Sometimes, innovation tends to be about ‘me’. In other words, it is about the person with the best ideas or the ability to get stuff done. But this perception is misleading, destructive and ultimately counter-productive.
Even the most creative and inventive people never have ideas that are fully formed. Any ideas could benefit from further exploration and iteration. And more importantly, when innovative people are put on a pedestal, it discourages everybody else from joining the process.
Another corrosive side effect of the egotistical route of innovation is that it precipitates a blame culture. If a person’s idea fails to work (as most of them inevitably do) then it becomes that person’s fault. This leads to fear of participation within a team. Often the best suggestions for a solution come from conversations between the least expected people. Outsiders often have great ideas.
Also, if everybody gets to contribute to the developing a concept, then by the end of the session it is impossible to say who contributed to a solution individually.
Innovation at its best is about “we, we, we” instead of “me, me,me” so let’s ditch the ego and start to connect with our similarities and benefit from our differences.
