Kathy Harris

Organizations often believe that leading-edge ideas and innovations start with employees who are younger and less experienced. The logic is that these employees are comfortable with new concepts such as social computing and the web and are not yet too comfortable with ”how we do things around here”. They see the business with fresh eyes and listen with fresh ears. By contrast, organizations may think that after many years on the job, older and more-tenured employees have an experience base that is “baked in” or may be too much influenced by the values, culture and social mores of a different generation. 

This characterization of experience may in fact, be true; but, there are other important aspects to consider when it comes to innovation. Most importantly, baked-in experience does not equate to lack of creativity or ideas – in fact, the combination of creativity and deep experience will accelerate innovation and modernization.  Organzations should tap into both newness and deep experience. With that in mind, here are thoughts on harnessing experience and inexperience:

First, let diversity guide innovation team design. Above all, select people from multiple (and if possible, unrelated) parts of the organization. I realized during my career that people respond more readily to new ideas and concepts when delivered by new people. My teammates might ignore an idea that I proposed but listen excitedly when an outside consultant offered the same idea. This is not unusual behavior — people who work together listen with an “experience ear” and filter what they hear with the context of their shared experience. This means teammates act almost in tandem and anticipate what others will say or do, rather than listen intently and push or pull each other into change. The lesson learned: Innovation teams should be designed in a way that neutralizes the dampening effects of people working together.  

To leverage inexperience, focus on giving newer and less experienced people an outlet for their ideas. Here are two examples of this practice in action:  

• Gartner analysts Mary Mesaglio and Richard Hunter collected case studies and best practices on innovation. One case study offered a simple but effective practice titled “Fresh Eyes”. In this organization, the HR team sends every new employee an email a few weeks after they join the company. They ask them to identify 1) what has surprised them the most, 2) what things they see or do that just don’t make sense and 3) what ideas they have for improvement. Managers review the responses and take action on the best ideas.
• In Australia last year, I met a newly-employed recent college graduate. The CEO of his company had set up a discussion group of employees from across the company. They met once a quarter for a roundtable discussion on emerging trends, leveraging the web, workplace changes and the influence of digital natives. This new employee had been invited to participate because he brought a unique perspective and represented the new workforce.     

Please share your ideas on this topic.