If I had a dollar for every client that asked me about how to develop a culture of innovation, or to develop innovative thinking in our people, I wouldn’t be writing blogs.  I’d be sitting on a beach in Hawaii sipping cocktails and contemplating the next big thing.

Innovation seems to be the current buzzword and whilst I’m all for innovation and innovative thinking, I’m wondering how ready organisations are for this new bunch of people that are going to be innovating all over the place.  See my blog last year on innovation readiness.

This may be semantics, but I reckon before an organisation can truly be innovative, they need first to be adaptive.  You can come up with as many ideas or new ways of doing things, but if your organisation or people are unable to shift and adapt to these changes, then it will be like pushing you-know-what uphill.

Being adaptive requires us to be:

Curious – to wonder what the change will bring rather than rejecting it;
Playful – to be willing to experiment and experience before drawing conclusions;
Responsive – to try things and pay attention to feedback to determine the next step.

Is your organisation adaptive enough to be innovative?