Robert Porter Lynch is a whirlwind of a man. Engage him in conversation and it’s hard to get him to stop when it comes to his favourite subjects: the science of trust, innovation and the power of strategic alliances.
He’s a bit of a cooperation architect and his expertise in the area is why he’s been such a frequent visitor to Alberta in the past twenty years. He’s advised countless companies, governments and agencies on how to maximize their innovation streams as well how best to collaborate within their supply chain.
In his consulting work his clients include Procter & Gamble, Bell Canada, IBM, Exxon Mobil and Cisco. In short, Lynch knows what he’s talking about and that’s why Productivity Alberta brought him to Edmonton recently to speak and engage with members of the business community. Below is a video excerpt from a conversation with Robert Porter Lynch on what Alberta’s strengths are and how they can drive innovation going forward.
** Transcript**
PA: What sets Alberta up for innovation success?
RPL: One thing I know about Albertans, having taught at the University of Alberta and working with Productivity Alberta and other Alberta companies is that Albertans love to work together. They’re very, very collaborative. They love teamwork. That’s the positive side to the whole innovation game, the teamwork side. Getting teams to collaborate and come up with new ideas. We have a great culture for that, it’s probably one of the best cultures in all of North America.
PA: What makes a team successful at innovation?
RPL: To get teams to work effectively one of the things you don’t want to do is have everyone from the same mould. You don’t want everyone in a team talking the same, looking the same, thinking the same because if two people in the same room think alike one of them is unnecessary when it comes to innovation because all innovation comes from differentials in thinking.
So I want people who think differently, who don’t think alike. Now, you still want people who are aimed in the same direction with the same objective so we have an alignment around our goals. I want someone who challenges me, who has a different perspective. Great innovation teams are made up of people with very different backgrounds.
One of the beauties of Canada is the tremendous differential we have in cultures. You get people from different cultures, with different perspectives and it’s bringing those differentials together that makes synergy possible. Now if you lack trust, the differentials clash and one person tries to make the other person wrong. What you get is a zero-sum game, they neutralize each other. When you get the differentials to trust each other that’s when you get the breakthroughs in thinking, that’s when you get the innovations to flow in any team.
