TLB #30🧠 Fostering Culture of Innovation
A by-weekly inside scoop on all the hottest events, juicy discussions, and oh-so-many other exciting things happening in our dynamic L&D community. 🧡
Hello Shaker,
Here’s all that you’ll experience in today’s issue:
💡Learning Bites: Fostering Culture of Innovation
🗓️ Community Calendar: Be a part of events like Taking Stock – Moving with confidence from ‘here’ to ‘there’ and many more.
🖌️ Community Creations: Registration open for Ideas in Motion 2024: The first-ever L&D Shakers Nonference and many more news from the community
🔖 Resource Reel: A collection of resources on Women-centred design, virtual games and activities and many more.
🎤 Shaker's Stage: This week’s stage is taken by Mugdha Kulkarni-Narkar.
Learning Bites 💡
This week, I listened to an insightful episode of the Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast featuring Linda Hill, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Hill's research explores how leaders can nurture environments where innovation thrives. The conversation highlighted the differences between leading for innovation and leading for change and emphasized the critical role of communication and collaboration in co-creating the future.
Here are my top three takeaways:
Leading for Innovation vs. Leading for Change: Traditionally, leadership has been about crafting and communicating a vision to guide people through change, akin to being a lighthouse guiding ships through the night. However, leading for innovation is more about being a gardener, creating the right conditions for diverse plants (ideas) to grow. Innovation emerges from a collective effort where diverse teams come together, experiment, and learn rapidly.
Components of a Culture of Innovation: To foster innovation, collaboration is key. It's like a potluck dinner where everyone brings something different to the table, and together, we create a feast. This process involves iterating through successes and failures, utilizing everyone’s talents and passions, and maintaining a shared purpose. Innovation can be exhilarating but is also intellectually and emotionally demanding. A culture that supports this must emphasize bold ambition, collaboration, learning, and responsibility.
The Role of Communication in Innovation: Communication is the glue that holds innovative efforts together. Think of it as an orchestra conductor, ensuring all musicians play in harmony. It involves framing ambitions in an inspiring way, telling stories that align with our purpose, and facilitating the exchange of diverse perspectives. Leaders must be comfortable with the creative tension that arises from these differences and use it to drive innovation.
What This Means for Practice:
Facilitating Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Organize "Innovation Jams" where employees from different departments come together to brainstorm and solve problems. This can break down silos and bring fresh perspectives to existing challenges.
✅If you want to read more about Innovation Jams, then check out this paper: An inside view of IBM's “Innovation Jam”.
Implementing Mentorship Programs: Develop mentorship programs that pair experienced employees with newer team members. This not only helps in knowledge transfer but also encourages fresh ideas from newcomers who might see things differently.
✅If you are currently thinking of designing mentorship programs in your organisation and don’t know how and have so many questions, then check out the guide by Offbeat: Running A Mentorship Program.
Creating Learning Pathways for Emerging Skills: Offer courses and workshops focused on emerging skills relevant to innovation, such as design thinking, agile methodologies, and data analytics. For example, L&D could introduce a "Design Thinking Bootcamp" where employees learn to approach problems creatively and collaboratively.
✅Don’t know how to run a Design Thinking Bootcamp? We got you covered. Check out this article that lists every step in detail: How To Run an Awesome Design Thinking Workshop.
Hosting Innovation Challenges: Run internal innovation competitions where employees can pitch ideas and win funding to develop them. This not only encourages creative thinking but also demonstrates the organization's commitment to innovation. An example of this is Adobe’s "Kickbox" program, where employees receive a box containing resources and a prepaid debit card to develop and test their innovative ideas.
✅ If just like me, you heard about “Kickbox” program, for the first time, then check out this article by Kickbox Foundation that entails every detail that you should know about it: Open Box In Case Of An Idea.
Leveraging Technology for Continuous Learning: Promote a growth mindset by providing ongoing learning opportunities. This could involve offering access to online courses, inviting guest speakers, virtual reality simulations or facilitating knowledge-sharing sessions where employees can learn from each other’s experiences. For instance, a company could use VR to simulate real-world problem-solving scenarios, allowing employees to practice and innovate in a risk-free environment.
That’s all Shakers! Take a moment this week and reflect on how your organization’s L&D function currently supports innovation. What gaps can you identify?
