My Experience of Innovation

Innovation is popular if not well understood, we recognise it when we see it and every man, his dog and their company aspires to be innovative. To cite Wikipedia, “an innovation is a new way of doing something. It may refer to incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations.” However, I’m not so much interested in what innovation is as how to be innovative, which requires above all else a willingness to act on your ideas.

Information vs Knowledge

To understand innovation we must first differentiate between explicit knowledge (information) and tacit knowledge. Information is data: a description, diagram or instruction which which has been recorded. Information is convenient because it’s something tangible which can be copied and transmitted.

Knowledge, however, is tacit and intangible, perhaps best described as our individual understanding of “how” things are done. If you want to be innovative then it’s not good enough to simply remember information. You have to transform it into knowledge. Tacit knowledge is not written down and thus often difficult to explain and transfer from one individual to another.

Understanding this difference is very important in today’s society because we suffer from information-overload (yet so many bad decisions are made because we don’t have the right knowledge). It’s dangerous because we can waste a lot of time, energy and brain cells by trying to understand information in the wrong way. It’s not about the quantity or quality of the facts you have or even how efficiently you can process them, but how quickly you can put the information you have into practice, because knowledge can only be created through first hand experience.

It is experience and tacit knowledge that enable a pilot to fly and land a jumbo jet, not the operating manual. It’s a doctor’s training and practice, not their textbooks that save lives.

The Knowledge Conversion Process

Japanese professors Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) developed the following matrix which visualises how information and knowledge is transformed, in other words: how innovation happens when we turn information into experience and back again. It’s the best theory I have found so far to explain how innovation actually happens on a practical and individual scale. You can apply it without needing an R&D team or budget at all!

Starting from the top right quadrant moving clockwise:

1. Tacit knowledge and experience can be made explicit by externalising and recording it as information.
2. Information can be combined, integrated and distributed.
3. Internalisation transforms information into knowledge through practice and experience.
4. It’s also possible to share our tacit knowledge with others through socialisation.

It is only when we have moved through all four quadrants of this model that our own individual learning process is truly complete. That is when we have actually improved something. Externalising our own learning and experience is important because it allows ourselves and others to repeat or start the process, thus enabling innovation to take place.

A Simple Formula

Knowledge is what makes the world go round. Information itself doesn’t travel far, but people are compelled to share knowledge and insights. It’s the difference between Wikipedia (information) and Twitter (socialisation) on the web. My simplified formula for innovation is therefore:

Innovation = (Information + Knowledge + Socialisation) x T

Information, knowledge and socialisation are easy to do once you know where to look, what to do and who to work with. The successful innovator understands that what really matters is the variable T, how quickly and how many times you can repeat the process over your competitors.

The way I prefer to tackle innovative ideas and creative projects is to find the best ways of putting the theory at hand into practice as soon as possible. It’s often necessary to go back to the drawing board, or choose an alternate strategy because the experience gained from practice shows you how and why it won’t work. If you are the one investing time and money, wouldn’t you want to know this sooner rather than later?

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” — Charles Darwin

If you have a big idea, stop dreaming and find a way to start working on just a small part of it or you won’t even complete one cycle of the innovation process.

The Killers of Innovation

It would also be amiss of me not to mention the things that stifle and stop the process of innovation. These are a combination of environmental and personal factors which affect an organisation’s and individual’s ability to be innovative.

Rules and Bureaucracy
Rules themselves are information, created to guide decisions and actions in the absence of individuals being trusted to use their own knowledge. Too many rules prevents individuals from internalising their own knowledge and thus actually learning anything new for themselves. Innovators don’t follow rules, they rely on their knowledge, experience and intuition. Rules kill innovation. Period.

Too many layers of bureaucracy will also prevent innovation because tacit knowledge cannot always be externalised to an outsider who does not share the same experience as the innovator. Trying to intervene and micromanage during the knowledge conversion process will only produce a lot of meaningless jargon that has been lost in translation.

Fear
Fear comes in many shapes and sizes: fear of failure, fear of breaking the rules (above), fear of ridicule and Australia’s own Tall Poppy Syndrome (the tendency to disparage conspicuously successful people). This is possibly the single biggest killer of innovation because it originates and resides within the self. Innovators can’t do their best work and many won’t even try if they must operate in a culture of fear. Be bold and brave as an innovator by understanding your fears and not letting them overtake your intuition and confidence.

Pessimism and Un-constructive Criticism
Since socialisation is such an integral part of the knowledge conversion process, receiving the right feedback from the right people is crucial. Innovation thrives in an environment of open and trusting collaboration where new ideas can be explored to their full potential. In my own experience, who you share your ideas with is just as important (if not more) as your idea itself. Choose whose feedback and constructive criticism you listen to very carefully as a pessimistic partner could be your worst enemy. An optimistic partner will encourage you to reach for the stars. Be an optimist yourself because if you don’t believe in your idea no one else will either, and if you can’t learn to appreciate someone else’s idea then you are also part of the problem.

Perfection
There is nothing wrong with seeking perfection as long as you understand it is a continuous process. Don’t spend years in the dark hiding your baby from the rest of the world until you think it’s perfect. Launch early and be ready for feedback. Nothing is perfect, it’s about the journey and not the destination so be sure to enjoy it or you may find yourself sorely disappointed.

Now that you have this information, what you do with it is in your hands.

References
Nonaka, Ikujiro; Takeuchi, Hirotaka (1995). The knowledge creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.