The Innovation Superstar

Many misconceptions abound about how to best enable innovation within the enterprise, with businesses and innovation functions (facing both external and internal pressure) often focusing on the short-term and the materialistic rather than long term change. From observing various companies- both public and private- attempt to embed a culture of innovation, it is clear that in many examples what distinguishes those that are successful is not bountiful funding, effective marketing, or involvement from every employee; it is frequently the drive of one individual. This ‘Innovation Superstar’ is not usually the CEO or even at Exec/ Board level, but is exceptionally focused, has a talent for inspiring and motivating, and can deliver on a day-to-day as well as a strategic level.

The Innovation Superstar is an individual who recognises the importance of focusing on the higher objectives of the innovation programme as a whole and does not get diverted by the intricacies or technicalities that other innovation teams will be distracted by (and which they will later use as reasons for their failure). He/ she understands, for example, that creativity will often be needed to overcome the funding hurdle and appreciates that support from the top may not be a given at first. Likewise, he/ she regards failures as an important part of innovation and something to be learned from (rather than give excuses for), and that resources are just tools to be worked with- they can be very useful and instrumental, but should not be the determining factor in the success of the initiative.

Being an Innovation Superstar doesn’t just involve running a project from the business side; a lot of people can deliver, but few are able to remain almost universally respected and well liked whilst doing so.  This talent- an unusual one in the corporate world- is often achieved through a mixture of business success (with a proven track record) and that oft hard-to-find characteristic “likability.” The prevalence of this virtue in Superstars isn’t a coincidence; it’s not easy to implement an innovation programme, and the individual understands that the most effective route to long term success is by making friends, asking favours and co-ordinating their Superstar team rather than burning bridges.

Companies will often not realise how instrumental this individual is, and fail to see that it is the individual rather than the tools that is the cause of any success (thereby assuming that the loss of a Superstar is not a problem as they can achieve the same effect whilst now saving money). If a Superstar is completely unsupported or leaves an organisation, however, it will not be long before the innovation programme is floundering and the excuses begin. Superstars are often amazing individuals but they can’t enact amazing change by themselves; for those companies that do recognise the importance of these individuals, trusting in the Superstar (understanding that some of their working practices will be unconventional, giving them time, and not expecting every venture to be a success), engaging with them (keeping an open communication channel and involving them in wider opportunities- both internal and external) and recognising what they’re trying to do (by both giving them space and highlighting their work when appropriate) can go a long way to help ensure the Innovation Superstar is able to continue doing great work.

Maker’s schedule, Manager’s schedule

Reading an interesting post by Paul Graham (of Y Combinator) on distinguishing between two types of schedule -the “Manager’s schedule” and the “Maker’s schedule” (the premise being that the former relies on and arranges their day around meetings, whereas the latter’s productivity is completely interrupted by them). This paragraph is an interesting insight in to how Paul dealt with different working practices when he was in a startup:

“When we were working on our own startup, back in the 90s, I evolved another trick for partitioning the day. I used to program from dinner till about 3 am every day, because at night no one could interrupt me. Then I’d sleep till about 11 am, and come in and work until dinner on what I called “business stuff.” I never thought of it in these terms, but in effect I had two workdays each day, one on the manager’s schedule and one on the maker’s.”

You can read more of the article here.

(With thanks to Hutch Carpenter for spotting this.)

Adventures of a Mac newbie

Having been a lifelong subscriber to the PC club, I recently switched to using a Mac. The following thoughts may be of use to others considering making the change…

Chapter 1: Scene setting
Three months ago I had never used a Mac except in PC World, and that was just for the novelty. I was a firm cynic, holding fast to the commonly-heard line that I was used to Windows and just wouldn’t be able to work as effectively with anything else. Don’t get me wrong- I’m certainly not a Microsoft evangelist and I’ve even dabbled with Linux in my time, but I was so used to PCs I just didn’t envisage the switch being simple.

Chapter 2: A change
Two and a half months ago, however, with a change in job, a bit of press-ganging from colleagues, and the necessity of carrying something lighter than a brick, I decided to go for it and switched to a 13″ MacBook Air for work.

