Do you have itOr does it have you?

Do you have itOr does it have you?

TTIIMEMETTIIMEME

INSIDE: A powerful technique (“I-Squared”) to help you find more time to innovate.

TIME:

“Do you have it or does it have you?”

Yes, that is the question!

Especially if you want to innovate.Especially if you want to innovate.

WHY is this a key question?WHY is this a key question?

Because innovators need time: time to think and imagine and observe and experiment and test and incubate and develop and brainstorm and adapt and adjust and dream and wonder and learn from mistakes and build prototypes and try again and enroll support and everything else essential to going beyond the status quo

to create something new that will provide value in the marketplace.

But time has become a rare commodity these days… especially in business. But time has become a rare commodity these days… especially in business.

tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick,tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick

You need look no further than the word “business” itself to understand why time

has become such a rare commodity.

You need look no further than the word “business” itself to understand why time

has become such a rare commodity.

BusinessBusinessBusyness

“It’s not enough to be busy. Ants are busy. What are we busy about?” – H.D. Thoreau

FACE IT.

Most of us are simply too busy – doing the basics of our jobs – to be truly creative from 9 to 5. This absence of time makes us slaves to the past. We do what we already know because we don’t have time to conjure up anything else.

And the paradox?And the paradox?

Even enlightened business leaders and managers who extol the virtues of “innovation” rarely provide the time for aspiring innovators within their organizations to immerse in the process necessary for original ideas to morph into bottom-line realities.

And we, unknowingly, make it difficult for people to innovate by putting them in a box that we draw with four simple lines:

1. Top Lines2. Bottom lines3. Deadlines4. Timelines

Somehow, aspiring innovators are

expected to find the time… to shoehorn their new ideas into existing schedules (ha!) … to juggle…. to finagle…and create breakthroughs “on their own time.”

Somehow, aspiring innovators are

expected to find the time… to shoehorn their new ideas into existing schedules (ha!) … to juggle…. to finagle…and create breakthroughs “on their own time.”

It’s tough to do when you feel like your hands are tied.

SURE, there are always those rare committed individuals who can “innovate

on the side.”

But they are the exception to the rule.

The Bottom Line? If you want to create a culture of innovation you must find a way to free people up to have more time to develop their ideas.

Otherwise, it’s all just theory.

Pep talks. Hype. Smoke & mirrors.

Dear Manager: In what ways can you help me free up some time or redistribute my work load so I have more time to develop the brilliant ideas you’ve been asking for?

If you are a manager who cares about innovation you will need to take the time to:

1. Redistribute work loads

2. Simplify existing processes

3. Eliminate unnecessary work

4. Coach and mentor

5. Provide timely resources

If you don’t, you are setting people up for a fall.

If you don’t, you are setting people up for a fall.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

There IS something you can do to help your people find the time to innovate. It’s a process called “I - SQUARED*”

*Winner of the 2002 “Acronym of the Year” award.

(By the way, did you know that a recent study revealed that engineers spend more than 75% of their time at work involved in non-engineering tasks? i.e. going to meetings, administration, paperwork etc.)

DATA

SO...Are you willing to spend 10 minutes learning (and practicing) a simple technique to help you and your people find more time to innovate?

I-SQUARED

Introducing...

I mmerse

S implify

Q uicken

U nderstand

A lign

R eorganize

E liminate

D elegate

An insight-sparking checklist for people who want more time to innovate

Here’s how it works:1. Unplug your phone

2. Close your door, open your mind

3. Answer the question on the bottom of the following eight slides

4. Write your ideas down

5. Pick one this week and DO IT!

You can do I-Squared for yourself...

OR you can sit down with each of your direct reports or friends and go through the process with them.

OR you can print out these next few slides and ask your team to complete the process on their own...

READY?

Immerse

What can you do to create more time to immerse in your most creative project?

Simplify

What can you can do to simplify a too complicated process at work?

Quicken

What overly sluggish process at work can be

quickened with a little brainstorming this week?

Understand

What research do you need to do in order to increase your understanding about your most exciting new idea?

Align

What collaborator or resource do you need to align more closely with?

Align

Reorganize

What project or process do you need to reorganize in order to get better results?

Reorganize

Eliminate

What time-wasting procedures or paperwork can you eliminate?

Delegate

What do you need to delegate? To whom? By when?

A ReminderWhen you are feeling overly crunched about your work load, do the ISQUARED shuffle and ask yourself how you can:

Immerse Simplify Quicken Understand Align Reorganize Eliminate Delegate

“You will never find the time for anything. You must make the time.”

If you want a really fast way to learn more about Idea Champions’ “Innovation Assurance” series (of which I-SQUARED is one), call 845-679-1066.

Oh, one more thing. You know what’s really funny? When you retire, guess what you’re likely to get as a going away gift?

Oh, one more thing. You know what’s really funny? When you retire, guess what you’re likely to get as a going away gift?

A gold watchA gold watch