Seven behaviours that could enable innovation
In the spring of 2020, during the first lockdown, I was curious to know how people and organisations were innovating in response to the disruption we were all facing – with the aim to learn from this unprecedented experience. So I reached out to my network. From the 20+ responses, I unpicked seven common themes that could be a contributing factor to a surge in creativity and innovation.
Intro
During the pandemic, many of us assumed that after the worst was over, we’d snap back to how we were, pre-March 2020. The reality is that, according to the World Economic Forum, the fog of uncertainty won’t be lifting anytime soon. This is why I want to share my research with you now. This research explores the lessons that I learnt from the pandemic, and highlights the common behaviours many of us exercised to enable innovation. Thank you to everyone who responded to the survey and a special thanks to Hannah Alexander-Wright for your support – I hope you find this research interesting. Any thoughts after reading please do reach out.
“The world cannot wait for the fog of geopolitical and geo-economic uncertainty to lift. Opting to ride out the current period in the hope that the global system will “snap back” runs the risk of missing crucial windows to address pressing challenges. On key issues such as the economy, the environment, technology and public health, stakeholders must find ways to act quickly and with purpose within an unsettled global landscape””
The saying “necessity is the mother of invention,” has never felt truer than in the last two years. It’s something that has always resonated with me as a designer – understanding the real needs of an audience. The pandemic experience forced many of us to work in profoundly different ways, and it still is. Whether that was forming new partnerships like Formula 1’s Project Pit lane to deliver respiratory devices, or redesigning services to cope with increased demand like my clients at Family Action.
During the first lockdown in May 2020, due to wanting to do something productive with this experience I asked my network to share in a survey how they were innovating whilst vulnerable to disruption – the challenges they faced, and what practices they thought were making innovation possible. The aim was to learn from this disruptive period – the experiences, behaviours and stories that enabled innovation and innovators to flourish.
Mapping of the synthesis from the survey from 23 responses
According to a report released by management consultancy McKinsey & Company, there is a necessity to prioritise innovation today to unlock postcrisis growth, and that ‘90 per cent of executives said they expect the fallout from COVID-19 to fundamentally change the way they do business over the next five years’. Therefore, understanding how we’re equipped to manage change in how we might provide value to the world is a competitive advantage.
Although this whole experience has caused negative effects worldwide, it has also forced us out of our relative comfort zones – shattering our sense of normality and challenging our assumptions – it certainly did for me. It helped me imagine alternative ways to innovate, by creating an opportunity to think about the kind of future I want, and a chance to transform the way I live and work to strengthen society.
As we're shifting to a new kind of normality and figuring out what next I wondered if we’ve had time to reflect during this disruptive period. Are we aware of what we’ve been doing or not doing that has been unleashing our creativity and innovative impact? One thing I always say in my creativity workshops is that creativity isn’t an exact science, but it isn’t a result of happy accidents either. It's usually a result of conscious actions and behaviours that make ideas more likely to happen. So with this research, I wondered what actions and behaviours they might be.
“‘My hope is that this period kind of forces a more innovative culture generally in my industry - which can be quite conservative.’”
Findings
This personal research project is a small study that leans towards the charity and public sectors. The findings therefore are possibly subjective to those sectors. The patterns and interesting stories reveal what behaviours may have contributed to a surge in creativity and innovation and I hope that this might be useful for you to steal for your own challenges.
Firstly, there is a quick summary in the drop-down list and then the seven findings in more detail accompanied by illustrations. I once read that we can visualise innovation through the tightrope walker. Their stability is the result of continuous micro, and occasionally large, adaptations – adapting to the environment that influences them which seemed fitting for this experience.
At the end, there are three larger studies that you might find interesting as well as a workshop activity download to facilitate any reflections you might want to do to discover how and what was bolstering or breaking innovation in your work.
