I once worked with a software product improvement company that created niche software program products for mechanical industries. Undoubtedly, the company’s products had been world-class and the pool of talent in the company was once unparalleled. Being a newcomer to the organization, one major issue that I determined was cut-throat competition amongst quite a number brands within the organization. While this can also not look like a large deal from the outside, this cut-throat competition made the employees very selfish and inspired them to work only toward their individual goals. Charles R. B. Stowe and Doug Grider (2014), in their book, make a pertinent point about how groups and companies wanting to encourage innovation must reflect on a huge implementation strategy to equip an entire division with a common vocabulary and set of experiences. As per Gary P. Pisano (2015), a lack of innovation strategy in an organization can create conflict of interest amongst different parts of the organization even if there’s a clear business strategy.
I could see a clear disconnect from where I was viewing this whole scenario and this mooted me to suggest to my management about pitching an innovative event called “The Red Hat Skillathon”. The goal of this event was to assemble the diverse and skillfully rich individuals from various brands in the organization to come together and form cross-functional teams for creating prototypes. This way, they were almost coerced into inventing something together as a team of innovative artists for a common cause, instead of a common brand.
At first, the management didn’t take my suggestion very seriously, but soon after, they discussed it and unanimously agreed to host the event. To my astonishment, the event was a brilliant success and helped the employees let go of their brand animosity. The employees from various brands became like a close-knit family and the company was reaping boundlessly in terms of innovation from this brilliant strategy.
References
Charles R. B. Stowe and Doug Grider (2014) – Strategies for advancing organizational innovation, Journal of Management and Marketing Research, (15), 8-9.
Gary P. Pisano (2015) – You Need and Innovation Strategy, Harvard Business Review.