Making Yourself “Unuseless:” The Art of Innovation Implementation

Not all these inventions are helpful. In fact, some of them seem to create more problems than they solve. One curious chindogu, the “Hay Fever Hat,” aids any outdoorsman prone to seasonal sniffles, but then also poses the slight problem of having to wear a toilet paper roll atop his head. Another, called the “Sweetheart Training Arm,” rids young lovers of the “awkwardness” of holding hands–sweaty palms, deciding when to disengage–by allowing one of the partners to attach a prosthetic on to their original arm for their partner to hold instead. A great idea, I’m sure, until trying to explain to your parents and friends why you’re dating a guy who thinks it’s okay to wear a third, fake arm off the side of his body. Maybe this is just a cultural difference that I’m not being sensitive to, but seeing as how every Cubs fan boyfriend I’ve had has been given the evil eye by my South Side father, I can only imagine how an explanation of the “sweetheart training arm” would fare.

Innovation, defined as any new idea, practice, or object, seems to be a big buzzword in business. Everyone wants to be up on the latest trends, and everyone wants to come up with the most creative way to satisfy demand, both internally and externally. Being the most innovative in your field provides you with a competitive edge, not only because you can inherit a large customer base, but also because you attract invaluable talent for your team. But what people often fail to realize is that just because an idea or practice is innovative doesn’t automatically mean it’s good. It’s just new. Chindogus are innovative, designed to help people with what seem to be common problems. But are they good? (Who knows what the kids are wearing these days?)

The question is–what is important for innovation? What takes an innovation past the distinction of “new” and into the realm of the useful? And what are characteristics of highly innovative organizations? What must we do right?

The theorist Everett Rogers mentioned five characteristics that were important to consider while determining the merit of an innovative idea. First, Relative Advantage: is this better than what we’re doing now? Compatibility: will it work with what we already have? Complexity: How difficult is it to figure out how to use it? Trialability: to what extent can we try this innovation without permanently adopting it? And Observability: how quickly will we see the benefits of this innovation? In sum, this innovation has to be beyond what has already been produced, easy to integrate, easy to work, easy to discard if it doesn’t work, and quick to improve whatever it is designed to improve.

Mr. Rogers (the aforementioned theorist, not the sweater-and-Converse neighborly man) also noted three characteristics of highly innovative organizations. The organization must have permeable boundaries–they have to let a lot of new ideas in. This can be accomplished through diversity in hiring, networking with other innovators, and environmental monitoring, or hiring people to keep an eye on what their competitors are up to. Another important factor is external accountability. Stakeholders are integral; if your customers are important to you, you’ll change to make them happy, the one time where that line of relational defense can be invoked and not result in separate bedrooms. And finally, the organization should aim to have slack resources. Within the organization there should be a certain supply of unused resources that can be committed back to the organization. This includes budget surpluses and productivity, and the key is to strike a healthy balance of both. If all of your money is spent and all of your people are 100% productive, 100% of the time, you’ll need to free up money and people to facilitate innovation. (You’ll probably also need a reality check.) By that same token, if you’re swimming in dollar bills and your people are slackadaisically performing their jobs, innovation will be equally hard to come by. At least with regards to innovation, the Notorious BIG had it right: mo’ money, mo’ problems. Biggie Smalls–always the forward thinker.

Innovation isn’t always good, but it can be. It is entirely possible to transform a new idea into a good idea as long as certain factors are taken into consideration. Chindogus are a great idea in theory, but in practice, each invention rests at “innovative” and cannot push forward to “useful” or “well-received” or even “not a complete joke.” The idea is to bring a positive connotation back to innovation, and that might not begin with TP hats or even superfluous limbs. But it can begin with your organization.

If only there were a chindogu created to do my job…

To our readers: what do you think is important to innovation? What do you think your organization is doing right?