Sparking and Leading Innovation

Sparking and Leading Innovation

Women’s Leadership InstituteDecember 5-8, 2010Kathryn J. Deiss

ACRL Content Strategistkdeiss@ala.org

Photo by Tom Oliver

Photo by kelsmith1992

Who is innovative?

Creative InventionsLightning Rounds - 60

seconds1.Create an invention using

your card and someone else’s2. Write it down on back of card3. Find another person and

repeat4. Find another person and

repeat

Changing perspective jogs the creative impulse

The Adjacent Possible :a concept describing the power of combinatory connections/collisionsCoined by scientist Stuart Kaufmann and cited in Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson

“Innovation is the embodiment, combination, and/or synthesis of knowledge in novel, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services.”

Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap

Innovations are those things that change the way we can do what we want to do Innovation is disruptive Innovation is both revolutionary and evolutionary Society decides what is innovative

Directional vs. intersectional innovation

Directional innovation combines ideas within a field

Intersectional innovation combines ideas at the intersections of different fields resulting in an increased level of possibilitiesSource: Johanssen, Frans. The Medici Effect Photo by Brandon Ciril

lo

More stuff on the table!

Photo by Lucy Lou

“Different is not always better but better is always different.”

Rick LuceEmory University

Barriers to innovation Organizational age Individual & group skills lacking Desire for perfection Risk aversion Natural tensions & dichotomies Photo by remu

z

Mature organization proven track record

established resources

less likely to take risks

less flexible reliance on and replication of past successful practices

improvisation more difficult

Young organization sparse track record

volatile resources more likely to risk

more flexible no past to replicate

natural improvisation

Innovation and org. age

Photo by James.Robertson

Innovation Skills

Skills related to innovation Right brain thinking Play and non-verbal skills Idea generating skills and tools Leadership skills Observation and analytical skills Ability to question Prototyping

Photo by moqub

Sometimes you have to bust something up to achieve a breakthrough!

The desire for perfection interrupts the flow of innovation

Photo by Leo Reynolds

Risk Aversion

Photo by anarchosyn

Dichotomies

Stability Standards

Expertise Performance

Certainty

Disturbance Unknown consequences & patterns

Play Practice Risk

Center on missionLower barriers to external

collaboration Embrace volatilityHarvest external

support

Lessons from Nonprofit Innovators

Change the prevailing winds

Operate “just beyond the possible.”Source: Paul C. Light “Sustaining Innovation”

Photo by Bee Skutch

“You don’t see the world as it is; you see it as you are.”

Luc deBrabandere

Photo by in da mood

Political implicationsCornelis Drebbel and £20,000 (1624)

Societal readiness Patterns of behavior Political climate Building the message

“Innovation is the embodiment, combination, and/or synthesis of knowledge in novel, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services.”

Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap

What are the political implications of some innovations your unit has tried or wishes to try? Who needs to buy-in? What timing issues exist? What is the readiness for the innovation?

Practices for Innovation Identifying question/opportunity

Voluminous idea generation

Use of creative thinking tools

Tolerance for failure and time lags or jumps

Escaping “the end of..” syndrome; embracing “the beginning of..” way of thinking

Prototyping: a new skill

Prototyping Observation of people & situations

Trials and tests Three dimensional aspect Inventive Feedback loops

“Quick prototyping is about acting before you have got the answers…Good prototypes don’t just communicate, they persuade.”

Tom Kelley, IDEO

What’s in a name? the GGNRA’s transformation by prototype

Design by Michael Schwab

From Golden Gate National Recreation AreatoGolden Gate National Parks

Photo by yepperdoodle

Use the unexpected to your advantage

Johnny Lee Chung:a case of unintended consequenceshttp://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

Photo by fixpert!

Think of something in your department or institution that could benefit from a new prototype name or image

As a group share projects and do a quick idea sort on one of these situations

Photo by Loensis

Innovation Incubators

Innovation incubators Places - physical & virtual Skills - play, ideating, prototyping

Practices - processes and tools Technologies - emerging tools for delivering and testing services

Planning an Innovation IncubatorUse the planning

handout to think through setting up an innovation incubator - let your imagination play!Discuss your planning thoughts

with two other people in the room

Some Final Thoughts

We need to seek intersections

We need to engage in trial and error and prototyping

We need to adopt multiple perspectives

We need to face into the outside world

“The most successful people are those who are willing to give up their most successful strategies….”

Richard Foster

Thank you!Keep in touch!kdeiss@ala.org