Many of the people who own companies, entrepreneurs, and executives of organizations find that the Courses, Workshops and Seminars of Innovation and Creativity are "rather theoretical", or what is the same: "few practical".
These people who are in charge of their organizations have to achieve results since they are not subsidized.
On the one hand, there is the "pure science" that is usually developed within the academic and research field and not always - within the different Latin American cultures - it is integrated with "applied science".
Other communities, especially the most developed ones, are very effective in efficiently integrating "theory with practice", as is the case of the United States of America, Japan and Germany, among others.
We have learned that “practical” people - such as entrepreneurs - usually feel comfortable getting to know new ways of doing things through examples and experiences, instead of listening to lectures and talks by third parties.
Therefore we are going to relate what those who have the urgent need to innovate live with something that we are all very exposed to almost every day in our lives: soccer as a sport.
It is well accepted the fact that in nature and more precisely in the ecosystem each species has a well-defined role with important characteristics for the development and permanence of a certain activity.
In human nature there is also this distribution and division of roles, what evolutionary social theory has called the processes of "differentiation."
There are always people who have certain skills, knowledge and competences that allow them to function more comfortably in Exact Sciences, while others tend to excel in the Social Sciences and finally others in the Arts.
From the Professional point of view, these people, according to their vocational orientation, their needs, interests and preferences, will lean towards the study of different careers: Engineers, Lawyers, Accountants, Psychologists, Pedagogues, Doctors, Designers, Actors, Musicians, Technicians, etc.
Where are all these professionals, technicians, supervisors, and workers in general? All these workers of various professions and trades and highly knowledgeable in their respective areas of knowledge, will find themselves working together and seeking to achieve a common goal in organizations and companies.
Given their particular characteristics, the different employees and workers will have greater strengths in certain areas, that is, in "their areas", it is there that they will be much more effective and efficient since their "professional training" will allow them "from their trenches", make a more significant contribution to the organization.
In other words, personal skills begin to be combined with the role they have to play.
Relations between what happens within a "Company" with the operation of a Soccer team
An perhaps very didactic exercise to understand "the business environment" is to take as an example a soccer team where there are different positions in your organization on the field. If we go back a generation ago, we see that there were many things in common between "the company and the football team."
The teams were statically and highly structured. Both the "U" and the Colo-Colo, River Plate and Boca Juniors had a squad that repeated their training Sunday after Sunday.
The starting goalkeeper could serve in that position for many years, and the same was true of defenders, midfield players and forwards, who repeated themselves in their positions, game after game.
Many “forwards” repeated their five players within the same formation year after year, and so much so that many remember the names of all those forwards with their different positions (roles) that were repeated over time. What was happening in companies and organizations back then? Roles and positions were also repeated for many years.
People established themselves in the company - and in their positions - as a result of the simple passage of time; this was called seniority. And the new young entrants knew that they had to pay a "floor right", a fact that also occurred in companies.
What is happening in football today? The oldest ones no longer enjoy seniority or the best payments. It is the youngest players who begin to have more weight in the formation of the teams and also tend to be better paid than the "older" ones.
Something similar happens in companies; younger people are increasingly replacing older staff. Even senior staff are no longer retiring within the company where they have spent most of their working careers. At 45 or 50 years of age they are expelled or self-expelled (see the book: “Professional Suicide or Organizational Murder” - 2003).
This phenomenon is explained in the “theory” through the important contributions of Burns & Stalker (1961) and Eric Trist (1958). These authors show how the mechanistic organization - regardless of whether it is a company or a soccer team - needs to move more organically, operating with more flexibility as a means of adapting to new and changing situations in the context.
It is no longer about organizing in a single and better way according to what I have in "my head" (in the company or within the football team) but rather I have to take into account the context and "the other ”(The container, the Client, the suppliers, among others).
The different organizational participants within the companies a generation ago repeated their activities within their roles and this was sustained over time, just like the players. Many people today wonder within the business world in Latin America regarding the need to “flexibilize” or not the employment relationship.
In reality, the question we must ask ourselves is: What can we do in Latin America when other companies in other more competitive countries have already relaxed their employment relationship and work agreements? Can we continue to be rigid and inflexible? Can we keep our company with the same organizational chart of about 30 years ago when operating within stable contexts?
Let's see what successful soccer teams have done. In the first place, a minority are the players who are considered as "holders". Players are hired and "acquired" by soccer teams that compete hard against each other, even within their own local arena. Companies do something similar through "head-hunters".
Lee Iacocca leaves Ford Motor Company to work at Chrysler Corporation, and soccer players do something similar. And the important thing is to observe how the rewards - and also the punishments - are increasingly strongly related to Skinner's theory of conditioning: the rewards are almost "immediate" and in the short term.
And the punishments are also; Most football technical directors have no doubt about excluding a player even during the course of a match if they are not satisfied with their production.
In the most developed countries, employers work within a context where they can follow a similar scheme within what is known as the labor flexibility framework, something that is not present within the business world in many Latin American countries.
