Leave it to the guy who can’t seem to drop that stubborn last (thirty)seven pounds to look to none other than a buffet table for a lesson on Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing.  It’s true, I never expected a lesson in innovation to emerge amongst the Portobello mushroom quesadillas … but alas, that is exactly what transpired.

When the participants of the Open Innovation Conf. in Philadelphia, were prodded out of the main lecture hall and gracefully escorted down to the dining concourse, we were welcomed by a rather long buffet table.  Lines on both sides naturally formed and conversations began as we waited to grab our plates and compile our lunches.

As I was about to grab my plate, I realized that no one could see past the first quarter of the buffet table.  The line of people was deep and there was a rather large Avatar-esque plant strewn across the table blocking the sight line to the rest of the buffet.

I looked up and gazed at the people a few steps ahead of me, who had already had a chance to begin constructing their afternoon meal.  Immediately it hit me; these folks in front of me were piling their plates high with the first bits of food being offered (mostly salad and lighter fare foods as any buffet would normally do) without knowing what was next.

We’ve ALL been to buffets before right?  We ALL know from experience that after the salad section is the heavier side dishes and then usually the meats, fish, chicken, and veggie ‘entrée’ right?  Yet, every person had piled their plates so high with the various salad offerings that they left themselves very little room for the ‘good stuff’ just on the other side of the plant spectacular.

Me, being a buffet veteran took a small bit of mesclun greens, topped it with a decadent dressing and patiently waited to pass the huge floral display, opening up a horizon of far tastier alternatives.  With a smug grin emerging, my eyes danced as the cornucopia of choices became evident.

I watched those before me end up with plates looking like a fragile game of Jenga. The Sausalito Stack, the Charleston Chew, and even the daring Sourdough Skyscraper … No matter how they sliced it (literally), they all ran out of room.  They dedicated too much of their single most precious resource, their plate surface area, to what was first, easiest, and assured.

Take this leap of faith with me will you? Most of these people are “Directors of Open Innovation’ at large companies. If they don’t think to take the ‘risk’ of seeing beyond the immediate in something as trivial as a lunch buffet, how risk averse do you think they are when they are in charge of finding and launching a new innovative product or service with millions and potentially billions riding on their decisions?

I’m not picking on them. My scale will let you know I’ve been at the buffet table too often. What I am suggesting is that a little knowledge could have made a world of difference.  Better knowledge would have lead to less waste, more tailored choices, and an easier time consuming the food without having to gingerly dance around the plate, to not spill the overflowing pile of food that they created!

Most companies innovate in this linear fashion.  They’ve got internal table decorations blocking their vision, creating doubt and often leading to decisions that embrace the easy and obvious while neglecting to look ahead.  They think they are doing good by their company and those they manage, when in reality, they are having the opposite effect.

Every company out there has limits on how much they can possibly put on their plate at any given time.  Their budget, their human bandwidth, and other factors make up their empty buffet plate of possibility.  If they had the knowledge of what was ahead, what the market was willingly sharing, what the consumer is calling for, what the employees were championing, they could emerge at the end of the innovation cycle with a far more explosive yet less risky ‘plate’.  Their output could be bolder, decisions (both the ‘yes’s and the ‘no’s) made more swiftly and they could actually reduce their risk exponentially if they would just approach the table differently.

So, after viewing what was beyond the flowers, I turned to the conference goers behind me in line and simply said, “Lotta good stuff on this side guys.”  I didn’t give particulars; I didn’t even go as far to say, “Don’t fill up on salad!” … I simply offered them a vantage point they presumably trusted.  As I finished up my plate, I glanced back at the group I just engaged, their plates had far less salads, and overall, far less food packed on them and more of the ‘stuff’ they really wanted for lunch.  All because they received the tiniest bit of information at the appropriate time that allowed them to make a better decision.

What can your company gain from approaching the long buffet table of innovation in a new way?

Photo by: GalFred