Jul. 29, 2017 "Innovation takes more than quick-fix ideas": Today I found this article by Dave Wilkin in the Globe and Mail:
Applying two simple acid tests to your organization can ready your cultural ecosystem for the next generation of critical thinking DAVE WILKIN Social entrepeneur and founder of Toronto-based Ten Thousand Coffees
If organizations are not tapping into the next generation of ideas and talent, they won’t exist in 10 to 15 years.
Unfortunately, buying Ping Pong tables, hosting quarterly hackathons, installing whiteboards and throwing away your old dress code isn’t the quick-fix solution. Leaders see these tactics and convince themselves they are ready for innovation when, in fact, the critical ingredients of innovation are missing.
Executives often have the de facto ingredients for innovation but are missing the critical cultural-ecosystem readiness and mindset to change. These two tests will help any manager or executive evaluate whether their culture is primed and ready for the next generation.
Problem vs. solution
The test: Survey your employees and ask them to articulate the single most important problem your organization is solving in 140 characters or less.
Are employees defining a solution or a problem?
Believe it or not, in 2000, Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix, flew to meet the chief executive of Blockbuster to propose a partnership and got laughed out of the room. Now, Netflix is worth more than 10 times more than Blockbuster in its peak years. Nice work, Reed.
Blockbuster was obsessed with its solution and not the core problem. It was never about video rentals at a local store; it was about making it easy for consumers to access entertainment.
Blockbuster was obsessed with its solution and not the core problem. It was never about video rentals at a local store; it was about making it easy for consumers to access entertainment.
When employees understand the problem, it provides them with the ability to think about the 10-times solution, which may be completely different than what the business is doing today.
It creates permission to develop ideas and products that may be competitive with their current business and share these ideas openly with their colleagues, managers and executives.
It creates permission to develop ideas and products that may be competitive with their current business and share these ideas openly with their colleagues, managers and executives.
When you’re obsessed with your solution and not the problem, thinking differently and dreaming big is limited by the parameters of your current hero product, which is unlikely to be around in 10 years anyway.
Organic collisions
The test: How many collisions have your employees had in the past two weeks? Ask employees who they have had lunch or coffee with. If it’s with someone they functionally work with, or are already friends with: not a collision.
If it’s a new colleague that recently got hired, someone they want to learn from, or a colleague from a different function: it’s a collision.
In 2000, Pixar purposefully designed its office to have different people physically colliding.
Ed Catmull, president of Pixar, worked with Steve Jobs and shared specifically why they did this: “The philosophy behind this design is that it’s good to put the most important function at the heart of the building. Well, what’s our most important function? It’s the interaction of our employees.”
Ed Catmull, president of Pixar, worked with Steve Jobs and shared specifically why they did this: “The philosophy behind this design is that it’s good to put the most important function at the heart of the building. Well, what’s our most important function? It’s the interaction of our employees.”
We call these experiences “collisions.” They are created when two people, from different backgrounds or skill areas, come together to share an idea, build a relationships and mutually learn.
Serendipity is not enough – organizations need to help every employee build diverse relationships, think differently, ask questions and continuously learn from colleagues outside of their day-to-day.
A collision strategy will help every employee connect with new colleagues pro-actively; it’s the single most important driver of innovation and creativity. Ready to take action? Next steps you can immediately apply
1. Survey employees and ask them to define your biggest problem in 140 characters or less. Turn this content into a leadership opportunity to articulate your priorities and focus areas.
2. Create an organized program where every employee meets someone new, for a collision, every two weeks.
Collisions are critical and, despite an open concept office, people do not do this on their own. We like to use coffee, as it keeps it organic, authentic, yet effective.
1. Survey employees and ask them to define your biggest problem in 140 characters or less. Turn this content into a leadership opportunity to articulate your priorities and focus areas.
2. Create an organized program where every employee meets someone new, for a collision, every two weeks.
Collisions are critical and, despite an open concept office, people do not do this on their own. We like to use coffee, as it keeps it organic, authentic, yet effective.
Jul. 31, 2017 "Want your company to be more innovative? Hire co-op students": Today I found this article by Steven Murphy in the Globe and Mail:
Here’s a reality many business leaders confront at some point: corporate cultures can eat innovation strategies for breakfast.
The inertia and siloing that can settle into any workplace can be antithetical to the boldness and flexibility required to drive innovation. So, what realistically can be accomplished?
Large organizations typically try to be more innovative by setting up initiatives outside the “mothership,” with mixed results. (Many large teaching hospitals, for example, have adopted this approach).
By spurring innovation outside the organization, companies might be able to create incremental change and innovation, but they could have difficulty leveraging these wins in the larger company culture.
General Mills, Nestle and Pepsi recently went through experiments with outside incubators, with mixed results. Despite the uncertain evidence, we’re at a tipping point where if you’re not linked to an incubator, your business is seen as falling behind.
By spurring innovation outside the organization, companies might be able to create incremental change and innovation, but they could have difficulty leveraging these wins in the larger company culture.
General Mills, Nestle and Pepsi recently went through experiments with outside incubators, with mixed results. Despite the uncertain evidence, we’re at a tipping point where if you’re not linked to an incubator, your business is seen as falling behind.
Here’s another way to catalyze innovation in your business: bring in innovative students.
Tech-savvy, resourceful, purpose-driven and unburdened by the baggage of corporate culture, students can inject the exact kind of adrenalin a company needs to spur innovation from within. But such initiatives need to be carefully managed or else they risk being “one-off” PR exercises.
