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Fostering Creativity in a
Culture of Compliance
Colonel John F. Price, Jr.
TRANSFORMAT
ION
REVOLUTION IN
MILITARY AFFAIRS
Adaptive Planning Innovation
Entering PremiseInnovation in U.S. military planning processes is essential to our competitive military advantage
JPEC* often fails to produce or sustain the spark in our approach to military operations because:
We lack a full understanding of innovation
We focus on validating what we already know/expect
We fail to fully appreciate the impact of culture
We lack some of the tools needed to effectively manage innovation in the process
* JPEC – Joint Planning & Execution Community
OverviewUnderstanding Innovation
Why it matters is to National Security
Barriers & Tools
Way Ahead
Key Concepts
Ideas
Creativity
Innovation
Change
Culture
Connecting the TermsIdeas
Thought, concept, suggestion, impression
CreativityAbility to generate new/novel ideas
InnovationSuccessful implementation of new ideas
ChangeIncremental or discontinuous shift resulting from innovation
CulturePattern of shared basic assumptions shared by a group on the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to the problems of external adaptation and internal integration
It’s About Your Attitude
Creativity is not a skill or attribute, but a mindset that embraces a broad array of different things including ambiguity, learning, possibility, connecting, ideas, options, exploring gaps and inconsistences, the offbeat, and failure.
– John Maxwell “Thinking for a Change”
What does Creativity look like –
to you?
Value of Creativity
Creativity is the primary source of incremental (evolutionary) and discontinuous (revolutionary) innovation in organizational products and processes
Innovation is the central determinant of long-run success and failure for an organization
Creativity is the main contributor to organizational value streams"All new ideas begin in a non-conforming mind that
questions some tenet of the conventional wisdom." Admiral Hyman G. Rickover (Father of the Nuclear Navy)
Innovation MattersFundamental component of Military Leadership
Responsibility to improve individuals / organizations
Essential pillar of the Art of WarHarnessing intellectual competitive advantage
Record of innovation
Longer cycle of innovation
Event vs. process
Drivers of Innovation Tactics
Technology
Tolerance (Public)
So What’s the Problem…
“In a stable and effective but conservative organizational environment
the reward for improving existing technology, products, and processes is greater than the incentive to turn the
world on its head. Thus ground-breaking changes are viewed as difficult,
disruptive, unpredictable, and risky, while incremental innovations are seen as
reliably producing predictable results more quickly. It is great irony that wisdom for many firms that derive current good fortune from radical
innovations of the past lies in erecting barriers to these same types of
innovations today.”
Barriers to Innovation
Individual BarriersAttitudes toward Creativity/InnovationPersonal ShortfallsThe Temporal Challenge: Present vs. FutureRisk/Reward Barrier
Organizational BarriersComplexity BarrierSemanticsReceptivity – Adoption Capacity
Attitudes toward Creativity & Innovation
Myth #1 – Creativity always comes from
an epiphany
Myth #2 – There is always a clear path
to creativity
Myth #3 – Creativity is the work of the
lone innovator
Myth #4 – Creativity always results in
great ideas
Myth #5 – I’m not creative
The Enemy WithinThe Pull of Conformity
Creativity in our organizations is rare, not because it is an elusive skill set endowed to only a select few, but because of the natural human pressures of conformity and resistance to change.
Missing Skill SetA lack of training or education in creative thinking will serves as a deterrent
The Trap of Reproductive ThinkingThe product of past experience and shaped by habit and routine
Too BusyCreativity can be a casualty if the pace of operations that does not afford sufficient time or energy for creative exploration
Intellectual LazinessLeaders are simply not willing to set aside the time or put forth the effort to engage in critical, creative thought
Temporal BarrierCurrent Execution vs. Future Planning
Cannot be in two places at once – physically or intellectually
Leaders choose every day on where to orient themselves and their organization on the temporal landscape
These decisions, often made without a lot of intention or deliberation, have great consequences for the organization’s approach to innovation
When forced to choose, most leaders fixate on the urgent demands of the present
As this happens, organizational tolerance for risk-taking and failure slowly decrease, and they gradually loose the innovative spark
Many leaders fail to notice this culture shift due to contentment with incremental innovation
The fixation on incremental progress leaves the organization closer to its demise due to an inability to live with disruptive change
Risk/Reward Barrier
The risk-averse nature of the military is exacerbated the significant unknown return on the risk investment
“Military organizations thus have been and continue to be in the problematic position of needing to innovate new military concepts and technologies in order to sustain or regain their effectiveness, all the while recognizing that innovations adopted today may be less effective or even inappropriate tomorrow”
The looming period of fiscal austerity threatens to make the military even more reluctant at the very time creativity and innovation is needed most
Complexity Barrier“Innovation is a complex process that is neither linear nor always apparent. The interactions among intellectual, institutional, and political-economic forces are intricate and obscure. The historical and strategic context within which militaries transform compounds this complexity.”
