Patience: One of the Unsung Heroes of Innovation Leadership

Claire Quigley

Typically, when we explore with clients what innovation means to them we get answers that range from ‘creating new products and services for our future’ to ‘learning how to fail fast’.

While both of these answers (amongst many more) are not wrong, there is an element of speed of execution intertwined in the backdrop of how innovation is approached within the organisation.

How many times have you led or been a part of a project where the brief was along the lines of ‘we need to create a new way for our employees/customers/partners to engage with us. We need to use technology and we need it yesterday….’ You all get together, frantically come up with a solution and execute. This may involve testing and learning, but within the vacuum of the project itself, not necessarily from a balcony view.

In taking this approach, many organisations have literally tied themselves up in ‘system debt’, where they were so hasty to make the change and innovate around processes / tools etc, the time, people and money cost has now become crippling and is actually slowing the organisation to turtle pace.

We have had it drilled into us that we need to act now and act fast. If something doesn’t work, try something different. But what if there was another way we could do this? What if we could lead and execute innovation from a place of intent, simplicity (clear) an

Patience is often overlooked as an approach to innovation but it’s worth taking a step back and trying a new perspective. Here are three principles which I have adapted from Oliver Burkeman’s fabulous book ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ that I think speak perfectly to the power of patience in innovation:

1)   Develop a Taste for Having Problems

Why do we see problems as a bad thing that just need to be dealt with? What if we were to accept or create a rhythm of consistently looking for problems, which in turn create solutions? What if we were to embrace a process of problem searching rather than problem solving?

2)   Embrace Radical Icrementalism

Instead of a grand statement project, why not try to do radical things in unradical ways through a culture of consistent innovation? The story of the 20 mile march jumps to mind here. It highlights Scott vs Admundsen who competed in an expedition to the South Pole in 1911. Scott’s approach was to push his team as hard as possible on the good days and rest them on the hard days. Admundsen’s approach was to do 20 miles every single day, no matter what the weather. His belief was in consistency and he stopped his team at 20 miles, even if they could do more. Both teams were on par with skills and experience, but Admundsen beat Scott by 34 days. (In his book Great by Choice, Jim Collins shares the concept of the 20-mile-march.)

3)   Originality Lies on the Far Side of Unoriginality

If you and your teams can embrace the trials of copying other approaches, learning new skills and accumulating experiences, eventually you will end up on a path that is yours to own. Think of companies like Dropbox or Atlassian who in their own right are not doing anything ground breaking, but if you observe the how they approach their work with intention and practice and generosity in sharing learnings, they have found originality.

So, innovation leadership is not always about constantly looking for the unconventional. It is more often about being where you are and being willing to embrace the patience and perspective needed to keep building a place where innovation is part of the fabric.