On creating space to innovate
People close to me know - one topic I like to contemplate about is: how to create space for people to be efficient and innovative (personally and in a team setup). I shared some stuff about local.ch here and here.
The big part of the "create space" task in a corporate environment is in the responsibility of the management. It struck me reading the comments on the majority take over of search.ch by the publisher tamedia.
Myself being involved in a few mergers and ownership take-overs - had to learn how not to do it. One the buyer was clueless and did not know what to do with the acquired technology. Another was "collateral damage" - being part of a bigger deal - and ending up with an internal competition the management did not wanted to "solve" (with the end-effect that both were put to rest). Again another was to deliberately create an internal competition to solve the innovators dilema (sort of) and thereby crunched the potential.
Back to search.ch
It looks like the task to create space for the acquired team - to serve the new owner in its intrest - went wrong. At least one side did not felt comfortable with the setup. Actually funny - the new owner is a media company and publisher - they should know better how to do audience targeted communication?
Arguably, there are various management styles that lead to successful fulfillment of a goal. Each style requires the appropriate workforce (choosing the right people for the setup). In time of a merger - a clash of different styles - most probably end up in a reduction of value of the assets acquired. (I'm sure there are also styles that enrich each other - example?).
What are the options? Don't do the acquisition if it doesn't match? Keep the acquired team independent?
Well.. if there is no straight way from A to B - add as many "via points" as necessary so the involved parties feel comfortable executing in their full potential along the way. Sounds easy right? It's not - I know.
I wish more people would invest more energy in "creating spaces" for people/teams with high potential. I'm not talking about letting them do "what" they want - but let them do it "the way" they want.
The big part of the "create space" task in a corporate environment is in the responsibility of the management. It struck me reading the comments on the majority take over of search.ch by the publisher tamedia.
Myself being involved in a few mergers and ownership take-overs - had to learn how not to do it. One the buyer was clueless and did not know what to do with the acquired technology. Another was "collateral damage" - being part of a bigger deal - and ending up with an internal competition the management did not wanted to "solve" (with the end-effect that both were put to rest). Again another was to deliberately create an internal competition to solve the innovators dilema (sort of) and thereby crunched the potential.
Back to search.ch
It looks like the task to create space for the acquired team - to serve the new owner in its intrest - went wrong. At least one side did not felt comfortable with the setup. Actually funny - the new owner is a media company and publisher - they should know better how to do audience targeted communication?
Arguably, there are various management styles that lead to successful fulfillment of a goal. Each style requires the appropriate workforce (choosing the right people for the setup). In time of a merger - a clash of different styles - most probably end up in a reduction of value of the assets acquired. (I'm sure there are also styles that enrich each other - example?).
What are the options? Don't do the acquisition if it doesn't match? Keep the acquired team independent?
Well.. if there is no straight way from A to B - add as many "via points" as necessary so the involved parties feel comfortable executing in their full potential along the way. Sounds easy right? It's not - I know.
I wish more people would invest more energy in "creating spaces" for people/teams with high potential. I'm not talking about letting them do "what" they want - but let them do it "the way" they want.
The problem is that Tamedia only wanted to buy page views (they don't even know that page views do not have importance any more) and no other values. For them more page views equals more revenue. That is all they understand of the internet business.
Posted by
TechTalk |
October 5, 2008 1:02 PM
I think you may find "Enabling Knowledge Creation - How to unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation" by Georg von Krogh, Kazuo Ichijo and Ikujiro Nonaka (ISBN 0-19-512616-5) an interesting read.
One of the mayor Knowledge Enablers is "Create the Right Context", the "Enabling Context" is essential for all steps of knowledge creation:
"In fact, establishing the right context is what knowledge enabling is all about, especially when it is based on a supportive organizational structure and aligned with strategy."
Find more in Chapter 8 of the book.......
They actually have a word/concept for this "space to innovate": "Ba".
From my point of view there is a close relationship between human resources, knowledge enabling (->innovation) and last but not least change management (I actually even wrote a seminar work on the relationship of the first two quite a while ago; feel free to contact me if you are interested).
Regards,
Dieter
Posted by
Dieter |
November 29, 2008 1:24 AM
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
Posted by
Anonymous |
August 17, 2009 2:21 PM
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