Creating a Culture of Innovation

There are countless types of innovations you could facilitate - each with their own strategy, design, timeframe, and more.  The important thing to know is that each type of problem you’re working to solve has a unique run of play for how that innovation should be facilitated.  My goal here is to unpack seven core types of innovations to consider.  It’s important that you help your client understand which innovation they are desiring before launching the event.   #1 Concept Sketch Overview: A Concept Sketch Innovation is when there is a felt need and/or a basic idea with a very open minded or open-handed approach to how that might come to life.   Goal: The outcome from this innovation would be a fresh idea, in concept format, for how to approach this problem.     #2 Framework Design Overview: A Framework Design Innovation is when there is a defined project/goal but there is a needed framework or picture needed to help simply capture the overall complexity.  Goal: The outcome from this innovation would be sketches of this framework (picture, pathway, etc.)   #3 Vetting Concept Overview: A Vetting Concept Innovation is when there is a plan in motion and a fairly good picture of the desired goal, but a desire to “vet” out the concept more and gain more collaborative buy-in. Goal: The outcome from this innovation would be more details to the plan, a stronger prototype of the concept, and greater unity around the vision.   #4 Business Plan Overview: A Business Plan Innovation is when there’s an agreed upon plan already existing, but there is lacking a more comprehensive business plan with specific details for execution   Goal: The outcome from this innovation would be a multi-page business plan outlining specific Go to Market strategies.   #5 Resource Design Overview: A Resource Design Innovation is when there is a need to design (or potentially redesign) a resource - focusing on the resource design, purpose, and delivery.    Goal: The outcome from this innovation would be the prototyping of fresh resources with some content creation and strategy.   #6 Process Design Overview: A Process Design Innovation is when there is a new process (or a process to re-vision) and a need to collaboratively streamline and make a process.   Goal: The outcome from this innovation would be a process design map with detailed steps, dependencies, and outcomes.   #7 Rethink Overview: A Rethink Innovation is when there is a pre-existing program that could use some fresh thought and fresh ideas.      Goal: The outcome from this innovation would be a new concept plan for how to approach this in a more current context.   As you can see, there are many types of innovations you could facilitate.  More than likely, just seeing the list sparked a few ideas for innovations you might consider.   Cause Machine Solutions Here at Cause Machine, we help organizations solve complex community engagement problems/questions.  We use these disciplines of innovation ourselves in our own development process and have helped lead many organizations through their own process of innovation discovery.  Leveraging the Cause Machine platform for engaging your community helps you be confident that the foundations of this platform are built on time-tested best practices of great processes like innovation and design thinking.  Schedule a demo today!

Facilitation can seem like the daunting task of leading people through a meeting, discussion, or process.  Truth is… it was (and sometimes still is) very intimidating for me as well.  Some people are naturally gifted as facilitators but what I’ve learned in this over decades of facilitating countless sessions is that the best facilitators have a toolbox they leverage to help guide a group to a determined goal.  I would like to unpack a number of these tools with you to help you better engage groups that you might lead.   The Golden Rule of Facilitation Before we dig into some of these tools, I do need to stop and address one thing… your single most important goal as a facilitator.  Stop for a moment and think about this principle.   Great facilitation leads to commitment, never consensus   I still remember the day my mentor in all of this explained to me this principle.  I also can point to every successful facilitation to an alignment with this principle and the many failures of misalignment.  Basically, you just can’t lead a group of people to a consensus, and truthfully, you don’t need to.  That’s a myth and it’s going to consume your time and energy.  But if you lead a group to commitment, then you can keep driving the overall plan and everyone has had a voice in that puzzle.     Tips and Tricks to Facilitation Set Expectations - give everyone the opportunity to pour out their personal expectations and what they hope to get from the session.  Come back to these expectations throughout your time together and check-in to see if the overall process is meeting their expectations.  Also, guide the expectations that aren’t in alignment with the overall session goals - explain to people how that’s a good expectation but not one you’ll tackle in this session.  And for expectations that didn’t feel fully met in the end, be sure to have a plan to follow up on those expectations after your time together.   Have a Structure - I’ve heard that meetings with six or fewer people don’t need much structure but the minute you’re over six people, you need a structural plan.  I certainly agree with this idea… the larger the group the more structure is needed.  So as you enter a meeting, or leading a facilitated session, have a structure for what you hope to accomplish: the flow, how each piece works, time frame, expectations, interactive components, etc.  Your structure will set you up for success.  And for example, something like an innovation will flow like this: Discovery, Brainstorming, Clustering, Sketching, Prototyping, and Presentations.  This is just one structure model - the point is that you have one predefined.   Set Rules of Engagement (ROE) - there are so many ways we could engage in a meeting, we just need to know what the rules of engagement are for each type of session.  People will go where you lead them… you just need to lead them.  You need to set ROE for what to contribute, what not to contribute, how to engage, what happens if you get off course, etc.  For example, in a brainstorming session, you would instruct people to write one idea per sticky note, write with a Sharpie, say their ideas out loud, explain it’s okay to have repeated and instruct them that criticism isn’t allowed.  Simple ROE like this sets everything up for better success.   Guide People - yeah, it’s simple, but people need guidance and they need you to lead them to the end goal.  The end goal isn’t what you’re going to produce… it’s what they produce and it’s following the process to help get you there.  But they need (and the process needs) a guide to lead people to that goal.  Facilitation could really be simplified into one word… guidance.  This is the privilege and responsibility you have as the facilitator.     Well, there are many more, but there was a good start on some of those tips and tricks that make a world of difference in how you facilitate a session.     Cause Machine Solutions Here at Cause Machine, we help facilitate strategy and innovation sessions for many types of community engagement strategies - it’s part of what we do, believing that community engagement is a mix of strategy and technology.  We hope these articles will help you better build your community engagement plans.  Schedule a demo today!