In Argentina, an employee who slept on the job had to be compensated by the company, and a company has also had to compensate a person who worked under the influence of alcohol; Furthermore, the court ruling in the latter case indicated that it was the employer's job to provide assistance through a professional to the employee who liked to drink alcohol on the job.
A very important number of Argentine businessmen have stated that one of the main reasons for their lack of efficiency and competitiveness has to do with the rigidity of labor regulations. And in a seminar held at the end of 2005, the majority of employers highlighted that the outflow of money, the consequent reduction in Clients, and the high labor and tax costs forced them to reduce their size and personnel.
But most dramatic was the fact that a few businessmen who stated that they had opportunities for growth preferred to choose not to expand since "expanding their company did not produce better results" but rather instead would have greater headaches.
Today Argentina and Chile export products practically in the same order in terms of value; about $ 40 billion annually.
But it must be taken into account that Argentina has a greater number of natural resources; an internal market that is larger than it should help you in applying the principles and advantages of the market economy; and finally the added value of the products exported by Chile far exceeds that of the products exported by Argentina.
Some say it has to do with economic aspects while we suggest that it has rather to do with organizational aspects that relate to how companies work in Argentina compared to how they do in Chile.
Faced with many of the difficulties that the Argentine businessman faces, and during a Workshop held some two years ago, some conclusions revolved around the following suggestion. In Argentina there is no management.
When “business schools” are created in the United States of North America, as is the case of Harvard University, management is privileged since “no ship can reach a good port without being managed by a helmsman”.
It is known that an Argentine company, when it has a plant of more than 10 people, happens to have as number "11" a union delegate whose productivity "tends to zero" (as the mathematicians would say. "And we all know through Hawthorne's excellent work ”in the 1930s, the importance of groups - above leaders - in setting productivity standards.
If "someone" can produce zero who produces "a single unit" works much more; in reality its production - compared to that which does not produce - is infinitely greater. And of course who produces only two units produces 100 percent more than a single unit produced so that the standards - so low - make even the best company or organization inefficient.
In Chile there are clear rules of the game within the business world that are known by the different participants, something that is not very explicit in Argentina. Freedom is often understood in Argentina as the right to "do without limits".
There are very interesting experiments that show the importance of having clear rules of the game; in Chile, a common and widely accepted phrase within the business society is “to mark the field”. Even Innovation is linked to certain aspects that have to do with the need for a certain order or establishment of "parameters".
A significant number of small and medium businessmen in Argentina have stated that many of their hardships have to do with the "multiplicity of labor lawsuits" that they have lost and that have put the company close to a Terminal situation.
Can you imagine a situation where a football Technical Director cannot modify the composition of his team? Do you think that a Technical Director can bring his team closer to victory when he cannot handle the resulting consequences regarding whether or not his players train or stop training?
Do you think that a Technical Director can be successful if he cannot change the position of his players? What would happen if the Technical Director always assumed the same tactical scheme (4-2-4 or 4-3-3) in all matches, regardless of the contender ahead? Can a Technical Director lead his team to victory if he cannot suggest changing players during a match?
In Argentina we have a long way to go if we want to be really competitive and we want to generate genuine work where “someone's” work can be gladly paid by another person, due to the fact that it has added value.
In reality, to achieve this, the only thing Argentina has to do is what it did for many years in the 19th and 20th centuries, which has made it one of the 10 richest countries on the planet.
But it seems that from around the middle of the last century, Argentina has begun to do things that make it impossible not only to succeed but cordially bring it closer to failure. The economist Rostow showed that in the 1930s, Argentina enjoyed the same economic wealth as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Today it is positioned very far from these countries.
We are going to count here with the important contribution of the Chilean business innovator, Carlos Peña Rodríguez. Carlos elaborates on some additional details that are very important and that every businessman who wants to be successful must take into account. We then give the floor to the innovative businessman Carlos Peña Rodríguez.
Of course the goalkeeper is who is best prepared to "work on goal", a striker "will have the goal on his mind" to make goals as soon as he finds the right opportunity, a defender will best stop the team's progress rival, a half camper will be the one with the best conditions to retain the ball and to create and enable with full passes of intention to his teammates.
That's right, each one in his role moving forward or backward, attacking or defending, however; Despite their very different functional characteristics, all of them will have a very clear common objective: PLAY TO WIN THE MATCH and put the best of each of its members into compliance with this objective. In other words, contributing from their respective positions, "gambling", "wetting the shirt", must also have a "winning attitude", motivation to achieve the objectives.
The coach of the team will be in charge of motivating, directing, directing and controlling that the objective is fulfilled, he fulfills this important and fundamental function.
He must be very clear about the objective and the strategy to be applied depending on the actions of the rival team. The coach must know each of his players and know in what position and circumstances they perform better, if they act well under pressure so that the whole, which is the team, is empowered and can obtain incredible results.
The Coach must also know their "rivals", detect the strengths and weaknesses of each position to evaluate and choose their most suitable players to face each game with the highest probability of success.
