If you read through the relevant literature, you will ultimately always come across the same three core requirements, which also form the pillars of the “triangle of forces of innovation capability” tool.
These three core requirements are:
- people’s willingness to change,
- people’s ability to change,
- the opportunities for change that people are given.
If one of the pillars is missing, or if there are no accompanying measures for at least one pillar, the increase in innovation capability will be negatively impacted in the long term and the development of a vibrant innovation culture will be a distant prospect.
Let’s now take a closer look at the three pillars. First of all, there is the willingness of the people involved to change, the “WILL”. Only if the people involved see a purpose in the generation and implementation of new ideas will they be open to the implicit changes that follow.
Certainly the most fundamental measure for creating a willingness to change is: information, information and more information. With transparency and a good communication policy alone, you can take people with you on your innovation journey.
Beyond this basis, everything is conceivable – from one-to-one discussions to team-building measures – to provide support here.
If we now have a team that is ideally ready for change, then we should work directly on Pillar 2, change competence. Here, it is fundamentally about giving people cognitive knowledge, tools and methods on how ideation and innovation can succeed.
However, even a team that is willing to change will not get the innovation horsepower on the road without a good foundation of knowledge.
Let us now assume that columns 1 and 2 are given. Now people still need to be given the opportunity to become concrete. In other words, the third pillar is quite simply about time for brainstorming and innovation work as well as places and spaces where this can take place.
In a truly existing and vibrant culture of innovation, the people in a company have both the freedom to work creatively and appropriately equipped rooms.
Working with the triangle of forces
The triangle of forces is a reflection tool for teams and individuals. This means that it must be visible whenever I want to actively reflect on the status of a team’s or individual’s ability to innovate.
It has proven to be a good idea to display the triangle of forces prominently on the wall of your office or team workspace as a printout of at least A3 size or – even better – as a flipchart graphic. This means that it can always be accessed immediately.
If you would now like to analyze and further develop the innovative ability of a team or project, ask yourself the following questions in view of the triangle of forces:
- What can I say about the team’s willingness to change?
- How do I determine whether the team is willing to change?
- What have I actively done recently to increase the team’s willingness to change?
- What could I do in the near future to increase the team’s willingness to change?
- What can I say about the team’s change competence?
- How do I determine whether the team has good change competence?
- What have I actively done recently to increase the team’s change competence?
- What could I do in the near future to increase the team’s change competence?
- How can I tell that change competence has developed?
- How could I tell that the willingness to change has evolved?
- What can I say about the team’s potential for change?
- How do I identify good and helpful opportunities for change for the team?
- What opportunities for change have I given my team recently?
- What opportunities for change should I give my team in the near future?
It is advisable to plan and repeat this reflection process cyclically.
