Foster innovation

During the Industrial Revolution, business execution was the defining quality of successful large businesses. Frederick Taylor’s scientific methods summarize the time’s emphasis on efficiency and output as the key ingredients for a growing business to maintain its competitive edge. When efficient mass-production had become commonplace, a resurgence of efficiency with an emphasis on quality control was sparked in Japan under the influence of W. Edwards Deming. In our current Information Age, while execution and quality remain non-negotiables, the defining characteristic of successful large businesses is innovation. People such as Tim Brown promise to apply the rigor of Taylor and Deming to the innovation process and standardize today’s defining big business need (Brown).

Importance

Unlike the men who shoveled coal in one of Taylor’s first publicized experiment, innovation efficiency appears resistant to standardization. How can a thought process be charted in any way similar to the motions of a coal-loaded shovel? Nonetheless, the perpetual innovation of long-standing companies such as Proctor & Gamble demonstrates that innovation is a business trait that can be standardized enough for a steady stream of new ideas to keep the business running.

Deming’s ideas of quality control were rejected by American business but the Japanese capitalized on his work and reaped the benefit. In our day the idea of innovation efficiency can either be learned and applied for local business' benefit, or another country will take advantage of the opportunity to excel instead.

Application

I enjoy refining everything. Whether it be a physical action like walking to work or a communication process between co-workers, my mind often jumps first to how it can be improved. Amie and I share this quality; in fact, often the first conversation we have when doing something new, such as a new restaurant or experience, is to identify what we’d do to make it better :) .

I’m skeptical about the notion that innovation, like my walk to work, can be generated by rigorous method. It seems too magical to me, like a gift only some people possess. However, in Taylor and Deming’s times there were many skeptics but the people to capitalize on their research were those who took them seriously. My application, therefore, is to reconsider the approach I take to brainstorming new ideas in light of “design thinking” and see what the results are for myself, in particular, some recent problems I’ve encountered at work.

References