Innovation

In our years of studying leaders, we have discovered many factors they share in common. Innovation is one of those. It is not that leaders are always the most innovative of people. Rather, they are energized by the enormous possibilities of making tomorrow better than today. That requires a healthy dose of thinking about different ways of doing things

 
Key Lesson:

Innovation is too often perceived as the larger than life breakthrough like the transistor, or the polio vaccine. That is the wrong view. Innovation comes in many different packages, but one thing is certain - it requires discipline and hard work.

It is not real easy for most of us to flip a switch and suddenly become a creative genius. Yet isn't it interesting how often we approach it that way. How many times have you been asked to solve some prickly problem at work that has been a strain on performance (be it a personnel issue or the need for a whiz-bang new product.) So what is the typical approach? Go into the same old boring conference room, with the same old cluttered flip chart or dirty whiteboard, and the same old boring black markers and the same table and chairs lined up in the same old boring corporate formation .., and somehow get unbelievably stimulated to come up with a wide variety of creative options. Sound like a formula for miracles - or for status quo?

Innovation requires stimulus. You must be able to think about things in new and unusual ways or see things from entirely different perspectives. When your mind and your heart are bombarded (or even merely teased) with stimulation, the chances of innovative thinking increase dramatically.

 
Experiential Activity:

Identify a problem that you want to address.

Have everyone on your team bring 3 - 4 pictures from magazines were appealing.

1. Lay all the pictures out on a table and talk about the factors that made them appealing.
2. List those factors on an easel.
3. Select 3 - 4 of those factors and list one each on a piece of easel paper; post on the wall.
4. Subdivide your team and ask a subgroup to go to each easel paper. Have them discuss and list one idea about the problem you are addressing, that relates to their factor.
5. Have each sub-team rotate to the next easel, read the idea listed, discuss and build upon it. Rotate until every sub-team has visited every easel.
6. Have each sub-team go back to their original easel and circle the idea they believe is best. It can be their own!
7. Post and discuss the best ideas from each easel. Build upon them one last time as a group until you have developed some exciting steps to take on your problem.

Action Plan:

Decide right now on a work item that you know needs a boost. It can be a process, product, or some kind of service. Talk to your group about it, and create some excitement about addressing/ resolving it. Turn it into a memorable project and get started working on it right now. (Try the experiential exercise above to get you started.)

Some other resources to help you on your innovation project:
Check out the book Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon McKenzie.

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