The neuroscience of Innovation

There is a whole pile of research out there that has uncovered all kinds of interesting stuff about the brain and how it works. Of course, since there is still a vast disconnect between what industry wants and what researchers do, a lot of the research will stay just that - research. The internet though, has done some amazing work to bridge that gap, and so here we are with vast amounts of data, perhaps even knowledge, about the brain and what it likes and wants, and what it does not.

I hope that we do not suddenly have this new wave of training modules that are titled somewhat like "Neuroscience Thinking" and offered by trainers as the wave of the future for industry and business.

That would be just too hilarious.

Anyway, to continue with the story, what are the brain discoveries that can help us understand and perhaps rethink how we can get most people to think and behave innovation?

When we talk about innovation behaviours, we may be delineating specific items such as creativity, critical, entrepreneurship, VUCA, strategic, communication thinking and a whole lot more of linked items; but it must surely be accepted that they do not collectively add up to innovation behaviours.

Which is what the problem is. Innovation thinking cannot be set down on paper in a simple equation of y=mx + c. There is no equation that can be formed that says if you display all these types of thinking, then you will be innovative. There is an x factor in there that is as mysterious as the noetic sciences and the god particle, and as elusive as the Theory of Everything.

But…there is always a but or there would be nothing to write about.

The x factor that neuroscience has explored and is exploring cover the Imagineers department – daydreaming, insight, intuition, the myths of the creative right brain, the fact of whole brain creativity – the list is endless.

Perhaps the ones who understand the basis of behaviours best, are retail stores. There actually are stores that can predict you are pregnant before you even do a pregnancy test, just by looking at your buying habits and comparing them to tens of thousands of other women who were newly pregnant. They study the symptoms of brain change that translates into behaviours, so why cannot we do the same for innovation?

Well, we have.

Extremely long term and intensive research has uncovered the most beautiful details about the brain, and one prime example can be seen at http://gallantlab.org/semanticmovies/ , which shows an easily comprehendible 3D semantic view of the brain and how it works. The website uses specific behaviours and functions correlated to the relevant part of the brain, and is easily one of the best examples that demonstrate the power that comes with knowing how the brain functions.

Don’t get me wrong. We can easily attribute low order functions to particular sections of the brain. Even speech can be compartmentalised, though listening and speech are not localized to the same area. Though Broca and Wernicke, two prominent speech researchers hypothesized early on that it is localised to particular areas, they did it in an era that did not have access to highly sophisticated imaging instruments.  

We know now that every cognitive function requires total brain functioning. Though we are all mostly either right brain or left brain dominant, it is not the same as saying any particular function is done by one particular location. The right brainers see the jungle, whilst the left brainers see the trees, but everyone still sees everything, it is more about what you notice first and what you are more likely to focus on.

A lot of how the brain functions is also dependent on the brain network and organisations of the networks; a function that is particularly dependent upon environments you grew up in. Though genetics play a vast and perhaps optimizing and limiting role, how a child is nurtured in the early years play a critical role too.

I don’t plan to turn this into a neuroscience lesson, but the website above should tell you clearly what we know about the brain now, and the myths that have been dispelled by the new knowledge.

The point is – how do we use this knowledge to promote innovative thinking?

In a short paragraph, the idea is that Innovation is about improving and finding new ways to sue old things and old processes. This new way of looking at the world requires a clear something – an understanding of:

·      How people behave – actions, reactions, emotional interactions, wanted and unwanted behaviours – all coming together to determine the words used and the thoughts thought.

·     What a particular space wants and needs, which can be extrapolated to general trends and thinking - which in turn comes from having empathy

·       Your own internal processes – either learned already or to be learnt – that helps you have confidence, risk-taking behaviours, critical and creative thinking – that determine if you have the mind-set of an innovator.

The long and short of it is that it is all about understanding yourself and the world outside yourself, and either going ahead to create that innovation, or to go about acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to mix together in you to culminate in innovation thinking.

If we can bring together all those things in ourselves that are basic ingredients in creating innovation thinking, then that x factor might just materialise to catalyse those internal thought processes that will bring out the Innovator waiting inside all of us.

I think.