A big insurance company I know of wants to design a radical new future, so they have committed significant resources to large-scale innovation. But as the board and executive committee are learning, embracing innovation means starting to ask a whole new set of questions.
Here are three toxic questions that you probably ask that are guaranteed to kill innovation:
"What is the return on investment on this project?"
"Can you prove your case and back it up with hard data?"
"Are you meeting your milestones?"
Fortunately, there are some great alternative questions can you ask both to give you insight into what your innovators and doing and to help them feel comfortable and thrive. Try these:
"What hard and soft capabilities are you beginning to build by doing this?"
"What value are you creating for stakeholders?"
"What are you learning?"
Read this HBR blog post
