{"id":5314,"date":"2019-12-20T09:56:39","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T09:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/"},"modified":"2021-08-31T10:38:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T10:38:45","slug":"the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"The two sides of innovative organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Innovation<\/strong> is attractive, even sexy. Working in an innovative company is something that attracts us all. Many of us would like to work for companies in which we are offered free time to develop our ideas, we have inspiring physical spaces, and fun working and sticking colourful post-its.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After all, we have been told this is how they are innovative companies. However, the truth is that creating an innovative culture that brings results is awfully complicated. This is because the reality for innovative companies is very different from the one often transmitted to us with sweetened, simplistic visions.<\/p>\n

There is a distorted picture about innovation, and on the organizational cultures<\/strong> in which this is created. Successful innovation is often believed to depend on providing a failure-tolerant environment where there is a willingness to experiment, where people work collaboratively, and with flatter-hierarchical structures. The reality is that even though these elements are important, in any case they aren\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

These aspects usually get our attention and draw admiration. They even trigger envy, but they’re just one side of the coin. Innovation, as Edison said, is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.<\/strong> Thus, there is a flipside of the coin that is far less glamorous, and we tend to pay less attention to it, yet it is crucial for innovation to produce results.<\/p>\n

Each of the aspects mentioned above must be counterbalanced by other aspects that are less fun and inspiring, but just as necessary. There must also be a quest for excellence,<\/strong> which implies an intolerance for incompetence<\/strong>, rigorous discipline<\/strong>, high individual accountability and strong leadership<\/strong>. Let’s look at some examples of these aspects forming part of the two sides of the same coin:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Tolerance for failure, but intolerance for incompetence<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As innovation implies novelty and consequently uncertainty, it is necessary for the company to show a high ability to take on risks, and subsequently acceptance of failure. But under no circumstances should this be confused with accepting mediocracy or employee incompetence. Failures to do with uncertainty are acceptable, but not those arising from faulty analysis or mismanagement.<\/strong> Companies that embrace innovation are extremely demanding of their employees.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Willingness to experiment, but in a disciplined and rigorous manner<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Organizations experimenting with their ideas know that this is a mechanism for resolving questions and managing uncertainty. However, this does not mean conducting experiments in a disorderly and chaotic manner. Experiments are chosen, based on the assumptions you want to learn about and taking into account that maximum learning must be extracted at the lowest possible cost. Experimentation also implies accepting that new learning can prove a key assumption is wrong and this may mean killing off a project that was originally thought to be promising.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Collaboration, but with individual accountability<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        An innovation project often needs to draw from various areas of knowledge and disciplines. That\u2019s why multidisciplinary teams are set up to work collaboratively<\/strong> for exchanging information, generating ideas and analysing alternatives. However, collaboration should not be confused with consensus. Lastly, someone must take responsibility, make decisions, and be accountable for them.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Horizontal structure, yet with strong leadership<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Organizations with horizontal structures<\/strong> are better designed for people to make decisions, express their opinions, and act more autonomously. These types of structures respond sooner to change as decision-making is decentralized. But then again, this must be offset by strong leadership. In fact, with stronger leadership that a hierarchical organization needs, because there is a risk of such organizations becoming chaotic environments if the leadership does not set clear strategic directions and priorities.<\/p>\n

          Leading change towards creating an innovative culture is complicated. To achieve this, it is essential to get away from the ingenuous and naive vision that usually prevails and assume that this requires a number of aspects that seem contradictory at first glance. It is also crucial to understand that the balance between these aspects must be sought, to avoid overly weighting one of these extremes while not offsetting it with the other counterweight at the right intensity.<\/p>\n

