Over the years, I’ve worked in a variety of industries - education, edtech, consulting, international development, insurance, and more - but an overarching trend of the roles I’ve held is that the work I’ve done in each of these industries has been focused on innovation. That innovation has looked different for each role, because innovation to build agricultural businesses in eastern Congo looks different than innovation in the edtech space, but the patterns of the innovation work across each role are remarkably similar.
Since I’ve managed not just innovation work and projects but also teams focused on innovation work, the team executing the work and its dynamics is always top of mind for me because any innovation work can’t happen without high quality, bought-in teams. One thing that’s often overlooked when it comes to any type of innovation work is not just what it is or what we are doing, but what it feels like to the people on the teams making the work happen.
A good visual example of how innovation work feels to the people doing it is the video below, which demonstrates how the proximity you have to the front changes your perception of how fast things are moving.
Thinking of this through the lens of a team, I think the leaders of any innovation work are always closest to the front, leading the way and directing the vision. But as we can see, when you’re at the front things seem to be moving slower. I can recall talking to a leader working on a new strategic branch of a company and in a moment of frustration with the pace of progress on the project he said, “I just don’t know why it’s taking so long.” This frustration is normal because leaders in any innovation space know where they want to go and see the vision clearly, but the pace isn’t what they want it to be or what they expected it to feel like.
The reality, though, is that things aren’t moving slowly at all, they’re actually moving pretty fast, it can just feel like things are moving slowly because as a leader, you’re at the forefront and your view is different, so the pace literally feels different and likely slower than you’d like.
As we can also see in the video, to the team and those not at the very front of the work, things can feel like they’re moving at breakneck pace, confusing, chaotic, or even disorganized. The pace is one thing, but so are the turns - pivots that are actually planned out and part of the path forward can feel like whiplash without the broad view afforded to leaders at the forefront. This is important to point out because since innovation work can’t happen alone but rather depends on the buy-in, energy, and talent of entire teams, if the team is left out of that forefront vision and momentum then the work simply won’t get done at both the pace and quality required to be successful.
In innovation work of any industry or sector, what can happen is that leaders frustrated by the perceived slowness but who are managing teams frustrated by the perceived fastness will run into all sorts of issues due to the perception misalignment: burnout, lack of buy-in, turnover, all of which actually slow things down. So what are leaders to do?
In any type of fast-moving, innovative work it’s important to remember two things. First, as a leader, things aren’t moving as slowly as they may seem because your view and mindset are different than everyone else’s. Second, without the front-row view, your team may feel that things are moving more quickly or chaotically than they seem, and it’s important to show them what you see so they understand the big picture. Let them in on the vision, let them see the path ahead, align your perceptions, and build a shared understanding of where it’s all going so everyone is truly on board and ready to execute. Providing that clarity is so important for the efficacy of the work, but also the shared consciousness of the team. This is essentially what we mean by change management.
Take the team with you, because it’s the only way to both get things done and create lasting impact.