Soulful innovation. Why rational innovation frameworks are not enough

The picture above shows a number of keywords that are associated with innovation. In dialogues and when reading about innovation, I often find something missing. The soul.

The soul is the emotional driver in the innovation process. It drives the passion, the true curiosity and obsession to understand the problem to solve. It is the sense of meaning that unlocks our creativity and willingness to do what it takes to come up with a progressive solution.

As the cliché says: We get the best ideas in the shower, when jogging or when we go to bed. This can only happen if we have a soulful relation to the problem we are about to solve.

So if you plan for innovation — no matter if it is a single project or a new organisation — you must invest and learn about how to get the soul, not only to put the rationale in place.

My intention: To draft a framework for soulful innovation

I am not arguing against the importance of a rationale, but to balance it with what I often see is missed or downplayed. Therefore, I suggest a framework for ‘soulful innovation’.

In this article, I focus below on the ‘soul side’.

Connection

When working with innovation — if we want to crack something and create something new — we need to connect our minds and our hearts to something bigger. Something beyond just doing a good job, getting things done, delivering, getting credits for it. If we spend time and effort to connect, we have a good chance to be obsessed by understanding a problem and then solving it. Connection is a true fuel in the innovation process.

How to get there

To get the soul, we need to connect to:

• Big questions. No matter how narrow the scope is, we must find the bigger meaning. What difference are we really going to make? To what big challenge are we going to contribute? Think bold here. I would say that these days, any innovation project that is not connected to at least one of the UN Global goals (SDGs) is not worth doing. We must sense that we are a part of a bigger movement. If we cannot find the bigger meaning, we should question if it is worth doing it at all.
• True questions. It is easy to phrase a goal, a question or a problem. But to get the soul, we need to find a real problem. A dilemma. Something difficult. Something that touches and triggers something in us. If you feel ’meh’ about the problem — dig deeper. Or don’t bother at all — you will most likely not innovate anything of value.
• Personal passion. Invest your time and energy in what is truly meaningful to you. Nurture you own curiosity and passion. Be inspired by what is meaningful for others, but don’t just think it must be the same for you. Be authentic. Search your own soul.

Empathy and new knowledge

To get the soul, we need to charge ourselves with new insights, new perspectives, new understanding of a phenomenon. We need to pass our first and naive understanding of the problem (otherwise we can not talk about innovation, right?). We need to get some aha-moments. True aha-moments give us hope, inspiration, ideas and a drive for more new input and insights.

A special category of insights is empathy. This is when we get under the skin and understand someone on an emotional level. When we get connected to real people’s real lives and challenges, it is easy to get passionated about creating the best for them. Do what you can to get us much empathy as possible.

How to get there

There are of course numbers of ways to get empathy and new knowledge. To mention a few:

• Expertise, science and data. Build your innovation work on a solid platform of knowledge. Go beyond the traditional market outlook. Connect to experts. Dig into what science says about the problem you are about to solve. Look at data. This is an important recipe for not getting stuck in your existing (often shallow) knowledge or prejudices.
• Experience. Leave your desk and your desktop. Immerse yourself in the context where your problem and the potential problem lives. Do it with a systematic approach and an open mind.
• Art, literature, film. An often overlooked source for empathy and knowledge. Authors, film makers and artists of different kinds have spent years and years to identify, and put the spotlight on important aspects of our lives. Search for anything that opens up for deepened empathy and further understanding, add perspectives or spark new ideas. Share with your team.

Courage and groove

When we are trying to create something new, we are by definition on unsafe ground. We stretch out to the unknown, and we don’t really know what we will deliver in the end. There is a risk of failure.

We need to be courageous to stay there. We need courage to suggest or try new ideas. We need courage to ask questions, make quick decisions, or to do anything else that could put our ego at risk. Same for reaching out to experts, who know much more than we do.

Without courage, we will go for safe bets. And with safe bets, it is hard to be innovative. Hence the hyped phrase ”fail fast”.

