Hack:
Celebration of Innovation – Interfacing Boundaries of Play and Work

Hi Ellen, interesting hack.

You are identifying useful steps to promote innovation. For example, your statement that "ordinary workers with curious brains, would develop the kind of initiatives one admires from high performance minds". This is so true.

One question though - I am sure there is plenty of brain research on the link between 'celebration' and 'innovation' and the link between 'playful environment' and 'innovation'. Do we have practical examples of companies where this evidence is clearly archestrated. It may be worth adding such examples I think

Best regards

Chary

I had a connection problem. The comment got repeated.

Hello Ellen,

Your hack was recommended by Dhiraj to J.Goldman at http://www.managementexchange.com/barrier/ongoing-feedback-why-do-we-ign... for delivery of Feedback, which is my area of interest, so I decided to look it up. I have put up a new hack devoted to the concept of Feedback.

Am happy I read your hack. Your manifesto reminded me of the Six Thinking Hats of Bono, the six Learning Disabilities and the nine Defence Mechanisms. Bono has focused only on his techniques but Senge favors Dialogue for communication as compared to your emphasis on Tone. Dialogue will foster the skills per Senge. I got the impression Tone may still require the Knowledge worker to focus on the technique. It also appeared to me that as a platform Dialogue is more scientific and less subjective with its emphasis on identifying assumptions but there is no doubt that Dialogue cannot be practiced without IT while Tone can be.

I rate your hack highly and with serious well researched content in relation to a lot of others that I have seen. I wish the MIX rules were a bit more rigorous and meaningful on the matter of rating.

I have also referred to the MITA manifesto in my barrier on Free Flow in context of superior thinking.

Regards,

Raj Kumar

Hello Ellen,

Thank you for the guidelines on Tone. I presume they were posted with me in mind. I did a survey of the top Barriers to generate clarity and draw support for my viewpoint. I hope to establish in this post that my last posting was genuine and sincere in its content.

The Barrier http://www.managementexchange.com/barrier/need-progress-people-their-kno... reflects my attitude: the flow needs to be respected over the ownership or form. If this is achieved the all-important shift of mind, essential for success in any sphere, follows.

Kindly take a historical view of your central philosophy of Tone. Celebration of Innovation is an instance of the philosophy. The instance has surfaced because Innovation is the need of the day. Another need of the day serviced but not specifically mentioned by you is Feedback (see http://www.managementexchange.com/barrier/ongoing-feedback-why-do-we-ign...). Now let us travel back in time to the 80’s. The virtue celebrated then was a culture for excellence. P&G and Tupperware cultures were cited as role models. At their core was a simple belief, a cause celebre, to knit the minds of the personnel together. Tone is a universal cause celebre that any and every enterprise can pursue to great advantage. Go back another two decades. The Quality Control movement was taking root in manufacturing. There was no corresponding movement for Management and we are suffering the fallout of that today. Manufacturing productivity has grown 45 times while Management productivity is stagnant. The concept of Tone would have offered an excellent start.

It emerges Tone is not only relevant to all times but, as presented in my last post, brings peace to the participant, and creates a binding force within the collective. Perhaps I am justified in saying Tone has the makings of religion. Because I saw every reason for all communities to embrace it whole-heartedly I went ahead and actually termed it religion. But there was a need to strike a note of caution.

The first cautionary note is explined by the Barrier: http://www.managementexchange.com/barrier/absence-means-exploit-latent-c.... It refers to the McKinsey study available at https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Strategic_Organization/Th... to state that ‘Studies have established the primacy of Knowledge interactions for work in the 21st century and absence of means to manage Knowledge exchange for superior performance.’ The study states a startling statistic: 70 percent of all US jobs created since 1998 require judgment and experience. These jobs now make up 41 percent of the labor market in the United States. That is an amazing growth of interactions.

The Barrier on Collective Ability took me to the hack at http://www.managementexchange.com/hack/creating-common-language-unite-st.... It stated facts for the growing incidence of workplace violence and traced it to the growth of interactions. Interactions are at the core of Tone but Tone is not protected from them. This was my reason for stating that Tone faces the danger of being rendered helpless by reality like religion is today helpless against terrorism. The irony is that while all religions preach peace, religion is now identified with terrorism.

The second cautionary note I struck was complacency. Ellen, you have exchanged views at almost all the Barriers and Hacks I have scanned. You engaged in the form of Tone but the substance ….

Ellen,

There are a lot of good innovative ideas afloat in business circles. There are a lot of people who are inspired by those ideas, even putting them into practice.

What is missing is the redesign of the operating systems so that play and innovation have a platform that enables the systems to change and become sustainable.

