06 Nov Innovation without Disruption

Over the last several months, we have gathered some of the top HR and culture leaders for monthly dinners Industry Nights to forge meaningful connections, share fresh perspectives, and tackle the toughest challenges shaping the future of work.

During one recent evening, we invited over 20 executives to discuss people-led strategies to improve business outcomes. This post explores some of the key insights that emerged around HR’s role in driving innovation and navigating disruption. Enjoy!

HR’s New Role

The HR space is changing, and it’s much more than just a rebrand. An emphasis on keeping the organization running smoothly is still HR bread and butter. But, on top of that is a host of internal and external factors that are changing how we work. In response, HR capabilities now demand strong foresight into how the business will evolve, how employees’ expectations of the job are shifting, and changing how we work rapidly. The job of HR now is, inherently, innovation. 

Historically, HR has always been seen as a stabilizing force. When the business puts strains and demands on the organization that are untenable, HR pushes back to build balance, support retention, and make sure the marathon can be run well. 

So what happens when HR becomes the innovator?

This is the question we brought into a dinner with Senior HR leaders from across industries to explore. Below are three themes that emerged:

1. Innovating at scale requires being a disruptor.

HR does have a series of levers to pull in order to manage this change effectively. We explored collaborative brief development across varied, key stakeholders to minimize issues coming mid project. Sometimes, ripping the metaphorical “band-aid” off minimizes friction. Other times, slowly building support and adoption is a much more appropriate response. 

In Marty Linksy’s book, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, he says, “Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can absorb.”

While the framing is harsh, the point is well taken. In order to innovate, we need to disrupt, and disruption inherently breeds friction. Our ability to understand how much discomfort can be tolerated over a given period of time is vital to our strategies. In short, we must learn to balance innovation, retention and productivity. 

2. Innovation can happen anywhere, but HR strategy is an ideal home.

We discussed how HR leaders are breaking new ground across the organization and the importance of providing context, clear outcomes and resources to drive this change. Then, they need to step back and create the space for teams to dictate the approach. Innovation requires iterating and stumbling in a way that makes micro-managing especially ill-advised. 

We talked about the New York Time’s journey of reimagining the news business. They’ve educated team members across the organization on the intricacies of their business model and how it functions. That knowledge gives employees the context to better assess the impact of new ideas or initiatives on the business. 

3. Skills and abilities are still critical, yet in a world of uncertainty and constant change, adaptability may be even more important.

Having recently come out of a pandemic, followed by an economic rollercoaster, and then being met with huge technological leaps, our organizational structures, priorities, and roles are being up-ended regularly. Our ability to build agility and cognitive flexibility into our organizations dictates whether disruptions can be sustained. 

We discussed the importance of making sure this isn’t seen as having too much focus on adaptability of the individual, but adaptability of teams. We explored the habits, rituals and behaviors that support responsiveness. Shifts in priorities, team growth into new areas of delivery, and a culture that supports newcomers all contribute to managing change internally.

In conclusion, we see disruption as inevitable.

HR has an opportunity to lead the business into a future where responsiveness and change are a constant. Our ability to do this is going to come through increased distribution of decision making, which will require employees across the business to better understand the business. And as those changes are being made regularly, this living, breathing organism we call an organization will be in a constant state of evolution. It’s our job to make sure people can feel stable – and capable – in the midst of that. 

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This article is part of our series on HR, change and transformation. Check out past issues, and sign up for our newsletter to get future issues sent directly to your inbox.