Everyone today is looking for optimal solutions, not ideal solutions. Life is about making acceptable trade-offs and being “innovative with efficiency”- not an oxymoron, apparently. AT Kearney consultants in, “Are You Focused on the Perfect over the Optimal?” state, “multifunctional teams are, in a way, arbitrageurs, searching not for 100 percent along one dimension but for the optimal among all dimensions.”I spent the day with talent management leaders in HCI’s Engagement, Collaboration, and Retention course; naturally, the discussion moved from collaboration to innovation, as these were a critical part of most organizations’ business strategies. So how do CEOs retain the most innovative talent? AT Kearney experts say three capabilities are essential: 1) leaders with superb communication 2) connecting innovative talent from around the world (including suppliers and partners), and 3) working towards “solidarity of purpose.”
Eric Sauvage, head of organizational transformation at AT Kearney states, “Optimal innovation requires collaboration across all functions. Yet collaboration with other functions can be as challenging as collaboration with other companies—a greater one, in fact, when organizational politics intrudes. The mental barriers are high where real cooperation is not the norm, where teams are not used to stage gates, process rules, supplier management, decision committees, and commitment to success along multiple dimensions. In such environments, working collectively may be novel and subtly discouraged.”
In contrast, Gary Lefko, Employee Engagement Manager with the IT Division of the US Forestry Service in Colorado, explains, “Your job pays the bills, but your passion pays the heart.” Not surprising that the IT function led the practice of crowdsourcing, often the source of innovative breakthroughs. In a Forbes article, "Ten Top Reasons Companies Fail to Keep Top Talent"- which reads like a David Letterman top ten list- #2 is "failure to find a project for talent that ignites their passion."
AT Kearny experts advise, “Multifunctional collaboration is pragmatic lever of organizational transformation... [these] multifunctional project teams are among the best talent-development programs an organization can devise. Smart team members who work with peers from other functions will pool their knowledge and take it to their next assignments. They will become among the most valued members of their organization. The satisfaction they derive from their experience as innovators will deepen a sense of attachment to their organization and help immeasurably in their retention. Here's the big implication of working this way: Members of a multifunctional innovation team will not come back to their old job in the same way they left it.”
Qualcomm retains top engineers in a customized PhD program bringing expert faculty in to teach; the engineers don’t have to leave their jobs to matriculate in a graduate program; what they care about is learning to stay cutting edge in their field, and of course the company benefits by retaining this top talent. CLOs from General Mills, Raytheon, and Qualcomm, recognize that driving innovation is key to their companies’ future.
How about when someone does leave your organization and comes back-- what do you do to maximize their return? At Kaplan University, the “boomerangs” who return are actually presented with a boomerang gift that recognizes their return. Kaplan is cognizant of the “opt in” organization, where the best talent can choose where to gift their intellectual capital. In companies such as American Express, Timberland, REI, and Nike, people take sabbaticals where a fresh environment becomes a wellspring of innovation.
When your best talent takes leave (for whatever reason), could you give them a boomerang to remember to return? We know innovation brings big returns (ROI). How do you develop and manage collaboration and innovation in your organization? Drop me a line…
photo courtesy of protoflux
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