Beyond the Individual: Increase Innovation through Collaboration
In today’s world, innovation is the driving factor for businesses and individuals to achieve success and to grow. But what is the best way to nourish innovation? An individual might start with a desire or need to change something and this desire can enable one to overcome unimaginable hardships, or help them fulfill their wildest dreams. But although an individual is passionate about an idea, but working alone, the implementation of that goal may never be reached. For successful implementation, the individual has to learn how to collaborate with and benefit from others.
Bolstering resources through human connections
An early step in any project is to determine what resources are needed and in striving for innovation, a key resource will be that of social capital. Capital is a common word used in the business world - financial capital refers to your monetary resources and physical assets while human capital refers to the benefits available through your human resources such as the knowledge and experience of your employees. Social capital, on the other hand, refers to the benefits derived from social relationships - this isn’t about gathering the knowledge of the individual, but about figuring out how to leverage the knowledge of several people working together, to create new knowledge and ideas.
Human connection has proven to positively influence all aspects of life. Tacit knowledge, also known as informal knowledge, is the unwritten, unspoken, and hidden warehouse of information held by every human being. Within an organization, social capital can be gained by individuals working together and taking advantage of the tacit knowledge of each person. The tacit knowledge of your employee base can’t be copied by the competition - it can provide a valuable resource in your pursuit of innovation. To do that, you have to learn to effectively take advantage of the tacit knowledge by constructing and nurturing strong bonds between individuals.
All of us are guilty of depending on emails and webpage postings to communicate information. This sharing without a true two-sided discussion is one of the shortcomings of the digital world. Just as important, perhaps more important, is the knowledge we can gain beyond that which is communicated digitally. When we try to “go it alone” without involving our co-workers, we sacrifice personal relationships, which in turn inhibits personal connections. It’s natural to want to learn and strengthen our own expertise; but we must remember that by using social capital we increase the level of innovation that might be achieved because of the additional resources that come from human connection.
Feeling successful because we’ve got someone in our corner
As individuals, we tend to validate ourselves based on our individual actions and judge ourselves based on our own accomplishments. And the harder we try, the more we become aware of our shortcomings. “If only I was more skilled in this area...” “If only I had more knowledge in that field...” When we let ourselves dwell on only individual abilities, we feel a lack of skill and knowledge to accomplish the goal. No doubt you’ve experienced starting a project but ultimately giving up before the final implementation because you convince yourself it was beyond your capabilities.
Something I learned from Professor Noboyuki Ueda of Doshisha Women's University is that the key question is not "How can I do it?" but rather "How can WE do it?" Studies have shown that there is a great psychological distance between what people feel they can accomplish on their own, and what they feel could be accomplished with the aid of others. Professor Ueda has interpreted this as an important element in human motivation. People are motivated not by what they can already do, but rather by what they could learn to do. When we want to accomplish something that seems too much for us alone, collaborating with others brings us closer to our goal, making the implementation of the goal possible.
By consciously cooperating with others, we grow our own potential exponentially. Rather than impose limits on ourselves by focusing too much on our current capabilities, we should identify the others that we want “in our corner” and learn how to work with them. By working in conjunction with the people we believe can help us achieve our goals, greater possibilities open up for us in the implementation process. We become more innovative and feel more successful because we’ve got someone in our corner.
What kinds of measures are being implemented to bring about innovation within your organizations?
Learn More:
