| July 2004 | |
| Fostering a Culture of Innovation By Barry Urquhart | |
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No more, please! The persistent, seemingly increasing flow of technology is overwhelming entities, managers and staff members, as well as impinging on productivity and stifling the spirit of innovation in the public sector.
TOO MUCH, TOO SOON
The capacity of manufacturers, distributors and consultants to generate new, enhanced technology — information technology in particular — currently exceeds the capacity of the marketplace to absorb and apply it. In the current over-communicated world, people need less, more discrete and selective information, not more. Information overload is adversely affecting efficiency. Moreover, staff members’ stress levels are increasing and morale is down. A significant contributing factor is the expectations of those who use IT, in terms of response times and detailed answers. More information generally does not facilitate better and quicker decisions and resultant actions. Too much information tends to result in greater documentation and bureaucracy.
Lesson 1: Correctly applied technology can be an accelerator, but is seldom, if ever, an initiator or catalyst for innovation.
Significantly, the four major banks in
There is now widespread recognition that, ideally, technology should complement the efforts and output of people, not replace them. Corporate anorexia, in which companies become too lean, too mean and too hungry, was evident in many entities, which were evidencing little or no return from their large capital investment in IT. Why? Because there were insufficient human resources to apply it.
OUTCOMES, NOT PROCESSES
In the local, state and federal public sectors of
A lot of the rigidity in the compliance and conformity to policies has been removed. A sense of creativity and tempered risk-taking is evolving, with heightened tolerance of failure. Tourism
Lesson 2: Rules are Guidelines, Not Obedience
ON THE BOTTOM LINE, IT’S PEOPLE
Technology can and does identify and isolate the individualism of targeted entities, consumers, residents and taxpayers. However, its processes often demand unquestioning universal adherence to processes by the operators of the technology hardware and software.
Creative and innovative input should be encouraged, recognised and rewarded. “Physic-income” is the non-quantifiable benefit and sense of satisfaction enjoyed by people who conclude that they have contributed to a job well done. It provides immediate, self determining feedback and is therefore motivational.
Lesson 3: Avoid Role Learning and Application, Recruit for Attitude, Train for Aptitude
Above all else, people should be encouraged to have fun and to enjoy their endeavours. Australia Post, the Australian national postal service, is currently enjoying the highest annual sales growth (23 percent) of any mainstream retail operation in the country. The efficiency and effectiveness of the technology is unashamedly complemented with the attitudes and the aptitudes of people who conspicuously enjoy their jobs. Significantly, among the unintended consequences are greater flow of innovative ideas and substantial increments in productivity.
FORCED CHOICE
Capital budgets for IT and technology in general, are typically expended on new hardware and software. However, increasingly, service management teams are developing and implementing different sets of paradigms. Quantifiable and qualitative assessments are being made on which the following two options represent the best prospects for increments in output and productivity on existing technology:
In as many as 40 percent of instances in
Lesson 4: Old technologies and ideas finance looked at through new perspectives create new opportunities
Key Points:
– PMQ –
