Productive Innovation: What we Do (and Don’t) Understand about Today’s Workforce

Technology leaders discussed how generative AI could be utilised within teams to improve business performance and workforce innovation.

Digital maturity is no yardstick for predicting generative AI experimentation. Business sector, size and region still play their part, too, but team dynamics, psychological safety, hybrid work and technocentric cheerleaders are now reported as significant factors. In this highly informative Food for Lunch at The Studio, executives discussed their expectations of genAI experimentation for the coming year.

This new, disparate and highly subjective set of factors may explain why it is still hard to understand how genAI is improving business performance, innovation or job satisfaction. Still, pioneer companies will be more likely to capitalise on automation as BAU efficiency gains, better identify skills gaps and reorganise the business to capture market share, create new revenue streams, and, ultimately, positively impact the bottom line.

To continue the transparent conversation, what should leaders do to broaden their imaginations and make better use of genAI? And what structures need to be evolved to continually translate this to value-add work?

Meet the panellists: 

With HotTopics' Editor Peter Stojanovic moderating, the panellists included:

• Sanjay Patel, former SVP & Group CIO, Tate and Lyle
• Eileen Jennings-Brown, Chief Information Officer, ​​Exscientia
• Mark Settle, Author, Truth from the Valley, A Practical Primer on IT Management for the Next Decade
• Karen Ambrose, CDO, Francis Crick Institute 
• Colin Simpson, Global IT Director, PZ Cussons
• Cei Sanderson, VP of Products, Bango
• Louis Botha, VP Digital Governance, Risk and Compliance, BP
• Leon Gauhman, Founder & Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Elsewhen

Food for Thought insights

• Innovation vs creativity
• The role of GenAI in productive innovation
• Innovation beyond the hype
• Collaboration and cross-pollination

Innovation vs creativity

The foundation of productive innovation begins with understanding your workforce—what drives them, their creative processes and the environments that best foster innovation. 

Former Tate & Lyle SVP & Group CIO, Sanjay Patel, pointed out that organisations often assume they know what motivates their employees, particularly in creativity and innovation, but this assumption can sometimes be misleading. 

"Most organisations take for granted that they understand what motivates their individuals, particularly when it comes to creativity and innovation," he said. 

However, the reality is more complex. Different personalities, environments, and even times of day can significantly impact creativity. For instance, some employees may find that their creative juices flow better in certain environments, like when the lighting is just right or when they are in a particular mood. Recognising these nuances is crucial for leaders aiming to create environments that maximise creative output.

A common misconception in the corporate world is the conflation of creativity with innovation.. Eileen Jennings-Brown highlighted this, "Creativity is coming up with new ideas; innovation is doing the new idea and that's the difference when we're talking about product innovation." 

This distinction is vital because it underscores the importance of not just fostering creativity but also building the structures and processes that allow innovative ideas to be executed successfully. In an example, Eileen talked about the pharmaceutical industry, and how the traditional drug discovery process is being revolutionised by AI, which enables companies to innovate more efficiently and effectively.

The role of GenAI in productive innovation

The advent of generative AI is a game-changer in how companies approach innovation. GenAI has the potential to transform industries by automating routine tasks, thereby freeing up human talent to focus on more complex and creative work. 

However, this transition is not without its challenges. There is a spectrum of reactions to GenAI within organisations, ranging from fear to excitement. As Sanjay Patel noted, "I'm seeing a spectrum between fear—my job's going to go, the bits I love about my job are going to go...to opportunity—I'm glad some machine will take that away from me. I can retrain and do something much more interesting."

There is also concern that while many organisations are beginning to experiment with Generative AI, the overall approach is still heavily weighted towards risk, which could hinder adoption and innovation. 

Leon Gauhman commented: “I think it's interesting the controlled experimentation piece… everybody's talking about generative AI and people are doing some experiments, so it's moving faster than a lot of other previous technology trends.” Leon argued that organisations are still in the “controlled stage,” of AI adoption and experimentation.

Innovation beyond the hype

In the rush to innovate, it is easy for organisations to mistake superficial changes for true innovation. 

This phenomenon, often seen in the FMCG sector, is described by Colin Simpson, who mentions that companies may believe they are innovating by simply making small tweaks to existing products, such as adding a new fragrance or changing packaging. 

"We pretend we're innovating...but it might not actually be that innovative," he notes. This highlights the importance of distinguishing between genuine innovation and mere recycling of ideas. Colin commented “I think it’s that balance,” companies must strike a balance between incremental improvements and the pursuit of breakthrough innovations that have the potential to create new value.

Bango’s Cei Anderson noted “Gen AI is just one example of technology that is affecting products and affecting the industry. But actually it's the engineers and the software developers and so on that are in touch with the technology and the trends.”

By allowing these experts, who are closely aligned with the latest trends, to innovate and explore new tools, companies can better harness new technologies for product development and innovation. Anderson emphasises that guiding teams to focus their experimentation on solving specific customer problems ensures that the technology is applied in meaningful and profitable ways.

“One thing that I have found really remarkable about this whole phenomenon is that the fear of missing out is so great that we've abandoned a lot of the ROI analysis things that as technology people have been drilled into us for like four decades,” says Mark Settle. 

Companies are focusing on internal productivity rather than customer-facing applications due to legal concerns. Settle compares the current hype around Gen AI to previous trends like robotic process automation (RPA), where companies felt pressured to adopt the technology due to fear of missing out. Settle warns of the rush to adopt Gen AI—here he compared ChatGPT to a “gateway drug”. 

The initial allure and hype of these tools has led to widespread adoption, with companies later finding out that AI investments, which are not as financially rewarding as initially anticipated. 

Collaboration and cross-pollination

For innovation to be truly productive, it must be collaborative. Silos within organisations often stifle the potential for innovation by limiting the exchange of ideas across different departments. 

BP’s Louis Botha emphasised the benefits of internal collaboration, stating that their company had made significant strides by "creating a way for individual teams to showcase their work to others...and cross-pollinate across different business lines." By encouraging teams to share their successes and learn from each other's mistakes, companies can accelerate the pace of innovation and improve overall productivity.

It is crucial to recognise that innovation is not just a technical or procedural challenge but a deeply human one. The transition to new ways of working, particularly with the introduction of AI and other advanced technologies, can be unsettling for employees. 

Leaders must be attuned to these human dynamics, guiding their teams through the emotional and psychological aspects of change. "There's a human element in all of this as well as a technology element," Sanjay noted. This means that effective communication, empathy, and support are just as important as the technological tools and strategies that drive innovation.

Speaking on the cross-pollination aspect of the workforce within teams, Francis Crick’s Karen Ambrose argued: “You talk about AI and the developments and outcomes from that but underneath that is data and essentially you need to have a proper data catalogue to be able to support that effectively.”

This Food for Thought Lunch is in partnership with Elsewhen.