Are your teams diverse enough to support innovation?
Having a mix of people makes teams work more effectively.
Adaption-Innovation Theory is concerned with our preferred style of problem solving ranging from high adaption to high innovation. The more adaptive prefer their problems to be associated with more structure and consensus than do the more innovative. This has many potential implications, such as
- how we define problems
- how we generate and test ‘viable’ solutions and
- how we work together through the whole problem solving process.
Adaption-Innovation theory is heavily researched, with 200 academic articles, and supported by the Kirton Adaption Innovation (KAI) questionnaire which is used to measure individual preference.
What the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI) gives you:
makes sure your teams have the right mix of preferences to suit your organisational agenda
reduced conflict as people understand that alternative views are desirable
reduced stress as people can be suited to work that energises them
In short, using the KAI intelligently can have a positive impact on idea development and help people learn to use diversity more effectively and enjoyably.