Chapter 3: The first experience
“Oooooh the box” (someone at Apple puts a serious amount of thought into packaging) and ”Ooooooh it’s so thin” (it is really thin) were my very first reactions. When I actually got down to using it, however, I’ll admit there was some confusion. This can probably be summarised as the ‘top 4 things most Mac newbies ask’:

Q1. How do I install things when there’s no CD drive?
A: Most things I needed were already installed, and there hasn’t yet been a single occasion when I’ve needed a CD drive. And if I really needed one I could buy an external drive.
Q2. Eugh, the connections are all wrong… how do I connect to an overhead projector or ethernet cable?
A: There were convertors hidden under a secret panel (ok not that secret, I just didn’t look properly) in the laptop box. It is a bit of a pain having to use convertors, but it’s certainly not been a deal breaker.
Q3. Where’s my right click gone?
A: A Mac-savvy colleague showed me how to configure the laptop to turn right click on.
Q4: How do I cope without Outlook?
A: At the moment Outlook calendar doesn’t sync with Google calendar. Microsoft say this issue will be resolved by June 2011, but in the mean time there are workarounds. A popular choice is PostBox with BusyCal for your calendar, though I’ve decided to stick with Gmail and use Nested Labels (enabled through Gmail Labs) for folders.
Q5. How do I connect to the wifi? (A 5th question just for me as I was being a bit special.)
A: It’s simple. The problem was that my internet wasn’t working.

Chapter 4: Time passes…
I’ll admit that it has taken me some time to get used to a few of the Mac quirks (such as the occasionally vibrating laptop case (according to the Apple Geniuses this is quite normal), the missing keyboard keys (what was the logic behind removing “#”? Probably the same logic that blocks Flash on iPhones…), Microsoft software’s lack of acceptable integration with Mac (I would avoid the software if I could, but there are certain products I need to work effectively with my colleagues), and the lack of a task bar (I’m still finding the Apple system slower to navigate than a PC)).

These things aside, however, I have found the Mac quite beautifully simple to pick up. No User Manual needed (which is good, because there’s isn’t really one)- just switch on and go (literally. It takes about 20 seconds for the Mac to start up). Neat features like Exposé and Spaces are great to show off (Linux offers similar features but for some reason Microsoft hasn’t yet deemed them necessary), and the little things like sound effects and bouncing dock icons amuse me (though I’m sure the novelty will wear off).

Chapter 5: Secrets (or, A few gems I’ve found along the way)
There are a few nifty workarounds and pieces of free software that I’ve discovered or been recommended in the last few months that I’ve found really useful and which have made the transition to Mac that bit smoother:

Hidden goodies included in the Mac
Grab- located in Applications/ Utilities. Amongst other things, this allows you to do a timed print screen shot- i.e. screen image is taken 10 seconds after you say go.
DigitalColor Meter- located in Applications/ Utilities. This pinpoints what RGB colour something on your screen is. Very useful for photo editing or design work.
Auto-arrange doc and folder icons. It annoyed me that document icons weren’t lining up automatically.
Stickies- nothing new with these- they’re post-it notes that show up on your dashboard. I missed them when I thought they weren’t included though.

Useful add-ons
Chrome, and Awesome Screenshot for Chrome. Really handy screenshot programme.
Skype (for telephone calls), Spotify (for music), and VLC (for watching films).
DropBox. I keep all my files in DropBox so I can access them from anywhere, including on my phone.
WINE + PlayOnMac. Useful if  you need to test websites in IE6 and don’t have an additional Windows machine or want to install Windows on your Mac.
TextWrangler- a simple programme for looking at code.
TeamViewer. A great little programme that enables our company’s remote support to access and control my computer and tell me what I’m doing wrong!

Chapter 6: A conclusion
I certainly wasn’t a convert to Mac straight away, and did find it very useful to be able to ask questions to Mac gurus during the first few weeks. The “aaah” moment for me came after about a month, when a plane I was due to travel on was delayed and I was able to whip out my super-light laptop and be working on it within 5 seconds; since then I think it’s fair to say that I have (much to my own surprise) joined the gang who “go Mac and never go back.” Without wishing to turn this in to too much of an Apple Fan-girl blog post (well, more than it already is), I do understand why I’ve never met a dissatisfied Mac user (or one who “did go back”). I can certainly say this- if I need to use a PC in a future job I will be grumbling about it!

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If anyone else has made the transition and has other tips and tricks that would be useful to newbies please share them in the comments. Likewise, if you’re thinking about making the switch and have any questions get in touch- I will give a balanced view (honest!).

Creating a culture that encourages innovation

‘Innovation’ is quite the buzz word within businesses looking to beat the recession, keep a competitive edge, or move in a different direction. Talking about innovation is far from actively encouraging and implementing it, however. For it to be truly engrained in the organisation a shift in the culture, as well as a change in processes, is required. The culture shift won’t happen overnight, but the following pointers will go some way to encouraging and embedding a culture that is open to change and new ways of thinking:

1. Management


Set innovation targets.
Highlight results at the top level of the organisation, and have retributions if targets aren’t met. Though this will sit uncomfortably with many and take effort to implement, formalising innovation is the quickest and help ensure it actually happens.

Don’t leave employees’ ideas hanging.
Have a process for capturing ideas and feedback from all levels of the organisation, and be honest and open (ask yourself ‘why can’t I say this’ rather than ‘can I say this’) in your responses to them. Give justifiable explanations for both no’s and yes’s.

