Idea and Innovation Blog

For the astute observer of innovation processes, the next evolution of the practice is becoming ever clearer. Stakeholders of every type have demonstrated a remarkable eagerness, resourcefulness and ingenuity for contributing to the improvement of things they care about; which increasingly can mean to include matters related to your organization and its future. In fact, many of these break-out stakeholders are no longer just hoping for a seat at the table – they are expecting it. And not just as participants invited in to listen-in on “the conversation” – but as integral and engaged agents that co-create and execute - making things happen.

In these especially trying market conditions, one would have to be indifferent to ignore the value of this good opportunity or pretend that this trend isn’t really catching fire. It’s here and now.

The culture of collaboration has been growing in every facet of human endeavor. As such, the time for leaders to not just recognize this fact but seize the moment is at hand. The days of dictating what your stakeholders think and feel about you are history - you can't force or coerce people to like you - the advent of new media and the legacy of experience won't tolerate it anymore. That paradigm has most definitely shifted, so that the people important to your organization have to now genuinely like you, share an affinity and feel listened to; whether they are suppliers, shareholders, employees or customers

This new brand of collaborators are more than mere “change agents” – these are “stakeholder activists” and I don’t mean this to say trouble-makers. Rather they are people of action who can amplify, extend, augment and accelerate your course in a new and valuable direction. Whether internal or external, markets speak with actions and the activists provide plenty of it – why then not harness this good vibe to useful ends? To try and prolong a broken model and dictate from a traditional command & control position is just not a tenable model anymore. Not given the scale, speed and global interaction that drives business today. Our organizations are interwoven with the totality of other organizations and the human dynamics driving all their associated activity. Trying to isolate your organization from this increasingly attractive and positive pole is anachronistic at best – lame at worst.