Central to any organizational innovation building, the enormous value of having a consistent common language is paramount; it is essential to gain identification and understanding that all can relate to; it provides the backbone to a clear, united “sense of purpose”.
Building upon this common language gives a greater chance of effective communication to place the innovation activities into their appropriate context.
In the fifth of a series, I am working with Jeffrey Phillips, a long-term collaborator on “all things concerning innovation” we have been discussing the different domains of the Executive Innovation Work Mat we propose as a framework to provide a great chance to bring all the various aspects of innovation together.
We explore why each factor is essential to innovation in the videos we’ve created. These have covered
Convergence & Divergence– The opening outline of our discussion to the series seeking the need for alignment through the Executive Innovation Work Mat.
Strategy – we discuss the relationship between corporate strategy and innovation.
Governance – we examine how to govern an innovation project and why this work requires different governance models from other projects.
Function/Structure/Design – we examine how innovation should “work” – design and processes – and why it is vital to focus on an innovation capacity.
Common Language/Communication – we look at the importance of having common definitions, common language and regularly communicating about innovation. This post discusses and builds on this.
I think the videos allow us to explore each of these. I think you’ll find them helpful if you are starting to build an innovation capacity or improve your innovation activities or outcomes. (Jeffrey Phillips Innovate on Purpose posting site)
Common Language, Communications and Context- the focus here.
So we have just had the fifth conversation, found here and below. It is about 16 minutes long, discussing Common Language, Communications and Context.
Within our Work Mat, you can see where this fits, as it is the glue that hangs the activities together in the middle of the mat.
The strength of the middle holds all the parts together
I firmly believe placing common language, communications, and the context in the centre f the Work Mat provides the glue and enables flow.
The flow here means as we talk, communicate and set objectives, this needs to “cascade “across to the other domains and up and down the organization.
A comprehensive, coherent and consistent innovation message resonates and connects all the others involved.
The various stakeholders can determine their role and contribution if it is well understood (common language), communicated well and placed in the context of what is being attempted to be achieved. In my view, it aligns the parts and forms the whole.
Why is Common Language, Communication and Context important?
Innovation is grossly inefficient if it has to start again and again, and new designs, processes, and cultures must be built, hopefully on some established practices or approaches. The ideal is we should create a common, repeatable, scalable approach to innovation. Management wants this.
Equally, those involved in innovation wish to have clear guidelines, rails and frames that allow consistent measuring. We need to reduce the variables that help provide consistency and pull in knowledge gained to be put to regular use.
Today we talk of ecosystems, platforms, network effects, openness, transparency and sustainability.
Having this work mat in place and central to it the common language, communication and context, you achieve a more robust platform; you avoid many fragmented pieces.
You can also gain those network multiplication effects by establishing the common ground and project spanning criteria.
This builds connectivity and connections, giving greater scope for partners, as they can see and relate to your language, communicating style and context clarification.
This can also determine a simple “in or out” and determination of what additional value can they bring. It opens up for greater transformation built on a more transparent understanding.
Having an excellent communicating set of mechanisms raises confidence, offers certain reliability and the exchanges of comparability.
If the environment for a group of dynamic, ongoing exchanges can be achieved, you feel that “hands-on”, interactive and immersing sense where good ideas can emerge, build and flow.
Innovation is a role where you need to raise confidence constantly, encourage reliability, encourage an ongoing shift from vested interests into advocacy, identificatîon and not self-protection but shared purpose.
We all recognize that the nature of innovation is messy and how we organize it is critical. The more we engage with others, across borders or departments, gaining consensus takes a long time.
We need to avoid mental traps or fixed mindsets that confuse, frustrate and provide misunderstanding.
Achieving a good common language, strong, regular communication, and a constant reinforcing of the context you can operate and work within helps bring these tensions down.
How we can reduce individual interpretations and variances in definition needs a common place to come too. Again the work mat can be that very place to resolve those consistent issues.
It is called a work mat for a reason, as you can wrestle issues, debate, discuss, push up and down the organization in a way that frames differences and the mechanism to find the solutions to them- that wrestle to the mat.
Why we see Common Language, Communication and Context as important
It aims to do away with pockets of confusion and inefficiencies; It attempts to reduce that fragmented energy in differences and understanding.
A work mat approach strives to minimize unproductive capital and resources allocation. Also, it can tackle and reduce down the need for different standards and narrow variabilities within innovation management. The aim is to attempt to stop the inordinate reinventing and duplication, if not set up well.
The T-Skill thinking in the design
Leaders need to take the lead in this part of the worn mat driving their vision and needs into the organization to react and respond, most through a new activity, including innovation. The leader in this communicating work needs to frame, communicate, and build the corporate innovation identity and provide the belief in innovation into its context and needs.
For me, this is a necessary T-Shaped Skill Senior Executives need to develop for innovation. Executives should be good communicators.
Executives have the big picture in mind and the intent and vision of where they want the organization to go. Executives are responsible for explaining this so this understanding can be put to good innovation use by driving their commitment down and throughout the organization.
There is no better segment of the work mat for the Senior Executive to engage with than in shaping and focusing on the need to build a common identity. Gaining identification across the company comes from communications and building that shared language for common purpose. An innovative common language needs to emerge and the communicating of ambitions for others to identify with.
In this communication, a level of clarity needs conveying. Putting ambitions into the context of what, where, why and often how they see innovation making a contribution gives it meaning, that context for others to relate to and form around. That could encourage risk, exploration, and looking for distinctive, game-changing or new business model alternatives conveys the “where to focus.”
Common language is shared.
The organization’s leaders do not need to own this part of the work mat, but by being highly visible and active, they can encourage it as the “melting pot” for a flow or cascade mechanism, from the top-down and bottom-up.
To do this, they need to be highly active, constantly looking to engage and shape innovation into the future needed in highly visible ways. They can provide depth and breadth to where innovation fits. Executives can drive the “sense of purpose.”
The need must be recognized that leadership does look for a repeatable, scalable, and commonplace innovation to thrive and respond, and the opportunity to reinforce this comes through good communicating and being given a common identity and language.
The work mat is a powerful framing mechanism to make that happen sustainably, dynamic and never static.
Finally, here I provide a prompter for placing language, communication and context into the value, potential triggers and outcomes.
Concluding the series
So we have concluded the five-part series, and those can be viewed independently or in association with these posts All videos and written follow ups gave been provided on this posting site. These have been written over the past few weeks, so they are easy to find.
One separate discussion video session will discuss the leadership role and why they should be the owners of the work mat.
Together these videos and posts give richness to the Executive Innovation Work Mat concept- it has a great value to explore.
You are welcome to get in touch if you want to take this framework into our organization, more than happy to help.