10 "musts" for innovation

As blogged by Paul Williams over at Think For Change.

This post is sooooooo to the point that I really have nothing to add. Here’s what Paul said..

“I recently had a prospective client ask me, "How can I make my employees just "do" innovation?"

Well...it took a few back and forth discussions to clarify that statement, but what she was essentially asking was, "How long until my employees innovate without even thinking about it?"

Whew...that's a tough one!

I actually get asked this question a lot when presenting at conferences and other speaking opportunities, so I thought I would give out my Top Ten of Making Innovation Happen Every Day:

• Innovation MUST be tied to the organizational strategy
  
  
• Innovation MUST be on the leadership agenda and discussed at every leadership meeting
  
  
• Innovation MUST be led by at least one C-Level or SVP-Level person
  
  
• Ideas (from ANY source) MUST have a path/process to follow
  
  
• Customers/Consumer MUST have a voice
  
  
• Resources (People, Money & Time) MUST be made available for innovation
  
  
• A culture of risk taking, fast failure, experimentation and imagination MUST exist and be supported/protected
  
  
• The organization MUST be made up of skilled and diverse individuals who are set "free"
  
  
• The organization MUST seek to be a leader of "next practices" not a follower of "best practices"
  
  
• The organization MUST have the courage to KILL projects, ideas, lines of business, etc. that don't work

Once you have these ten "MUST's" in place, I think you will find that your employees, front-line managers, middle managers and senior leaders will be innovating...everyday...all day...”

Wow ... Amen!

7 Steps to Innovation

Inc. magazine includes a great article this month which summarizes a seven step innovation process outlined in the new book The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth With Innovation (which btw came out this week)

Seven steps to ensure that your company innovates repeatedly and reliably:

1) Select the Strategy (Look for an underserved market)
2) Connect to Customers (Social Network an idea collector)
3) Generate Ideas (Brainstorming done right)
4) Select an Idea (Time to separate good from great)
5) Prototype and test (bring on the customers)
6) Go to Market (cookies vs cookie dough)
7) Adjust for Growth (The process evolves)

What I find interesting about this approach to innovation, is that is also (at a much higher level) seems strikingly similar to the strategic planning approach we’re currently undertaking this year at MPOW. Although the end results are different (a tactical plan vs. a marketable product) the steps were taking are basically the same to get to the end result. For me, step number seven is perhaps the most significant, for it iterates the importance of evolution both in planning and innovation... even when you think you have the process down, something changes and there's always room for growth. :)

Read the full article here: Innovation: Making Inspiration Routine.

Indexed thoughts

I’m a big fan of Jessica Hagy’s index cards. Here are few that I think speak to some of the underlying principles behind the ability to innovate, lead, and create change.

What's that you've found:


You've got to try:


Change is Constant:


Who's the call girl?


Locked in the Library:


Follow her blog here.

Moving Mountains

I've been working a lot in the evenings pulling together four new presentations that I'm slated to give over the next 3 weeks. Sometimes, I can kick myself for over committing a bit, but then on the other hand I'm glad, for if forces me do more than just tweak and rework content from my past presentations for just a different audience. This coming month is exciting (and exhausting) because all my content for the four talks is 95% new. I'd forgotten how much effort it takes to create a 60-90 minute presentation from scratch, let along four of them. :)

Anyway, I just finished up with my slides for talk I'm doing at CIL with Tony Tallent titled Innovation Starts with "I". I really like my new format (which is heavy on images) and I especially like this final slide ...



It does take a lot of steady work to move mountains. And from my current perspective, I feel like I'm both building and moving my own small mountains with all this presentation prep. The good news is that I'm 2.75 presentations down. The bad news is that I still have 1.25 (aprox 50-60 slides) left to go. :(

On Innovation & Change Agents

I’ve been doing a lot of preparation work lately for a track that I’m moderating on Innovation at CIL in April. In thinking about the topic and what it means to libraries, it occurs to me that we kick around the word of innovation a lot, but for the most part it typically means just one thing … “change.”

In looking at the four stages of innovation (creativity, strategy, implementation & profitability) the stage that I see librarians (especially those that are frustrated by slow change) having the most difficulty with is “strategy.” There are a lot of great ideas out there and energy to implement them, but what’s missing is a smart strategy to move ideas into reality. It’s hard to sell vision and ideas to management on paper and even harder when the idea is put forth as a “permission” item. Instead “vision” needs the enthusiasm from the “visionary” (idea generator) and images for people to grasp. And if you want to provide leadership for your ideas, then you need to show your potential as leader by asking not for "permission", but for “support.”

