Strengthen 5 Dimensions of Your Culture for Innovation, Recovery and Resurgence

We all feel it and know it: life and work as we’ve known it is over. We can never fully go back to “how things were.” The rules of the game have changed, and will continue to evolve. 

We’re in a liminal space – an in-between space – where we’ve left the relative certainty of our habitual world but not yet “arrived” at what I call the “Next New Normal.” It’s a space where we can go back and forth from constrictive fear and frustration to collaborative compassion and enthusiasm.

I’m reminded of a story that Frank Carrubba, former VP of HP Labs, once told me. He wanted his executive team to experience what it means to “manage” the risks it took to maintain industry leadership. So he had them join in a set of team building exercises – one of which involved climbing a 30’ pole with a safety harness on, and then standing on a 12” disk at the very top (with nothing to hold on to!). 

Just out of reach was a trapeze bar suspended 30’ off the ground. Each executive had to jump off the disk to catch the bar, and then be lowered to the ground. (If they missed the bar, they’d be safely lowered by their safety harness.) 

Frank wanted them to experience that moment when they had left the disk – and couldn’t go back – but hadn’t yet caught the bar. That was the liminal space of taking a conscious risk: being committed to going forward, with no going back.

Every leader is facing such a moment in this crisis. The way forward is to take the leap. And not just in your business strategy, but in the entire way you think about your organizational culture – and how your culture impacts the degree to which you emerge from this disruptive crisis stronger than you were a year ago. Later in this blog I’ll present 5 dimensions of such a culture. But first, there’s a crucial question to ask and explore!

How well are you, and your entire organization, preparing to emerge from this disruptive crisis in the next 6 to 24 months? That is the liminal question of innovation, recovery, and resurgence!

One piece of one answer to that question was framed by the former Governor of the Bank of England in a recent article for The Economist entitled, Mark Carney on how the economy must yield to human values:

"In this crisis, we know we need to act as an interdependent community not independent individuals, so the values of economic dynamism and efficiency have been joined by those of solidarity, fairness, responsibility, and compassion."

The crisis calls us to embrace such human values – as individuals and as an organizational culture – as we hold 2 extremes with dexterity, balance, and empathy: 

Focusing only on the first hand leads to constrictive fear talk about adversity. Focusing only on the second hand leads to mere happy talk about advancement. Holding both in our hands together leads to sober yet uplifting dialogue of awakening and action:

In “normal” times, we focus on innovating a future of robust growth. In today’s tough times, we need to have a dual focus: recovery and resurgence. A critical key is to evolve – even transform – your organizational culture to embody and enable Human Centered Innovation:

All these add up to a Culture of Innovation, Recovery, and Resurgence in your organization. From our decades of research and experience with corporate cultures, we’ve observed the following 5 dimensions of such a culture – which you can bolster through leadership practices, policies, and communications that directly impact how people innovate in their daily work. 

We present them here to give you an initial sense of where you are, and what you could strive to strengthen:

1. People are united, with diversity:

2. People are growth-oriented, with balance:

3. People are uplifting, with good character:

4. People are expansive, with resolve:

5. People are agile, with integrity:

In these turbulent times, a Culture of Innovation, Recovery, and Resurgence is not a “nice to have” but a “need to have.” Indeed, getting a handle on where your culture is now and where it needs to be is foundational to your present and future success!

To emerge from this crisis stronger than before, begin innovating your culture now – if you haven’t already. Establish the cultural foundation for innovation recovery, and innovative resurgence. Waiting to start will keep you suspended between a past that no longer exists and a future that is out of your reach.

I’m sure you can add your own experience about the need to strengthen your culture for innovation. I’d appreciate learning from your insights. Connect with me on Linkedin and share your thoughts!