The Innovators Drama

Innovators reaction to challenges shapes the creative outcome.

When the innovators' own dramas interfere with their capacity to resolve creative challenges, resources are excessively consumed, growth opportunities are missed, and prosperity slows down.

Times of accelerated innovation are confusing. Changes and transformations open doors to opportunities that promise growth and prosperity but bring with them multiple friction points in the form of planned or surprising interruptions and anticipated or emerging constraints that can be seen as difficult obstacles.

Each innovator among the innovation stakeholders may have a different approach to challenges based on their assets (knowledge, experience, emotional tolerance, available resources, prior achievements) and lacunas (lack thereof). Thus, different types of creativities, different sensitivities, different levels of knowledge and experience, and different behavioral tendencies are outcomes of each one's assets and lacunas.

Existing Lacunas trigger friction points, and the variety of lacunas among the innovation stakeholders lead to more cascading friction points. When innovation dramas appear due to friction points, they are immediately translated into multiple individual dramas, scattered among the innovation stakeholders (caused by subsequent or prior friction points). Because dramas highlight and trigger different lacunas among the different innovators (all the innovation stakeholders), innovation operations often feel like an avalanche of problems - or in other words, drama.

Drama is an emotional signal of insurmountable complications. When we encounter drama, it means that there are tensions and conflicts that demand our attention and response. When we ignore these issues, we increase the chances of more tensions and conflicts, and when we don't respond or respond wrongly.

To deal with the drama, we need to acknowledge it and work our way out of it. If we can clarify the issues that trigger dramas, and if we can sustain collaborative and inclusive engagements long enough, we will be able to resolve dramas faster and better.

Accepting dramas and committing to resolving them is vital to manage dramas successfully.

Photo by Chinh Le Duc on Unsplash