One of the primary objectives of Structured Innovation (or TRIZ) is to overcome psychological inertia, which is the tendency to continue to think and behave as we have always thought and behaved. The use of the term “inertia” carries the full implications of Newton’s inertia as applied to mindset, psychology and social dynamics.

Inertia, of course, is the tendency of a body to maintain its state of uniform motion (or rest) unless acted upon by an external force. Objects have inertia. What many leaders do not to realize (and do not effectively leverage) is that companies and individuals have inertia, too.

Any new directive requires workers to significantly change habits, but there is too much momentum and inertia from the previous way. If this new directive is not ‘native’ or natural to current culture, employees will not believe the resolve behind the dictates; they are afraid for their established positions or anticipate the loss of understanding of how to work the system. Therefore, they resist.

In order for any initiative to survive, great external force is required – consistently applied over time. In today’s business world, the odds are in favor that management will give up before employee resistance is overcome. At the very least, change will not occur overnight – that is inertia, too.

As a general rule, directives passed down “from on-high” do not work when resistance is great. When initiatives are failing, leaders need to address the psychological inertia within the company in a methodical, structured manner. Yes, systematic innovation can be applied to change management (social/cultural) problems as well as technical issues.

My partner, Scott Burr, always says, “Inability to overcome psychological inertia, in its many forms, is at the root of every failed company initiative.”

Individuals, as well as companies, develop mindset momentum. We humans are adept at finding patterns that win. We like to use success patterns over and over again, repeating the familiar. One of the most important core competencies a company can develop is the ability to examine their own inertia.

This, of course, is one of the primary skills and disciplines of the innovator. The innovator constantly self-examines personal mindset and the inertia (prevailing mindsets) within the system/situation. This great skill sets breakthrough-problem-solvers apart from the rest of the engineers, scientists and leaders.