Tech-savvy, resourceful, purpose-driven and unburdened by the baggage of corporate culture, students can inject the exact kind of adrenalin a company needs to spur innovation from within. But such initiatives need to be carefully managed or else they risk being “one-off” PR exercises.
CIBC Mellon recently collaborated with Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management with this very idea in mind. Five Ryerson students were partnered with five CIBC Mellon employees for four months in an incubator space, the Business Innovation Hub, set up within the financial services firm.
The hub was given a mandate to identify and find solutions for business opportunities and challenges the company was facing.
The hub was given a mandate to identify and find solutions for business opportunities and challenges the company was facing.
The students came from a range of academic backgrounds – business technology management, accounting and finance, entrepreneurship and strategy. One of the students, Brendan Corney, even came from an environmental biology background and Anisan Luxmekanthan came from chemical engineering.
The CIBC Mellon partners were just as diverse: senior fund accountants, client relations, a business development proposal writer, a technical support specialist in record-keeping.
The CIBC Mellon partners were just as diverse: senior fund accountants, client relations, a business development proposal writer, a technical support specialist in record-keeping.
A plan as novel as this required some rules of engagement:
- True partnership: The Ryerson students and CIBC Mellon employees were treated as equals. If we expected students to have ownership of the tasks at hand, then we had to give them the same trust and credibility that we did for the company’s employees. This required and received senior management buy-in.
- Freedom to fail: Innovation flourishes when employees have the freedom to experiment and fail. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella demonstrated that spirit in an e-mail he sent employees following the failure of a project they were working on: “[The] key is to keep learning and improving.” All 10 members of the hub had the freedom to fail safe, and fail fast.
- No boundaries: No idea is a bad idea; no question is a stupid question. All hub members had access to all business units and the leadership team at CIBC Mellon. They could reach out to anybody within the company to ask questions, request data or set up a meeting. Nothing was off limits.
What were the results? When the Ryerson team’s fresh approach combined with the seasoned insights of the CIBC Mellon team, they came up with some big ideas:
- Ideas to standardize fee-billing processes to enhance consistency, efficiency and revenue;
- Opportunities for an upgraded enterprise-wide communications tool to foster further collaboration among the company’s employees;
- A vision for a virtual reality augmented tool to help employees and clients assimilate complex data.
Those are tangible, implementable wins accomplished in a breakneck-paced four-month experiment. More importantly, the hub created a “buzz” at the company and got employees motivated about getting involved and being innovative.
To say that CIBC Mellon’s leaders were pleased is an understatement. As for the students, they had the best experience of their lives.
To say that CIBC Mellon’s leaders were pleased is an understatement. As for the students, they had the best experience of their lives.
The buzz extended well beyond corporate headquarters and the campus. In the coming days, we will be announcing an expansion of the Business Innovation Hub model to other leading Canadian companies. Stay tuned.
This new model of experiential learning is about so much more than simply letting students gain work experience. It’s about unleashing the energy and imagination the students embody, to drive innovation in the workplace and help solve the corporate leader’s conundrum of how to shift corporate culture and embrace innovation. B
it by bit, corporate culture is best challenged from within.
it by bit, corporate culture is best challenged from within.
HeatherBA
Co-op students are an amazing resource and an excellent "try-before-you-buy" method of testing new job positions, infusing energy and galvanizing activity in the workplace. Like any employee, they need clear directions and a supervisor who has the ability to give feedback and assist with the prioritization of work tasks. Best is that you have co-op coordinators with you during the entire process.
We all have a responsibility to support and develop our workforce. Be one of our employers who gives back and creates opportunity for the next generation of talent.
Check out our national Canadian Association of Co-operative Education website to learn about our members at www.cafce.ca
Heather Workman
President, Association of Co-operative Education BC/Yukon
PS
Use this link to post a co-op position at all 15 accredited BC institutions:
http://co-op.bc.ca/post
rf9
Genius! So I don't really need employees anymore. I'm sure my existing ones will be pleased as punch. They're all obviously losers and couldn't appreciate real innovation if they saw it anyway.
These Gob and Pail management articles are great for their humour value.
1 Reaction
DieterHH
5 days ago
Tend to agree - usually promoting the latest "innovation" fad .-(
Been a co-op myself and later in my career hired co-op students ( STEM ). I myself was innocent of industrial realities and certainly my later co-op employees ditto.
HOWEVER .... co-op is the best way to start new graduates-to-be on their career paths, after being inoculated with reality serum. Certainly weeds out the snow flakes .-)
I wished we had more co-op programs in our education system, because it speeds up entering your career aspirations.
2 Reactions
rf9
5 days ago
I would agree.
I've been with two companies (hard STEM) that made a point of taking on co-ops and putting them to work on projects where they were managed well and given the resources and opportunity to do genuine work and make real contributions. We tended to hire the good ones in the next year or two after they graduated. It worked out well for everyone and it sounds like this company is approaching it the same way.
But I've also been with a large Canadian company that handled co-ops as a complete after thought. Managers had the attitude that they were being saddled with them. It reflected much of how the company was managed overall. Its spectacular flame-out in the 2000's (you know who it is) didn't surprise anyone who had worked there.
So if you're going to take on co-ops do it right.
1 Reaction
Ciaratiara
5 days ago
"The inertia and siloing that can settle into any workplace can be antithetical to the boldness and flexibility required to drive innovation."
We were always taught that laziness killed the workplace. Oh, sorry. That's exactly what you meant? Our bad.
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