Can Disruptive Innovation in Hiring 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 must 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.
The following are three suggestions for inviting disruption innovation:
- Wikinomics and crowdsourcing.
Wikinomics:
How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything is a 2006 book written by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams and Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business is a 2009 book written by Jeff Howes. Hiring for disruptive innovation need not mean hiring a new employee.
Wikinomics and Crowdsourcing both involve seeking collaboration with a wide pool of contributors. This could include hiring, on a short-term basis, contingent, freelancer or project-focused individuals or teams, even outsourcing to bring disruptive innovation without disrupting company culture.
- Hiring a cultural misfit.
This is generally the opposite advice I give, but there are times when the misfit can be your best option. This is not to suggest you hire someone to cause a problem but instead hire someone who does not perfectly fit your company culture. This can include someone from a different culture, background, experience, or even ability or disability. But keep two important considerations in mind: First, you cannot set this person up to fail by letting him stand alone with new ideas. Instead, be open to hearing all ideas and managing the disruption they create. Second, you may have to manage that person and the team a little differently, so you need to place him with a good manager.
- Let your leaders lead for disruptive innovation.
Create a culture that encourages, embraces and recognizes opportunities for disruptive innovation. Send your employees out into the cloud of social networks and encourage them to bring ideas back. Provide a regular forum for an open exchange of ideas. Social networks can be a great tool for giving everyone an equal voice.
If you do not have an internal tool and do not want to use a public forum, find a tool like Yammer or hold these conversations the old-fashioned way, face-to-face. Then, reward your managers and their teams for sharing alternative, innovative ideas.
Try a New Approach
Today’s rapidly changing economy, market and consumer requires an approach that can at least be prepared to respond to, if not lead, disruptive innovation. Had Kodak or RIM acted with more disruptive innovation they may not have found themselves in their current predicaments. Become familiar with the idea of disruptive innovation and ask your potential new job hires if they are too.
Related content:
3 Tips On Social Networks Vital for Business
How Connected Employees Can Lead to Disruptive Change
Looking Forward on 2017 Tech Trends Disrupting Small Businesses