And we cannot rely on individual courage only, we need to cater for a brave culture and process. That leads us in to the groove. Nothing beats a true creative and effective collective flow. When the team both cracks things together and brings the best out of all individuals. When our individual egos are set aside and we help each other to be brave and authentic. Then we can feel the beat of innovation.

How to get there

To nurture our courage, and to build a foundation for the groove, there are some cornerstones to put in place.

• Psycological safety. A popular concept, pointing out the importance of an atmosphere where individuals feel free to ask questions and try ideas, with no fear of being pointed at as dumb or naive. There are numerous possible activities to support psychological safety within a team or in an organisation — from classical teambuilding to structures that support joint work. The most important message here is to put it high on the innovation agenda. And remember: The purpose of psychological safety is not to create a space free from risks, but instead a space were people are willing to take risks.
• Open hypotheses. Hypotheses are preliminary statements about the reality or the future. You can use them as verbal test ballons. A good hypothesis is both open and clearly articulated. It drives the conversation forward, with a low level of prestige. Just using the label ”hypothesis” on a statement might lower the barrier and increase the courage to suggest things. A hypothesis that is proven wrong is in fact a good thing, as it means we have learned something. It creates space for new and better hypotheses.
• Support a beginner’s mind. Anyone should be able to ask basic or naive questions, as those questions often point at the fundamental part of the idea. Also, an idea must stand the test of beginners’ naive perspectives, as the idea sooner or later will meet the market. A beginner’s perspective is often equal to the customer’s perspective.
• Have fun! Don’t forget to have fun. Joy is a strong force. It gives us energy. It opens up and helps us cope with constraints and setbacks. And it brings us together.

Triggering manifestations

Lastly, we must embrace tangible output. Let’s define this simply: Everything except words, numbers, charts and models. Anything that is a concrete manifestation of a problem or an idea.

Tangible manifestations force us to leave the bubble of abstract thinking. They can show what we really mean. Manifestations can bridge different ways of thinking and uncover misunderstandings. Manifestations trigger — they translate, inspire, provoke, give us something to remember and even celebrate.

We can divide the idea of triggering manifestations into two:

Design as a tool. This means driving the thought process forward by bringing ideas, questions and thoughts into engaging trigger material. It can be simple / lofi / ugly / ”shitty” — anything that sparks the conversation.

The purpose is not to design for a result, but to infuse energy and creativity in the process.

Iconic manifestations. These are well desiged triggering manifestations that cut through the noise, make people engaged, proud or provoked. Iconic manifestations help people ”get it” and, in the best of worlds, get eager to join or support the further process (more innovation, implementation, scaling etc).

Iconic manifestations need higher fidelity. They need to shine, be attractive, show excellence in defining details. They need to speak for themselves.

How to get there

You need to nurture a manifestation-driven innovation process in different ways:

• Support bravery and groove. As described above. Such a team spirit is fundamental to open up for using ’design as a tool’.
• Start with lo-fi. A simple sketch on a paper can trigger very fruitful conversations. As the innovation project evolve, more advanced manifestations can be used.
• Be playful. A triggering manifestation could be anything — a paper prototype, a symbol, a model of something, a role-play, a coded prototype, a fake ad, a lego model, a physical prototype.
• Make it normal. Foster a culture where it makes sense to make stuff concrete. Ask questions like: ”What would that look like?” ”In the hands of a customer, what would that be?” ”Show me what you mean!”
• Practice! Practice ’design as a tool’ regularly. With practice the craft will come easier, as will the courage to try.
• Invest. For iconic manifestations, hire or engage professionals.

A final note

Nothing of the above is new. Every part has been described in a number of books and articles. If I would thank anyone that I have been inspired by, or stolen ideas from, the list would be too long.

In innovation, we need both sides: Rational reasoning and the soul. Once again, my intention is not to debate on one side being more important than the other, but rather to give more attention to a part that I often find missing. With this “framework for soulful innovation” I hope to contribute to a broader picture of what is needed for successful innovation.