The Illusion of Innovation: Internal Hackathons as Corporate Theatre
Are hackathons, ideation & Co the corporate cure-all or just busywork without significant purpose or benefit?
“Companies are turning to internal hackathons to encourage their employees to innovate,” writes TechCrunch.com in a recent article.
Ah, internal hackathons—those magical events where companies briefly convince themselves they are hubs of cutting-edge innovation, all while steadfastly adhering to the same old linear, compartmentalized, short-term thinking. In an age where genuine innovation requires profound systemic changes, it seems companies prefer the feel-good theatrics of hackathons, ideation & Co to addressing the real impediments to progress.
A Narrative Too Good to Be True
It’s not new. Companies, always on the lookout for that elusive "edge," try to harness the miraculous power of internal hackathons and ideation since many years. These corporate jamborees promise to unleash a torrent of new ideas, solve problems, and foster collaboration among employees. What a delightful narrative! If only it bore more than a passing resemblance to reality.
Absolute Mediocracy
Unfortunately, it’s not just internal hackathons but also the Scrum and Agile hype that has managed to champion the cause of absolute mediocrity in the workplace. I recently asked an innovation manager in a big corporation if these frameworks had helped them innovate. His response? A resounding "No. It just kept us busy."
It turns out, instead of fostering innovation, we've perfected a punishment-reward system that discourages any hint of creativity. Those who dare to think outside the box? Punished. Those who play it safe and do nothing? Rewarded handsomely. It's a brilliant strategy to ensure that no one ever rocks the boat.
Take it from a risk manager at another major corporation, also asked about her experience with innovation methods such as Scrum and Agile: "I think it makes everyone average. Before we internationally applied these practices to all teams, we were the best-performing team. Now? They've successfully leveled the playing field, ensuring no one stands out. It's a journey straight to the heart of mediocrity.”
The result? A gloriously uniform sea of averageness. Bravo! That sounds like leading us to a promising future.
The Current Trend Fad: Riding the Wave of Buzzwords
Hackathon enthusiasts claim they help companies solve big problems through innovation and collaboration. If by "big problems" they mean hopping on the latest trend, they might be right. Because clearly, nothing says "innovation" like herding employees into the latest fad and hoping for the best.
How about being honest instead: you don’t want to innovate; you want buzzwords, signalling disruption while clinging to old thinking patterns. What a comfortable illusion.
Bottom-Up Innovation? A Lovely Myth
Some praise the "bottom-up" culture of innovation hackathons supposedly foster. It's truly heartwarming how these events influence what and how things are built. Yet, one can't help but notice that despite this "bottom-up" innovation, companies don’t address the root cause: linear, short-term, and compartmentalised structures that hinder all truely innovative endeavours.
The method remains the same: brief bursts of creativity without sustained, structural changes in how the company thinks and operates.
The Ultimate Corporate Freebie: Employee Ideas
And let's not forget the sheer absurdity of asking employees to pour their hearts and minds into generating groundbreaking ideas, only to reward them with a pat on the back, a pizza-party, and a t-shirt. Employees get to experience the thrill of unpaid overtime, while the company gets a treasure trove of ideas — to ignore.
Ideas Generated, Never Implemented, and Politely Ignored
It's funny how companies love to host these hackathons and ideation sessions, luring employees with the promise of innovation and recognition. It's not like anyone actually expects their brilliant ideas to be taken seriously, right? How naive of them to think that after pouring their time, creativity, and energy into developing these concepts, the company would actually follow through and implement them.
But no, it's all just a charming little exercise in futility. What could be more motivating than knowing that all your hard work will be politely ignored?
A Misguided Mantra
The repeated mantra is clear: hackathons brings forth better ideas and products. It’s an appealing concept, almost as appealing as believing that a weekend of frantic brainstorming can overhaul entrenched corporate inertia.
Let’s face it: real innovation isn’t about gathering a group of people in a room and crossing your fingers. It’s about breaking free from the linear, short-term mindset that dominates corporate strategies on a constant basis.
The Real Hindrance to Innovation
Don’t get me wrong, I like to apply creative innovation methods and hackathons may indeed produce a few shiny new ideas, but without fundamental changes in how companies think and operate, these ideas are doomed to be nothing more than cosmetic changes.
The true hindrance to innovation isn’t a lack of hackathons; it’s the unwillingness to embrace holistic, long-term change by diving deep into the root causes that are killing creativity, innovation, and human potential in the long run.
From Curiosity to Conformity: How Our Linear Systems Crush Natural Innovation and Creativity
Children are naturally curious, creative, and innovative. Until we crush their spirit and efficiently stamp out every last bit of creativity through all our wonderfully rigid, linear systems.
From the moment they step into kindergarten, all the way through school, university, and eventually into the structure of big corporations, we do an exceptional job of squashing any trace of original thought.
But who needs genuine change when we can just slap on a fresh coat of window dressing and call it progress? After all, nothing says 'commitment to innovation' like ensuring our future generations are perfectly molded to fit into the monotonous grind we've so carefully constructed.
And hey, doesn’t a quick hackathon just miraculously fix the root causes stifling creativity in corporations?
The Spectacle of Progress
Next time your company proudly announces an internal hackathon, feel free to indulge in the spectacle. Just remember that until there’s a genuine shift in mindset from the C-suite on down, these hackathons are little more than an elaborate performance, a comforting illusion of progress in a world that desperately needs real, structural innovation.
Gaining a Competitive Edge by Breaking Through Linear Thinking Patterns
We do not need cosmetic improvements, we need real change and progress.
For that, we have to break through linear, short-term, and compartmentalized thinking step by step.
It’s not easy.
And almost no one is brave enough to do it.
Those who do will gain an enormous competitive edge.
The Alternative: Demise
“30% of the corporations in the Fortune 500 list of five years ago are missing today and for every successful turnaround there are two declining firms that do not recover,” says Richard Pascale, named “one of the leading management gurus of the past 50 years” by The Economist.
That means: there’s no such thing as a safe 9 to 5 job or a company too big to fail.
There’s no time for window dressing.
We need real break throughs. And no, hopping on the next tech fad is not a break through.
There needs to be progression.
Yet, we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. That will not do. It will lead companies to their own demise.
Unless they wake up now.
Image created by Ursula Eysin via Leonardo.AI
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