Engage employees with the whole change, decision making and delivery process, empowering employees to develop and test ideas themselves. Consider creating a skunkworks team to better enable this, and link the team to a formal process so that potential successes aren’t lost.

Give rewards.
Rewards don’t have to be financial; often recognition is enough. Rewards will visibly verify the acceptance of change (therefore encouraging it further) and demonstrate the type of change the organisation is looking for.

Encourage employee movement.
Encourage moves both within and outside (for example as loans or secondments) the organisation. Changing employees’ physical environment will speed the impression that change is acceptable, enable employees to develop cross-organisation and sector networks, and encourage fresh viewpoints in different business areas.

Don’t punish employees who do things differently.
Channel their creativity. Having innovation ambassadors (who can advise and coordinate) in different areas of the organisation can help align employees’ creativity with the organisation’s strategic goals.

Make employees comfortable with what is happening, and give them options.
The organisation is about to go through a lot of upheaval, and employees will be understandably concerned and averse to rocking the boat. Make them comfortable with making suggestions by formalising the process and setting examples, and if people will need to leave make the process as painless as possible. Be prompt with information, honest about what is happening, and creative in alternatives. Some organisations, for example, offer employees grants to start their own business if they take redundancy.

2. Employees

Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has just joined the organisation.
Question everything. Accept nothing if it doesn’t make business or logical sense.

Have side projects.
Work with people inside and outside the organisation. Don’t be concerned if nothing comes of them; the networks you build and additional knowledge you gain will be invaluable.

Don’t fight the dinosaurs (at least not at first).
Long-term employees of the organisation may be averse to change at first. Work with them rather than against them; their knowledge and insights are likely to be invaluable (as written about previously).

Embrace opportunities
Say yes to everything- try new things, create new networks, don’t be afraid to leave your comfort zone. If the organisation is truly committed to change then it is those who aren’t afraid to adapt that will do well. If they aren’t really committed then question whether it’s somewhere you want to work.

Push things, but don’t burn all your bridges (or if you do- have options)
Innovation isn’t all about disruption; work- at least some of the time- within the innovation processes the organisation has laid out. They are often more likely to ensure that the idea or feedback is actually taken on board. A certain amount of rule bending is usually necessary… just make sure you have a back up plan if you decide to push it as too far.

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Do you have an example of an organisation that has attempted this sort of culture change? Please tell me about them if you do- I would love to hear about success stories as well as those that haven’t worked so well.

‘Innovation at the sharp end’- a Fujitsu discussion evening

On Wednesday evening I attended Fujitsu’s ‘Innovation at the sharp end- How can organisations turn good ideas into bottom-line growth?’ Amongst other speakers (namely, David Smith, Fujitsu UK and Ireland CIO & CTO and Mario King, VocaLink CEO), Matt Kingdon of ?WhatIf! gave an engaging presentation on Freeing the radicals: how to manage the innovation challenge. Amongst talk of the need to have a pocket universe, Matt outlined his 5 levers of change. These are worth sharing here:

1. Hunger- your innovation team needs it.
2. Battle-scars- you need the A team because there will be no second chances. They need to be credible, and have a reputation for collaboration. They should be ambitious, but their ego should not be bigger than their ambition.
3. Uncommon connections- should be made between people and things.
4. Shape relentlessly- volume is important.
5. Destroy ‘the way we work around here’- question everything.

(Notes not made verbatim so this summary may differ slightly from what was said.)

Two other points to note from what Matt said; he stressed the importance of getting a result and having a good story (which can be hard as change takes time and commitment), and the necessity to ‘roll up your sleeves and get something done.’ All good points and well explained.

The talk finished with a bit of audience participation. The attendees, all of whom were senior executives, were asked to vote on ‘Do your leaders want innovation?’ These are the results:

66% want innovation but don’t know how to make it happen.
11% want innovation and have a plan.
20% mention it but don’t really mean it.
3% never mention it.

The figures speak for themselves, but it’s worth noting that they indicate that innovation is clearly a popular topic… the barrier comes when trying to convert the fashionable term in to real action and results.

The Gov Bug

Influencing government through pressure groups and protests has been common practice within society for centuries. Alternative (and potentially more direct and powerful) methods of impacting authority and creating positive good for people are increasingly coming to the fore, however. These methods- which can be both constructive and destructive- use technology rather than letter-writing or marching as their tool.

Destructive or controversial approaches, such as using group force to take websites offline, avoiding police during protests, hacking secure websites, and leaking stories, are well publicised.

Less well documented, however, are the more ‘constructive’ or less controversial efforts by a group affectionately named the ‘gov-geeks.’ This term encompasses a huge amount of organisations (such as FutureGov), groups of people, events,  and individuals (too many to name!- but some are listed here), who sit outside of government but who are doing great things by actively influencing and improving government through technology. These people enjoy and actively go out of their way to help improve society for others. It’s cheesy but I’ll say it anyway- they have the ‘gov bug’.

