Pushing the Elephant: 3 Ways to Spark Innovation in Big Organizations.

4 min readSep 6, 2016

Innovation and hierarchies do not mix. Rigid, vertical cultures stifle ideas and stunt creativity. Innovation requires an embrace of new ideas. It means being in sync with your customers. In contrast, big bureaucracies often have an insular mindset. A hierarchical “world-view” that might have lost touch with its entrepreneurial roots.

Part of the problem is size. As big companies grow informal horizontal communication gives way to vertical silos that control and even horde information. Being bigger also requires a shift away from personal decisions to entrenched procedures. As the web of rules grows the ability to improvise and “think different” withers.

Leaders matter too. As large organizations supersize the type of leader they attract, promote and retain changes. Gone are pesky, risk hunting entrepreneur who seeks market leading change. Now managers are the flavour. The reason is simple. Corporate managers bring stability and control. They have the ability to deliver regular, short-term results.

As an innovator, there are three strategies to push the elephant of organizational change and innovation.

1. Buy New Capabilities.

Most large organizations owe their success to a set of core capabilities. These are the values, behaviours and technical skills that have to enable them to create profitable products and services. Sometimes these capabilities can allow you to stand out from the competition. Think supply-chain (Walmart), lean production methods (Toyota) or a seamless search engine (Google).

However, often what you are good at today can becomes tomorrow’s millstone. Remember, Kodak, the iconic photography company. So wedded had it become to its core capabilities, in film production, it just could not see the value of digital photos. Even though it was a technology invented by its R&D teams!

The simple answer to overcoming these “rigidities” is to buy new capabilities. Acquire a zesty start-up with a fresh perspective, talents and product offering. For a big company buying a feisty start-up can be the seeds of a culture clash: old/stable versus vibrant/growing. However, handled well it can be gold dust. By zealously protecting the acquisition’s unique culture, the effect can be not only innovation but a dynamic transfusion of ideas and leadership back to the mother-ship.

2. Disrupt Yourself

Big companies often fall into a comfortable cadence of their creation. Steady profits, stable products and happy customers can lull leaders into limiting their ambition.

However, no market is now watertight. The competitive storm clouds of digitization and shifting consumer patterns are shattering the barriers between industries and evaporating the money needed to enter them. Customers are looking for immediate service. They are looking for bridges to “vendors” who can meet their bespoke needs. Think Airbnb (hotels), Uber (taxis and deliveries) and retail (Amazon and Taobao).

Netflix is the exemplar of a self-disruptive company. It could have remained content as a niche “snail mail” DVD lending library. Serving a distinct but dwindling market segment. It choose a different path. It punched through its “core competency” first by offering older movies on a video-streaming platform. Then Netflix went further and broke the divide between content makers and “broadcasters”. Producing its own TV series and movies. House of Cards, Arrested Development and Orange is the New Black being its most popular blockbusters, all without owning a single box-office. Today, it has 25 million subscribers.

3. Characters not Clones.

Who sits around at the table determines what decisions are made. As a result, “group-think” can often paralyze a big organization. Even bright people can find themselves curbing their dissent to maintain a consensus.

Breaking group-think requires robust dialogue. It requires a leader willing to tackle overt and subliminal values and behaviours head-on. How a group filters, selects and rejects ideas? How does it rate some ideas as acceptable or radical? These visible boundaries can determine if team stifles or champions ideas.

But for large organizations need is to go beyond words and reinvigorate the leadership teams. Broadening the bandwidth of ideas comes from creating a greater intellectual diversity. Human nature leads us to like people who talk our language and share our outlook. We find affinity in agreement. However, creativity demands the caustic rub of differing views. Tension creates heat and energy fuses ideas into valuable concepts. Being open to differences and actively promoting them can assure that your organization does not become an echo chamber.

Final Thoughts

Pushing the elephant in big organizations is tough. Few big companies are Google or Apples. Big tech giants with almost limitless resources and boundless aspirations. Most businesses are made of humbler clay. Being able to change them depends on a leader’s willing to embrace change. Culture plays a big role. Being open enough to realize tomorrow will be different from yesterday is a start. As the velocity of change accelerates, all innovators must challenge their present thinking to have the foresight for the future greatness.

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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.