Coming Up Next
Community Calendar 🗓️
Ready to innovate and elevate?
Discover, share, and learn at events you can’t resist!
Collaborate, create, and make the future great!
Mark your calendar—ideas will shine brighter!
Register for the events below! 👇
Community Creations 🖌️
🌊 We're excited to announce the opening of applications for Ideas in Motion 2024: The first-ever L&D Shakers Nonference!
Say goodbye to passive listening and rigid agendas. Traditional conferences with endless 'sages on stages' are a thing of the past.
Ideas in Motion is a unique gathering that breaks the mold, focusing on spontaneous interaction and collaborative creativity. It's designed to maximize engagement in a vibrant and interactive setting.
Join us on October 7th in Amsterdam, where 150 Shakers will come together for an immersive experience where ideas collide and collaboration thrives.
Applications close on June 8th. Expect to hear back from us by June 17th.
Get all the details, including conference info, pricing, and the application form below.
Have questions? Email us at hi.lnd.shakers@gmail.com
Ever felt like events just don't quite hit the mark for you?
We're determined to change that!
We're on a mission to curate events that speak to your needs, align with your goals, and leave you feeling inspired and empowered.
Ready to join us on this journey?
Share your feedback and suggestions by filling out our quick form.
Your input shapes our future events here at L&D Shakers! Let's make them exactly what you've been looking for!
Cool Stuff You Don’t Wanna Miss Out
Resource Reel 🔖
This week’s hottest resources are:
Women-Centred Design by Unconform is a toolkit for impact practitioners to build products, services & systems that center women. The toolkit will help you illustrate how your current design methodologies overlook women, identify opportunity areas to co-create solutions that meet women’s needs and design holistic solutions for women’s real needs.
Zip in Your Zoom by Source Consulting Group is a collection of activites and games that invite movement into your virtual sessions.
Worst Case Scenario by People Storming is a collaborative risk assessment game that you can run in your team workshop to help them assess the potential risks of a project or initiative.
The Hidden Structure of Leadership Communication by story rules shares how leaders around the world use the Minto Pyramid Principle for structuring their key communication. It shares the example of five diverse leaders who use this principle to structure their communication.
L&D Related Recommendations is a notion database that provides you with a list of providers all around the world that offer various L&D services.
Library of Ambiguity by d.school provides extensive resources on navigating and thriving in ambiguity and how to creatively solve complex human challenges.
Community Corner:
Shaker's Stage 🎤
Let’s welcome Mugdha Kulkarni-Narkar, Freelance L&D Consultant to take the Stage.
What was a pivotal moment in your career?
-I feel moving to Canada was the pivotal moment for my career as an instructional designer. Initially, I missed the stability of a full-time job since I had left my previous organization but soon realized that there are plenty of options to choose from. I could either go back to the comfort of 9-5 or explore freelancing that promised freedom of choice with a bundle of challenges. I chose the freelancing path nevertheless and have never been sorry for it! Thinking back, I may or may not have made the same choice if I were still well within my comfort zone.
What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing in your role/business/project right now and how are you tackling it?
-I'm currently trying to establish my independent consulting business in L&D as a solopreneur. It's fun yet daunting. There's so much to learn about the business aspect of a freelancing career. I'm still learning and trying out different things, while working to stay afloat. I'm attending webinars, networking with different people who have successfully established themselves, reading up about all the different aspects I should be focusing on, and also the how-to part of managing them all. I've also realized that a portfolio is a must for showcasing the value I can offer, and I'll surely have one in place by the end of this year.
What are you currently learning?
-My current learning adventure is Articulate Storyline. I'm learning it on my own while working on a simulation project. There's this never-ending cycle of getting stuck, searching for a solution, trying out different things to see what works. But isn't that what we call the real on-the-job learning? I'm totally enjoying it!
What does being an L&D Shaker look and feel like for you?
-I joined the L&D Shakers community at the start of this year and found it to be very useful. So many interesting channels, events, and discussions to learn from. One thing that struck me was the willingness of the community to share knowledge and ideas to grow together. It's amazing how people freely share templates, recommend best practices, and extend a helping hand to whoever needs it. Loving it!
〜See you soon
Till then, keep spicing up your learning! 🧠🧂
Sejaal