Each match will be different in every way. The Coach is not in the heat of the game, since he leads from outside the field.
Inside the court, there must be a leader, someone who due to his personal conditions - more than functional - has the ability to motivate, harangue and lead the rest of his teammates to victory. We are of course referring to the "Team Captain"
The Captain assigned by the Coach will be the "Formal Leader" of the team, the one with the "jockey" or bracelet on his arm, the one with the authority that gives him his position. However, within the field there may also be "another leader", the one who due to his personality, temperament, sympathy or "claw" to face each match, spontaneously challenges his teammates when they do not contribute or neglect their functions, protects them, calms them down, etc.
This leader, is a Natural Leader and most importantly, it will be that "both leaders" are correctly aligned in the main objective that will be to win the match and lead their team to play each match as if it were the last one. In this way, they will surely have many possibilities to give a great show to the spectators, please and make their fans jump from their seats and, based on all these efforts and attitude, win championships, that is, they will be Champions.
If you allow me, I would like to draw a parallel between football and business, presenting a brief comparison:
| COMPANY FOOTBALL |
| Team Company Player Worker
Rival Team Competition Formal Leader Team Captain (Boss) Manager Coach Public Clients Fans Captive clients Forwards Sellers Control Unit Archer Defenses Support Units Creative Campers Market Championship Supervisory Bodies Leader Champion Ball Product or Service Gol Sale |
Of course there must be thousands of other comparisons, as well as many other interpretations. I leave you that challenge.
What does all this have to do with Innovation?
Soccer is a sport well known to all and widely spread worldwide. FIFA - International Federation of Associated Football - has more associated countries than the United Nations, so it can be intuited that it is a sport known to much of the planet.
A Soccer Team must innovate game by game, make variations in its game, since the formulas cannot be repeated too much, since the rival teams (competition) will know their predictable actions and will be better prepared to face it with high possibilities of success. Therefore, our team must surprise with changes in their formation, with the application of new plays or, leaving the “creatives” free.
Soccer is a collective sport that exemplifies very well what happens in organizations or companies. If someone wanted to analyze this aspect in more detail, surely, each position in football could constitute a manual by itself, analyzing its simile in the jobs or functions in the organizations.
Let us agree -in a simplified form- to Innovation such as: The process of transformation and materialization of Ideas into new products and services that come onto the market or, modify the internal processes of organizations.
Innovation is not something spontaneous that happens randomly. Innovation is a conscious process for which the organization prepares and aims to differentiate itself positively from the competition. For Innovation to happen, Ideas are not enough, not even if they are good or very good.
Innovation takes shape and true dimension when Ideas are analyzed, evaluated, revised, enriched, etc., etc,. If any of the ideas succeeds in this process of "rationalization" and it is feasible to materialize and transform itself into the new product or service perceived in the creative mind, then and only then does the process of implementation and market launch of this new product come or service.
The two hemispheres of innovation
Regarding the process of innovation, we could point out that it is divided into two large zones, that of Inspiration and the zone of transpiration, or rather, if we take the hemispheres of the brain as an example, it is possible to say that: The process of innovation It begins with the right side of the brain (creativity) since everything starts with the generation of ideas, creating, of course, an environment conducive for this important process to be carried out freely and without prior restrictions.
This first stage of innovation can be assimilated to millions of sperm in search of the ovum that allows fertilization to generate a new life that for the purposes of this comparison would be the creation of a new product or service.
Once the raw material of the innovation that is the ideas has been generated, the second stage will come, which will correspond to the analysis and selection of those ideas that best fit the objectives of the organization. In this second stage, one must act with the left (analytical) side, that is, with the rational part that allows us to analyze and evaluate and then discern and select the best ideas to be implemented.
If under this prism that contemplates two clearly defined stages for the Innovation process, that is, the creative stage (Ideas) and the analytical stage (Evaluation and Selection of Ideas), we can deduce that innovation depends on the collaboration of two types of people or professionals, those eminently creative and those more rational and analytical.
We are talking about the participation of all the organization's personnel in the Innovation process.
A successful innovation management must contemplate the participation of all the workers of the organization or company since the creative or major generators of ideas will need all the rest of the organization to concretize said ideas, transforming them into new products that come onto the market. and sell.
All company personnel will be important in the innovation process, be these production, administration, service or sales workers in all hierarchical ranks, there must be a clear and internalized commitment to innovation.
To achieve true success in this process, genuine and recognizable commitment in an exemplary manner must be given by the highest hierarchical authority of the company or organization, the rest of the workers will commit to the process only if they see that their superiors preach with the example. Motivation and preparation for change will be essential for real success.
The effort of each of the workers occupying the two hemispheres of the brain will achieve to position your company in a relevant place and they will find the important and necessary differentiation in an absolutely competitive world and every day smaller.
As in our simile between Soccer and the Company, we are all important when it comes to innovating, from the goalkeeper to the striker, that is our team and we are all clear that, when we go out on the pitch, it was soccer or a company, we will go out to WIN!
Thank you very much for sharing.
