Jeff Degraff's Blog, page 4

Office Hours with Jeff DeGraff – Matthew VanBesien

Office Hours with Jeff DeGraff is a video series where the Dean of Innovation interviews thought leaders on the broad subject of innovation. These thought leaders come from various background but all share insight from their personal and professional experience that can be adapted to foster innovation either in a business setting or in your personal lives.

In this episode, Jeff interviews Matthew VanBesien, President of the University Musical Society and former President of the New York Philharmonic. Together, they discuss how art and innovation have much more in common then we think.

 

 

Discover the power of constructive conflict and how it can help foster innovation. By reading The Innovation Code, you will learn how to harness tension and transform it into positive energy to successfully implement your innovation projects.

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What are some steps companies can take to create a culture of innovation?

Here are some ways to promote creative culture within your organization:

Create a safe collaborative space: Collaborative innovation comes in many forms and kinds. From brainstorming sessions like innovation jams to crowd funding, these forms of growth all mobilize a diverse group of people with a variety of skills. The benefits to joint innovation efforts are plenty: the global scale of the initiative, the rapidity of experimentation, the reservoirs of outside talent, the guaranteed wider array of solutions. See this post on how to create a respectful ideation space.
Avoid getting stuck in the center: When a large team of people has ideas and they all share them, there’s the danger that everyone will get pulled to the center and be reduced to something unexceptional. Don’t let the multiplicity of ideas at a brainstorming session get flattened out into a mass of mediocrity. Keep challenging yourself and those around you to go outside of the expected limits and boundaries of your project.
Surround yourself with people unlike you: Find the people who can fill in your blind spots and help you with things you don’t know. This means embracing individuals you may have nothing in common with: thinkers who see the world differently than you do. Gather the talents of those who can teach you and give you things that you cannot give yourself.
Remember the importance of expertise: Collaboration assumes a horizontal structure of activity. That is, everyone involved is suddenly on the same level. This democratic attitude can be a great thing, yet people sometimes forget the centrality of expertise. Don’t just solicit the opinion of the masses when you’re building your innovation team–find experts in the fields relevant to your initiative.
Stop starting and start stopping: What if the key to innovation isn’t starting something new? What if the real secret is stopping something old? You don’t have the capacity – the time, resources or energy – to do the new things because you are busy maintaining the old ones. Starting new things is easy. You just add an app or expand your workday a couple of hours. Stopping things is hard. It’s full of feelings of loss, disappointment and failure. It takes more than creativity. It takes courage to stop what you’ve been doing to make room for the things your organization wants to start doing now.
Assemble your innovation advisory board: Assemble a group of bright, energetic thinkers, your organization can trust. Use them to brainstorm and bounce off ideas. Unlike a board of directors, which is subject to influence by outside financial interests like investors, a board of advisers has no vested interest in your company. Rather, they are committed solely to developing ideas and sharing and exchanging knowledge. The advisory board does the work that the organization can’t. Seek out people with extensive experience in their fields or can partner with you, such as customers, the community, investors, regulators, trendsetters and visionary revolutionaries.

The following video about how to create an idea space might also be useful.

This question originally appeared on Quora .

 

Discover the power of constructive conflict and how it can help foster innovation. By reading The Innovation Code, you will learn how to harness tension and transform it into positive energy to successfully implement your innovation projects.

Learn More

Soundview Webinar

Jeff did a webinar with Soundview. Watch it here!

Why do people fall into patterns of doing things the same way, and how can these be broken?

Innovation is simply useful novelty. The more unique the novelty, the more valuable the innovation is. Standardization is the opposite of innovation because it eliminates the variation required to produce this novelty. People fall into patterns of doing things the same way because it’s comfortable. To break this pattern, people and companies should seek out others who have different strengths and weaknesses. To create innovative new products and services, companies require divergent points of view or constructive conflict. We call these worldviews. It is the positive tension created when opposing worldviews collide that produces hybrid solutions and new ways of doing things. An overemphasis on alignment and agreement stifles the ability of an organization to innovate. In my book and research, I highlight the importance of constructive conflict to produce innovation. Here is a simple four-step framework to explain the ways different kinds of thinkers and leaders can create constructive conflict in any organization:

Assemble a diversity of perspectives: The first step to innovation is identifying one’s own strengths and weaknesses. There is a free and fast online Innovation Code quiz that can be found at: . There is also a more comprehensive Innovation Code assessment that can be purchased for a small fee. The comprehensive evaluation is the best way to assess your strengths and weaknesses because it provides guidance on how to develop your abilities as an innovator. Then, actively seek out others who have a different view—the loyal opposition.
Engage in the conflict: Find the courage to voice and listen to meaningful dissent. Remain open-minded and empathetic. Most importantly, use constructive conflict to raise ideas to another level and establish a shared ownership of the vision.
Establish a shared goal or vision: Recognize what you seek in common and cultivate a shared vision and goals. Finding the root cause of the challenge or opportunity, and agreeing the goal, will lead to collaboration.
Construct hybrid solutions: Brainstorm a wide array of good ideas, the select the best ideas for achieving your shared vision. The aim is to synthesize seemingly oppositional thoughts into hybrid solutions, not to alienate your colleagues or simply compromise to alleviate the tension. Develop and implement these hybrid solutions in phases.

