The Hindu Business Line : Teams need deadlines because constraints spur creativity

Innovation is a team sport, cheers a new book from Ram Charan, a leading global management guru. Innovation comes not just from thinking up new ideas, but from combining and recombining them, and then putting together the people who can turn concept into reality, he says in ‘The Game-Changer’ ( www.landmarkonthenet.com), co-written with A.G. Lafley.

“Just as a sports team has certain defined positions – quarterback, kicker, tackle – so must an innovation team,” the authors argue. The ‘idea generator’ is a key player in the innovation team, with ability ‘to push beyond the plausible to create provocative ideas.’ This person is a non-linear thinker, someone who sees connections and patterns that are not obvious, describe Lafley and Charan.

“Idea generators are impatient with constraints and unafraid to say what they think. They do not need to come from obviously creative functions, such as research or design.”

Another player in the team is the ‘project manager,’ who can be type A, but with a sense of humour! Being responsible for making sure all the pieces come together, the project manager has to be ‘disciplined, attentive to detail, and able to organise complexity.’ Humour is required if he has to get the team to the finish line on time, and together, the authors reason. “A project manager who lacks social skills will be seen as a nag, not a leader, and provoke guerrilla resistance.”

Third is the ‘executor,’ the watchdog of executional excellence who makes sure that the milestones are met, and that the right factors are in place to commercialise the product in a cost-effective and scalable way, elaborate Lafley and Charan. “If you don’t execute, the consumer doesn’t care what the strategy was. Execution is the only strategy that consumers see.” As you may remember, ‘Execution’ is one of Charan’s earlier books, co-authored with Larry Bossidy.

The crucial player in any team is the team leader, because it is his job ‘to create a culture in which people feel free to express ideas – in short, to take the fear out.’

Team leaders need expertise in the field, both to win respect from other members and to know what is going on, but they need not be the leading expert, the authors explain. “An ambitious software project, for example, need not be led by the best programmer; it needs someone who understands both the product and the market.”

The leader’s most important tasks, according to the authors, are to listen, to know the talents and preferences of the members, to manage personality conflicts, to recognise when outsiders need to be brought in, and to keep the team focused and optimistic. “The art of team leadership is to ask the right questions to keep the project moving forward.”

Teams need deadlines, the authors advise. “Because we’re in business here, not a social experiment, and because constraints spur creativity. A team with time on its hands is probably not being productive.”

Also, the team has to be contained, not unwieldy. “Amazon has the two-pizza rule – no team so big it cannot dine on two pies. Google typically has three-person teams that work for three to four months on project.” A permanent team of many people is just another way of saying bureaucracy, the book cautions.

Amidst the overdose of Procter & Gamble discussion that fills the pages, the authors assure that innovation can thrive in a culture with 4 Cs and an O, viz. courageous, connected and collaborative, curious, and open.

A book of some value to those who are open to play the innovation game in newer ways.

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