I recently had a COVID-19 antibody test, only for it to come back negative. I wasn’t necessarily expecting it to be any different, having not had any significant symptoms. I did however have some suspicions that the virus has been in the Combe household, having had both my children off school earlier in the year with a high temperature and my wife (who works in a germ factory, otherwise known as a school) develop a constant cough. So, when my result came back negative, I felt somewhat disappointed. In a strange form of competitiveness, I felt a tinge of discontent that this was a test I had failed to pass. The BUPA representative, did educate me that a failure to have antibodies doesn’t mean you haven’t had COVID-19. It means you haven’t developed antibodies. You may have had the virus, but be asymptotic, or the symptoms may be weak enough not to trigger your body to develop the antibodies. The human immune system is an impressive thing. It’s at times like this you see the vast gap between the human body and even the most sophisticated software.
By way of comparison, the corporate immune system is less sophisticated, but stronger the larger the business you work for. Many of us have come up against it when it we have tried to effect some kind of change. The most innovative of changes will elicit a strong response from the corporate immune system; seeing such a new innovation as something that requires a collective effort to resist, fight, or break down. At this point, having experienced the effects of this maladroit but effective system, many change makers in a business give up.
To effectively drive the innovation agenda in a business, large or small, we need to know how to combat the corporate immune system. And it all starts with a swimming pool. A beautiful, crystal clear pool, heated to 26 degrees, empty and inviting. But just imagine you step up to the side of the pool only to see a small brown object floating in the pool. Those of us who are parents are sadly too familiar with such a horrifying sight. We’ve all been there during the dreaded Saturday afternoon family swim time only to be hurriedly evacuated after someone’s offspring has deposited something small and brown helplessly far from the poolside toilets. And it only takes one poo in the pool to wreak havoc. One poo, is one too many. From paradise to despair in one fell swoop.
This phenomena can be seen in the business context too. In most large organisations, a committee or committees will stand between you and the new, shiny, innovative thing that you want to implement to drive successful change. Publicly the committee will be for changes that benefit the organisation commercially and align with its strategy. However, privately, the experience of those change makers who put forward their idea to such a committee may leave feeling to the contrary. At best they may feel they were just short of getting that sought after green tick, at worst they might feel like they’ve been mauled by a pack of hungry wolves. Because what often happens, is that one person in the committee poo’s in the pool. It only takes one, for everyone else to evacuate.
So how do you combat this? Quite simply, whip the votes. A committee of senior execs will most likely want to be heard. They will have: legitimate concerns to express, analyses worthy of listening to and observations of where and how a proposal can be improved. Although it takes time, and there is no shortcutting this process, by far the best means of achieving your end goal is in a one-to-one forum. It is the job of the changemaker to do that leg work, to meet with each person on the committee and hear them out, and most important of all, get their buy in. Sometimes this will raise a potential showstopper, giving time for the innovator to go back and redraw or redefine their proposal. This will undoubtedly cause frustration, exasperation and at times weariness for the individual bringing this change, but far better than an uncontrolled poo in the pool.
When done effectively, and the day comes to present your proposal in the metaphorical swimming pool, filled with senior executives waiting to cast judgement on the proposal before them, the chances of success are high. Very high. If the votes have been whipped effectively, what other option is there than to give the nod of approval? You’ll rarely get a standing ovation or adoration from your said committee, but you’re not looking for that. Ultimately, you’re looking for the future state of the swimming pool to be in your hands and control, and to ensure (as far as possible) the absence of anything untoward floating in it.
Editor’s note: Special thanks to Milan Samani for introducing me to the concept of the corporate immune system in 2016 and for all the scintillating conversations about innovation we have had ever since. Thanks too, to those who supported my often partially formed ideas around innovation and were willing to risk their own personal capital in doing so.