Many of the techniques used in Lean are older than we might think. Some are epic, as this quote:
I KEEP six honest serving-men
Kipling, The Elephant’s Child
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
It is the continuous flow of small innovations that add up to great business. Technology has exploded during the last 100 years but it took 2 million years for somebody to come up with the idea of putting a handle on a stone axe. Innovation feeds innovation.
Photo by A Gude Flickr CC
NESTA, the UK government organization for innovation boldly claims in their 2009 report, that innovation is necessary in the economic downturn and that:
The imperative to promote innovative working remains strong in all sectors despite the current economic climate. However, although these aspirations exist, many working practices that promote innovation are not being readily adopted by organizations. When comparing sectors, this is particularly prevalent in public sector organizations.
In other words, to innovate is necessary, to eliminate all barriers as well and especially we have to look into public sector organizations.
In the Harvard Business Review, Scott Anthony suggests that we start innovating in areas that present difficulties for our customers. This is very sound advice and is likely to bring positive results with limited investment. One of NESTA’s conclusions in their report is precisely in line with Mr Anthony’s suggestion, since we are in a downturn we need to focus on high return, low investment areas. These are Mr Anthony’s suggested four steps:
According to NESTA it all comes down to Leadership, especially in Public Sectors. The list of leader characteristics shown to be important are the usual suspects: Promoting innovation, confidence, courage, motivation, curiosity, openness to ideas, an open style of communication, flexibility, encouragement of risk-taking, and being optimistic about the future.
The most important of all is the ability to encourage risk taking. As a key implication, NESTA lists the following advice for Leaders to adopt:
…leaders must devote specific time for developing new ideas, offering informational feedback and engaging in creative goal setting.
To keep innovative employees motivated, leaders should adapt a transformational leadership style (more inspiring, motivating and collaborative) to generate a shared commitment amongst employees.
The Open Manager 