Seven behaviours that enable innovation summary
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Seeing success and failure as a learning opportunity, they applied what they learned to future ways of working
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Being more adaptable, whether that was how resources, processes, roles, technology or budgets were thought about or how new possibilities could be reached
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An increased sense of purpose: people focused on what was important, why they existed. This created an unrelenting desire to understand and solve challenges together.
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People found better, more rigorous ways to coordinate, centred around clearly defined needs and targets.
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The disruption made many people feel out of their comfort zone, a realisation that a sudden change like this, can happen very unexpectedly and create a renewed necessity to adapt.
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A quick realisation that everyone’s situation was different during the first lockdown, resulted in people behaving more openly and sincerely towards each other.
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An increased awareness of wellbeing where teams focused on looking after themselves, each other and doing their best.
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The research methodology used a survey in which 23 people responded (between May-August 2020) across different sectors mainly in the third sector as well as education, creative industries, public sector, consultancies and one in retail. This personal research project is a small study that leans towards the sectors mentioned. The findings, therefore aren’t based on rigorous research methods, just based on the repeated patterns and interesting stories that have informed my hunches. That said, this could contribute to the emerging global picture of how innovation is happening during the pandemic. At the end of the findings, there are three larger studies that you might find interesting.
Skills, culture and mindsets to innovate
The survey asked what skills, culture and mindset were necessary to innovate. This is a synthesized list of the common themes.
Skills
Agility
Patience
Persuasion
Listening
Design-thinking
Learning
Clarity
Improvisation
Creativity
Culture
Trust
Sharing
Empathy
Open-minded
Accepting
Supportive
Transparency
Encouraging
Community
Local
Mindset
Compassionate
Optimistic
Open
Learning
Entrepreneurial
Curious
7 behaviours that could enable innovation
1) A bias towards learning
Those who reported innovation said they saw success and failure as a learning opportunity, and they applied what they learned to future ways of working. Many tried small experiments, made low-risk mistakes to quickly learn, iterate and improve at speed. This helped them save time and money upfront, rather than building big business cases (which was how things were done pre-pandemic).
The survey saw a shift in people’s mindsets and priorities – making products and services that will help their users, employees and communities as quickly as possible. Rather than waiting for it to be ‘perfect’ to launch pilots, it was better to be OK with it being 80% right, to make mistakes quickly in order to learn, pivot or launch.
“‘From this experience, I hope we are more agile, responsive, prepared to test and learn rather than build a big business case... to embed learnings from Covid period and commit to new ways of working’”
2) Flexing and sharing
People were more adaptable, whether that was how resources, processes, roles or budgets were thought about or how new possibilities could be reached. They flexed to respond to shifting needs, new technologies, remote working and new ideas. At one charity they were encouraged to support products that weren’t in their usual remit. At another, staff with less to do were retrained to answer their support line because of an increase in demand.
This redistribution encouraged an open culture where people raised their hands to help, which not only made them more efficient but made people feel motivated. This notion of sharing went beyond the organisation and the usual partners, audiences and suppliers, and started to create unusual collaborations. This helped to mobilise ambitions by reaching common goals together, where risks and rewards were shared.
“‘I’m hoping the pace, diffusion of responsibility and will to change will last long after the lockdown [...] listening to customers, partners and our colleagues’”
3) Collective purpose
Overall there was an increased sense of purpose: people focused on what was important and why they existed. This created an unrelenting desire to understand and solve challenges together. Interestingly, there was a change in a few people’s behaviours towards work, such as an increase in a personal investment of the outcome – some people felt less willing to accept projects that they didn’t feel passionate about, allowing a chance to re-evaluate or reset business as usual towards goals with more purpose.
For many, it created a sense of feeling proud of the way organisations responded, where everyone pulls together in a collective spirit. This collectivity ensued a mindset where the hunger for results made people more open to possibilities and how they worked to achieve goals together.
