All too often, seemingly innovative organizations burn bright with a cutting-edge invention for only a short period of time before fading into obscurity. Companies with sustained success, meanwhile, have mastered the art of continuous innovation.
In their new book, The Wise Company: How Companies Create Continuous Innovation, Harvard Business School Professor Hirotaka Takeuchi, PhD, and Hitotsubashi ICS Professor Emeritus Ikujiro Nonaka, PhD, outline six qualities shared by the most successful and innovative organizations, according to HBS Working Knowledge.
Here are those six tactics that encourage the near-nonstop flow of innovation, which occurs through an ongoing process of socialization, externalization, combination and internalization, or SECI, according to the authors.
1. Learn to judge goodness, not only for the company but for society.
2. Rely on intuition to grasp the essence of people, things and events.
3. Create informal and formal shared context constantly in order to construct new meaning through human interactions.
4. Use metaphors and stories to help people with different experiences understand the essence of the business strategy.
5. Use all possible means, including Machiavellian ones, if necessary, to bring together people with conflicting goals and spur them into action.
6. Encourage the development of practical wisdom in others, especially employees on the front line, through apprenticeship and mentoring.
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