One of the most useful things I learnt during my MBA was Dr Michael Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation (KAI) Theory.
The theory says that everyone can be located on a continuum from highly adaptive (boring to you and I) to highly innovative (interesting). Adaptors like to make small improvements. Innovators like to make radical improvements.
Adaptors | Innovators |
Do it better | Do it differently |
Work within existing frame | Challenges, re-frames |
Fewer solutions | Many solutions |
Prefer well established situations | Set new policy, structure |
Essential for ongoing | Essential in times of change |
Since you’re reading this blog then you’re almost certainly an innovator like myself and you think that Adaptors are boring old farts and Innovators are interesting people who want to make the world a better place. Your Adaptor colleagues and friends would probably describe you as dangerous.
The KAI inventory is a 32 question test that scores you on the continuum. The scores are normally distributed around a mean of 95.
Typical scores for various jobs are:
Civil servants | 80 |
Maintenance engineers | 85 |
Production managers | 90 |
Bank managers | 90 |
Teachers | 95 |
MBA students | 100 |
R&D managers | 102 |
Marketing managers | 105 |
Personnel managers | 105 |
Adapters and Innovators don’t mix well together - a gap of 20 points between individuals can cause friction. Can you imagine yourself (an assumed innovator) working in the civil service? Or, me ( a confirmed innovator) working in a large, old, pensions company? Yikes.
Sadly, we Innovators really need those Adaptors. Innovators tend to think of new ideas but maybe not think through the details. Adapters act as their safety net and keep the ship on course.
