E201 – Innovation Starts with “I”
Helene Blowers, Director, Digital Strategy
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Tony Tallent, Director of Youth & Outreach Services
Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC)
Are you the jelly, the sandwich, or the cellophane?
Talking about ingredients today
- Process improvement
- Thinking outside the box
Innovation is and intersections of ideas
- It is about doing new things
- Putting it into action
Book: The Seeds of Innovation by Elaine Dundon
What do your want? What do you need?
- Efficiency
- Evolutionary
- Revolutionary
Innovation is about doing new things and making them fresh
4 components of “I”
- creativity
- strategy
- implementation
- profitability
I am an innovator
- I have ideas
- I have done my homework
- I’ll do the initial legwork
- I am capable of more that my job description
- I am a leader, too
- I take risks with you
- I offer you a framework
- I put resources behind my expectations
- I create growth opportunities
- I SUPPORT your work
- I celebrate your success
- I take risks with you
Know your ingredients… then blend well.
Plant seeds – sprinkling your organization with ideas
- you may create some wild success
Strategy = change agent
- propose
- plan
- implement
Make it believable
- Mission
- Vision
- Values
- Tell a story about how someone’s life will be changed by this
Create alliances
- get people on your side
Test drive your ideas
- prototype it
- Can’t just say “it’s really cool”
- Give it a test run
- your branches are test labs
Don’t ask for permission – ask for support
Never sell your ideas on paper
- sell your vision personally
What does innovation or wild success look like to you?
- happiness
- crazy
- magic
- panic?
- NOT business as usual
If your not having failures, you’re not being innovative enough
7 habits of highly innovative people
- Persistence
- Remove self-limiting inhibitions
- Take risks, make mistakes
- Escape
- Write things down
- Find patterns & create connections
- Stay curious
