Understanding People and Personalities Not everyone is comfortable innovating solutions to hard problems, which is fine. It takes a broad set of skills and competencies to run an effective and efficient business. Generally, 90% of a company's technical staff has an engineering mindset. Engineers focus on designing and developing products and solutions with well-defined features and benefits for the user community. They are detail-oriented and thrive on certainty in their day-to-day work life, essential for sustained thought and progress associated with product development under cost and schedule constraints.
The remaining 10% usually consists of a mix of architects and innovators. Architects are comfortable with uncertainty and can creatively evaluate alternative solutions to challenging problems. Innovators, a smaller group, can architect solutions and fundamentally 'look at the problem differently.' In essence, innovators can reframe the problem so that it can be solved, usually in an unanticipated way by the business.
This observation does not carry any value judgment; running a business requires broad skills, competencies, knowledge, and experience. If all employees were architects and innovators, it is unlikely that products would ever be delivered to market.
Staffing for Innovative Solutions So the natural question is, "How do I know who is an engineer, an architect, and an innovator?"
In my experience, architects and innovators have a creative element in their backgrounds. These creative elements include hobbies like art, music, acting, and other activities that require the application of emotional intelligence (EQ). The balance of technical intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence is the hallmark of all innovation. This also explains why 90% of business staff falls into the category of engineers. Businesses hire for technical abilities and IQ-type questions dominate interviews. Hence, we hire for IQ and not for EQ.
Conclusion When staffing a project focused on creating innovative solutions to impossibly hard problems (IHPs), it is essential to establish leadership based on "innovation first." This is crucial for ensuring the innovation and adaptation required for success. Once the innovators are identified, the remaining staff can be apportioned to architects and engineers as necessary to execute the strategy and deliver actionable results.
