Routine or innovation ? Or both !

Everybody talks about innovation (preferably “breakthrough”) and doing today what you have done in the past sounds so boring. Yet operations, meaning turning out products and services in a reliable and repeatable way every day is what brings in the revenue. There is often tension between the concept of innovating and the need for routine and consistency.

The “cycling worlds” model that Jonne Ceserani develops in his book “Big Ideas” is a good visualization of how operations and innovation are connected.

The operational cycle is at the left of the model. In this world, adherence to plans and conformity to product or service specifications requires routines, procedures and rules. This is the world of "write what you do and do what you write". Don’t change anything, no exceptions, no interpretations. Creativity is limited to applying simple techniques like PDCA to solve the operational issues that can pop up.

On the right hand of the model, we have the wheel of innovation. Here we speculate, we invent, experiment, fail or succeed. There are obviously no rules or procedures, there are no limits.

The essence of this model is of course in how these two very distinct and impossible-to-mix wheels are connected. And, more than that, the fact that one wheel cannot remain in motion without the other one. From the operational cycle, we once in a while need to "jump away" from the world that is controlled and subject to routine to the cycle of innovation. If we don’t do that, we will basically remain turning in our operational cycle for ever. The mentality of "don't repair it if it's not broke" will lead to being surpassed by higher efficiencies or innovations created by others. By jumping out towards the innovation wheel, intentionally (and not when it's too late), an organization can open up for reinvention. But once a successful innovation, improvement or breakthrough is found, the organization absolutely needs to move back from the innovation cycle onto the operational cycle, and update the routines and procedures with this innovation implemented. And keep on producing quality and reliability customers will pay for. 

There is no mind-shattering breakthrough in this model but it explains in a simple way how both cycles are necessary and valuable.

Shared Value: solving the new recruits challenge !

In the January 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review, Michael Porter and Mark Kramer introduce the idea of "shared value". The principle of shared value focuses on companies not just doing good for society and/or the environment, but actually finding business approaches and solutions than enhance both the economic performance of the company and the societal aspects. The authors emphasize the need of seeing a corporation within its environment, a cluster of suppliers, customers and institutions.

Universities and high schools as public education centers

Companies recruit experienced employees as well as new graduates. A criticism (especially in Thailand) is that new graduates have a lot of theoretical knowledge but very little experience about what goes on in an organization, be it a corporation or government entity. Student trainees are often accepted as a gesture of goodwill towards a neighboring university, but subjects assigned to these trainees are not core to the company’s activities and are mostly limited in terms of added value. At the same time, when new recruits are "integrated", a lot of effort is spent to bring their knowledge up to a practical level in order to deal with real business problems. This costs time and money for the employer.

Possible approaches focusing on Shared Value: knowledge creation

A simple but joint effort around knowledge management can bring shared value to the university, the student and the organization. The idea is to connect a company's knowledge management (KM) initiative with what is being taught to students. A few concrete examples could be:

- students are invited to actively participate in companies' KM events, like brainstorming or community of practice exchanges; for sure the student has no real experience, but their “unfiltered” knowledge can bring interesting insights for the company

- real projects (critical to the company’s strategic objectives) are launched and students are invited to participate as resources

- company employees actively participate in the education effort in the university, either by presenting projects or by lecturing students on real-life problem resolutions

The company receives concrete inputs from students that add value to the company’s knowledge. Students benefit from a real-world experience and can feel valued in that their inputs can be put into practical use. Practical aspects would need to be organized: students receiving extra credit for participation in a company’s KM initiative, company ensuring student input is received without preconception and the university ensuring that the company’s inputs are integrated in its curriculum, course evaluation and project work.

Possible approaches focusing on Shared Value: innovation

A very similar approach could focus on innovation. Students can be invited to participate in the company’s innovation programs. Innovation contests are organized not just for academic purpose, but to solve real corporate problems.

Shared Value created

The ideal approach would be that several companies in a cluster contribute to the knowledge and innovation programs described above, with the main university or high school in the neighborhood. There is shared value created for the student, the company and the university.

For the company The student graduating will be better equipped for the corporate world. Although several may not join the companies that have participated in the program, some will and after a few years of effort, companies should see new recruits better equipped to be integrated more quickly in a corporation. This should allow reduction in onboarding costs from the company’s perspective.

Another benefit is the “image” that the company creates, vis-à-vis the community and the university, as well as the motivation for its own employees, some of whom will participate actively in this program.

For the students Students who have participated in this program will be able to develop their professional career more quickly. They will have a more “solid” CV even without having had their first real job. Their exposure to the corporate world will also give them a better understanding what kind of company they want to work for.

For the university The program will enhance the university’s reputation as it will be seen as preparing students for the corporate world. This can lead to higher student numbers.