Change Drains, Innovation Ignites

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The key to thriving in a struggling economy is Creating a Culture of Innovation

Understanding where we have gone wrong begins with looking at hard facts and asking a hard question.

1. Hard Facts:

  1. 70% of organizational change initiatives ultimately fail

  2. The average person makes the same New Year’s resolution 10 times without success.

  3. 95% of those who lose weight on a diet regain it.

2. Hard Question:

If NOBODY LIKES CHANGE and we fail miserably almost 3/4th of the time why do we insist on continuing to do what seldom works?

3.   We fail to solve our failures to change by failing to question the process. 

If these first three steps make sense you are well on our way to understanding the key differences between change and innovation.

Advocates for Innovation follow a five step process of“renewing or improving”.  

  1. Creating awareness

  2. Forming an attitude

  3. Making a decision to adopt of reject

  4. Applying the idea

  5. Testing the results

Proponents of top down organizational change believe steps 1-3 belong in the “ivory tower”, step 4 should be applied without question by “4. Employees” and 5 should be avoided unless it confirms 1-3 or can be blamed on 4.

Individuals attempting to change themselves (or others) fare no better for exactly the same reasons. They spend little effort on 1-3 creating minimal commitment to 4 and seldom define quantifiable ways to measure 5.

Innovation is the answer but there is one more ingredient that must not be ignored, culture.

Culture is defined as the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent.

A culture of innovation inspires, energizes, and includes everyone.

Being Vs. Doing

Most efforts to change fail because they are initiated from the top down or outside in.  Sustainable innovation, both personal and organizational, is generated from the inside out.  This is one of the reasons behind our “Bee” characters.  Most people follow the Do, Have, Be approach to change, believing that if they do the right things they will have what they desire and be everything they imagined.  The problem with this approach is that it occasionally works (10% of the time) and therefore we keep doing more and more further cementing a habit that is not only unproductive but unhealthy.

Innovation IgnitesInnovation Ignites
Innovation as the name suggests begins on the inside.  Steps 1-3 form the basis of our worldview our “Bee-ing”.  Once we change how we see ourselves or our organizations both the “path” to our goal and the “power” to get there are unleashed.  Doing change is an effort driven process of pushing against what we don’t want.  Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight by “not eating the chocolate cake” knows the result.  Anything we picture pulls us in the direction of that picture.

Change Drains
The need for change implies we were not only doing something wrong, but that we were wrong.  The feeling of being wrong has an incredibly powerful influence.  In the midst of having a great day we can make one mistake and that is all we think about on our way home.   We are hard wired to notice and remember anything that feels like a threat.  The feeling of being wrong is tremendously threatening.

Innovation in contrast implies something completely different.  It sends our brains, and even more importantly our emotions, the message that we are doing well and maybe we can do even better.

 Which would you rather do?  Manage change or lead innovation?

Creating a Culture of Innovation is available as a compelling keynote, transformational training seminar or consulting contract.

Key components include:

  1. Assessing your current culture

  2. Earning trust through transparency

  3. Contact Red Shoe Solutions

    Contact Red Shoe Solutions

    Identifying your REAL starting point

  4. Encouraging leaders to turn their org charts upside down

  5. Designing a “Value Adding” employee centricity

  6. Disempowering “Zom-Bees”, “Catstrophizers” and Terrorizers

  7. Creating a systemic approach to innovation through experimentation

  8. Using Free Facebook style tools for channeling collaboration and exalting education.

  9. Overcoming the “not by job” inertia

  10. Defeating the “Yes Buts” of perpetual procrastination

All while fostering a community energized by the power of productive play.  See how Peer Powered Performance can help you.

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