          Therefore, building environments in which ideas flow and generate results is not easy at all. Innovation is freedom and autonomy, but also discipline and rigour. It is necessary to find the balance between the two extremes. Just as a good cocktail requires the right amount of each drink to get the ideal blend, innovation requires an adequate dose of aspects that, while complementary, may seem incompatible.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Creating an innovative culture that brings results is awfully complicated. This is because the reality for innovative companies is very different from the one often transmitted to us with sweetened, simplistic visions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346],"tags":[246],"class_list":["post-5314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation","tag-innovation"],"yoast_head":"\nThe two sides of innovative organizations - Glocalthinking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The two sides of innovative organizations - Glocalthinking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Creating an innovative culture that brings results is awfully complicated. This is because the reality for innovative companies is very different from the one often transmitted to us with sweetened, simplistic visions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glocalthinking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-20T09:56:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-31T10:38:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-55-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"815\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Xavier Camps\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/\",\"name\":\"Glocalthinking\",\"description\":\"Un espacio para los profesionales de RRHH\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-55-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-55-1.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":815},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/\",\"name\":\"The two sides of innovative organizations - Glocalthinking\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-20T09:56:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-31T10:38:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/31dec8c4323ec38d72bef83dd35eb43b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The two sides of innovative organizations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/31dec8c4323ec38d72bef83dd35eb43b\",\"name\":\"Xavier Camps\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/xaviercamps-47-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/xaviercamps-47-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Xavier Camps\"},\"description\":\"Xavier Camps es fundador de Innoservice Consulting y especialista en innovaci\\u00f3n. Colabora con empresas pertenecientes a diversos sectores. Sus principales \\u00e1reas de trabajo son: la creaci\\u00f3n de culturas innovadoras a partir de las personas, la gesti\\u00f3n del proceso de innovaci\\u00f3n, desde la detecci\\u00f3n de oportunidades hasta la comercializaci\\u00f3n y la innovaci\\u00f3n del modelo de negocio. Es licenciado en A.D.E por la Universitat de Barcelona, Executive MBA (EADA), Executive Master in Business Innovation (Deusto Business School) y ha realizado tambi\\u00e9n un programa de Intra\/Entrepreneurship, High\\u2010Tech Spin\\u2010offs and Innovation en la Cambridge Judge Business School. Colabora como profesor con varias escuelas de negocio como, IESE, Loyola Leadership School y ENAE Business School en diferentes programas ejecutivos en \\\"in company\\\", impartiendo sesiones relacionadas con la gesti\\u00f3n de innovaci\\u00f3n. Es autor de \\u201cC\\u00f3mo llegar a ser una empresa innovadora\\u201d, y del blog \\u201cThe Jazz Musician\\u201d, donde escribe sobre temas relacionados con la innovaci\\u00f3n y las personas que la hacen posible. El blog recibi\\u00f3 una menci\\u00f3n especial en la \\u00faltima edici\\u00f3n de los premios de la Blogosfera de RRHH.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/author\/xaviercamps\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The two sides of innovative organizations - Glocalthinking","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The two sides of innovative organizations - Glocalthinking","og_description":"Creating an innovative culture that brings results is awfully complicated. This is because the reality for innovative companies is very different from the one often transmitted to us with sweetened, simplistic visions.","og_url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/","og_site_name":"Glocalthinking","article_published_time":"2019-12-20T09:56:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-31T10:38:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":815,"url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-55-1.jpg","path":"\/var\/www\/vhosts\/glocalthinking.com\/httpdocs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-55-1.jpg","size":"full","id":1814,"alt":"","pixels":1304000,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Xavier Camps","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/","name":"Glocalthinking","description":"Un espacio para los profesionales de RRHH","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-55-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-55-1.jpg","width":1600,"height":815},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/","name":"The two sides of innovative organizations - Glocalthinking","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-12-20T09:56:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-31T10:38:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/31dec8c4323ec38d72bef83dd35eb43b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/the-two-sides-of-innovative-organizations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The two sides of innovative organizations"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/31dec8c4323ec38d72bef83dd35eb43b","name":"Xavier Camps","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/xaviercamps-47-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/xaviercamps-47-96x96.jpg","caption":"Xavier Camps"},"description":"Xavier Camps es fundador de Innoservice Consulting y especialista en innovaci\u00f3n. Colabora con empresas pertenecientes a diversos sectores. Sus principales \u00e1reas de trabajo son: la creaci\u00f3n de culturas innovadoras a partir de las personas, la gesti\u00f3n del proceso de innovaci\u00f3n, desde la detecci\u00f3n de oportunidades hasta la comercializaci\u00f3n y la innovaci\u00f3n del modelo de negocio. Es licenciado en A.D.E por la Universitat de Barcelona, Executive MBA (EADA), Executive Master in Business Innovation (Deusto Business School) y ha realizado tambi\u00e9n un programa de Intra\/Entrepreneurship, High\u2010Tech Spin\u2010offs and Innovation en la Cambridge Judge Business School. Colabora como profesor con varias escuelas de negocio como, IESE, Loyola Leadership School y ENAE Business School en diferentes programas ejecutivos en \"in company\", impartiendo sesiones relacionadas con la gesti\u00f3n de innovaci\u00f3n. Es autor de \u201cC\u00f3mo llegar a ser una empresa innovadora\u201d, y del blog \u201cThe Jazz Musician\u201d, donde escribe sobre temas relacionados con la innovaci\u00f3n y las personas que la hacen posible. El blog recibi\u00f3 una menci\u00f3n especial en la \u00faltima edici\u00f3n de los premios de la Blogosfera de RRHH.","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/author\/xaviercamps\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7666,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5314\/revisions\/7666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}