Thursday, June 16, 2016

Innovate Your Organization - Ask Your People #KidsDeserveIt

Innovation is pretty simple - think about your organization differently, look down the road to where you want to go, look at a problem that currently exists and find a hack to simplify and make things easier or more streamlined. There's more to it than that, but it's really that simple to get started with your mindset.

The video below came through my YouTube yesterday and I also had to check out the link - a few things struck me about the message.

1. A Lieutenant General was featured in the video, which means someone with lots of power and reach still feels innovation is important! Talk with your leaders and start an Innovation Challenge in your district, you never know what hack or great idea will be born!

2. Asking your 'people' for ideas is powerful, they're in the trenches (classrooms, cafeterias, busses, offices) and interact with their jobs on a very intimate level. Three years ago I rode our school bus for the first time and had really great in depth conversations with our driver. That conversation and some follow up, allowed us to innovate some parts of the route she drove. Get on the ground floor with your people and ask their input - even challenge them to think differently like the USMC.

3. I love the challenge, the footage of Lieutenant General in action and a deadline of July 1st. When you hand people a timeline along with some marching orders and a great visual of them in different settings, it puts them to work and gets their ideas flowing. You're telling them what they think is important and then you actually listen!

4. Just simply asking people for their ideas and input is awesome. It helps them to be heard, think about their day and how it can be improved!

5. Ask your people and innovate your organization - Google has been doing it for years and they're doing pretty well!

I want every teacher to be a leader in innovation!

Who's next? What's next? What do you need? Let's do this!

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