Aquaculture Innovation and Change
May 15th, 2008 by AndrewInnovation guru Scott Anthony recently shared some insights on his blog regarding change and innovation.
He indicated that six key points that seemed to be in common:
- The need for a crisis or some kind of “burning platform” to motivate transformational change
- A clear vision and strategy … that allows room for iteration
- A recognition that transformation is a multi-year journey
- A need to put the customer or consumer in the center of the transformation equation
- The critical importance of demonstrating to skeptics that different actions can lead to different results
- The need to over-communicate to employees, customers, stakeholders, and shareholders
So, whilst Scott’s comments were developed in the context of large corporate innovation in a US context, I think these insights are also important for our desire to identify and introduce productivity transforming innovations in aquaculture.
I think we may have a burning platform!
What do you think about the rest of his points?
If you would like to take a look at Scott’s post please click on this link.
Tags: change, Innovation
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May 15th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
This again demonstrates that humans are creatures of habit and many people have an aversion to change. Having previously worked in an area where I was required to facilitate many changes, I have first hand experience at people’s resistance to it. I would certainly agree that there is a need to really bring on board those that will be affected by the changes and give them as much ownership of those changes as possible. The more information that is available, the more readily the changes are accepted.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:06 am
I have recently read an article that touches on phychology of change with regards to innovation.
Article: Gourville (June 2006). Understanding the psychology of new product adoption, Harvard Business
Review p 99-106
It is interesting to note that it is not what people gain by innovating or buying a new technology, it is what they lose that matters more. Loss aversion leads people to irrationally overvalue goods they own, commonly referred to as the endowment effect. So when looking at introducing something new you need to make sure that the gains significantly out weight the loses, otherwise you are doomed to fail. The article suggests a 10 times improvement is usually requied to be successful.
The article also talks about behavioural change required for innovation, those innovations that limit the behavioural change are likely to be more successful. Those innovations that require excessive retaining, installation of new equipment and a total reworking of operational procedures are less likley to work, unless the gains are significant.