Networking Inside & Outside the Firm to Drive Innovation

Linus Dahlander, Siobhan O’Mahony, and David Gann have conducted a fascinating new study regarding researchers at IBM.   They studied more than 600 technical experts at IBM, people responsible for many of the firm's patents.  They paid attention to how these experts networked with others both inside and outside the firm.  In an HBR digital article, the scholars summarize their findings:  

We measured the breadth of each person’s external social network by the different types of external sources they interacted with. Then we assessed how the breadth of each person’s external network was associated with subsequent innovation outcomes at IBM, like the quantity and quality of the patents the individual produced.

Surprisingly, we found that our respondents’ most common sources of inspiration for new ideas were their colleagues inside, rather than outside, the firm. In contrast with current theories of open innovation, people with broader external networks were no more innovative than people with narrow external networks. Many of the experts relied mostly on internal networks and were still innovative. To better understand this puzzle, we examined how people allocated their time among their information sources inside and outside IBM.

We discovered that experts with a broad external network were more innovative only when they devoted enough time and attention to those sources... This is an important finding, as many managers are keen on the idea that networking and forming external ties can boost the flow of ideas that spurs innovation. What we found is, for that to happen, employees need to devote significant time and attention to creating and sustaining their external relationships. In some cases, people who focused on learning from colleagues inside the organization were just as innovative.

About 30% of the respondents who had a broad external network did not allocate enough time to learn from those relationships. These people would have been better off deepening relationships with their colleagues inside the firm. For spending time inside the company is also important to understanding the firm’s innovation needs and knowing how to develop and execute on innovative ideas.

In sum, the best innovators engage in a balance of external and internal networking.  They scour the outside world for ideas, but they do so given a solid understanding of what's happening within their firm.  Moreover, they engage with people in sufficient depth so as to truly learn from them, rather than simply gaining a superficial understanding of the trends and developments in the outside world.  You can't simply have coffee with a hundred people in search of the next big idea. You have to immerse yourself in certain contexts, whether they be internal or external.   Learning takes time, as does relationship building.   

Why Walking Promotes Good Thinking

Jessica Stillman recently recapped the research linking walking with the generation of great ideas in a column for Inc.com.  She draws upon a terrific article by Ferris Jabr in The New Yorker.  Stillman explains that exercise enhances blood flow and stimulates the brain.  She also argues that the rhythm of our steps has a positive impact.  Finally, she explains that walking requires little conscious effort, leaving time and capacity for our minds to wander.  Insights emerge during that time when we can allow our minds to observe, reflect, and make connections among various ideas.  For more information about the positive impact of walking, take a look at this TED talk by Stanford psychologist Marily Oppezzo:

Early, Often, & Ugly!

Adam Bryant interviewed Christa Quarles, CEO of Open Table, in this week's New York Times Corner Office column.   Quarles describes one important leadership lesson she learned when she became CEO of the firm:  

The other surprise was that people were afraid to share things early on. Teams were trying to perfect something before they would show it to me, and they’d waste a ton of time trying to get it to be perfect to show to the C.E.O. So I said, “Early, often, ugly. It’s O.K. It doesn’t have to be perfect because then I can course­-correct much, much faster.” No amount of ugly truth scares me. It’s just information to make a decision. 

Awesome advice!  You have to strongly encourage people to show you work earlier on, because they will naturally have a tendency to want to perfect it before exposing those ideas to senior leaders.  Of course, how you then provide critique and feedback is essential.  If you attack those ideas in a fashion that is not constructive, your folks will stop bringing you ideas "early, often, and ugly."   You cannot invite those rough sketches and ideas without also considering how to critique those ideas differently than you might approach a near-finished proposal.    

Finding Inspiration: Get on the Move

Your Social Network and the Generation of Innovative Ideas

Salvatore Parise, Eoin Whelan and Steve Todd have published their latest research in MIT Sloan Management Review this month.  They have studied hundreds of ideas generated by employees of data storage giant EMC and correlated that data with information about the Twitter networks of those same workers.  EMC has a system whereby employees can submit new ideas.  The researchers gathered that information and then linked it to Twitter usage by those same employees.  What did they find?  The Twitter users did not generate more ideas than the non-Twitter users.  However, other employees and experts judged the ideas submitted by Twitter users more positively.   Most interestingly, they found that people with more diverse Twitter networks tended to generate higher quality ideas.  The finding proves important because many people tend to follow others with similar beliefs when they join social networks such as Twitter.  This study confirms the value of building diverse networks.  We have to avoid the confirmation bias, i.e. gathering data (i.e. Twitter users) that simply confirm what we already believe.

Does curiosity trump intelligence?

I'm looking forward to a new book from Andy Boynton (Dean of Boston College's School of Management) and Bill Fischer (Professor at IMD).  The book is titled, The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make Them Happen.  According to the authors, highly intelligent people can become very wedded to formulas that have been very effective for them in the past.  That success may deter them from hunting around for new ideas.   Boynton and Fischer argue that innovation comes from people who are fundamentally curious. They inquire, ask questions, and examine situations from varied perspectives.  They keep their minds open to new ideas that might just be around them in their environment.  They scan for those ideas and consider them thoughtfully.  Intellectual curiosity matters a great deal, perhaps more than intelligence itself.  What do you think?   If you are like me, you are intrigued by the premise, and you'll take a look at the book.  I'll be sure to comment further on the book when I've finished reading it.