Management Innovation

As I travel to MLabs' inaugural conference on 'management innovation', my thoughts drift back to the first time I interacted with the brain behind this unique initiative. Ideas that I have nurtured since long came up as I spoke with Prof Gary Hamel and along with it the delight that some of these ideas have successfully been implemented in HCL. But as always, I am excited to learn new ways that others have of 'reinventing management' for the 21st century.

Reinventing management is fast becoming the necessity today. More so because we stand at a threshold of welcoming the next generation of employees, who do not want to work in organizations managed in ways of the past. Gary has made an apt mention in his book 'Future of Management' that Management innovation matters a lot and for CEOs, who other wise claim to be champions of innovation, there is a barn sized blind spot when it comes to management innovation. Managers don't see themselves as inventors any more but as pragmatic doers.

I believe management today is missing the bold sense of experimentation. This is because it is historically based on obsolescence and unfortunately continues to do so. Dig deep in an organization and you will see there is an obsession with the past, obsession with ways that have no relevance to the future, ways that are now OBSOLETE. An obvious paradox, but that is what many leaders do. They talk of innovation driving the future of businesses in the coming times but stay stuck in past ways of managing their organizations.

Hierarchies and layers of paralyzing bureaucracy, command and control style of management are no longer important. What matters is finding ways to support collaboration, problem solving, and open discussion in communities of interest. The future demands experimenting with new ideas. My question is -are we ready to innovate and experiment or will we continue to speak about change and do little else?