“‘The biggest change in people’s behaviour to get things done was a personal investment of the outcome “if we don’t do this the business can not run and people are relying on me”’”
4) Regular coordination
(and momentum)
Overall, people found better, more rigorous ways to coordinate, centred around clearly defined needs and targets. As people weren't physically together, the lack of physically coming together immediately changed the way people saw meetings and gatherings. There was a clearer framing of problems and a focus on solutions. People had team meetings more frequently but for less time and with clearer agendas than usual. Many moved their weekly or monthly check-ins with their teams or clients to daily ones. By default, many started working in Agile ways.
This regular momentum created the agency necessary to support and coordinate people and projects where barriers were dealt with quickly and fewer bottlenecks were faced in sign-off. Clearer decision rights meant fewer layers of sign-off in the decision-making processes, resulting in people adopting changes in plans more readily. On the flip side of this, many recognised that the increase in meetings was exhausting and that carving out downtime during the whole process was vital for increased productivity.
“‘Things that would normally take a lot of time and many stakeholders have been streamlined and launched extremely quickly’”
5) Being forced to adapt
The disruption made many people feel out of their comfort zone, forcing them to adapt. They realised that a sudden change like this, can happen very unexpectedly and create a renewed necessity to adapt. This exposure made people question the status-quo, wondering if something was necessary and in one case, a charity dropped something they previously deemed important which never would have happened pre-pandemic. Many respondents reported a sense of letting go of what had been done before, and an increase in curiosity, and an open mind towards adopting new technology and ways of doing things.
They noticed new user needs and gaps in their portfolio. For some, it made them feel vulnerable, which encouraged braver decision-making. Without the exposure that this brought, some said they wouldn’t have considered doing things in the way they did, which consequently, they now prefer.
“‘A significant moment over the last month that has been a catalyst for innovation were when people started questioning the status quo […] Debating whether space is necessary for delivery? Do we need to be continually on campus to deliver a robust experience? Do students need to be on campus most days of the week?’”
6) Shared vulnerability
Many came quickly to the realisation that everyone’s situation was different during the first lockdown arrangement and the implications of staying at home. This resulted in people behaving more openly and sincerely towards each other. Many people I spoke to said that they were able to express the problems that they faced more directly and that this candid behaviour was met with open minds and supportive attitudes.
As a result, deliberately or by accident, these organisations were creating safer environments that enabled people to feel able to speak up with ideas, questions, or concerns (commonly referred to as psychological safety). This fostered trust, transparency, and ultimately teams worked better together. Rather than skirting around tough conversations, keeping within the status quo at the risk of looking stupid or erring on the side of silence (all blockers of innovation), people felt safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of one another to unlock transformative ways of working and course-correct from any mistakes.
“‘People working remotely seem more outspoken at times and ideas that might have been dismissed are met with a different attitude – more open-minded.’ ”
7) Looking after each other
There was an increased awareness of wellbeing where teams focused on looking after themselves, each other and doing their best. People wanted to help each other, not just within the organisation but beyond – their partners, suppliers, competitors and communities. This sense of care contributed to more social and sustainable innovation – focussing on not just profit but the planet and people. Multiple respondents repurposed their skills and assets, supporting the manufacturing of PPE, or offering furniture to care homes, for example.
At this time, most people were working from home, which possibly contributed to seeing each other in a more human light – as individuals – with pets and partners walking around. This could have helped increase inclusion and diversity – an integral part of innovation. One retailer launched a wellbeing app that helped develop closer connections with those they worked with. Many people we asked told us that making a conscious effort to fit in exercise or to go outside more helped improve their work-life balance, or they worked at times that suited them (and the organisation) left them feeling more engaged.
“‘Understanding that the situation was difficult for all of us, and it was OK just to do your best’”
Reflection tool
To immediately start to understand your own situation I recommend having a conversation with your teams and asking some questions. Download the PDF guide for your reflection session with your team. It’s divided into three sections: Recognise, reflect and respond to help facilitate a meaningful and action-orientated outcome.
Other studies
Survey Monkey: Adapting to types of Crisis
McKinsey & Company: Innovation in a crisis: Why it is more critical than ever
IDEO: COVID-19 Business Pivot Challenge Report and Webinar