In business, there’s a saying, "You get what you pay for." In management, you get what you reward. And if what you reward is mistake-avoidance, how can you expect your people to take risks? How can you expect them to stick out their necks if they've seen others do it—and have the guillotine blade drop?
You can't. But if you're thinking that you really aren't in the business of making mistakes, think again. By “mistake” I really mean a well-reasoned attempt that didn’t meet expectations. Mistakes happen when people get creative, when they experiment, when they try to bring a product from conception to the marketplace.
So to have a culture of innovation, you need to tolerate—no, expect and welcome— mistakes. By “innovation” I mean the process that takes a creative idea to a marketable product. I often substitute the phrase “risk-taking” for “innovation,” since risk-taking lies at the heart of innovating—that is, trying out new ideas. To take risks, you must banish the climate of fear that's all too common in today's corporations. You can start doing this by looking at how your firm deals with mistakes.
Dr. Prather was manager of creativity and innovation at Du Pont's Center for Creativity and Innovation. Through CW Prather Associates, in Annapolis, Maryland, he now consults on creativity and creative problem solving.
