This is the third post in a series about the need to setup standalone innovation departments and what they should look like. The first post laid out my case for treating innovation with the robustness that reflects its strategic importance and the second laid out some specifics on the necessary nature of standalone innovation departments.
Now I’d like to talk a bit about the people that you need. This will not be exhaustive, but I hope this will give you a decent understanding of what you should consider when bringing people on board. So here are the factors I would consider:
Behavior: What kinds of innovative behaviors do they engage in? I’d look for people that easily challenge authority. And I mean that they challenge it to its face. Innovators are all about changing the world and they do not respect the status quo. They might respect – as people – those who maintain the status quo but they do not accept “that won’t work” or “we already tried it” or any of those anti-innovation statements from anyone. Innovators are easily bored with the status quo. They have thick skin. And they nimbly create and destroy ideas.
Mental acuity: Innovators are mentally playful and adroit. They are curious. They read a lot. And a lot of different things. They are data-seekers, constantly looking for new information or new techniques.
Business knowledge: For this factor you must think of the team as a whole. You are going to want some people who know something about the business. But you are also going to want some people that don’t have a clue – especially about what cannot be done.
And, of course, they need all sorts of other qualities that members of all departments need, like organizational savvy, solid integrity, etc.
One quick note on organizational savvy: If you create a Byzantine organization that forces people to have to deal with all sorts of nonsense just to order more pens for their office, then good luck getting any innovation. Innovators are not stereotypical geniuses or rebels that don’t get along with people and don’t know how to play “the game.” Their social skills can be just fine. But if you get your jollies watching people jump through arbitrarily erected organizational hoops, then you’re going to be a jolly-getting no innovation-having also-ran. Because innovators like to innovate.
