Source: Business Strategy Innovation blog

I saw this comic and loved it.  We all  have a lot in common with these guys.  The boss knows that he wants innovation. So being an efficient manager, he picks his best man and delegates the assignment.  And the good lieutenant responds to his boss just like he has been taught:  “Yes sir, just tell me what you want.”

Both are the products of their organizational cultures, just like the rest of us.

But our rigid business cultures have not taught us to give our best employee an assignment with instructions like, “Do whatever you want to do.  Break the rules, break the boundaries, spend money and see what you can do for us that might take this organization to the moon.  And if your idea fails, I’ll buy you and your whole team dinner.  And if it succeeds, I’ll share 10 percent of the revenue with you all.”

Or how many of us have been taught to respond to his or her boss by saying, “I don’t want any restrictions.  I’m innovative and creative and really talented.  Give me free rein for the next two years and I’ll come back to you with an idea that will blow your socks off.  And if I don’t succeed, I’ll return my salary.  And if I am successful, you give me 10 percent of the revenue we generate.  Want to play?”

We don’t talk like this because we’ve been taught to keep things under control, to operate within parameters, and to do what we are told.  That certainly is not a recipe for innovation or growth. We cannot rely on someone else to come up with all the good ideas while we stay in our protective bubble of guidelines and protocols.  As employees at Not-for-profits, we’re trying to solve some of the planet’s most complex, challenging and important problems. Perhaps we need to start by creating the right environment within our organizations to cultivate ideas that will change the world.