The Secret Ingredients to Successful Innovation…

Neurodiversity, Systems Thinking and Purpose

When the going gets tough, the tough get going…  immortalised by Billy Ocean and never more apt than today. The sheer scale of systemic ‘brokenness’ we find ourselves in requires us all to dig deep and find new and better ways of doing things. In other words, we need innovation now more than ever before.

Innovation has been on the agenda for years, but sadly only a handful of companies have cracked it. Why? Quite simply because it has not been approached holistically and with inclusivity in mind.

Inclusive Innovation

Traditional views of innovation see it as the creation of consumer value. A company creating something that didn’t exist before and that their customers are willing to exchange value for. This view, however, only focuses on two stakeholders, the company and the customer – and does not consider the externalities (aka collateral damage) of the value created. For example, the natural capital cost of margarine (destruction of virgin forests for palm oil) far outweighs the benefits of increased revenue and therefore would not be considered an inclusive or systemic innovation.

Systems Thinking

To create value we need to consider the ecosystem in which the problem resides. Without a systems thinking approach we can’t fully understand the problem and therefore our solution (the value we aim to create) will probably be flawed.

As we have been so brutally (and repeatedly) reminded lately, our world is a system in which all parts need to thrive. We have to think about the whole to make the right decisions about the part.

Purpose

This where purpose comes into it… we know that no one person or company or government can solve all the problems we face. But we also know that we can each do our part and collectively make a difference. So, what is that ‘one part’ that your organisation will play? How can you use your scale and skill to make a significant, positive impact?

Once you have identified this, you have the secret sauce that aligns your teams’ values to work in the service of something greater than themselves. People are neurologically geared to work with purpose. In fact, just a 15% increase in value alignment doubles productivity according to a McKinsey study. Authentic purpose and meaningful supportive values and behaviours are critical.

Neurodiversity

Once you have the context right, you need to ensure you have the right brains.

Diversity of thought has been proven time and time again to boost the number and quality of ideas required for conversion into products and services of value.

Systems thinking though is an evolved way of thinking and does not occur naturally in humans without the relevant theory, tools, application and coaching. Also, different brains perceive, process and deliver information differently. It takes conscious effort and the right mix of brains (i.e. neurodiversity) to even start properly thinking about and understanding the problems we want to solve.

Luckily, getting these ingredients lined up and ready to use for systemic innovation is easy. Just give us a call 😊

Neurodiversity for Innovation Assessment

This first of its kind assessment developed by our partner, Wendy Mahoney, a Neuro-Linguistic Programming trainer and Innovation specialist, quickly maps the neurological strengths of your team against the eight stages in the process of Design Thinking (the most commonly practised and widely known system of value creation in innovation theory) and provides you with a blueprint as to how to correctly synthesise your teams thinking to accelerate innovation output.

Purpose: Identified Workshop

Our highly structured approach to identifying the most relevant and value accretive purpose for your business is designed to remove the angst from existential questions. By taking your executive team through a simple yet effective, facilitated analysis of your business and context, this full day workshop creates buy in and alignment around the purpose identified. It is also an excellent first step in identifying where innovation opportunities for the business lie.