Bottom line, without a firm grasp on the “strategy” phase of innovation, it’s hard to be a “change agent”

Note: Cross posted at ULC's 2020Foresight

PS: If this subject interests you, be sure join me for the Innovation & Change track at CIL next month.

In-the-Box, shades down & light-offs Thinking

I’ve been busy over the last few days doing a lot prep work for the conference track, Innovation & Change, I’m moderating at the upcoming Computers in Library conference that is only a month away. This year’s conference theme, Innovative Change: Integrating High Tech With High Touch, speaks a lot to many of the subject areas that I’ve been known to both blog and talk about – innovation, change and human (high) touch.

Anyway, in my travels for a few interesting quotes to share during the “I & C” track, I stumbled across this great list of quotable innovation stallers.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
— Charles H. Duell, Director of US Patent Office 1899

"Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote."
— Grover Cleveland, 1905

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
— Harry M. Warner, Warner Bros Pictures, 1927

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom."
— Robert Miliham, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923

"Heavier than air flying machines are impossible."
— Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, 1895

"Ruth made a big mistake when he gave up pitching."
— Tris Speaker, 1921

"The horse is here today, but the automobile is only a novelty - a fad."
— President of Michigan Savings Bank advising against investing in the Ford Motor Company

"Video won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."
— Daryl F. Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, commenting on television in 1946

"What use could the company make of an electric toy?"
— Western Union, when it turned down rights to the telephone in 1878

In reading this list, it's easy to see that these folks (for whatever reason) not only couldn't think outside-the-box; they lived inside it with both the window shades pulled down and light bulbs turned off - both figuratively and mentally. :)

7 Habits of Highly Innovative People

Can you tell I’m on an innovation trend tonight? Yup, I’ve been thinking about the big i-word a lot lately and trying to get some new talking points together for an upcoming talk at CIL08. Anyway, this list recent list from ThinkSimpleNow on 7 Habits of Highly Innovative People made me smile. I love item 7, which marketing guru, Seth Godin, recently offered some great thoughts on video about as well.

1. Persistence
   
2. Remove Self-Limiting Inhibitions
   
3. Take Risks, Make Mistakes
   
4. Escape
   
5. Writing Things Down
   
6. Find Patterns & Create Combinations
   
7. Curiosity

And if you’re looking for more thoughts alone these, check out Innovating to Win's additional list.

Innovation. It's all about interactions baby!

I’m finally diving into a great book, Serious Play: How the World’s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate, that a good friend and colleague recommended to me before Christmas. I’m only on page 35 and I’ve already I’ve dog-eared nearly a half dozen pages, so I know already that this one title that I would just be better off purchasing now and adding to my private library.

The intro alone offered up a lot great food for thought and although I’m going to refrain from quoting the book just yet, I did want to jot down my own bit of paraphrasing on this one particular thought:

Innovation is not about creating new ideas; it’s about creating new interactions.

Innovation … from inspiration… to ideas … to implementation … to new interactions. That’s really what the big “i word” is all about. Creating connections that never really existed before and transforming relationships in the process.

On sentence diagrams, innovation and interesting conversations …

Of the many things I’m going to miss about leaving PLCMC, it’s having intriguing conversations and brainstorming sessions with colleagues about ways that libraries are evolving and becoming more innovative.

Oh, I know these type of conversations will happen at CML too. But Tony’s keen talent in drawing connections between foreign ideas and pulling together thoughts so clearly is something I’m definitely going to miss. All I can say is thank goodness he’s blogging. :)

Anyway, here’s a great analogy between writing and sentence diagramming & innovation and dissecting practices …

“Diagramming (analyzing or dissecting) a practice or an organization or a job doesn't create any energy or vitality in it. It simply dissects it. The spirit is in the doing. Innovation is doing...

Reading Florey's book reminds me that dissecting takes away the fluid nature--the very spirit--of language, just like peeling apart the layers of a practice to "make it more innovative" stalls out innovation all together. You can't create a diagram for innovation...

Doing does.”

Tony’s so right… Innovation isn’t about diagramming processes, dissecting practices or identifying elements. It’s about taking ideas, creating action plans, teaming up with motivated colleagues, *doing*, and making magic happen.

PS: Thanks Tony for blogging this. I knew the analogy to the book (when you shared it the first time) was one that I wanted to have written down somewhere to remember. Now I don't have to. :)

On innovation & transformation

Phil McKinney offers up some interesting thoughts on business models and innovation …

"The ultimate objective of any innovation is to transform business and transform lives. How do you know if your innovation is of that transformational kind? Here are my definitions that I use for the different stages/types of business:

• If you charge for undifferentiated stuff, then you are in the commodity business.
  
