Innovator’s Corporate Camouflage: 3 Strategies to Thrive in Large Organizations

As an innovator, you can feel like an endangered species in a large, corporate organization. Most hierarchies like order. The “operating system” is conformity, not disruption.

Being an innovator often means you stand out from the “pack.” Your ideas, aptitude, and even leadership style can be at odds with dominant mindset. So the question becomes, how do you survive being a change agent in a large change-resistant organization?

Part of the solution is to develop your own “corporate camouflage” to survive and thrive in bureaucratic jungles. There three ways you can disguise the potential of your ideas and influence change.

1. Guerilla Change: Indirect Influence

To survive, you might have to talk the corporate dialect. Dress to conform and even fade into the boardroom. It is your cover, your camouflage. But to thrive and drive your idea forward you must find the indirect points of influence to create change.

However, no hierarchy is a monolith. There are cracks and factions. Find the leaders that have a greater aptitude for openness. Do not rely on positional authority or titles. They can be elusive and even misleading. Dynamic titles can often be staffed by fossilized “lifers” or risk adverse “appointees.”

Instead, interview and map decision-makers, influencers, and leaders. Plot everyone an innovation and change matrix. How creative, open, innovative or resistant is the individual? Could they be an ally in formulating the idea, building an internal coalition or turning the concept into a viable market ready product?

Using your matrix build your indirect, guerilla influence strategy. Weave a cobweb of supporters, allies, and advocates that can build the momentum of innovation and change.

2. Shape Shifting

The second form of corporate camouflage strategy is to appear to be something very different than who you are. You have a range of personas for different situations. Your camouflage is beyond skin deep; it is a frequent personality shifts that mirror the needs of the moment.

The aim is not to be deceptive. Being authentic is a given. But to be flexible and responsive to the needs of your audience. Building a sense of connection depends on shifting to your audience’s needs, understanding their perspective and hesitations.

Seamlessly you move from one “form” to another. You are fluid and flexible but always driven to influence through the rapport you build. You adjust your bearing, energy, and mindset to those around. Not as an echo of your surroundings but deliberately tuning to a channel that works best.

Your goal is to recruit allies, build coalition and networks. You know that spreading ideas is just the first step. Fusing groups together, behind a shared vision tips an organization into action. As a “shape-shifting” innovator, your success is flexibility with a “We” not “I” mindset of shared success.

3. Dazzle and Dare

The final corporate camouflage is dazzle. Here your innovator’s camouflage is brazen. You aim to “dazzle” listeners with your brilliance and confound them. Your stand out with your words, wardrobe, and energy.

Fun, entertaining and provocative “dazzle” innovators exude the energy of momentum and change. After all, energy causes change. But sapped of senior support this type of innovator can be a flash in the pan. Dazzle can turn dull.

The danger of having a flamboyant style is that you may be dismissed too “radical”. A person not to be trusted to develop the company’s new products. Senior leaders might conclude it is far better to place the responsibility in a “steady set of hands”.

The key is not to be perceived as arrogant. Being conceited will be the nail in your corporate coffin. Instead, your energy must be seen to be directed toward the common goal. Having irrepressible energy tied to a collaborative approach. You build bridges that allay fears and can guarantee your success.

Final Thoughts

For any innovator trying to navigate in big, slow organization having corporate camouflage is a must. Your survival depends on it. Ideas that can disrupt are threatening too many. The key is knowing when to shift between different types of camouflage. Ultimately, your success depends on knowing yourself and your company, and your innovation journey.

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About the Author

Simon Trevarthen is Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Elevate Your Greatness (EYG). EYG helps individuals, teams and organizations unpack the secrets of success by becoming even better versions of themselves through dynamic keynotes, seminars and workshops on innovation, inspiration and presentation excellence.

Learn more about Elevate Your Greatness see www.elevateyourgreatness.com

Follow EYG on twitter: @Simon Trevarthen

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