Innovation as a choice
SteveI'm just back from Taleo World 2012, (ok, I admit to being a little biased, but it was a tremendous event), and wanted to share a short bit of wisdom from one of the concurrent sessions I attended, given by WellPoint, one of the largest health benefits companies in the United States. With over 37,000 employees operating in a highly-regulated industry and with the added complexity of operating via numerous subsidiary companies, WellPoint is a classic example of the kind of large corporate environment many of us work in or have been a part of at some point in our careers.
Taleo World 2012
And what are some of the things that come to mind when thinking about working in really large, complex organizations?
We generally think of these corporate giants as lacking agility, with dense and difficult to traverse organization structures, a lack of drive and urgency, and at times the tendency to get consumed by process, entrenched ways of thinking, and lots of 'Not invented here' syndrome that taken together can slow or even halt innovative ideas of transformational projects even before they begin.
While it is certainly true that as organizations get larger and more complex in structure additional rules, policies, and sometimes bureaucracies have to emerge to simply manage the processes associated with organizing that many people, across that many locations, and operating under numerous and evolving external forces and requirements, the smartest of these large organizations are not letting size, complexity and inertia impede their ability to adapt, improve, and innovate.
And while their are reams of books, articles, seminars, and big thinkers all focused on the subject of innovation, still for large organizations, fostering innovation can be really, really hard - maybe even impossible. But during WellPoint's presentation about their purposeful and aggressive approach to reinventing their Talent Management processes, they offered one of the clearest and simplest ways to get past those legacy or inherent barriers to innovation.
Simply put, they decided to be innovative.
The specific mantra their Talent Management team adopted was 'We can sit and wait, or we can choose to innovate.'
Sure it's basic. Sure it even sounds a little naive. And yes, no one can really effect significant change by simply making a choice, but the choice itself is the start.
The choice to innovate becomes a conscious one that can support all the difficult decisions that have to be made in order to effect change at large organizations like WellPoint. The choice allows you, even empowers you to think about the big picture and the real reasons and benefits for the hard work you are doing.
The choice enables you to start to let go of the organizational baggage that often has to be dragged along with you on every new project.
In another Taleo World presentation, Bertrand Dussert mentioned a fantastic quote from Roger Enrico -
"Beware the tyranny of making small changes to small things."
WellPoint's 'choice' and the Enrico quote both remind us of the importance of thinking big, not allowing the past to be a barrier to progress, and that often a simple change in mindset can be the beginning of a fantastic journey, even in the largest and most seemingly resistant to change environments.
Thanks to everyone at Taleo World for what was a superb and inspiring event.
Have a Great Weekend!
Reader Comments (91)
I proud of this website because he provide me great information and thanks for sharing this best infromation... rich
I was verifying consistently this web blog and I’m impressed! Extremely details specifically the last part I care for such information and facts much. I was searching for this certain details for some time
I happen to enter your blog with the help of Google search. To my sheer luck I got what I was searching for. Thanks.
After read the article i have come to you to know the handy discussion as well. Because i will come to you to know the wonderful article. Thanks a lot mate.
Thanks for excellent blog.I'm happy to find useful blog share in my friends. THANK YOU
I myself want to start a blog , thanks to you now I can understand the pattern of writing a blog of what should my own.
Greeting from Binasyifa Almabruroh.
Here i found nice environment to get new ideas and views and the i have read the comments of this blog and these are really nice and it is glad to comment here.
I prefer to study this kind of material. Nicely written information in this post, the quality of content is fine and the conclusion is lovely. Things are very open and intensely clear explanation of issues
I like your site and content. thanks for sharing the information keep updating, looking forward for more posts. Thanks
This is a very useful post, I was looking for this info. thanks for sharing the great ideas...
The article has really peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and preserve checking for new information.
Well… round about every blog posts online don’t have much originality as I found on yours.. Just keep updating much useful information so that reader like me would come back over and over again.
Well, very good content, content, let a person feel a special comfortable feeling. Like the content is every reader want, so such content will be concerned.
Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionize the way we learn.
Hi! This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for sharing this great Information! That is very interesting smile I love reading and I am always searching for informative information like this! You are bookmarked!
I get a lot of great information here and this is what I am searching for. Thank you for your sharing. I have bookmark this page for my future reference.
I just read through the entire article of yours and it was quite good. This is a great article thanks for sharing this informative information. Its really good article i fully read this content..
I’m impressed with your views on this matter and I agree with a lot of your ideas.
már ez is eleve minimum paradox, hiszen az utánzás által senki sem tehet szert egyéniségre). sash windows london
coool