In the article titled "Creating a Culture of Innovation," author Edward Goldman also explains the importance of risk-taking and innovation. Goldman's article focuses on the relationship between risk, reward, and innovation. In Goldman's point of view, many companies simply focus on incremental improvements and small steps. In other words, these organizations are not taking any risks. It is this lack of risk taking that hinders organizations from becoming leading innovators. By simply thinking about the next step, or the next task, Goldman claims that organizations will no longer be able to drive innovative thinking. Organizations focus too much on rewarding small successes and not learning from failures. It is Goldman's view that in order to be fully innovative, organizations must focus on the end goal they want to achieve and embrace and learn from the mistakes they make along the way.
In order for Canadians to become "innovation ready," and become successful innovators, it is important for them to take risks and learn from failures more so than successes. Organizations need to implement work cultures that don't simply reward only success, but drive innovative thinking and allow individuals to cultivate ideas that support the ideals of the organization's end goals.
Goldman's full article can be found here.
I believe this too. More often than not, you must have fallen multiple times before being able to succeed in anything you are doing. But the question we should be asking is why are we afraid to take risks? I believe the values in the Canadian workforce is not about that and the only we can create these values is by having success stories.
ReplyDeleteI believe one reason we prevent risk taking is economic reasons- will they get sponsors to aid them after their first fall? how do they pay off the loans they took initially to startup this company?
The government needs to give incentives to make innovators want to take risks by financially assisting them in many ways possible.
It may take a long while to embed risk taking values in our work force but I believe Canada has hope.
Hi Kevin! Great share.
ReplyDeleteI think taking risk is crucial with everything in life - whether you are completing a specific task or attempting to reach a future goal. You need to be able to take on risk and accept the fact that you may not succeed in the way you imagined to. It is through continuous failures and setbacks that an individual will be able to learn, grow, pick themselves back up, and try harder the next time around.
According to the article you reference, it states "in Goldman's point of view, many companies simply focus on incremental improvements and small steps." This also relates to the ways in which technology is not necessarily made obsolete, but rather its nature is advanced. For example, the radio is now represented via Itunes or Spotify. The point is that we are failing to create a product or service that is so new, radical, and out of the ordinary, and it is because we are too afraid to take a risk in fear of failure. If companies focused on this fear in group meetings, and worked towards eliminating this fear from the top-down, it would open a whole new realm of possibilities and opportunities for individuals within companies, as well as worldwide.