In the Ten Faces of Innovation, author Tom Kelley delves into the “Human Touch” required for innovation.  Kelley is a leader at IDEO one of the most progressive research and development firms in the nation.  At IDEO they focus on the verbs associated with innovation such as proactive, energetic, creative, experimenting, and inspiring.  Kelley recognizes that innovation is not self-starting or self-perpetuating.  As Kelley says, “People make innovation happen through their imagination, willpower, and perseverance.  And whether you are a team member, a group leader, or an executive, your only real path to innovation is through people.”

In the opening chapter of the 10 Faces, Kelley explores the toxic affect the Devil’s Advocate has on our organizations.  The Devil’s Advocate encourages negativity and idea-wrecking by assuming the most negative perspective and only seeing the down-sides.  As Kelley says once the floodgates of negativity open, they can effectively drown a new initiative.  Kelley goes on to say that, “Because innovation is the lifeblood of all organizations, the Devil’s Advocate is toxic to our cause.”

Building an environment fully engaged in positive change requires 360 degrees of innovation.  To be successful at creating this environment we must welcome new viewpoints and insights.  The 10 Faces is an exploration of the roles used at IDEO to combat the Devil’s Advocate and leverage the energy and intelligence of team members to generate a remarkably powerful force for innovation.  

Over the course of the next few months we will dissect the 10 roles IDEO has found to be essential in seizing innovation opportunities. As Kelley says, “It’s about developing the personas of your team to maximize its influence.  The right innovation project can spur organization wide movement, generating an afterglow that permeates the workplace - sparking a culture of innovation that takes on a life of its own.”  

It is important to mention that these innovation roles are available to all people on the team, and people can switch roles.  Kelley does not promote the 10 faces as “personality types” rather roles anyone can play in the process of innovating.  You might be more comfortable with one role over another, but if you are aware of the role you are playing, you should be able to use Kelley’s book as a guide to stimulating your participation.

We begin by looking at the three Learning Personas: the Anthropologist, the Experimenter and the Cross-Polinator.

The Anthropologist

At IDEO the firm does extensive fieldwork to begin a project, move it along or to breathe new life into a project that has slowed.  This is the work of the Anthropologist.  A good Anthropologist has the ability to set aside what they know and observe with an open mind.  They are comfortable with the study of human behavior and genuinely love gaining insight from others.  

What is particularly interesting about the Anthropologist role is not only the study of others, but the innate ability to hypotheses about the emotional underpinnings of human behavior.  As Kelley says, “Anthropologists have the ability to see what’s always been there but gone unnoticed-what others have failed to see or comprehend because they stopped looking too soon.”

Anthropologists use tools like “bug lists” or “idea wallets” to effectively do their work.  A bug list is a catalogue of the things that are being held together by tape, or a staple, some kind of fix to make something work better.  These observations scream of innovation opportunities.  While an idea wallet is used to sharpen the powers of observation.  A good Anthropologist will look for insights where they are least expected such as before a customer arrives or immediately after they leave.  To use an idea wallet to capture thoughts that strike the Anthropologist aids in the ability to draw connections between ideas.  You might even see an Anthropologist look in the garbage as a great insight into human behavior.  It is amazing to see what people throw out.

As Kelley says, “Seeing with fresh eyes may be one of the hardest parts of the innovation process.  You have to set aside your experience and preconceived notions.  You have to drop your skepticism and tap into a childlike curiosity and open-mindedness.  Approaching field observations with a spirit of curiosity can make all the difference in the world of identifying new opportunities or solutions to existing problems.”
Life is always a bit unusual, to be a good Anthropologist you have to capture the journey by painting a fuller authentic picture of humanity.

The Experimenter

According to Kelley, “What Experimenters share is a passion for hard work, a curious mind, and an opennes to serendipity.”  At IDEO experimenting happens using prototypes to try out something new.  The IDEO culture embraces lots of little failures in pursuit of the big success.  

Kelley inspires readers of the 10 Faces to experiment by drawing analogies to such great inventors as the Wright Brothers.  The Wright Brothers prototyped more than 200 different winged designs and risked their lives to test several before they found a design that could sustain flight.

