How to Turn Innovation Into a Conversation

//How do leaders create an atmosphere that encourages innovation? Join Andrea as she discusses how leaders can tap into their team members’ gifts and engage their own motivators for solving company problems.

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Transcript

Hey, hey!  It’s Andrea and welcome to the Voice of Influence podcast.  A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Vital Germaine who is an author and a speaker, who also used to perform with Cirque du Soleil.  And he has some really interesting perspectives on innovation, on how to tap into people’s innate ability to create their intuition and their childlike capacity for resilience.  We talked about that.  Then last week, Rosanne and I kind of debriefed on the conversation – which was really another fun conversation actually.

And today, I’m going to kind of break things down a little bit more into some practical application.  So, the main goal that we’re talking about today is this idea of cultivating an innovation mindset and an innovation culture where innovation thrives.  Tapping into people’s creativity and their human capacity for problem solving is always, always important.  But it is even more important when the world is changing at such a quick pace, when things just do not stay the same, you are met with new challenges, were met with new opportunities – things have to change.

There are plenty of global crises that we have to adjust for, and that can be hard.  It’s painful to change, but we have to.  And each organization is having to navigate all of these new things that are taking place right now, whether it be a global pandemic or the pace of technology’s rise, and how we’re using social media and how we’re navigating those questions of ethics and responsibility.

If you’re in an organization that needs to be able to change, even for organizations who have a customer service team.  A lot of times customer service teams are measured based on certain metrics, how much time they spend on a call, whether or not they’re able to solve the problem – a number of different things can come up.  And those measurements are important.  But even more important can be the insights gained from the people who are actually talking to your customers.  So, insights gained and the problems that they see, maybe problems that they know how to solve.  They have ideas to solve.

So, even in an industry, where metrics and being careful are very important, there are still going to be things that need to change.  So, how are we going to tackle change?  How are we going to make it okay for somebody to share their voice, to share their ideas, to bring up problems that arise?

There are a couple things I want to talk about with that in mind today.  One of the examples that Vital gave was, in Cirque du Soleil, if you have to jump from one pole to another, the choreographer could tell you what to do.  They could certainly say, you need to do this move from here to here.  But what Cirque du Soleil does differently than let’s say the Olympics gymnast is that they often give the opportunity to the artist, the dancer, the acrobat to find out, “Well, what could you do?”  “So, we need you to be able to jump from this pole to this pole at this part in the show.”  “What are some ideas that you have that you could do?”

This allows the person who is performing to be able to think about, “Well, I’m really good at doing this flip or this twist, and I love to be able to throw my arms out or not or this is what I would be more comfortable doing because we’re going to be at this height,” that sort of thing.  So, it gives that person the opportunity to consider, “Okay, so I know what the goal is.  There’s a problem to solve here.  But I’m not having to do exactly what they’re telling me to do.  I don’t have to fit into this particular way of doing it.  They’re giving me the opportunity to think through what I could do.”  And very oftentimes, what the person comes up with is even better than what the choreographer might have come up with.

So, this idea of giving people a little leeway, a little bit of opportunities to share their ideas, to problem solve for themselves is really important, but how do we do this?  There are a few things that we need to do when we’re giving somebody the opportunity to come up with a solution on their own.  First of all, we need to be really clear about what the problem is.  Why is this a problem?  Who is it a problem for?  How is it impacting the customer?  How is it impacting us as a team?  How is it impacting different areas and stakeholders?

Then what are the specific parameters around ideation?  So, rather than just giving them the problem and saying that we need to move from, you know, this pole to that pole, there needs to be a very clear set of parameters.  So, what exactly are the must haves?  What do you have to be able to do?  Well, maybe the person needs to go from this height to that height?  Maybe it has to happen within this particular timeframe?  Maybe it is something that you need to be able to do with somebody else?

What are those parameters for this specific problem that they’re going to be solving for?  And then what are they can’t haves?  So, we certainly don’t want you to fall from pole to pole.  Maybe we can’t go over this amount of time.  So, there are a number of things then that we can kind of think through, “Well, what is it that you need to make sure to do?  And what is it that you need to make sure that you don’t do?”  And everybody just needs to know this so that they feel more comfortable with the parameters that they’ve been given so that they know, “Okay, I’ve got a chance to succeed here because I know what’s expected of me.

But then also, that is the next question, how do we know if we’re going to succeed?  So, one of the things that is important in a situation like this is to make the ideation, the creation, the problem solving, make that a conversation, so that the other person isn’t having to come up with a full plan and then bring it to you and then it’s rejected or accepted.  Or that if they bring it to you and you need to make adjustments to that plan that they feel defeated in some way.