The gov-geeks are not a new group, and their efforts aren’t completely unpublicised (some of them were responsible for a platform that helped save lives following the Haiti earthquake, and recently one 16 year old individual’s hack-day app was taken on by Number 10, for example). In the main, however, they are a quiet yet ever bubbling presence that influences through doing, not just talking. Their increasing presence is obvious just from the number of technology/ government related (but not affiliated) events that have taken place in the UK over the last year:

Unconferences
UK Gov Camp (January 2011- the fourth annual event of its kind)
Rewired State (numerous throughout the year, including Young Rewired State)
Open Gov Data Camp (November 2010)
CityCamp London (October 2010, with a Manchester event currently being organised)
ScotGovCamp (July 2010)
Local by Social (June 2010)
LocalGovCamp (various including Yorkshire and the Humber, and London in February 2010)
Hyperlocal camps (various, including West Midlands)

Meet-ups/ discussions
WordPress in Whitehall
TeaCamps (first Thursday of every month)
Institute for Government talks
Intellect (including Intellect Young Professionals)

Note- this post refers specifically to events and trends within the UK. Equally interesting things are happening in the US (for example through Obama’s data.gov and the City of Manor) and around the world, but I’ll save them for another post.

(With thanks to the ukgovcamp website and Paul Clarke’s photostream for input to this list.  The list is not exhaustive- if I have missed anything obvious please let me know and I will add it.)

It is clear that the enthusiasm is there, and that people with talent are getting organised. It is also clear that in many situations the individuals involved are able to ‘just do it’ and have a positive impact without much aid or engagement from political leaders.  There does appear to be some frustration from attendees, however, due to the continued lack of senior individuals who are learning from and engaging with such groups and events. This is described as a key input by (local) gov 2.0 champion Dominic Campbell, and evidenced in both a previous blog post about attendance at CityCamp London and in tweets such as this:

Now, my first reaction to this observation was to decry the lack of engagement as a travesty, and to state that what engagement there is is currently not managed intelligently or at a sufficient level to enable the participants to feel they are making the difference they have the potential to. My outburst went on to suggest that that this demonstrates a lack of understanding about the insight and help that is being offered and the potential influence the groups can have. Discussing the matter with Dave Briggs has encouraged me to look at it from a different angle, however. Dave suggests that the lack of involvement isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and that it may even have benefits:

“All the groups and initiatives you describe are ‘un-organised’ and that is a part of their charm and the reason they work… the process has to be a careful one, for if GovCamp were to be overrun by senior management, the tone would change dramatically and the event might collapse under itself.”

I agree that it’s a hard mix to get right- you want certain people to hear about what’s going on, but don’t want them to take over or intimidate those involved. So appropriate engagement (not controlling, but engaging and listening) is key. On this topic, Dave proposes:

“What’s required isn’t for the managers to come to GovCamp, but for them to put into place proper innovation processes to allow the people who do go to flourish, to act on the inspiration and ideas they get on the day, to actually make the change they need to.”

In other words it’s the support and the provision of tools- the enablers- that are most needed. The Directgov- led Innovation Hub and (less so, but it had potential) the Spending Challenge website demonstrate a start, but they are only a start. I still think that some amount of direct involvement is essential to highlight what’s going on and how it can help; processes take time, and observing and interacting is immediate and can accelerate the introduction of formal processes. Inputs from the likes of Tom Watson MP and Mark O’Neil (CIO of DCMS and DCLG) are great but there are so many other people who should be listening.

Will the recognition and ease of input to government increase? Yes- inevitably: such groups and events are, as Dave concludes, “growing in size and popularity… to the point where it is difficult for the leaders to ignore them.” Whether the change will continue to be push rather than pull, and whether an event (lets not forget the skills and reach that these groups possess, and the infectious enthusiasm the participants have) will accelerate matters remains to be seen.

Written with many thanks to Dave Briggs and his relentless optimism!

An update

As some as you may have seen, I have recently left the Civil Service to join the exciting and rapidly growing innovation management company Spigit. I will be working in their newly formed UK office (based in TechHub).

I enjoyed the challenges and opportunities that the Civil Service and the Technology in Business Fast Stream presented, and have learnt a lot from my experience there- some of which is commented on in this blog. Working in a fast paced private sector (a first time for me- having previously working for both the third and public sectors) start-up will present different challenges, but ones that I can’t wait to start tackling.

I am passionate about working for and delivering quality services to the public, and that passion will not end with my departure from the Civil Service. I will certainly continue my involvement in events and activities (such as unconferences and meet-ups) associated with the government, and hope that my involvement with Spigit will better enable me to learn about and spread innovation, change and alternative thinking.

I will continue to post to this blog and look forward to interacting with and meeting many more of you in the future!