At Digitalks 2024: Innovation beyond business silos
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2024 7:03 am
The event took place in São Paulo on September 25th and 26th
At Digitalks Expo 2024, among the large group of influencers who visited the event, and the exhibition of the newest features of digital tools – there was also space to discuss innovation. On the Trends stage, on the first day of the event, Renato Carvalho, Head of Latin America at Miro, gave the talk “DNA of innovative teams”. With experience at Google and UOL, the executive brought the experience of high-performance teams from innovative digital companies, addressing how companies can transform challenges into opportunities, driving innovation with strategies that foster collaboration and agile development.
The beginning of the talk highlighted classic cases of business shortsightedness in the face of disruptive innovation. Examples such as Microsoft, which failed to see the potential of the internet, and Kodak, which cambodia whatsapp number database the digital photography market, are emblematic. However, Carvalho took the discussion to a post-pandemic scenario, with teams distributed across different time zones, a reality well known to those who work in the global market.
Carvalho presented a study by Miro with executives from around the world, which indicates that the majority of global leaders believe that, without innovation, companies have a limited life expectancy, with 72.2% indicating a period of 3 to 5 years.
Slide from Renato Carvalho's talk at Digitalks 2024.
The counterpoint is that in times of generative artificial intelligence, companies are not prepared to innovate, even though they are prioritizing innovation. The BCG study, Most Innovative Companies of 2024, indicates that in 2022, 75% of companies prioritized innovation, and 20% were prepared to innovate. In 2023, the number of companies that prioritized innovation rose to 79%, while preparation fell to 9%. In 2024, 83% of companies consider innovation a priority, but only 3% feel prepared to innovate.
Slide from Renato Carvalho's talk at Digitalks 2024.
A major challenge, along with a confusing or overly broad strategy, says Carvalho, is siloed innovation, which impedes the flow of ideas, collaboration between departments, and can increase duplication of efforts, leading to slower decisions.
Carvalho also brought the perspective of high-performance teams in which teamwork becomes more important than the work of individuals. More than the intellectual capacity of each team member, it is important to have a team immersed in the culture of innovation, with “Psychological Safety”. The term refers to the environment in which team members feel safe to express ideas, ask questions, admit mistakes and propose solutions without fear of punishment or ridicule. This concept was extensively studied by Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School, who defined psychological safety as an essential condition for good team performance.
Within an innovation-driven team, psychological safety is even more crucial, the executive argued, because innovation involves risk, experimentation and, often, failure. An environment where team members feel comfortable taking these risks without fear of negative consequences fosters creativity and collaboration. That’s because employees are more likely to share original ideas, try new approaches and admit when something doesn’t work, which allows for quick adjustments and continuous learning.
Another concept addressed in the lecture was Customer Centricity as a driver of growth, since when all areas place the customer at the center of their decisions, the company begins to focus on personalization, on innovation guided by the customer itself – which may not be disruptive, but brings loyalty and retention and, with that, a reputation linked to care and reliability.
We live in a constantly changing environment, where the success of companies depends on their ability to innovate collaboratively and quickly. In this context, tools that facilitate the exchange of information, encourage experimentation and promote clear visualization of projects are essential to this process. By integrating teams and reducing internal barriers, such as innovation in silos, organizations can transform challenges into opportunities for growth, creating a more dynamic work environment that is prepared to face the complexities of the modern world. In the end, the concept of the talk is that the key to innovation lies in the combination of collaboration, psychological safety and a constant focus on customer needs, that is, culture, cemented by modern collaboration platforms.
At Digitalks Expo 2024, among the large group of influencers who visited the event, and the exhibition of the newest features of digital tools – there was also space to discuss innovation. On the Trends stage, on the first day of the event, Renato Carvalho, Head of Latin America at Miro, gave the talk “DNA of innovative teams”. With experience at Google and UOL, the executive brought the experience of high-performance teams from innovative digital companies, addressing how companies can transform challenges into opportunities, driving innovation with strategies that foster collaboration and agile development.
The beginning of the talk highlighted classic cases of business shortsightedness in the face of disruptive innovation. Examples such as Microsoft, which failed to see the potential of the internet, and Kodak, which cambodia whatsapp number database the digital photography market, are emblematic. However, Carvalho took the discussion to a post-pandemic scenario, with teams distributed across different time zones, a reality well known to those who work in the global market.
Carvalho presented a study by Miro with executives from around the world, which indicates that the majority of global leaders believe that, without innovation, companies have a limited life expectancy, with 72.2% indicating a period of 3 to 5 years.
Slide from Renato Carvalho's talk at Digitalks 2024.
The counterpoint is that in times of generative artificial intelligence, companies are not prepared to innovate, even though they are prioritizing innovation. The BCG study, Most Innovative Companies of 2024, indicates that in 2022, 75% of companies prioritized innovation, and 20% were prepared to innovate. In 2023, the number of companies that prioritized innovation rose to 79%, while preparation fell to 9%. In 2024, 83% of companies consider innovation a priority, but only 3% feel prepared to innovate.
Slide from Renato Carvalho's talk at Digitalks 2024.
A major challenge, along with a confusing or overly broad strategy, says Carvalho, is siloed innovation, which impedes the flow of ideas, collaboration between departments, and can increase duplication of efforts, leading to slower decisions.
Carvalho also brought the perspective of high-performance teams in which teamwork becomes more important than the work of individuals. More than the intellectual capacity of each team member, it is important to have a team immersed in the culture of innovation, with “Psychological Safety”. The term refers to the environment in which team members feel safe to express ideas, ask questions, admit mistakes and propose solutions without fear of punishment or ridicule. This concept was extensively studied by Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School, who defined psychological safety as an essential condition for good team performance.
Within an innovation-driven team, psychological safety is even more crucial, the executive argued, because innovation involves risk, experimentation and, often, failure. An environment where team members feel comfortable taking these risks without fear of negative consequences fosters creativity and collaboration. That’s because employees are more likely to share original ideas, try new approaches and admit when something doesn’t work, which allows for quick adjustments and continuous learning.
Another concept addressed in the lecture was Customer Centricity as a driver of growth, since when all areas place the customer at the center of their decisions, the company begins to focus on personalization, on innovation guided by the customer itself – which may not be disruptive, but brings loyalty and retention and, with that, a reputation linked to care and reliability.
We live in a constantly changing environment, where the success of companies depends on their ability to innovate collaboratively and quickly. In this context, tools that facilitate the exchange of information, encourage experimentation and promote clear visualization of projects are essential to this process. By integrating teams and reducing internal barriers, such as innovation in silos, organizations can transform challenges into opportunities for growth, creating a more dynamic work environment that is prepared to face the complexities of the modern world. In the end, the concept of the talk is that the key to innovation lies in the combination of collaboration, psychological safety and a constant focus on customer needs, that is, culture, cemented by modern collaboration platforms.