Innovation Improvisation Makes The Breakthroughs Faster Than You Think
Can innovation and improvisation co-exist in a meaningful way and also as a turbo charger for results? Yes, but the mechanism s not what you might think. With the innovation game ( and you may notice which sounds like “The Imitation Game” ) the notion of the expected 7 step process to innovation is often much preferred as a systematic approach rather than any notion of the “ah ha” moment that can come at any time during the creation process. More than likely, the effect of such X step processes no matter how well intended often creates the backbone for incrementalism inside an organization and certainly within an innovation process. Therefore within the context of the down beat set by an organizations efforts to control and shepard the innovation process, improvisational techniques allow for organizational continuity to occur without the fully break the melody focus that any good bridge in modern R&B creates.
In Organizational Improvisation: From the Constraint of Strict Tempo to the Power of the Avant-Garde we see the effects of Ad-hoc ( the ah ha process ); Covert ( clandestine ); Provocative ( destabilize war based ); and Managed ( Created Spaces ) efforts to deal possible zeitgeist of efforts that an organization can take to play along with the innovation game in the context of other similar organizations. Many of iGNITIATE’s clients also report this as a key factor in increasing innovation capabilities as it is, this effort and the corresponding economics concerns itself with the battlefield of competition for dominance rather than the co-existence sometimes even within an organization, the terms used are naturally economic and position based. When focused on as a R&D effort complete with IP protection efforts and individual ownership / co-ownership mechanisms innovation improvisation takes on a whole new set of capabilities that can transform organizations.