Can we empower “ change ” with Innovation & learning culture programs?

Nowadays, innovation systems need to impact the organizations at all levels, from human resources to product development and management.

Innovation is not solely the actuator and ignitor of change within a business setting, it is the driving force of change. Innovation as we see and create it, is the power source to rethink and redesign companies facing “change” challenges.  In itself, innovation is the process that allows you to discover your organization into detail, to adapt it, transform it and “act”.

In our vision and mindset, innovation & learning go hand in hand.

Any innovation driven organization needs to be a “learning organization” as well in order to successfully realize its strategy. Both complex and hyper knowledgeable markets and consumers require and even impose such an approach. We subsequently developed an integrated vision/approach for innovation and learning based on our two bodies of knowledge and scientific research projects.

Based on the IDEAS(R)EVOLUTION research group, we see innovation as a sequence of 6 stages:

• Involvement – know yourself, prepare for co-creation and collaboration;
• Inspiration – Know the market and its consumers, observe to acquire information, and define the innovation challenge;
• Ideation – Create multiple solutions through experimentation, a multidisciplinary approach, teamwork and creativity;
• Integration – Ask for feedback, validate your ideas, improve and develop the strategic vision;
• Implementation – Proof your concept, test your idea, develop the operational planning;
• Interaction – Talk to you customer, give the consumers a voice, use dialogue for feedback and new ideas, turn innovation into a continuous flow of information.

From the LEARNING ABOVE THE RULER research project, we understand that knowledge workers have different needs as regards the way they learn:

• Personalized approaches - We need to incorporate different types of learning programs, training courses, coaching and mentoring activities, according to the different manners and ways in which each individual leans, to subsequently accommodate them with the most optimal acquisition of all the required competences;
• Personal Development - Individuals tend to learn a lot better if there is a connection with their personal learning competences;
• Optimization – It is possible to optimize the enrollment of co-workers in innovation processes if we take the way they learn and contribute to the innovation task into account.

When we combine these two bodies of knowledge, the almost magical parallel paths between innovation and learning emerges:

Throughout the first two stages - Involvement and Inspiration - we act according to the specific learning profiles of the participants within the innovation process.   We use the learning competences questionnaire as well as a specifically designed canvas.

Throughout the Inspiration and Integration stages, we are focusing on creating Learning Environments, using amongst others team dynamics techniques.  We re-design work spaces, include the external community via active participation within the process, and create a preferential innovation and learning environment.

Finally when proceeding to the Implementation and Interaction stages, we act upon the Learning culture, using the open approach and social media to create a continuous innovation feedback as well as narratives “flow and dynamics” within organizations.    Throughout the full innovation process, specific focus is being put on supporting all participants in the development of specific competences such as ‘risk-taking, creativity, daring to fail, …’.

Any organization investing in the development and implementation of this type of innovation system and learning approach, transforms into a Learning Organization.

But more concretely, how can we operationalize this model within organizations, thus planting the seeds for real change?

We create a genuine Innovation & Learning Culture program based on four logical and sequential steps to ignite a true change in the Innovation & Learning Culture:

• Change People – Understand and design a personalized approach to help each collaborator to:
  • Break down his/her own individual Barriers
  • Adapt and change his/her Beliefs system
  • Fine-tune his/her Behavior
• Change the Organization – Understand and re-design the organizational strategy, enabling innovation and learning to grow, such us:
  • Re-defining the Structures
  • Re-thinking the Spaces
  • Re-building the installed informal and formal Systems
• Change the Learning processes – Understand existing processes and re-define them:
  • Create cognitive and individual learning processes and models
  • Create contextual learning environments
  • Create collective learning models
• Change Culture – Understand and reshape the organization’s culture into a more ‘innovation and learning’ supported one:
  • More supportive and enabling alternatives for the Managerial predominant style
  • Re-focus the Motivation approach, from reward to recognition
  • Install a MASTER (i.e. skillfulness) culture at all levels of the organization.

Finally to implement this approach successfully in a real life context, we developed a Think-Do-Act hands-on toolkit that consists out of 3 powerful tools to implement a genuine Innovation & Learning Culture:

• THINK (1) AND DO (2) – Do-it-yourself CANVAS – this self explanatory canvas guides the multidisciplinary working group to co-create, collaborate and to explore “where are we now” (diagnostic) and ideate the “where should we be and how” stage. Crucial dimensions to stimulate a learning and innovation culture, form the cornerstones of this canvas.
• ACT (3) – Transformer tool – This self explanatory tool helps stakeholders to transform the best ideas and solutions generated from the previous canvas into concrete actions and action plans, defining already the “what, how, where, why, whom and when” issues. The use of the transformer tool results in “ready-to-implement” actions.

Companies value our approach, because it provides them with a positive flow and with concrete results on how to change their organizational culture towards an innovative and learning one.

For many participants this is a true eye-opener and a genuine revelation, since most of their previous experiences with design thinking-based workshops or ideation workshops ended in the following blur stage of “we reached a few ideas but it is far from clear how we should proceed with them.” In this manner, much depends on the vision and the final go-no go decision of one project leader…

We at INNOKINETICS, believe this is not the way to go. We truly believe that strong, smart, human and collaborative innovation processes are the best way forward to installing a genuine innovation & learning culture within your organization.

 Triggered?  Why don’t you give us a call

 This post was originally published on our company website under: http://innokinetics.com/can-we-empower-change-with-innovation-learning-culture-programs/