Ryan C

ole

man |

Eat:

Str

ate

gy C

onfe

rence |

July

18,

2012

Technology

Experience

Design

Facilitation

My career has continually evolved at the

intersection of these three areas…

… today I’m an ‘Innovation Catalyst’ at a

large financial institution in Canada.

in·no·va·tion

Source: Merriam Webster

I think too often, Innovation gets painted as

being something sexier, more magic than it

really is.

Innovation

And people frequently make the mistake of

lumping all innovation in one bucket

together

When in reality, as a co-worker cleanly

broke it down for me, there’s actually

three main types of innovation…

New to the world

New To The World: Something brand

spanking new and never seen before

New to the market New to the world

New To The Market: Maybe it’s been done

before, but not in the space your business

operates in…

New to us New to the market New to the world

New To Us: It’s been done before but inside

the organization…

New to us New to the market New to

the world

And in corporate innovation, the reality is

probably more like this… New to the world

is a rare beast.

Innovation is something that emerges from

a healthy, productive environment that

encourages ideas and exploration…

The same way you can’t just point at

someone and say “Be Funny” – it takes

practice and the right environment to make

it happen.

Anyone can have ideas… it’s the people

who execute and deliver that can capitalize

on them.

And above all, it’s important to remember

that innovation = change. And most people

hate change, and fight it.

So how do you

get anything done?

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY MADE BLANK

You need to get people to drop their

baggage and start with a clean slate. You

have to make time to help this happen.

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY MADE BLANK

I’ve spent half of a full day workshop just

working to clean the slate and have

everyone start from an open-minded

perspective

Updates /

Check-ins

Zone of

Suck Getting @#!% Done

Meetings should be brief check-ins or long

workshops. Getting @#!% done takes time &

momentum.

Updates /

Check-ins

Zone of

Suck Getting @#!% Done

If a checkpoint/update meeting takes more

than 30 minutes people zone out...

Updates /

Check-ins

Zone of

Suck Getting @#!% Done

In a 2 hour meeting everyone hits their

stride right at the end & it’s not something

you can just ‘pick up’ next week.

Too often we come at things from the

perspective of permission. We ask IF, not

HOW and get shut down…

By posing a question as “How?” you

eliminate the no and invite them to start a

dialogue around a solution.

At worst, “You Can’t” lets you ask “Why?”

and helps you figure out how to either fix

the challenge or work around it.

Like in Jurassic Park, how they talked about

the Raptors testing the fences looking for

weaknesses…

… you need to make sure you keep prodding

until you find (or force) an open door.

I had one project that took a year of

asking, but one day I caught the door open

and within 8 weeks we had a new solution.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. In an

organization change is a big, complicated

thing. People get paralyzed just thinking

about all the things you need to think...

… about all the things you need to think

about to make change happen . Break your

idea into smaller chunks, figure out what

smaller tasks you can accomplish now to set

the groundwork for your bigger idea.

Figure out your elevator pitch, share it with

whoever will listen. Place your idea in the

consciousness of the organization…

… You never know who might recall your

conversation at a key moment. Make your

points brief & memorable.

You are

here. Innovation is an uphill battle and no one

will hold the ball on the hill for you if you

step away.

Consensus doesn’t mean everyone agrees

100% and skips off down the yellow brick

road to Oz together…

Practical consensus is getting people to a

point where they agree ENOUGH to move

forward…

Acknowledge and address concerns but

don’t let them hold you back. “What-ifs”

are an Innovation killer…

Find a way to capture, assure the resistor

that it will get addressed when appropriate

and ask to move on.

Find this deck at:

http://bit.ly/eatstrat12-rc

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Blog:

http://ryancoleman.ca