Media 1 | Organization Horsepower

Ingenuity, innovation, inventiveness, improvisation – it seems we’ve been talking about these words for a decade now. In fact, we’ve talked about them so much that I think sometimes the words have lost their meaning, or at least are diluted to a point where their mention causes a roll of the eyes. Yeah I know, I get it, the innovative thrive and succeed. But what does innovation really look like? What is innovation in practice?

That’s why we go to things like TEDx, to see that it’s possible to make a refrigerator that uses no electricity, a device that prevents amputations, a gene map that can save millions of dollars a year. Ideas so worthy that our business problems seem small. These ideas give us hope that in the light of a new day, we can also do innovative things.

However, I reject that notion that the result of innovation is always a “thing” and that innovation comes in response to something that needs to be improved. The height of innovation comes not from what you want to fix, treat, or respond to, but rather what you predict and work to prevent. The distinct shift in mindset from responsive to proactive is critical. But you have to create space to think about the future. It’s just too hard to worry about tomorrow when you’re trying to recruit fingers to put into the holes that keep appearing in the dyke of your present day.

To link these concepts to what Media 1 does, we are all about trying to innovate in the way that companies look at the people who work for them. To get companies to see how people can better contribute in the future and feel better about it. To predict and prevent business conditions that adversely affect those people and promote conditions that enhance both the company and the lives of those who work there. We help you start measuring the things that spur action to innovation in the real world of your business and your people.

I’ll leave you with my favorite slide of the day from Greg Galle, on the six keys to jumping the ingenuity gap. TEDx events are one day that you can dedicate to the future, but they are a just a starting point of changing the way you approach your business and your life. It won’t be easy, but it’ll be worth it.

The six keys to jumping the ingenuity gap

Chicken Pox Change Management

Recently the Media 1 team went through a performance consulting refresh with Judith Hale, author of the Performance Consultants Fieldbook, and other titles related to performance centered consulting.

During one of our sessions, Judy referenced “learning by disease.” What she was referring to was the sometimes common practice of “exposing” employees to new process in hopes that they would “catch the disease” and learn the new process. This of course reminded me of my childhood when it was not an uncommon practice to expose a child to another child with chicken pox especially if that chicken pox outbreak coincided with a time that there wasn’t school or a family vacation planned. Disclaimer: I remember clearly missing school, so I do not think my mother planned my chicken pox.

This is such a clear metaphor for unmanaged and unmitigated change, not only in learning, but for any process change (and one I fear one we are all guilty of from time to time). However, I’m not so sure that all concerns come from the same place. All too often, we are so concerned that our people don’t catch the disease that we tend to forget that chicken pox – in whatever way it’s contracted – makes the person infected with it pretty miserable.

We should be less concerned about exposure to the disease and more concerned about the effects of it. The “change by the exposure” method only addresses the environment for change, It doesn’t take into account whether the individual has the skill or capability (except in rare cases, you only can get chicken pox once, and I hear they have vaccines now), and it certainly doesn’t address the way you would want to transmit change (no school or family vacation). And most importantly, why would your employee ever want to catch it (motive)?

Unless our goal is to fail (Ebola anyone?), we need to design and use better models than the world’s worst epidemics. Hopefully this metaphor will help you recognize where this model is being used in your organization, and help you manage change with performance in mind, as opposed to hoping for successful exposure.

Organization Horsepower

Thinking Like a Motorcycle Racing Team

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Thoughts on Innovation from TEDx Grand Rapids 2013

Chicken Pox and Change Management

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