Innovation Requires Commitment of Time
On our honeymoon in France, my husband and I visited Monet's garden at Giverny. It's a beautiful French country house, every room in a different monotone palette. Monet loved colour and his studio looked out over the garden. He built a lake, complete with a bridge, and planted his famous gardens, just so that he could paint them.
We understand that an artist needs time and space to be creative. Nobody expected Monet to pop out a masterpiece between meetings. Yet, in so many organisations people are expected to 'be innovative' in and around their usual day jobs, with all its pressures and moment-to-moment decisions. Allowing people time for creative thinking is an important part of an organisation's commitment to innovation. Whether that's time alone for deep reflection, or time together for collaborative problem solving, innovation requires allocated time and dedicated attention.
People's time comes at a cost, which can be particularly challenging if your business model relies on billable hours. Sometimes it's the business model itself that needs innovating. Like financial commitment, your commitment of time should be within your resources. Innovation should not add to the endless pile of work people already have to do. If so, it will become a chore, and the required creativity will be lacking.
How are you making the commitment to time for innovation in your business?
This is one of a series of article on innovation. You can download the whole Innovation series here.