As the leader moves on the away from the familiarity of current operations, the variables increase and the amount of decision-ready information decreases resulting in a rapidly increasing complexity
“true innovation is not a discrete event or individual action, but a process. As a process, it demands that leaders understand multiple complex systems. Innovation thus includes building consensus and preventing interference or sabotage from risk-averse or hostile players.
Semantic BarriersUS military dialogue on innovation has become cluttered over the last two decades with sensationalized language of transformation and revolutions
Infatuation with technological change led us to view innovation as a point instead of a process
Creates an unrealistic expectation for innovative capability and timelines
Innovation only appears to be an isolated event when we intentionally separate the culminating breakthrough from the sequence of preceding events
Flawed View - Edison’s light bulb and Orville and Wilbur’s aircraft can appear as dynamic manifestations of inspiration
Reality - Innovation are the consequence of creativity and effort applied over time
Receptivity Barrier
Adoption capacity – an organization’s ability to willingly receive new ideas
“The combination of financial intensity and organizational capital possessed by a state, influences the way states respond to major military innovations and how those responses affect the international security environment’’
Ownership of the tactical or technological innovation does not ensure success by the innovator
“Innovations often benefit precisely those states who were not involved in the innovations themselves, but who were able to better implement them into their own cultures and bureaucracies”
In our defense processes, the “future” lacks a specific senior advocate or a political constituency to ensure it is represented
Turning the ShipTo combat the barriers, DoD strategic culture must increase its focus on the future and the role innovation plays in getting there
Entire JPEC must become less wedded to Military Science more comfortable with Military Art
Planners, Analysts, and Decision-Makers must balance their focus on current Capabilities, Posture, and Forces with imagination for future employment
Fix the StructureYour actions and the structure of your organization are never neutral when it comes to creativity
Leadership processes and organizational design are either embracing creativity within the unit or you are constructing barriers to it
Generating a creative culture is not easy nor accidental, but it can be achieved through intentional effort
Tackle the Temporal Barrier
Establish processes, structures, and appoint leaders to manage operations along the temporal scale between current operations, future operations, and future plans – connected but distinct
Promote continuous improvement for current products and processes, while simultaneously seeking innovations that will fundamentally change approaches
Establish clear roles for strategic planning and futuring
“We have to be willing to cannibalize what we’re doing today in order to ensure our leadership in the future. It’s counter to human nature, but you have to kill your business while it is still working.” -- HP
CEO Lou Platt (1994)
Tackle the Temporal BarrierThe leader must work to create a tolerance for different temporal perspectives that help foster the culture of creativity and innovation
Leaders need to create “Ambidextrous Organizations”
Simultaneous emphasis on the present and the future.
Ability to “host multiple, internally consistent architectures, competencies, and cultures, with built-in capabilities for efficiency, consistency, and reliability on the one hand and experimentation, improvisation, and luck on the other”
Include Strategic Foresight / FuturingStop perpetuating the idea that the future is a
varied extension of the present
Strategic foresight and futures drive leaders to consider transformational and revolutionary ideas
Combine linear, forward-looking, competition-based strategic planning with backward-looking, discontinuous, trend-based futuring
Allows leadership to see what is, what could be, and what they want the future to be all at the same time and make decisions that span multiple time horizons
Embrace the Leadership Challenge
Leaders must be willing and able to induce positive turbulence on the organization
Leaders must be willing to loosen controls and accept risk for radical innovation to occur
Leaders must be able to embrace the tension and contradictions between the present and the future
Simultaneously managing today and tomorrow with contrasting alignments of people, structure, culture and processes
Enabling Innovation
To enable innovation leaders must set
the stage:
Expectations, Incentives and
Encouragement
Resources (time and money) and Training
Safety net and culture that embraces
intelligent risk taking
Ownership and freedom of action
A path for ideas to be vetted and heard by
decision-makers
Use the Tools of the Trade
Key Take-AwaysMilitary competitive advantage = National Security
Military competitive advantage is grounded in the ability of the military to innovate and adapt
Creativity is an attitude, a skill, and an asset
Creativity is essential to innovation in military planning, analysis and war-gaming
Innovation = Creativity + Effort + Opportunity
Innovation is a process; incremental or discontinuous
Fostering innovation requires intentional leadership
Further Reading
My Musings…“The Downfall of Adaptive Planning: Finding a New Approach after a Failed Revolution” (Air and Space Power Journal, Mar-Apr 2012)
“Seeing It Coming: Revitalizing Future Studies in the US Air Force” (Air and Space Power Journal, Sep-Oct 2012)
“U.S. Military Innovation: Sustaining Creativity in a Culture of Compliance” (Air and Space Power Journal, Sep-Oct 2014)
“Spanning Innovation’s Temporal Barrier: Unleashing Organizational Creativity for Today and Tomorrow” (In review)
“A Call to Creativity: Essential Leadership Roles for Tomorrow’s Military Officers” (unpublished)
“Creating and Killing U.S. Military Futures” (unpublished)
QUESTIONS / COMMENTS ??