By Amelia Chan, CHRP

Innovation is the one renewable resource that cannot be used up. It has the potential to ignite and regenerate.  It is different from invention which requires something brand new each time.  Innovation simply requires the will to see or to do things in another way.  By tapping into this approach, a business can release constraints, reveal new paths or even create something remarkable against the odds.

Given the increasing rates of job dissatisfaction and a shift towards life in the work/life balance equation, leaders can no longer look to increased working hours and workloads in their quest to maximize productivity. Fortunately, where the the old way of working “harder, longer, faster” has led us is towards a new way of doing things.

Whereas innovation was once desirable, it is now essential for organizations seeking to remain relevant and competitive.  What is emerging is a less traditional leadership style, grounded in creating the environment in which everyday innovations can thrive. While not all organizations have shifted as yet, the mentality of the marketplace has most definitely.

“Common sense is not common action,” admits author Shawn Achor in Before Happiness. “The greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy is a positive and engaged brain.”

The essential task for HR professionals and other leaders is to create the milieu and means by which such motivated minds might better the business—beyond the regular scope of their roles and responsibilities.

Explore Human Resourcefulness at All Levels
A major part of that is communicating the need for innovation and accepting that the biggest impacts can stem from small ‘tweaks’ to existing people processes. While striving for the ‘next big thing’ is always around the corner, the ongoing small things are what can create reverberating results that allow a business to thrive.

Innovation can emerge from any tier or corner of an organizational chart.  As HR professionals can attest, human resourcefulness is not solely an executive affair. Front line staff are often unmined gold for organizational growth—if listened to—because they are closer to the customer experience.  By playing the part of curious learner rather than know-it-all expert, new perspectives can emerge.

Small Actions, Big Impacts and Beachwear
A wonderful illustration of resourceful innovation can be found in How to Be a Positive Leader: Small Actions, Big Impact by Jane Dutton and Gretchen Spreitzer.  A retail store manager named Ethan worked for a chain of women’s clothing and accessory stores.  Ethan received a dress that was not selling very well, and noted that other stores in the chain were also struggling with sales of the item—leading to a potentially large inventory write-off.

Instead of settling for a slump, Ethan innovated. Simply by cutting the straps off the dress, he changed a dud of a dress into a best-selling beach cover-up. Ethan did not consider his managerial role as delimiting and transformed himself, at least temporarily, into a product designer.  Instead of giving in to being stuck with an unsellable item, he reinterpreted his role and used the resources at hand to be creative—and innovate to the purpose of profit.

While laying the groundwork for innovation is essential, what follows is a brief list of daily due diligences required to build upon those foundations.

1. Open Communications On All Levels
Engaging employees to perform beyond their roles requires an understanding of individual drive.  The ability to overcome apathy or at least keep the momentum moving forward requires information exchange vertically and horizontally within the organization.  This is an instance where silence isn’t golden.  Conversations and feedback is vital for mutual understanding, connection and ultimately innovation. This type of engagement draws attention towards productive differences that widen and enrich rather than shut down or antagonize.

2. Reframe Questions For Better Results
Asking questions in a different way can be a small move to new discoveries.  Instead of asking “what is….”, leaders should consider approaching the same discussion by asking “what if …” or “what might be …”. This flip casts light on the possibilities and changes the tone from question-answer to exploration-discovery.  For instance, instead of asking, “What is a phone used for?” the iPhone designers might have asked, “What if we could do more than talk on a phone?”

3. Promote and Embody an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Creative frugality uses limited resources wisely. Thinking like an entrepreneur is a simple way to winnow the wheat from the chaff when seeking to translate new ideas into valid organizational opportunities for the business.  The entrepreneurial mindset is groomed to do so in a head-on manner by spending imagination instead of money. Entrepreneurs realize that failure is a learning exercise which is inevitable and beneficial, so they pay attention to the cost not to the rate-of-failure.  They also exercise discipline by experimenting intelligently – not just through analysis, but implementation through trial and error and by embracing calculated risk.

4. Create an Understanding of Employee Value
Employees have a greater commitment to improvement when they understand the strategic direction of the company—and where their efforts impact.  Knowing what to focus on also enables individuals to better prioritize and apply limited resources wisely.  Progressive organizations use collective energy, direction, and enthusiasm to cultivate ongoing improvements wherein change isn’t perceived as the enemy but as a useful tool.  When the employee can directly see the impact of their efforts, they are able to see their contribution as worthwhile and of value.

5. Boost Autonomy and Provide Support
Extending autonomy communicates a powerful signal to employees that they can be trusted to reach the desired end points. In addition, managers and leaders can demonstrate active support by facilitating the removal of barriers.  Building an employee’s developmental plan together helps provide concrete ways to implement improvements for the individual and organization alike.  This encourages innovation as managers play steward to the employee’s aspirations while serving the organization’s bigger picture and bottom line.

6. Create Meaning to Unlock Innovation
Author Guy Kawasaki believes that the first step towards innovation that companies need to make is to define their meaning—the reason they exist.  This puts the focus less on what a company does and more on why they do it: their raison d’etre.  By making meaning matter more, obstacles are changed in their nature, proactively engaged before they become problematic, and used as stepping stones towards better organizational and individual futures.

Of course, this only works if such meaning is shared. When employees possess a sense of belongingness, they take more initiative and exhibit more innovative behaviours.  By actively participating in their work, employees co-create with everyone around them.  This leads to better ideas, higher commitment and knowledge sharing—ultimately, laying down the ingredients for daily discovery and performance improvements (a.k.a. INNOVATION).

7. Revive Human Resourcefulness
Leaders and employees who are “resourceful” purposefully repurpose what is at hand—whether these are material resources such as products or immaterial resources such as relationships—to create a sum of greater value than its parts.

By viewing employees as the most resourceful of resources, their organizational value automatically increases, as does the likelihood of innovative contributions. When recognized and encouraged, many are willing to play roles outside of their formal position.  However, lacking that bond, employees will inevitably act the part of resistor to change (which ultimately becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy).

Amelia Chan, CHRP, RCIC is founder and principal consultant of Higher-Options Consulting Services, providing a wide range of HR and immigration services for small to mid-sized businesses.

(PeopleTalk Spring 2015)