Inherently, organizational structure is not an exciting concept. However, a recent HBR post, discussing how established organizations just can’t seem to keep pace with start-ups in the innovation arena, caught my attention.
It seems clear that the innovation dilemma has a fundamental relationship with the traditional elements of organizational structure – and how those elements develop and solidify over time. One key system which affects the potential to innovate: How organizations secure needed talent.
Structure and maturation
As an organization matures, many systems within the traditional structure can become rigid. Communication channels become formalized. Salary levels are set. On one hand, organizations become a safer and more secure place for employees. But, unwanted by-products such as inflexibility, come with the territory as well. This can affect how talent is sourced. When projects begin, managers may not even look beyond their own functional areas when staffing key roles. This can limit the ability of a maturing organization to effectively innovate.
Ideally, the talent equation begins with leadership – where leaders have the responsibility of translating organizational vision into specific goals. These goals, in turn, require a specific set of needed talent elements for completion. Often, the necessity to forecast talent requirements into the future becomes a looming challenge.
The “Catch 22″
The simple truth is that mining and cultivating talent through traditional channels can take too much time. The structure of a mature organization dictates that you need a significant amount of time to recruit and hire needed talent. However, organizations may not have the luxury of time to procure talent through traditional channels if they are to remain nimble and flexible. Sometimes a more direct route to find needed talent is required.
In a previous post, I discussed a prediction by Gartner, concerning the nature of work swarming. This is a concept which implies that the structure of an organization must flex to allow the required talent to work on appropriate projects within an organization. But sometimes, needed talent does not reside within the organization. In fact, the process should also allow talent from the broader external environment to contribute where appropriate, as well.
Breaking down walls
Extending the “virtual walls” of your organization can greatly expand talent sources. One interesting option is to leverage contacts within your industry, or related industries, who have direct exposure to a component of your project. One view which has been posed, is to collaborate with suppliers to source talent and solve key problems.
Another method of sourcing talent would be to build or access a talent community, a method which capitalizes on the advantages of social media when searching for a needed skill set. In this way, an organization develops an extended talent network which can be tapped as needed. Members of the community can be quite varied and can include potential contributors such as freelancers or those working in other types of settings.
Another novel avenue would be to utilize crowdsourcing for specific projects or issues. In this way, organizations essentially bypass portions of the traditional organizational hierarchy to enable them to address talent issues in real-time. When a problem or challenge exists, it is placed in an open forum. Of course, there are bypass issues that the organization would have address to maximize this process – such as legal issues that would arise. (Platforms such as InnoCentive, have been already been successful in facilitating specific open innovation challenges.)
Possible Snafus?
Of course, the overall goal of applying these methods is for an organization to have the capability of remaining flexible and innovative, long beyond the start-up phase. In a sense, slowing down the solidification of a counter productive elements which deter the right talent to reach an organization. Of course, the process would have to be perfected. Here are few issues that come to mind (and I welcome more ideas):
- What types of projects or challenges would be more appropriate for these solutions?
- What specific legal steps must an organization take to make this happen?
- What role would traditional parts of the organizational structure, such as HR, play in this process?
The future of innovation within mature organizations is dependent on finding needed talent. Hopefully, with collective thought we can improve opportunities for more established organizations to innovate.
Dr. Marla Gottschalk is a Workplace Psychologist. Contact her practice at marlagottschalk@comcast.net. You can also find her on Twitter and Linkedin.