Companies need to create the space for innovation to break the stagnation. In general, innovative organizations are by nature uncomfortable. In fact, they do things to create positive tension. Consider how Pixar adds and subtracts key members of its development team throughout the production of a new film to create fresh ideas. The key is to establish an environment where ideas are challenged, but not people. Respect is essential in these companies.

Here is a link to an interview podcast I did that talks about how to break patterns through constructive conflict.

This question originally appeared on Quora .

 

Discover the power of constructive conflict and how it can help foster innovation. By reading The Innovation Code, you will learn how to harness tension and transform it into positive energy to successfully implement your innovation projects.

Learn More

The Best Examples I’ve Seen of Innovation in Action

The best examples I’ve seen of innovation in actions involve constructive conflict. When people think of innovation, they usually picture gadgets or maybe a miracle drug. Oftentimes, the greatest innovations are subtler: how we invest money, enjoy music, or play sports. Innovation requires harnessing the positive tension of constructive conflict. The following examples show one or more unlikely pairs of partners that challenge each other to create something better or new.

Money. Berkshire Hathaway is arguably the most successful investment and holding company in American history. Yet, Chairman Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger seem like the alter ego of one brilliant mind. Buffett is a methodical investigator with a folksy demeanor while Munger is a brilliant iconoclast with wit and flair. Though individually they were reasonably successful, together they not only schooled Wall Street, but also changed how investors manage their money. Sometimes constructive conflict isn’t obvious. As more than fifty years as partners, they’ve never had a quarrel. However, they are foils for each other with oppositional temperaments and set of skills.

Music. Veteran Robert Sherman wanted to be a novelist and his younger brother Richard Sherman had aspirations to be a celebrated composer. On a bet by their father, a Tin Pan Alley songwriter, they worked together to write a few tunes and make just enough money to start their “real careers.” Robert crafted the lyrics with the slow precision of a brooding poet while Richard seemed to spontaneously create ebullient melodies. In 1964, Walt Disney commissioned the two to write a song for the It’s a Small World Exhibit at the New York World’s Fair. The rest is history. The Sherman brothers went on to write music for Marry Poppins, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and many others. However, their tension was too much to endure and they parted ways in 2002.

Sports. In 1992, Shaquille O’Neal was the first player taken in the NBA draft. Over seven feet tall and 300 plus pounds, O’Neal was the dominant big man in the league from day one. Kobe Bryant was the youngest NBA starter ever. In 1996, the two men found themselves on the same team: The Los Angeles Lakers. Shaq was the established superstar and leader. O’Neal’s easygoing demeanor was publicly criticized by the younger Bryant, and years of trash talking followed. In 1999, the Lakers hired Phil Jackson, who had previously coached the Chicago Bulls to six championships, to unite the feuding teammates. Jackson saw the potential to create a new hybrid approach to basketball: inside-out and outside-in. With O’Neal, the Lakers were powerful. With Bryant, they were fast. Jackson added players to the roster to better support both of them. The result was three NBA championships in a row. While previous coaches had viewed the tension between the two as a distraction, Jackson saw it as a source of creative energy.

At the heart of innovation are people. How they complement, challenge, and enhance each other results in creativity. Innovation requires diverse thoughts and the skill to create new solutions. Imagine what could be accomplished if we harnessed the generative power of the current conflict in our society to make innovation happen.

My new book, The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict, discusses the importance of constructive conflict for innovation. This video discusses more what to do when nobody wants your innovation. You can also take a quiz to find out what great leader you are like here.

This question originally appeared on Quora .

 

Discover the power of constructive conflict and how it can help foster innovation. By reading The Innovation Code, you will learn how to harness tension and transform it into positive energy to successfully implement your innovation projects.

Learn More

Entrepreneur Podcast Network Interview

Listen to Jeff’s interview, The creative power of constructive conflict,  on Entrepreneur Podcast Network here.

Office Hours with Jeff DeGraff – Andy Molinsky

Office Hours with Jeff DeGraff is a video series where the Dean of Innovation interviews thought leaders on the broad subject of innovation. These thought leaders come from various background but all share insight from their personal and professional experience that can be adapted to foster innovation either in a business setting or in your personal lives.

In this first episode, Jeff interviews Andy Molinsky, a Professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School. Andy received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and M.A. in Psychology from Harvard University. He authored Global Dexterity and Reach. As Andy is an expert in cross-cultural matters, the conversation naturally revolves around the concept of global dexterity and how we can become better at adapting to new cultures.

 

 

Discover the power of constructive conflict and how it can help foster innovation. By reading The Innovation Code, you will learn how to harness tension and transform it into positive energy to successfully implement your innovation projects.

Learn More

How can leaders best encourage innovation?

