Can Disruptive Innovation Lead to Change?
3 tips help manage hiring in today’s ever-changing world
Over the past couple of years I have noticed an increase in the volume of social media networking conversations on the topic of disruptive innovation.
If you haven’t read much on this topic, you should. Disruptive innovation involves incremental changes within a market, usually generating lower costing and poorer quality products and services that lead to a fundamental shift in the marketplace.
For an informative lesson on disruptive innovation, listen to Clay Christensen’s eight-minute video blog on Harvard Business Review.
Many famous examples show how disruptive innovations can lead to change. Consider the portable CD player.
It had a poorer quality sound compared to a vinyl record or even a larger portable sound system, but it was usable and once it became inexpensive it became an innovative disruption. One of my favorite examples of disruptive innovation is the Wikipedia disruption of the encyclopedia.
Hiring and Disruptive Innovation
Very recently I read an article by hiring guru Lou Adler with the title, Don’t hire cultural misfits and other affairs of state.
In this article, Adler talked about the value of hiring for cultural fit and how the meshing of motivation, team and structural fit are more important considerations when hiring.
That does not mean you do not first screen a candidate based on skills, it means you have to look beyond skills and examine the person’s fit.
And, while I would agree with that sentiment, indeed I have frequently written on this very topic, sometimes your future business needs trump cultural fit, kind of.
Cultural fit is often a great way to build a team that works well together, where everyone is on the same page, supporting and even nurturing ideas. But, sometimes that does not lead to the most innovative ideas and rarely will it lead to disruptive ones. Every now and then putting a little oil in the water can lead to innovative disruption.
Creativity and new ideas are often born of strife and conflict and it can be a difficult balancing act to sustain a harmonious atmosphere and a disruptive one at the same time.
Next Page- 3 suggestions for inviting disruption innovation.