Everybody, including the person who’s working on this problem needs to know that this is a conversation.  So, whatever you come up with is going to be refined, is going to be a part of the conversation with others in order to make sure that we bring a full set of perspectives to this situation.  So, this is sort of like a rough draft.  I’ve talked about rough drafts a lot, especially when it comes to innovation.  We have to think in terms of, this is a rough draft that we’re going to get other people involved with to make sure that we’re clarifying things as we go and getting it better and better.

All right.  The second thing that we’re going to mention here is, are you grading on performance?  With creativity and ideation, it is important that we don’t grade each other on our ideas.  We can certainly turn those into that dialogue there I was just talking about without having to say, but you didn’t do this, right and you didn’t do this right, and that sort of thing.  So, we know that we have these parameters.  We know that we have a certain timeline that we need to get this done.  Those certainly matter and we can hold each other accountable under those things.  But the idea itself shouldn’t be graded.  The idea itself could be part of this dialoge where it can grow.  And even if you don’t think that you are grading on performance, per se, it can definitely feel like we’re being graded on our performance on our ideas.

So, how do we cultivate that feeling of safety, where we can bring ideas to the table without feeling stupid about speaking up and saying something?  One of the situations that I’ve been in before, I was on a team where we were putting together different programs.  And the person who was in charge said, “We’re gonna do a brainstorming session.”  And that means that there’s this umbrella of grace – meaning that we didn’t have to worry about what other people were thinking.  We’re just throwing out ideas.  We don’t have to feel personally connected and tied to those ideas, but we can throw those out.  We can dialogue.  We’re all working toward the same goal of achieving a feeling or achieving a performance or a program that is going to provide something special to the audience.

So, under that umbrella of grace then, it can be a conversation, it can be a dialogue.  It’s working together to make that into a great solution, instead of having to give somebody this task of coming up with a solution to a problem then bringing that solution or problem, and then you rejecting it or you changing it.  And it’s almost like feeling like you’re being graded by a teacher, “Well, this doesn’t quite make it.”  “This doesn’t quite fit.”  “I don’t know.”  And, of course, it doesn’t always quite fit.  There are tons of things that need to be revised in the middle of the process of creation and ideation.

So, we need to get used to that idea.  One of the things that we can do to cultivate that kind of feeling is to stick with curiosity, ask questions, how did you come up with that solution?  What does that get you?  Where does that get the audience?  How does this impact the customer?  How could you see this working in this context?  What would you do if we moved these three pieces around?  Would that still work?  Asking these kinds of questions allows the other person to continue to think and continue to problem solve with you.

And as you ask those questions, it is not like you’re grading them, you’re simply entering into that dialogue with the other person.  And then you get to be a part of this innovative process as well.  So, innovation is really a conversation.  It’s a dialogue, not a test.  This is very important.  It is a rough draft that needs editing, not a product to critique.  And it is important in the process of dialogue and editing and thinking that we really do show respect for one another, that we demonstrate safety, that this is a safe place.

You don’t have to be perfect.  We don’t expect perfection.  We’re looking for ideas.  We’re looking for growth.  We’re looking for this to continue to move forward.  And ultimately, we’re looking for the best way that we can connect our gifts, our expertise, our products and services with the need that’s in the world.  So, how can we best do that.  And if you’ve got other people on board who feel free and safe to be able to share their ideas without worrying about being judged, without worrying about being told that their ideas are bad or that they’re so off course, or whatever it might be that, then they’re going to feel more comfortable.  They’re going to feel like they can say something.

So, safety and insignificance.  If you’ve been around at all, you know where I’m headed because I’m talking about the Deep Impact method and how we can apply that also to innovation.  So, safety, significance – which is communicating that you respect the other person, “I’m for you, I respect you.”  And as the person who is putting themselves out there, you have to believe that you matter.  You have to believe that what you’re contributing here matters.

So, even if your ideas don’t end up getting used, it is important to remember that you’re still part of that dialogue, you’re still part of that creative process.  So, even if the idea itself didn’t get used, it might be a jumping point.  It might help somebody else to see “Oh, well, actually, that isn’t what I’m looking for, but that helps me to see what I am looking for.”  And that is super helpful when you’re trying to solve problems.

So, even if your idea doesn’t get used, you matter in this process, and that’s what it is.  It’s just a process.  It’s a dialogue.  It’s a conversation, and then finally challenged.  So, how are we going to make this even better, expect to be challenged, expect to be questioned, not in an interrogation kind of a way, but in that curiosity – we’re all seeking this better solution together and we’re working on this together in that kind of way.

And when we do that, when you do that, when you create an environment where people feel comfortable to share their ideas, when they know that they’re not expected to be perfect, then you’re going to find the people are more alive and activated, more willing to share their ideas to bounce things off of one another, to continue to try and even to fail.  And it’s totally fine because it’s not failure, it’s just part of the conversation.  It’s part of the process.

And if you want help with any of this, you know where to go, you can go to voiceofinfluence.net.  Hit that contact button and we’ll set up a call.  Your voice matters and you can make it matter more!

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