Editorial
The Gist
- Risk spectrum. Embracing innovation often entails risk management.
- Team composition. Balance between "innovators" and "stabilizers" is key.
- Customer journey. Product changes need clear communication and testing.
Innovation is often viewed as risky.
As a result, many companies choose to stay in the “safe” zone and stick to what has worked historically. However, many people don’t realize that the failure to change and try new things comes with disadvantages.
Take Xerox, for instance. The company was one of the first to invent the PC, a product ahead of its time. However, Xerox refused to go digital, sticking to the idea that copy machines were the future. Shortly after, the company found itself on the verge of bankruptcy.
Garmin, on the other hand, took a leap to expand from GPS navigation units to fitness trackers. While there were some rough transitional years, the company found its balance between risk and stability; today, the company successfully sells its GPS technology for cars and bikes, in addition to fitness trackers.
When you focus solely on stability, you can miss out on opportunities to move the company and your customers forward. However, making moves too quickly or without the proper research means you might sacrifice quality or continuity, which could send customers into turmoil.
The companies that withstand the test of time are those that find the right balance between the two. As a chief technology officer, I’ve learned some valuable lessons when it comes to creating and preserving that balance.
Related Article: Apple's Vision Pro and Steve Jobs' Legacy of Customer-Centric Innovation
The Balance of Hiring Innovators & Stabilizers
Making sure you have a balance between innovators and stabilizers starts with the hiring process.
Too many stabilizers means that you may birth a status quo culture. Too many innovators means that you might lose sight of your brand, audience or mission for the adrenaline rush of trying something new.
When it comes to the second, I look for signs of curiosity. In the interview, I like to ask, “What tools do you enjoy using?” Their answers reveal more to me than they might think. An interviewee who talks enthusiastically about many up-and-coming tools — even ones I haven’t heard of — is always on the hunt, looking to learn and improve.
Someone who responds with a list of older tools — or meets the question with silence — might signal that they’re more of a stabilizer. So, I’ll dig deeper with questions like “What are some problems you’ve encountered that compromised a system’s stability (like a catastrophic system failure)? How did you go about solving it?”
You’re not necessarily striving for a one-to-one ratio between innovators and stabilizers. To find the right balance for your company, consider:
- Specific roles and responsibilities within your organization — Certain roles call for certain traits. For example, there’s much less room to try new things for a quality assurance engineer versus a developer ideating new product capabilities.
- Where your organization stands on the maturity scale — Where you are in your journey, and the priorities that come with each stage, will help dictate who you’re hiring. The conditions of a startup are much more unpredictable than a more mature organization, so you might want more people who are comfortable with the highs and lows.
- Market competition — If you’re the only player in the market, it’s easier to prioritize continuity and gradual moves forward. But, if you’re one of many, what sets you apart? It might be helpful to have more status quo busters to tackle new customer success initiatives and product ideas.
- Rate of change in the industry — How fast is the rate of change in your industry? As a followup, how well do you think your organization is able to keep up? If you find you are continually falling behind, you might need to hire more creative minds to propel the company forward.
Knowing where you stand on these will help you determine the balance that is right for your organization.
Related Article: Three Must-Haves for Digital Leaders Who Want to Ride the Wave of the Ever-Changing Future
The Balance Between a Stable & an Innovative Product
It's less obvious, but product-led companies have to consider their current customers' tolerance for change when working on improvements and new features.
The classic dilemma starts with a company that builds a product that becomes a stable revenue driver for years. Customers love it; it gets the job done. They are comfortable — sometimes so comfortable that they’re reluctant to try something new. (Admit it, we’ve all griped a little with a new user interface that throws us for a loop.)
By sticking to the same tactics for a long time, companies can make innovation unexpectedly difficult. Changing institutional momentum is hard and expensive to overcome. You’ve also set yourself and your customers up to be overtaken by innovative competitors.
There’s a quote by Frederick Wilcox, a soccer player, that I think applies to this paradox: “Progress always involves risk; you can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.”
Loop in Your Customer Experience Teams on Change
Change and innovation are inevitable in the world of product. My biggest advice is to take your customers with you on the journey. It’s easier for customers to be dismayed by user interface changes when they don’t know it’s coming.
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Communicate about what is coming down the pipeline and why. Make the case for change to your customers so they understand, offer training to get them off the ground, and make sure your customer experience teams are taking note of any and all feedback.
When you introduce a major product change, isolate it and only release it to a few customers. Listen to their feedback and iterate until it becomes more reliable. Then, repeat the process with more customers at a reasonable pace. Expect things to break — and do your best to stay on top of fixing them.
Ultimately, you need both innovation and stability. You will never be without risk, but you can manage it along the way. Build the balance within your company through the people you hire and keep the balance within your products.
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