• If you charge for distinctive/differentiated tangible things, then you are in the goods business.
  
• If you charge for the activities you perform, then you are in the service business.
  
• If you charge for the time customers spend with you, then and only then are you in the experience business.
  
• If you charge for the benefit customers (or "guests") receive as a result of spending that time, you are in the transformation business.

I would argue that to win in the market, you need to aim your innovation efforts towards creating a transformational business."

Although libraries don’t usually “charge” for services, activities or experiences, it’s easy to identify with the business models of goods, services, experiences and transformational. And to echo Phil's thoughts ... I would argue that to excel in the public services market, we need to aim our innovation efforts towards creating transformational libraries.

New Rules of Innovation

FC magazine is monthly must read on my list and their “expert blogs” aren’t far behind. This week, Richard Watson offers up a post on The New Rules for Innovation:

1. None of us are as smart of all of us
   ” When it comes to innovation, a collective effort is more usually the norm... innovation is largely a result of networks… Having said all this, the best way to kill a good idea is to involve a committee, so ensure that there’s someone in charge to bang heads together and, if necessary, dislodge the gridlock.
   
   
2. Pioneers get scalped
   “The theory of first mover advantage is bunk according to Nicolas Carr (author of 'Does IT Matter'), who says that when a disruptive technology arrives the real growth opportunities lie in fixing the disruption.”
   
   
3. The more you try, the luckier you get.
   ““The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.” Innovation is partly a numbers game. Fail often and fail fast and learn from your mistakes.”
   
   
4. Don’t confuse ideas with innovation.
   “Organizations think they can be great at ideas and innovation, when generally speaking they're either good at one or the other.”
   
   
5. If you love something, give it away
   “Got a good idea? Then give it away. In my experience too many people (especially lone inventors) hide their idea from the world in the belief that someone will steal it. Someone might. But at least if you talk to people it gives you the opportunity to polish the idea by rubbing it between your brain and theirs (see rule #1).”
   
   
6. Innovation is about breaking rules, so ignore any or all of the above.

Full post here.

Best practice or fresh practice?

From my new favorite blog, the Idea Sandbox:


Hmmm... gives you something to think about in terms of innovation.

Another innovation thought ...

Don’t be afraid to stretch yourself and work outside of your job description (ie comfort zone). It’s often where the most personal success and innovation can be found.


PS: Thanks Jesscia Hagy for this insightful index card.

Innovation Killers

I think I'd really enjoy meeting and having a dinner conversation with Steven Collins. Here's a slide that I pulled from a recent presentation that he did on Knowledge Worker 2.0



There's a lot of food for thought here and even a few "killers" that really hit home.

Just a few MustBlogThis items

Since the MustBlogThis tag in my del.icio.us has been building up over the last two weeks, I thought I’d just do a list of quick items that have caught or peaked my interest:

• AIM anonymous chat widget - a nice addition to any IM reference service and since AIM is one of the biggest chat clients out there ( and most likely if you’re doing IM, you offer it to AIM accounts) this seems like a no-brainer.
  
  
• On Crowd Sourcing & Sourcing Crowds - “They are getting more entertainment value out of being amateur producers of this stuff than they would purely as consumers” Isn’t that was it’s all about… having an active part in the process, rather then just being on the passive receiving end.
  
  
• Innovation @ Google – Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, talks about the top 9 things that Google has learned about innovation. Great presentation with lots of good thoughts - well worth the watch or listen.
  
  
• We asked for 2.0 Libraries, we got 2.0 Librarians - Ryan Deschamps “In short, the library 2.0 movement was not really about changing libraries, but changing librarians.”
  
  
• Tank Books – Filed under clever advertising pitch, but lousy idea.
  
  And this last one is my favorite which fell by surprise into my RSS feeds for ImaginOn…
  
  
• Behind Blue Eyes - a video created by a teen in Studio I. Be sure to check out the extended notes for the video - “Created at Studio I, took about 4 to 5 visits of 2-4 hours Created using downshooting animation, drawn using a whiteboard.” I luv this --- totally

OK, That’s all… at least for now. Be back later. :)

BTW: Just noticed in my blog stats that this post marks a milestone -- my 500th entry on LibraryBytes. :)

Rules for Innovation

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to hear Lois Kilkka, Library Manager at ImaginOn, speak on the subject of innovation with a group visiting librarians. What Lois shared made me smile soooo much, that I asked her if she mind if I blogged her rules. Of course she said “yes” … so now you can read and smile too!

