Are you trying to tap the ideas and creativity within your organization?  Rock Hill, South Carolina set out on this journey in February 2010 and has discovered that there isn’t a magical innovation wand you can wave over your organization, but with time you can cultivate a culture that is open to thinking differently.  They share five lessons learned over the course of the year which has helped shape their innovations team.

We Aren’t all the Same Size – Take Your Time
Faced with economic challenges and declining revenue, the now retired City Manager of Rock Hill, SC, Mr. Carey Smith, had a vision to create a team to focus on the way Rock Hill conducts business and look for efficiencies in operations. The timing was ripe to look at service delivery and identify creative ways to continue to meet the demands of citizens with fewer resources.  Holly Eskridge, the Assistant to the City Manager, was tasked with organizing and facilitating a team in February 2010.  The only perimeter given:  start with one representative from every department and ensure the return on investment for staff time committed.

Holly had to access the readiness of Rock Hill for such a team and leaned on the Alliance for Innovation and experiences from other localities to begin researching the concept of an innovation team.   Even though the work of others, including the Harvard Business Review study on the Innovator’s DNA, provided a good foundation, Rock Hill had to build a team to mold their internal culture.  

Diversify the Team
Like most. The creative ideas down in the trenches were untapped and Rock Hill recognized the need to break down the silo mentality and work together to prepare for the future.  The department heads appointed a minimum of one person to the team.  The challenge faced was trying to explain the group focus without set goals or rules. Holly met with each individual team member to talk about the end goal.  The team consists of 17 individuals with diverse backgrounds, interests and skills.  Interestingly, most of these individuals had never worked together.

No Rules
From the beginning the process to meet the needs of the city was fluid.  For ideas to flow, limited boundaries were established which went against common team dynamics of charters, policies and procedures.  The team agreed on the following:  

No Honey baked Ham (common meeting food)
No Idea is a Bad Idea
What happens in the Innovation Team stays in the Innovation Team
Leave Titles and Years of Experience at the Door
Trust, Openness and Respect

Build the Team
Bringing together 17 people from diverse backgrounds and experiences called for team building and creating a culture of openness, trust and respect.  The first team meeting was spent getting to know one another.  Everyone described themselves through a song/movie title, talked about an early memory and told their biggest pet peeve.  The Harvard Business Review Innovator’s DNA article was also sent out prior to the meeting to kick off the discussion.  Ironically, the discussion and mood was light and fun during the introductions but once the discussion shifted to the article everyone shut down, not talking and it deterred involvement.  At the conclusion of the first meeting a decision was made for “no more articles.”  

Get Outside of the Organization
Holly stumbled across a local science/education museum, Discovery Place in Charlotte, North Carolina, that recently completed a “Think it Up” exhibit.  The exhibit was a place to think freely, take risks and discover the unknown.  After taking members of the team to view the exhibit, Discovery Place and the City of Rock Hill partnered to create an innovators institute for the team.  This five session institute explored:

Jumping In
What’s Stopping You?
Collective Intelligence
Seeking the Spark
Why do Cars Have Mirrors and Windshields?
What does this Have to Do with Us?

After each session the team debriefs and talks about what sparked their interest, what worked and ideas and concept that could be applicable to the work conducting in Rock Hill.

Results and Future Steps
Rock Hill will complete their final session with Discovery Place in March.  Already they are seeing the impacts of their work by breaking down communication barriers among departments, leading to greater efficiencies, and recommending solutions to enhance participation in their citizen academy.  The next step is to legitimize the team internally and encourage staff to bring their projects to the team to explore opportunities.  This includes marketing their work inside of the organization.  As one team member who recently resigned from the city stated, “The Innovations Team is the best thing I’ve ever done in the city; it bonded a band of people within.”  Whether the team recognizes it or not, they have created their Innovator’s DNA.