Innovation Fatigue

Imagine running a 10K race really fast. You hit the finish line exhausted and depleted. You are ready for a long break from running to rejuvenate. You should only be so lucky. Without any rest, you are asked to run another race immediately. You also required to improve on your time, next time around.

The above scenario is one that is being repeated in companies across the globe. Employees are being asked to run the “change race” faster and faster. Executives and strategy consultants are driving for ever-faster change in the form of e-initiatives. Companies are being exhorted by so-called gurus to "innovate or perish". Yet the capacity for absorbing and assimilating these initiatives is diminishing at a rapid rate.

A death spiral is evident in many of the companies we have been examining recently.  Relentless pressure is leading to accelerating e-business initiatives, which result in greater process change, which results in operational disruption, making it more difficult to change, which in turn builds the pressure for performance, which leads to more stop-gap initiatives.

This is increasingly leading to what we call “innovation fatigue”. Employees are tired of innovation. They are tired of rapidly ascending new learning curves. They are tired of new initiatives. Employees' energy for innovation is reaching an all-time low. Basically, employees are tired and frustrated.

Is this cause for concern? Definitely to the top management everywhere. Look at these statistics: An average CEO tenure now is around 21 months; Wall Street and investors are looking for faster and faster implementations of proposed strategy. A CEO of a company that is tired, no matter the best intentions is destined to fail. Every new initiative that he or she may put forward is going be met with resistance, cynicism and disinterest.

The big trend that we are seeing is growing interest in e-business change programs. This involves addressing questions such as: How do you know that you have innovation fatigue? What preparatory work should be done up front before launching an “e-initiative”? How should incentive and compensation programs be structured to facilitate e-change? What should a company do to keep its employees fresh and motivated? 

Our experience has been that the greatest challenge to implementing any technology-enabled strategy is the "people equation." Switching over to a new way of doing things is causes a culture-shock among those employees, customers and suppliers who are used to another way of doing things. Most e-business strategies don’t pay enough attention to creating incentives to change, overcoming resistance, or other complementary change management issues. They seldom spend time to make the change as painless as possible, and minimize friction during the transition.

Finally, technology always goes through a predictable pattern: automate, integrate and assimilate. However, as strategy and implementation cycles get faster and faster, the time given for assimilation and absorption is actually getting shorter and shorter. This cycle is not going to change any time soon.  Innovation and change initiatives are almost certain to increase dramatically as the economy changes gears from growth to efficiency.  

So, e-business change management is rising in stature everywhere.    Innovation fatigue: This condition is often seen in companies due to the rapid pace of technology and business change. New technology is arriving faster than people are able to understand or absorb it. Making the problem worse, corporate cut-backs in training and support and the employees being stressed to max -- "too busy to stop and learn".