Many years ago, I had the privilege of leading an outstanding organization. We were not just workers, we were friends. We had found a way to get our work done quickly and even help colleagues lagging behind so that we could all close early for the day.
However, all these changed rapidly the day I decided to change the way we worked in order to deliver better service to the patients. What is wrong with what we are doing now? Why do you want to disrupt our way of doing things? These were some of the questions posed at me as cliques began to form and opposition arose!
Davila et al in their book ‘Making innovation work’ called those opposing change ‘innovation antibodies’. Innovation antibodies are those employees or volunteers who see the negative side in any change and do their best to make sure that it never takes place. They are non-specific in their disdain for change; they despise ALL change.
Innovation antibodies are an organization’s natural response to change. The greater the organization’s past successes, the greater the organizational antibodies.
Without a doubt, if these organizational antibodies go unchecked, they will grow strong and eventually overwhelm the proposed breakthrough innovations.
This is why it is important to neutralize organizational antibodies in order to prevent the organization from killing off its best new ideas.
Organizational antibodies will resist change, emphasize the status quo and they reflect an organization that is driven by an arrogant culture. A culture that does not embrace other views or possibilities. This institutional arrogance suffocates creativity, openness, dynamism, and innovation.
Davila et al, in their book, believe that organizations cannot completely eliminate the antibodies but they can lessen them. To do this, organizational leaders must create a culture that has the ability and courage to change and explore and, at the same time, remain stable enough to deliver on its innovations. In essence, leaders should mitigate organizational antibodies or prepare to fail.
As part of the strategy to mitigate organizational antibodies, leaders need to make it clear to all employees that it supports innovation and depends on it to meet organizational goals.
Leaders also need to create the right metrics and rewards for innovation in order to mitigate organizational antibodies. It is important to note that properly used metrics and motivators are key forces for mitigating organizational bodies. On the flip side of the coin, leaders should also actively remove the disincentives to innovation.
A leader will never achieve the level of innovation that is needed if employees do not have the proper rewards to drive performance. Therefore, the real challenge for most organizations in this regard is what to measure and what type of rewards would best motivate employees to get the innovation results that leadership needs.
In essence, leaders must make innovation manageable and produce the right behavior at work that will support the innovation.
