As a child, I sometimes found coloring within the lines too restrictive. Even when I chose to stay within the lines, I needed to add my own personal touch. Lines were not bad, I just wanted to create my own.

Innovation requires individuals to venture past existing lines to realize another vision, to pioneer and sometimes break convention. You may have heard the expression… We need to find new ways to innovate. Often the first step taken is to establish a process for the “new ways.” That’s when you’ll know, they’re making those lines again.

A few years ago I read an article about the Motorola team that developed the Razr and how this group went about creating what arguably became a thin cell phone revolution. The article went on to state, “Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the Razr team was Motorola’s internal innovation process.” The Motorola team was eventually allowed to go outside the lines, even having the freedom to go off the page and ignore sayings such as, “you shouldn’t go there because it hasn’t been done before.”

Do you work in an environment that encourages drawing outside the lines? Are existing processes a stimulate towards innovation? How do you approach innovation? Are you allowed to make mistakes while trying?

If you work in a finger pointing environment and can’t make the mistakes that come with risk, then you can’t freely innovate. Realistic expectations include the possibility of a failure.

For more about the Motorola story, check out:

Motorola’s Bet on the Razr’s Edge

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4992.html



By: Paul Hebron

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