Process and Innovation

In my past I was a military pilot.  A lot of aviation is built around various procedures and processes.  For example, an instrument approach procedure is designed to transition my aircraft from enroute altitudes to the airport in an orderly way. A high altitude approach procedure would have me start at a specific place and altitude.  I would follow a specific ground track while descending to specific altitudes along the way. On final approach the aircraft would descend below the clouds and shazam!  There would be a runway right in front of me. If I followed the approach procedure the runway would always be there.

For the sake of this argument, I’m going to define a process as a grouping of procedures to ensure a predictable, reliable and quality outcome.  The question then, is how do we follow processes whose goal is a predetermined, reliable outcome with innovation which by definition has a significant component of the unknown associated with it? My sense is that the tension between the right-brained and left-brained among us or the orderly vs. the creative is all part of this. It seems crazy to say we need to establish a process by which we can be more innovative when in all likelihood it is processes are a significant drag on creativity and innovation. I can think of more than a couple of times someone has tried to discourage conversation on an interesting approach to some issue by saying, “Yes, but… that is not in line with our process.”

I’m a big fan of orderliness and efficiency.  I understand that having well defined processes and procedures help ensure reliable results.  I’m also a big fan of creative, innovative ideas—ideas that often clash with our processes. It takes leaders at all levels to understand that sometimes the process simply needs to be set aside for the next big advance to take place. When the innovation proves valuable, then define some processes to ensure a repeatable outcome, not before. I would say that if you can predefine the processes to define an innovation’s outcome, it really isn’t very innovative now, is it?