The concept of presenting less-polished (less-expensive) prototypes is essential when wearing the Experimenter role.  At IDEO they have created an environment where it is okay to present basic prototypes to provide vision of the possibilities.

Kelley goes on to pose the questions, “When a creative individual shows their boss - or even their colleagues - a good idea that’s still a little rough around the edges, people pay close attention to what happens next.  Does the organization build on the idea or ridicule it?  Does management focus on the imperfections or the promise?”

Think about what happens in your organization.  Change can be difficult and make for uneasy  working dynamics.  But as we all know the times we face require bold action and fresh ideas to bring about a future better than the past.

Kelley suggests that we should consider aking experimentation a foundational element to creating services.  If we open ourselves to learning from successful experiments throughout the organization, we can create a spirit of ingenuity and design that both appreciates failure as part of the process but emboldens our employes to take risk in pursuit of something great.

One aspect of the Experimenter chapter that spoke to me was the notion of rapid experimentation so we can “fail often, to succeed sonner.”   The idea here is to create an environment that embraces mistakes rather than fear of them.   In government we can tend to be risk averse, but risk is an inherent quality to innovation.  You have to be willing to try something new.

If we can create environments that embrace mistakes, albeit celebrates them as an opportunity to learn, we have the potential to move our organization’s along in profound ways.  For instance, one manager I know and respect has a pizza party after every failure.  Why?  To remove the fear associated with misfortune and use it as a launching pad for success in the future.

Kelley asks his readers, ”Could you come up with a symbolic way of letting go of mistakes in your organization, or within your division or team?  It can’t hurt, and just might turn your team into winners.”

The Cross-Pollinator

Cross-polinators often innovate by translating clever solutions from one industry into another.  When you think of cross-polination who comes to mind?  Maybe you might think of one of the best in recorded history, Leonardo da Vinici.  da Vinci cross-polinated his talent for painting, architecture, engineering, math and philosophy into a prolific legacy that has been a model for the test of time.

So how might you encourage a spirit of cross-polination in your organization?  Kelley offers seven suggestions for cross-polinating that has worked at IDEO:

Show-and-tell.  At IDEO show-and-tell happens both face-to-face and electronically.   Not only is this activity used to share new insights on projects undertaken at the company, but is also used to showcase the newly invented in the world, meant to convey a sense of continuous renewal and energy around innovation.

Hire lots of people with diverse backgrounds.  This is also known as the Medici Effect.  Assembling people of diverse backgrounds and aptitude, yield a team with diverse points of view.

Stir the pot with space.  We often work in spaces that are “dead rooms,”  especially in our gathering places like conference rooms.  They lack character and light.  IDEO uses space to inspire creativity through such things as multi-disciplinary project rooms and leaving ample space for chance meetings and cross-polination of ideas.

Cross cultures and geographies.  We have all heard the term melting pot, but just like looking for people with diverse talents and aptitude, the same applies to cultural and geographic diversity.  It can create a mixture of international flavor.

Host a weekly “Know How” speaker series.  Inspire the team with profound thought.  According to Kelley, “Know How is a weekly burst of cross-polination that keeps the thinking continuously fresh.
Learn from visitors.  Kelley suggests that we invite people into our environments with open-minds so we can expand our knowledge.  As a cross-polinating idea, visitors can bring a rich diversity of thought and experience into an organization.

Seek out diverse projects.  While you would expect this to be a given in a research and development firm like IDEO, you might consider it to be near impossible in local government.  But reality suggests that while we have to learn from the past, the future will have to look much different to meet the demands of our changing world. Definetely an opportunity to diversify.

Cross-polinators are essential to innovation.  They provide not only depth when it counts, they can translate, facilitate and provide even small insights that can bring teams together.  Cross-polinators are teachers as well as students.  They provide focus and leadership and can speak across disciplines and geography.

Consider how the “Learning Roles” Kelley describes can help your organization do things differently.  Encourage little failures to achieve great success, don’t shy away from field study and most of all build teams that embrace diversity so that your organization can experience 360 degrees of innovation.  

Look for the next Ambassador update to review the three Organizing Personas Kelley describes in the 10 Faces of Innovation, The Hurdler, The Collaborator, and The Director.