I was at Exeter University this week listening to Professor John Bessant describe the difference between how innovation used to be, and how it is now.
In the TV-industrial complex days, teams worked behind closed doors in order to hide their innovations. The rule was that a company had to have the smartest people working for it.
Today, it’s the other way around. We have open innovation. A company no longer thinks they have the smartest people working for them. Instead, a team comprises of the people who can make the project happen, no matter where they are or who they work for.
B2B, B2C, buyer, supplier, consumer, boss, employee, competitor – all these phrases begin to fade in a People-to-People environment. Why? Because those terms are tied into the old model that values processes over people.
Today we’re free from factory thinking. Today we recognise that processes are commoditised, knowledge is cheap – but talented people who fit into a team and make things happen are a rare find.
Here’s the rub: to have a team that makes things happen, you need to motivate with more non-financial influence than financial impact. Wages don’t buy blood, sweat and tears. Influence does.
Influence is what gets people to work not for money, but for self-actualisation. Influence is what builds a team out of vision.