In Conquering Innovation Fatigue, we identify nine innovation fatigue factors at three levels: personal (including deficiencies in innovators themselves as well as personal actions of others), organizational, and external. We use nine fatigue factor icons, designed by artist Mark Benyo of Appleton, Wisconsin, to graphically capture some aspect of each of these fatigue factors. Here is an example of the three icons associated with the organizational level:
Of the 24 chapters in the book, nine are devoted to each of the nine fatigue factors. One chapter, for example, discusses the extremely important fatigue factor we call “breaking the will to share.” This refers to events and systems that silently shut down innovation by leaving innovators feeling alienated, distrustful, or upset with the organization. It’s a silent innovation killer because the employees or other participants in the innovation community can go through the motions and look like they are onboard, driving innovation, when they may have invisibly turned off the engines of innovation. In some cases, they hold back their best ideas for later.
Part of the solution is to maintain good communication with the innovation community and listen to “the voice of the innovator.” We discuss that theme in depth, across several chapters, in our effort to help those responsible for innovation to keep the innovation community energized and aligned.
You can’t afford to lose the trust and cooperation of the innovators you depend on, but it can happen easily. We have seen (and document) cases when the engines of innovation can slow down as trust is breached, even as the corporation celebrates its renewed progress in innovation. Beware this silent innovation killer and stay in touch with your innovators!