To encourage innovation, leaders need to stop relying on old ways and become forward-thinkers in an ever-changing world. Below are some actions leaders can take to inspire others to innovate:

1. Follow the 20/80 rule. Leaders need to understand where to innovate. Though most people are familiar with the 80/20 rule, innovation follows the 20/80 rule. It is easier to change twenty percent of an organization eighty percent than to change eighty percent of an organization twenty percent. The trick is to find the top and bottom ten percent and start there.

Growth requires we turn our backs on the middle-way and lean in favor of the unconventional. The middle is dangerous. No amount of serpentine processes can penetrate the essential equilibrium that keeps everything the same.

On the fringes of an organization, where performance reaches beyond standard variance, we find the impulse to try new things precisely because the present condition is intolerable or the opportunity immeasurable. It is only when the firm is compromised that it truly engages its people and enlists them in their own economic survival.

 

2. Change some of the guard. Leaders should seek out the voices of those who have little stake in tradition–usually the younger, more vibrant individuals. Ask them how to update the old and make the homogenous a little more heterogeneous. Encourage them to push existing boundaries. Create an innovation advisory board–a group that represents the new. While a board of directors keeps things on track, an innovation advisory board deliberately disrupts that track to promote innovative thinking.

3. Leave room for the new. Run experiments to see what works and what doesn’t. Leaders need to be patient with experiments: adjust and tinker with them until they get traction. Actively make available the tools that will stimulate innovation. This requires leaving time and money open. Set aside a pool of funds solely devoted to the development of creative ideas.

4. Just say no. Leaders should have the audacity to turn down clients, customers, and patrons who support the company legacy but not its future. There will always be people who want to give you money to be like you used to be. If you turn their support down, you’ll open up the opportunity for new sectors of growth. Substitute a new program, project, or service for a more traditional option. Establish a second brand or a second track that will attract a new audience.

To learn more about how to lead innovation, check out my blog. You can also see an interview podcast I did that discusses encourages innovation.

This question originally appeared on Quora .

 

Discover the power of constructive conflict and how it can help foster innovation. By reading The Innovation Code, you will learn how to harness tension and transform it into positive energy to successfully implement your innovation projects.

Learn More

Jeff-ism Video: How to Play the Innovation Game

Watch Jeff explain how to play the innovation game here.

Besides creativity, what other attributes are key to a successful leadership?

Leaders need to know their leadership type. My years of research have found that there are four main types:

Create: The Artist is clever and creative. They envision change, so their influence is based on anticipating a better future and generating hope in others. Being original is highly prized. They express themselves in spontaneous, creative responses to their surroundings. They are imaginative, able to handle a high degree of ambiguity and are comfortable with abstract ideas. Success for this type is defined by expressing new ideas and prototyping those ideas when possible.
Compete: The Athlete is aggressive and decisive. This leader actively pursues goals and targets and is energized by competitive situations. Winning is a dominant objective, and the focus is on external competitors and market place position. These leaders are hard drivers and producers, very demanding of themselves and others. Speed, stealth and discipline are key to their approach. Success for this type is in energizing employees by expanding opportunities for problem solving and redeploying resources. Power is key.
Collaborate: The Sage is caring and empathetic. The Sage is aware of others and cares for the needs of individuals. This leader is skilled at both building a community of people and sharing knowledge between them. They seek interactions among community members and allies and use processes like conflict management and consensus decision-making. Their success is defined by the creation of strong relationships through dialogue, trust, and understanding. Outcomes of these collaborative practices are shared values and commitment. They use their team orientation and cooperative nature to accomplish their goals. Morale and commitment are actively pursued.
Control: The Engineer is a well-informed technical expert. They are diligent, meticulous, and function-based. They influence others based on the control and management of information. Improving efficiency through process redesign and the implementation of reliable technology is a hallmark of the Engineer. Success for this type is in improving quality through the use of procedures. This leader is risk averse, and seeks to take variation out of the system, valuing standardization and consistency. Measurement is used as a tool to achieve these values.

 

 

Once leaders know their leadership type, they need to know where they have strengths and where they don’t. Leaders should know when to use the right tools. A tool kit is not unlike the set of techniques available to leaders: a hammer, a saw, and a wrench are all indispensable when you’re building or repairing something, but they’re not interchangeable. The same occurs when leaders are weighing ideas or possible innovative techniques.

Leaders should also keep an open mind and know their weaknesses. Everyone has a worldview and therefore a bias towards a particular strategy or perspective. Leaders should partner with others that challenge them. Sages and Engineers challenge each other, as do Engineers and Artists. Great leaders will develop the appropriate culture and competencies in their company to produce the desired value proposition. However, leaders typically favor practices that closely resemble their own preferences instead of changing those practices to fit the situation, to the detriment of the organization. Lacking range and knowledge about when you need to enlist others will not result in the desired outcome.

Additional information can be found on my blog at the Huffington Post. The following video goes more in-depth into the four types of innovators. You can find out what kind of creative leader you are by taking this quiz.

This question originally appeared on Quora .

 

Discover the power of constructive conflict and how it can help foster innovation. By reading The Innovation Code, you will learn how to harness tension and transform it into positive energy to successfully implement your innovation projects.

Learn More