation happen on a regular and sustained basis. There is a third skill set. This skill set is essential to the effective blending of all our technical and business skills. That skill set covers all the intangible skills involved with understanding the “human person” and how they relate to others. It includes all their cognitive, conative, affective and “spiritual” preferences, abilities, and skills.
This is the human side of innovation. Bob Rosenfeld has made a career of understanding the relationship between the human person and innovation. With over 30 years under his belt as an innovator in his own right plus his experience helping others to work effectively with the human component of innovation, he has become one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on how to sustain innovation through the effective use/blending/integration of all aspects of the human person in relationship to others.
His new book, Making the Invisible Visible – the Human Principles for Sustaining Innovation, lays out the eight human principles or pillars of innovation. They are:
- Innovation Starts When People Convert Problems Into Ideas
- Innovation Needs A System
- Passion Is The Fuel And Pain Is The Hidden Ingredient
- Co-Locate For Effective Exchange
- Leverage Differences
- The Elements of Destruction Are Present At Creation
- Soft Values Drive the Organization
- Trust Is The Means And Love The Unspoken Word
The Center for Creative Leadership, where Bob Rosenfeld is the “Innovator in Residence”, recently put on a four-day program based on the principles from Bob’s book. Leaders of innovation from around the world attended this session and they have nothing but glowing remarks to make about their experience – what they learned and what they will take back with them to their respective organizations.
Making the Invisible Visible – it’s a book and a course:
- The book outlines the eight principles referred to above. It also contains an “Innovation Workbook” that asks the reader to reflect on a series of questions for each principle that will help anyone get the most out of the book.
- The course covers the eight principles from the book, but then goes beyond that to discuss key organizational elements like “culture, partnering, wicked problems”, etc. necessary to sustain innovation. It is presented in an experiential format that has been shown to be the best way to foster learning. It not only lays out the principles, but shows methods and actions too. In other words, the course is focused on how to “execute” innovation within your culture given the innovation goals that are unique to your company. Every participant comes to the workshop with a problem to solve and they leave with a host of ideas as well as the beginning of a plan to implement the ideas and insights gained during this four-day experience. The course can be modified to meet targeted needs. For example:
- It can be focused on just one or two of the principles like “Innovation Needs a System” or how to “Leverage Differences”.
- The eight principles can be delivered in a “Keynote Address”.
The Audience . . . for Making the Invisible Visible runs the gamut from innovation practitioners in business to MBA students in universities. It is for organizations of all kinds – business, not-for-profits, government, universities, and religious institutions. Anytime . . . anywhere . . . someone needs to work with others to create something “new”, Making the Invisible Visible will be an essential guide.
