Eureka – energy harvesting! Did you just have a moment of déjà vue wondering if you had read this before?  If so, great, that means you’ve been reading our Ambassador Updates.  It also means that over the next five months, Ambassadors are going to take a deeper look into each of the innovation skills described in a recent 6-year study of 3,000 creative private sector executives and an additional 500 individual interviews by Professors Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University and Hal Gregersen of Insead (2).  They looked at how innovators in the private sector think, and concluded that there were 5 skills:  Associating, Questioning, Observing Details, Experimenting, and Networking with Smart People.  

In taking a deeper look, and alongside our private sector examples, we are going to explore local government examples on how they are building each of these skills within their organization.  Each month will focus on a new skill, starting this month with association.  

So back to energy harvesting – marrying wasted energy from driving our vehicles in store parking lots with spring loaded kinetic road plates to create enough energy to power a store’s checkouts.  What’s provocative is how the engineers were able to combine these 2 ideas that had less than definitive connections.  The study calls this skill associating, the “cognitive skill that allows creative people to make connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, and ideas” (2).  In October, we provided various examples of how private sector companies were building the association skills of their employees, so let’s review three of those examples.  

General Electric created its own leadership program for entry level professionals and allows employees to go through a series of rotating assignment for over two years.  “Young professionals receive accelerated professional development, world-class mentors, and global networking that cuts across GE’s businesses.”(1)  Even the John F. Welch Leadership Development Center was designed “to encourage exploration and spontaneous connection with other learners.  It’s very structure is a reinforcement of what is best about learning at GE: authentic human connection coupled with the invigorating pursuit of ideas.”(1)

Shell also provides an excellent example of how the company is working to develop the ability of its employees to associate.  Shell and the Chinese have been working in partnership to understand the issues and challenges faced by each.  Shell has begun sponsoring doctoral and post-doctoral research with Chinese researchers, allowing them to work in their laboratories in Amsterdam, while Shell staff works in Chinese facilities.  Through this exchange, Shell is “gaining greater understanding of the issues facing China, while they are benefiting from our technical expertise in coal.”(6)

Another example comes from the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Program in Social Entrepreneurship at NYU.  The program has taken a unique approach to learning; rather than the traditional approach of studying in one school with exposure to different disciplines, this program “exposes a highly selective group of graduate and undergraduate students from throughout NYU to the cross-disciplinary skills, experiences, and networking opportunities needed to advance and support their efforts…”(4)  Students are immersed in fields across the university to provide a deeper experience, and combining the social entrepreneurship track for the purpose of bridging together ideas and fields (5).

Now let’s look at how our colleagues are nurturing the association skills of their innovators!

Delray Beach, FL used its Annual Citizens’ Roundtable to understand how the public viewed the community and work towards creating a responsible and responsive government.  Four-person groups explored and provided feedback to the larger gathering on the following questions:  Why do you love living in Delray Beach, What can Delray Beach do today to be sustainable tomorrow, What do you fear most about budget changes, and What can citizens do to preserve/maintain city services?  All participants were encouraged to think broadly rather than focusing on specific services (4).

Clive, IA is currently in the process of rethinking their annual community celebration.  After a few years of being in a rut, they are in need of injecting new ideas into the event, and have decided to research community festivals across the region.  After picking annual festivals that have similar missions to Clive’s annual festival, they will send city staff to experience the event first-hand.  They feel immersing themselves into the actual events will stimulate their thinking, and they are able to pull ideas from each event, creating an even richer and truly unique experience for the residents of Clive.

Palo Alto, CA operates a Management Talent Exchange Program (MTEP) through its Human Resources (HR) Department, on behalf of other local governments in two CA counties.  Individual organizations nominate high-potential employees and then match the nominees to “stretch” assignments in other city, county and special district agencies.  Participating organizations that send employees to other agencies generally receive an employee from another agency in exchange.  The three-month exchanges broaden and provide new skills, perspectives, experiences and relationships that are extremely valuable for the MTEP participants and their “home” agencies (3).

How are we nurturing our inner innovator?

The common theme that ties our examples together is the continual focus on exposing staff to new ideas, environments, people, and processes in efforts to help them connect the dots that have already been connected, as well as draw new lines that haven’t been seen before.  Consider in your own organization:

• “Deep Dives” with staff members, within the larger community, or among a regional group of local governmental units and or stakeholders.

• Professional staff swaps between local governments; or considering partnering with a local company in your community.

• Rotating assignments for staff for an extended period; expanded job descriptions that reflect a multi-disciplinary approach; or immersion into other agency events and or processes.

• Consider your own personal activities: traveling abroad, artistic endeavors, meditation, physical activities – what are the ideas that inspire you and can any of their concepts be associated with our work in local government?

Next month we delve into questioning.  If you have examples of how your local government encourages this skill, let us know.  Send your thoughts to your regional director.

References:
1. General Electric.  www.ge.com.
2. How Do Innovators Think? Harvard Business Review, HBR Editors’ Blog. Fryer, Bronwyn. September 28, 2009. http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org
3. Local governments can find materials at “www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/hr/mtep or by contacting Frank Benest at frank@frankbenest.com.”
4. Resilient Responses to the Fiscal Crisis.  Alliance for Innovation.  March 2010. www.transformgov.org
5. The Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Program in Social Entrepreneurship at New York University. 
6. Shell: Working in Partnerships. www.shell.com