Discipline, Adaptation and Creativity are Not Enough

Discipline, Creativity and Adaptation are well-cited value drivers. Alone, however, these characteristics result in an inability to translate gains into sustainable profitability.

Discipline is consistency of thought and action, not mindless regimentation. Discipline is imperative to validating and executing best practices for continuous improvement. It is also foundational for decisive action.

"Mindless Regimentation"

An overemphasis on Discipline can cause organizations to freeze by leaning on the familiar at the cost of learning something new stifling creativity. In an environment with a high innovation threshold such as biotech, freezing can be fatal. Value creating activities realized through emphasis on efficiency and incremental gains eventually become scarce and reach a point of diminishing return. Other risks are the formation of silos and the emergence of entrenched interests precipitating from the deadening impacts of mindless regimentation and blind obedience.

When confronted with radical disruption, these types of organizations default to a narrow, inward focus on familiar, routine activities with willful disregard to or that are ineffective against external realities. Procedures work until they don't. All possibilities cannot be foreseen nor anticipated. Over-reliance on protocols discourages and weakens independent thinking. Consequently, when forced to improvise towards decisive action, paralysis results.

"Silver Bullet Solutions"

While discipline extols validation and consistency; i.e. sameness, creativity is about generating value by doing things differently. In the biotech industry where the innovation threshold is high, Creativity seeks new value creation mechanisms that are both transformational and differentiating--essentials to maintain leverage over rivals. However, creativity without discipline decomposes into a high cost, high risk and high distraction “random walk”.

When confronted with radical uncertainty, organizations leaning on ideation grasp for salvation by seeking “silver-bullet solutions” instead of execution. Furthermore, ideation is far from realization in terms of timeline and typically not a short term solution. Of course, the inability to execute ensures the frenetic routine of leaping from one idea to another.

“Strategy du Jour”

The last driver—adaptation—characterizes how we sense and respond to the changing business environment. Adaption is the most outward facing of the three value drivers. Failure to adapt, results in being steamrolled by the creative destruction of change. Adaptive organizations sense through situational awareness and respond systematically and efficiently to compress the time between disruption and mobilization.

Overemphasis on adaptation can be a distraction from vital, near-term activities by channeling resources towards “visionary genius” instead of empiricism and execution. Shuffling the org-chart and shifting priorities creates inefficiency, instability and blurs accountability.

When presented with utterly chaotic uncertainty, overemphasis on adaptation induces organizational churn manifesting in the form of new org charts or re-prioritizations emanating from the latest “strategy du jour”. The most damaging artifact however, is the paralyzing indifference and lack of commitment to goals resulting from change for its own sake.

So, if the value drivers do not work by themselves, how do they work together to ensure sustainability?

The answer lies in the Sustainability Gearbox Concept, or SGC.

At n2 (n-squared) Solutions, we favor the deployment of systems that continuously add value, promote sustainability and achieve financial performance leadership. The core of our strategy begins with the implementation of the first system called the Sustainability Gearbox Concept. A gearbox converts rotational energy into torque. The Sustainability Gearbox combines discipline, adaptation and creativity towards sustainability. More on how the SGC can help you achieve sustainability in the next blog. Stay tuned!