Can innovation be planned?

July 23, 2010
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adriano zumbo v8 cakeExperiment:   Take 6 chefs with approximately equal skill and give them a difficult task.  Give 3 chefs an advantage:  the recipe and 24 hours to plan.  Give the other 3 chefs no planning time. 

Hypothesis:  Chefs given the advantage should perform better than those with none.

Actual result:   2 out of 3 chefs with advantage performed worse than those without any preparation or planning time.

Welcome to the unpredictable nature of human beings and performance.    Welcome to management lessons from Masterchef Australia*. 

According to Alvin, who was eliminated from the competition on Monday night, “I had an advantage, but cooking is a whole different story”.

Ralph Stacey** would agree.  Cooking requires innovation and innovation cannot be planned in advance.  Innovation occurs in the moment and in reaction to the conditions of that moment.  The task of cooking Adriano Zumbo’s amazing V8 cake contains too many unpredictable elements for the planning time to be an actual advantage.

So what kind of planning could Alvin have done?  Peter Senge*** would suggest to focus on the conditions for success by carrying on a learning conversation with the self –

  • use the planning time to imagine the self creating the cake – what are the positive and negative thoughts that occur?  Examine them and address them honestly.
  • be curious about how the brain is thinking about the task and try to create an internal picture of the future that the self believes
  • give the brain space and permission to learn in the moment instead of panic - practise mindfulness by observing the thoughts without becoming the thoughts

These are some of the same skills our wise leaders are trying to learn for the same reason – the ability to think and react innovatively when things are not going to plan.

It’s not that planning is not important or useful – just make sure you are matching your level of planning to the nature of the task.

*Not watching Masterchef?  This short video will help: http://www.masterchef.com.au/video.htm?channel=S2MCLastSupper&clipId=2729_822MC200710CR”

** Stacey, R. D. (1996).  Strategic management and organisational dynamics (Second ed.), London.  Pitman Publishing.

*** Senge, P. (1990).  The fifth discipline:  The art & practice of the learning organization.  New York:  Currency Doubleday.

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