Frictions against innovation

Thomas Edison had said, “The value of an idea lies in the using of it”. For anybody who has dabbled with the process of innovation in an organizational context, you would be aware of how easy (or difficult!) the process actually is. Ideation is the simplest step in the innovation process. The process to realize the idea is manifold more difficult…

David Schonthal, Professor of strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship at Kellogg’s school of Management has looked at the frictions to innovate deeply. Using a bullet analogy, he describes that the “Idea fuel” (Something that makes the idea more appealing, attractive, powerful) garners the most attention in the Innovation process, while the “Idea aerodynamics” (how to minimize the forces of drag and headwinds that oppose the idea) is often less focused upon.  The frictions against innovation stems more from the Idea aerodynamics than from Idea fuel. 

He has identified four frictions that need to be overcome for people to agree to new ideas:

1. Friction of inertia: the magnitude of change intended by an idea is directly proportional to people’s desire to stick with the familiar. People prefer to stick to something they know rather then adopt something new.
2. Friction of effort: the sum of Economic cost + Physical exertion + Cognitive effort helps in determining the effort related friction present.
3. Friction of emotion: What negative or undesired feelings does our idea cause in others? Sometimes good ideas cause a lot of anxiety, trepidation or fear in others.
4. Friction of reactance: Reactance refers to people’s aversion to being changed by others. The resistance stems from people feeling a loss of their autonomy to decide for themselves. 

One of the most effective ways of overcoming all these resistances is by inviting people to persuade themselves on the new idea. Co-designing the innovation approach with all the stakeholders by having a kick-off project at the beginning, check-ins along the way need to be deliberately designed to agree with the destination we are traveling in.