I’m watching my son mow the lawn methodically in straight lines. He does the same thing every week. He executes his work. He waits until the grass is dry enough, decides whether or not he is going to use the bagger, moves stuff out of the way, uses the push mower first then the rider, etc. Plan. Execute. Admire.

My lawn mowing technique is more crop circle-like. Innovative. Different every time. Messy. Soccer ball in my path? No problem. I’ll just go around it (otherwise I’d have to put down my beer). Sometimes, I won’t even mow the entire lawn on the same day. That way, it’s never done. I often work that way too. Spontaneous. Sporadic. Messy.

I rebooted my innovative self two weeks ago by going on vacation and seem to have started up in the “execute” mode. Which is good because too much time spent on innovation means nothing gets done. And nobody wants to pay the laborer who makes crop circles in the yard.

Of course too much time executing means lack of vision. No creating little walking paths off to the side of the main lawn. You’re too busy admiring the lawn.

How do you balance all the innovative discoveries that present themselves with the need to execute?

Photo: Matthew Rambo

It seems we’re always just one click from finding someone talking about the greatness and importance of innovation and ten clicks away from finding someone talking about their innovation implementation.

Diagnosis: implementationitis (inflammation of innovation). Too much talk, not enough action.

Social Media! DIY! Social Networking! Virtual Worlds! Communities of Practice! I talk about them a lot and contribute to the problem. But I think that is changing.

Implementation is hard work. Many times, doing it right requires heavy lifting. I didn’t have much time to ‘read all about it’ when I was up to my eyeballs in training people on a new technology. I continue to deal with this now, in my current role.

Take Twitter for example: I get right into it – try it, think about how it’s being used, research it, look for people using it in the workplace, talk to them about how they are using it and how they ‘did it’ and finally write about so you can make some sort of informed decision based on your situation. It’s hard work to do that right with changes coming daily. I always wonder if the “new thing” will still be around by the time I “implement” (research & write).

And what about writing? What is my output to you? I’ve gone more to an analysis-in-process mode, beta research, of working. Time is of the essence. This means I can work through the process and end up saying ‘this is crap.’ That hasn’t happened in the past. So I’ve been opening channels. Implementing.

Innovation involves a “New Thing” >>> Adoption is the decision to use it >>> Implementation is the effective use of the innovation

For example:

• State-of-the-art exercise equipment >>> Purchase >>> Becomes clothes rack (failed Implementation)
• Healthful lifestyle >>> Buy fruits and vegetables >>> Go out to eat fried food (failed implementation)
• New Wiki to replace intranet >>> Set up >>> Continue to use intranet because it is status quo (failed implementation)
• Hard-to-get research >>> Adopt new process >>> Blog, Wiki, Twitter, Social Network, Skype, Group calls, Google docs, etc. (successful implementation)

What’s the deal with implementation? Why do they fail so often?

Six stumbling blocks are identified by Klein and Knight (article attached):

1. New technology can be unreliable and imperfectly designed [hassle].
2. Users must learn new technological knowledge and skills [stress].
3. Decision are made at the top, users have no input but are forced to use new technology anyway [hierarchal approach].
4. There is a disruption of norms and change in roles [...what? I'm not the boss but a peer?].
5. Time consuming, expensive, drag on performance (in the short run). [impatience issue]
6. Maintaining status quo (knowing-doing gap).

How to increase your chances of success? Klein and Knight offer the following key factors:

1. High quality implementation policies and practices in place.
2. Organization’s climate for innovation implementation is strong and positive (employee’s share; innovation not viewed as distraction to “real work”).
3. Manager support of adoption decision.
4. Financial resources for training, support, communications, relaxation of performance standards during learning curve.
5. Strong learning orientation (OK to experiment, take risks, make mistakes)
6. Commitment to patience.

Reference:
Klein, K.J. & Knight, A.P. (2005) Innovation Implementation: Overcoming the challenge. Current Directions in Psychological Science. American Psychological Society, Vol 14-Number 5, pp. 243-246.