Excerpts from "The Science of Serendipity"

The Science of Serendipity: How to Unlock the Promise of Innovation in Large Organizations

By Matt Kingdon

Chapter 3 – Making Ideas Real

Proof: Realness reduces risk

Realness is the practical answer to that most annoying management maxim: ‘Tolerate failure’. Who the hell wants to tolerate failure when they have a family and a mortgage? Realness, on the other hand, is a more subtle and cultured concept. The fact that you conduct a series of micro experiments means you can push the emergency stop button much more easily than when speculating on the megascale launch.

An experimental approach to solving problems has also been proven to be more effective than a single burst of work. Researchers at Stanford University (Dow et al., 2009) asked 28 participants to work on a design to protect a raw egg in a fall. Half the participants designed, tested and iterated their egg protection ideas after 5, 10, 15 and 25 minutes. The other participants spent all their time on one design and were not allowed to test it until the end of the session. All had similar resources (paper, string and other materials). The results showed that the iterators significantly outperformed their non-iterating counterparts, achieving roughly double the non-breaking drop height – in some cases at 15 feet. Definitely one to try at home with the kids!

In this experiment the iterators said they felt stressed at first – under pressure to rush the experiment. But the report authors comment that it was this that drove them to discover flaws through iterating their designs, while the non-iterating participants were only able to speculate about their design’s ultimate performance.

Chapter 4 – Collision Course

If you only had 30 seconds I’d tell you:

The physical space around us has a big impact on the way we think and interact with each other.

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The configuration of our space at work can promote the collision of insights and ideas and it can accelerate a team’s ability to work quickly. Innovators need to take an active interest in their space.

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The need to pee and the need to eat; these are two surprisingly powerful tools to force collision.

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Promoting microbursts of social interaction should be a managed activity. Spontaneity takes a lot of planning.

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Spaces for serendipity are full of clutter. Innovation is allergic to clean and tidy environments.

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Space should be both serious and playful but never solemn.

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Innovation needs flexible spaces; this means our environment has to be low cost.

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The best innovation environments are not created through traditional management channels but are self-organised.

Fighting for Flexibility

I spend a lot of time with executives looking at their workspace and I’ve been lucky enough to have toured some of the world’s most incredible offices – and some of the worst as well. To get a better idea of how people want to work, I will ask them to draw me a picture of their ideal working environment. Forget about the office I say, just draw whatever comes to mind.

This is a typical picture people draw to describe their ideal work environment. It’s telling us that different places are needed at different times of the day for different tasks. There are internet café type places where comfortable but uninterrupted work is done. There are open spaces where people can get outside. There are intimate coffee shop type spaces where two people can get something off their chest. And there is plenty of movement between the spaces. So, to innovate, our space needs to be flexible.

Very often, innovators feel like they battle for even a small degree of flexibility. Most office spaces are designed and managed by professional facilities managers who are working to a different agenda. Innovators want flexible spaces, they want messy spaces and they want to bring outsiders into the office. They may want to work at odd hours and they can’t predict how their workspace needs will change over the next few months. For a buildings manager, this is about as bad as it gets. They have a finite budget, many stakeholders other than the innovators and they have health and safety codes. The battle between the innovators who want to change the space and the building manager who wants to maintain the space is a common source of friction.

The good news is that flexible spaces shouldn’t cost the earth. In fact, they cannot. The more you invest in expensive office equipment and floor plans, the less likely you are to change them. There are many stories of how cramped, uncomfortable and ‘disposable’ offices have contributed to great innovation. Some of the most innovative periods in Pfizer’s history coincided with ramshackle buildings in Sandwich, Kent, in the UK. For a low cost but effective approach to the work enviornment go to Pixar where they have constructed a series of garden sheds inside their Emeryville HQ. These are a low cost and fun way to create flexible meeting and focused working spaces.

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The University of Exeter in the UK explored the link between whether employees get to have a say in the design of their workspace and productivity. In an experiment, people were asked to undertake tasks across differing working environments. Those able to design and decorate their own environment scored a whopping 32% increase in productivity vs. people told to work in a bland room.

Dr Craig Knight, who led the study (University of Exeter, 2010) comments: ‘When people feel uncomfortable in their surroundings they are less engaged, not only with the space but also with what they do in it. If they can have some control, people report being happier at work, identifying more with their employer, and are more efficient when doing their jobs.’

Chapter 5 – Battling the Corporate Machine

Star 1:   Why am I going to tell you this story?

Upfront I told you that this was a story about practising what you preach.

Star 2:   Who is the hero?

This can never be the storyteller. That would make it a ‘boast’ and not a story. In this case it was Robyn.

Star 3:   Where’s the drama?

A good story has a pattern. Things look bleak. Then the hero saves the day – just in the nick of time. In this case I wasn’t looking forward to the meeting, but out of nowhere, and most surprisingly, it turned out great.

Star 4:   What’s the payoff?

In this case, getting phase two was a huge payoff. I didn’t say it in the story but Robyn was also appreciated for doing her job well.

Star 5:   Why have I just told you this story?

I repeat the point of the story in my last line.

Telling a ‘five star’ story is very effective. People ‘get’ it and remember it. As a technique it is easy to learn, remember and self-moderate.

So what’s the narrative you want in your organisation around innovation strategy and innovation behaviours? Use any opportunity you can to tell the stories you want to be circulating. At team meetings, off-sites, in the lunch queue, the company newsletter, standing at the urinal, on posters in reception, in your weekly update emails to staff – these are all great opportunities to insert your stories. If they’re good enough they might get re-told.

Don’t expect the good stuff that’s happening to spread by osmosis. Get out there and tell people about it, and then tell it again, and again… Many years ago, on a ?What If! TopDog study tour of the US, we visited the Rochester New York-based grocery chain Wegmans. They told me something I’d never forget. They said if you wanted to really land a message, you had to repeat it. Their rule of thumb was to repeat key messages seven times. That didn’t mean they literally repeated the message seven times but that they ensured that over time important messages to shoppers and colleagues were repeated in many different formats, and at least seven times. I was struck by how poor the much-too-polite Brits are at this and how good the Americans are. The funny thing was that during the week, we visited some terrific businesses and now, maybe ten years later, I can still only remember the message from Wegmans.