Innovation Series - Evidence-Based Practice versus Innovation

A system aka ecosystem is a self-organising entity built on relationships between diverse parts which are interdependent on one other. The more units within the whole try to 'control' their part of the system, the more complexity and bottlenecks caused which affect the systems functionality. While the parts in a human system are obviously people, the 'control' described above is not a conscious driver but one of human psychology/neurology. As such, to understand the system we must take an interest in what makes us human, how each of us behaves in different (risk) circumstances and what role our resilience plays in decision-making.

In a human system trust is a key factor to a good system. In today's world we can see how stronger controls lead to increased distrust and even paranoia. Human systems work best when we recognise that we do not live to be controlled as robots but that we thrive on our uniqueness, different perspectives and strengths, and can respect another's point of view without necessarily reaching agreement or consensus.

We live in a world where flexibility and agility helps organisations and their offers evolve in response to changes in the environment. The term 'Beta' comes from the Digital world, where websites are often tested when they are not yet fully operational, a term which people have started to adopt in relation to organisations who respond to the changing environment. I suppose to rephrase the question - How do we collate evidence when things are constantly needing to evolve?

The search for convincing evidence which ensure risks are not only mitigated but totally eliminated lead to organisational environments which stifle human potential, critical thinking and innovation. The products and/or services are hence not driven by the market but by the fear of taking risks. Irony is that those organisations who are risk averse around money often end up being the organisations with the highest number of incidence and litigations.

Organisations are not machines but human systems based on human psychology. Creativity, agility & growth are human trades and cannot be understood with a mindset which believes organisational systems more closely match that of a machine where we just replace a part when one stops working. Only when someone can successfully and unquestionably measure and map human complexity can they successfully and accurately apply evidence-based management. To give an example, the success of a product or service depends on the people 'selling' it to the world. If you want to measure success, you would need to include an accurate measure of the human input.