Environmental forces that impact success
It is not so much what you do that makes you successful. It is more the context surrounding what you do that makes you successful. Andrew & Craig
Human behavior is sensitive to and strongly influenced by its environment. What you do is content. Content is your knowledge, what you know how to do, your know-how. Whereas your context is the environment in which you use your know how – a rather accurate way to define wisdom. Each variable in the context interacts with the other variables. You cannot understand a cell, a horse, a brain, a family, or a culture if you isolate it from its context (environment). Understanding one’s context is critical to achieving success.
When it comes to closing a gap, forces in the Context (People, Processes, Structures, Finance, and Technology) either enable or hinder one’s efforts. That is why successful innovators do what gardeners do – nurture the environment in which they want the plants grow. They ask questions such as: Are the soil conditions appropriate? How much space will the plants need to grow? Are there weeds that will choke them or compete for water?
When closing a gap we ask questions such as: Are the people who this innovation will impact well informed? How could we use technology more effectively? Are the right people on the team? How will we decide to do something or not?
Each part of the Context is dependent upon all the other parts, and all parts react to changes in any other part. Innovators who respect the environment (be it a business, family or social network) as a living system, an “incubator” for change, often think in terms of “growing” something rather than “changing” something. Their challenge becomes how to provide the right environment (context) to generate new, different and better ideas and innovations.
Sadly, many innovators concentrate their energy on the specific change they are trying to bring about (e.g. a new product or painting the bedroom) without sufficient regard for creating and nurturing the healthiest Context for that change to fully succeed. By being attentive to the context, innovators remove the barriers to performance and minimize risk.
The Context, depicted in the GAPzip System model at the top of the page is divided into five categories or as we call them Elements:
People
It’s easy for people working on the nuts and bolts of closing a material gap to lose sight of the people around them. Closing a gap will be swifter and of a higher quality when people are included in the planning process, properly educated, and exchange open communication and are recognized for their service.
Structure
We often need new structures, physical roles and responsibilities, etc. to close gaps. Our modern economy originated by increasing efficiency and optimization. True efficiency requires uniformity of input and output. It thrives not on change, but on sameness.
Process
How do you generate ideas? How do you select the best ideas? How are decisions made? These are just a few of the many process considerations that either enable or hinder innovation.
Technology
Technology does not close gaps; people do. But technology is a great enabler at the center of an innovation-friendly environment. It can be used to capture ideas more accurately and rapidly, enable identification and assessment of problems, manage planning and implementation better, plus interconnect everyone involved.
Finance
Closing most gaps requires money. What is the budget? Where will the money come from? How much return will investors get? What is the financial risk?
It is not only important to address each Element while closing a gap, but also to balance one’s attention between the Elements. If too much emphasis is placed on the wrong area, people become frustrated, resources are wasted and initiatives often are abandoned.
