The innovation perceptions gap

According to a new report by Sirota Survey Intelligence, there’s a “perceptions gap” between senior-level executives and rank-and-file employees when it comes to innovation. People at the top of the organizational ladder tend to be much more optimistic than those crawling around in the muck every day:

“Whereas nearly three quarters of senior-level executives said they

were satisfied, just six out of 10 professional employees felt the same

way, rising to seven out of 10 mid-level managers.

What this showed, said Sirota, was a worrying gap between how both sides viewed their success at innovation. “While

the satisfaction of lower and mid-level managers with the innovation of

their companies falls somewhere in the middle, professional employees

are clearly the least satisfied,” said Sirota president Douglas Klein.

“This

may be a cause for concern, since professionals are the ones most

responsible for the development of new ideas that lead to practical

product and service innovations,” he said. “The much higher

satisfaction of senior managers with their companies’ innovation than

that expressed by professional employees may be signalling the need for

a more in-depth dialogue between these two groups about what is truly

in the innovation pipeline, and what barriers professionals believe are

standing in the way,” Klein added.

The good news, I guess, is that anywhere from 60% to 75% of workers and executives are satisfied with their organization’s level of innovation. That’s a significantly higher figure than I’ve heard elsewhere.

[image: The woman who looked into the mirror and saw a small monkey]