Ideas for Innovative Programming

• Golden rule of innovation: Say Yes!!!
• If you hire creative staff, every person is a programmer
• Double the fun - work with a partner
• Take advantage of your location – unitize your location's strengths
• Take a risk – say yes first, figure out the other stuff later
• Change the rules – reverse the restrictions (food in libraries, after hours events, etc.)
• Listen to your customers – offer things that fit their needs, not ours
• Let your customers do the programming – you don’t have to do it yourself
• Use what you have – be creative. You don’t need a huge budget to make a huge impact
• Creative technology – beyond online resources and MS Office
• Think big in creating experiences
• Think small in building relationships
• Jump on trends
• Share generously (in staff meetings, with visiting colleagues, at conferences and workshops, on websites)
• Steal shamelessly
• Old dogs, new tricks – take a new look at spaces & things
• Get the word out

I completely love the golden rule ... say YES! :)

Thanks Lois for letting me share these (generously & shamelessly). As always, you rock!!

Photo: Andy Welsh

On Innovation & Overcoming Road Blocks

A great article on innovation appeared on the cover in this week's Business Week titled The World's Most Innovative Companies and although the focus of the piece is geared towards the private sector, there are plenty of observations that can also be applied to the public - including libraries. See if any of these barriers sound familiar...

"The No. 1 obstacle, according to our survey takers, is slow development times. Fast-changing consumer demands, global outsourcing, and open-source software make speed to market paramount today... "Some organizations are nearly immobilized by the notion that [they] can't do anything unless it moves the needle," says Stalk. In addition, he says, speed requires coordination from the hub: "Fast innovators organize the corporate center to drive growth. They don't wait for [it] to come up through the business units."

"A lack of coordination is the second-biggest barrier to innovation, according to the survey's findings. But collaboration requires much more than paying lip service to breaking down silos. The best innovators reroute reporting lines and create physical spaces for collaboration. They team up people from across the org chart and link rewards to innovation. Innovative companies build innovation cultures."

Read the full article here. I think there's a lot of ideas here that any library can adopt.

PS: Thanks Sarah for link and also for continually helping PLCMC strive to be better.

Technorati Tags: Library, Innovation

On Innovation & Popping Bubbles

Wired published a piece on innovation last week titled Good Idea: Reinventing Invention.

"Companies are finding that more and more innovation is coming not from in-house developers, but from users who do their own re-engineering."

For me the above statement mirrors what's also happening in libraries - that our users have become our biggest innovators and are continually popping the technology bubbles that we've in the past often kept ourselves within. I can point to myself here as an example... How often have I said "we can't do that yet, because XX (insert Library vendor here) doesn't support it" The truth is, it's been more often then I care to admit.

When one looks for user-developed Library innovations, there are several recent examples that can be pointed to - Library Elf and Library Thing come to my mind. Both were created by library users (NOT librarians and/or vendors) and both tools are brilliant in meeting users needs! One service offers the ability to catalog books and connect with users who have similar reading interests, the other to access and consolidate (optional) library accounts and send notifications via email, RSS and /or text messaging on a schedule that the user wants. If you haven't guessed by now, I'm a big fan of both. :)

Anyway, my point is this ... I think it's been easy for us as libraries to pigeonhole our users into meeting our business needs first with the services we offer (just think of how many times you've had to assist someone through your catalog and LOC subject headings) rather then allowing them the flexibility to meet their needs how they want to. (Can you guess, I love the idea of social tagging here.)

On a 2.0 note, I'm glad to see that a shift is happening and upcoming Library Camp; a Library 2.0 Unconference, (see SuperPatron Ed Vielmetti's post and AADL/John Blyberg's post for more info) takes this idea of user innovation to whole new level. What a great way to bring together library staff and users to talk about issues, emerging technology trends and ways that we (libraries & users) can work together to advance the shared vision of the Library as a community resource. If you're within driving distance of Ann Arbor, by all means go!!! but if you're not able to make the conference (Alas, I can't either) there's a conference wiki you can check out.

Finally, on an end note to this ramble of a post, I can say that personally I find myself challenging the "vendor doesn't support it yet" excuse more and more. And with projects in development like our Catalog Kiosk, website redesign, and a online credit/debit application for f&f payment, it feels good to be popping our own bubbles for a change rather them waiting for XX Vendor to get around to creating them. After all, our users aren't waiting, so why should we?

Technorati Tags: Library 2.0