y. But innovation is produced when those boundaries are broken and when our assumptions about the way we live, the way we work, and the way we interact are challenged. Challenging assumptions means going beyond individual and organisational comfort zones. Customer intimacy This refers to something more than providing customer satisfaction. It is about understanding the customer, and knowing how the customer acts. Another way of expressing this skill is matched empathy. Intimate knowledge of needs and processes helps the organisation to work with, rather than for, the customer. Success for one means success for the other. An organisation can use their insights into the client organisation to develop innovations for the benefit of both.Managerial behaviours Like organisational leaders, managers at all levels and in all places in the organisation can empower individuals to be creative and innovative. Through their closer interactions managing individual resistance to change is easier, for example in the feedback they give, in the goals they set, and in the rewards they offer. As the person employees are likely to have most contact with the way each manager behaves is crucial. If line managers don’t value, support, allow, reward or do innovation the message about the importance of innovation is lost. By allowing autonomy, encouraging risk taking and playfulness managers can create the space for innovation. However, managers can stifle innovation by criticising anything different and only rewarding behaviour that stays within the prevailing modus operandi. The role of management today should be to create change, not simply to ‘get the job done.Providing the correct environment Innovation is most likely in an environment where individuals feel safe and un-threatened. A secure base enables us to look beyond our current comfort zones into the unfamiliar. Managerial behaviours are a key part of the psychological environment, and in p...
