Constraints will force innovation –management expert says
Constraints, fences and boundaries, barriers, walls, rules—whatever we call them; they direct ‘our’ innovative power and force innovation, according to Ong Teong Wan Chairman and Managing Consultant at Singapore’s ManagementWise Pte Ltd.
Delivering the keynote at the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon Symposium on ‘Harnessing Innovation For Organisational Sustainability’ in Colombo recently, he said that is often about setting and pushing on boundaries.
“The greater the constraints that one has to face, the greater the imperative to innovate,” he told the Business Times on the sidelines of the symposium. Explaining the ‘The Sigmoid Curve’, he said that it’s an expression of success over time. The success can be calculated in terms of profit, money, power, influence. The object considered can be a country, a society, an individual, or a career. He said that according to ‘The Sigmoid Curve’ ,s“every growth curve will plateau, downslide, unless you interrupt it the optimal time to interrupt is before it reaches its peak”.
“But will you break the cycle of change when you are doing well in a career,” he asked while noting that the strategy is to jump off the about-to-decline sigmoid curve and land on the bottom of a new sigmoid curve (S-Curve). The “sigmoid mindset” proposes that whenever times are good, success is climbing and your required effort is somewhat reduced, it’s time to start planning for the next thing.
Political instability accelerates downslide on S-curve and economic prosperity unsustainable unless we interrupt the S-curve, Mr. Wan said. He said that it’s important to consistently reinvent or innovate to beat the curve.
He said that a paradigm shift in the thinking process is imperative to recognise and confront assumptions to move to the next level. “Ideas too have a life circle. The idea will germinate, mature, decay and become obsolete. We must constantly look for new ideas to solve problems. This will be the way of life.” Senior Minister for Scientific Affairs Prof. Tissa Vitarana who was the chief guest addressing the audience said that Sri Lanka which is a part of the global market needs to have a developed science, technology, and innovation, which are world class to succeed.
The symposium was structured under themes such as fostering an environment for innovation, changing mindset from compliance to commitment, role of HR function in the innovation journey, Presentation of case studies by companies on innovative management initiatives and way forward strategy.
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