How then does play change those operating systems? Do we think that the way we are organized as businesses are fix, unchangeable, and removed from consideration? I hope not.

Just using play as a team building exercise, for example, does not change how the system is designed. Too much of the play that I see in business is for entertainment purposes. It may address the relational side of the business, but much of that is determined by the structural dimension.

I’m all for more play and innovation. However, what we need is a change in the operating structures of business that provide an open and welcoming environment for all members of the company to engage in playfulness and innovation.

Great thoughts, Ellen. Thank you.

Hi Ellen,

I agree with the others that you bring up some great ideas in this piece on how to foster innovation. I think your point about the challenge of dealing with cynics is an important one as organizations will find that the cynics outnumber advocates of such changes at the beginning of implementing such a program. This, of course, is in large part due to a sense of ambivalence or fear of the proposed change being proffered by the leadership, if not also of change in and of itself.

I would suggest that a key element here would be to seek out those early adopters who are game to take on these changes, irrespective of their position within the organization, and make them key players in the process. This will help demonstrate to the other employees that such measures are not simply the pet project of the C-suite, but a redefinition of their organization's culture/goals.

This in turn will draw out more advocates of the plan, leaving the cynics well within the minority. And here is where I think your point about making it clear that constant negativity, either in conversation or behaviour, about the changes won't be tolerated as one of the organization's new values. Focusing any more on the cynics will only serve to empower them to hold such innovative measures back instead of compelling them to become active participants in the process.

Being aware of this initial resistance at the start will help leaders to press ahead and eventually reach that critical mass where momentum will soon take over.

What MITA is promoting appears to be a word for trust and teamwork but in the singular form. T&T is deeply desired but very difficult to achieve today. By singularizing it MITA perhaps creates a meaningful starting point: Tone will help Managers derive the best from their talents. However, its real benefit is the jelling together for genuine T&T as well as innovation. And to get Tone you advocate a form of religion. A religion practiced by Obama. You could actually say that yours is a religion designed for the successful conduct of business and for weathering any storm. The irony is the process ignores the storm lashing us, i.e., is not bothered to understand its nature and master it. Thus it does not question why Management is in a mess now nor what can technology can do to straighten that mess.

I linked pursuit of Tone in the workplace to religion as it is akin to the spread of civilization. That is what the great religions achieved. But, look at the terrorism and consumption civilization has brought in its wake. Perhaps this is because Religion confined itself to behavior and either ignored reality or did not offer a way to reveal it. Tone suffers from the same weakness.

Tone as you have developed it can be expected to anchor the mind, give hope, keep the nature pure, drive courage and help the Manager in doing what must be done. If the Manager is intelligent Tone, like religion, may even power the thinking. However, like religion, Tone will have its limits. It may not emerge the Reality or problems that must be solved or serve the passion to solve them. In fact, it is likely to induce a complacence and a false belief in one's own constructive powers. These are the tripwires of Knowledge work. Both brilliance and experience are no protection against the tripwires and may even be counter-productive. I mention brilliance because Tone as you have presented it recognizes some are more gifted than others and places an emphasis on intelligence.

The Manager has his religion today. What he needs is very this worldly organization and discipline for professional listening and stimulation as well as focused interaction, not from one person but from the collective (s)he works with. They are a must to overcome the tripwires of Knowledge work. If they are assured passion and success will follow. Tone is definitely not a means for the required organization and discipline. What perhaps mixes up this issue with Tone is that the associated drive for listening and interacting, i.e., T&T, must come from within for each member of the collective.

Ellen,
These are fantastic ideas. Recently Nintendo hosted an opening party for their new building in Redmond, WA. The entire evening was filled with employees demoing, playing and competing with the new games to be released for this year. This is a great example of organized play to celebrate change, build teams and up their creative genius.

I would agree that most organizations focus their annual meetings on driving home strategy, how well they are doing with their bottom line and selectively valuing individual and team contributions. The occasional team building event is specifically meant to do just that - "team build." Rare is the culture that values play - but they do exist across industries - FedEx, Hoffman LaRoche, Johns Manville, Microsoft are some of the examples that come to mind of organizations that I have seen stretch beyond their own comfort zones when it comes to garnering their team's best thinking up and down the chain.

One of the most compelling ideas for me in your wealth of suggestions is the Celebration of Innovation which would help to shift the culture and encourage more risk taking within a company. That takes a C level team with foresight and "mindsight" (Dr. Daniel Siegel) who understand and value the collaborative and cutting edge to implement something like this. It would certainly foster an expansive and explorative mindset for all employees to keep risk taking.

Thanks for this hack, Ellen, I can't wait to share it with others.

Ellen, thank you for much insight and thought-provoking questions. Recently, while speaking to my user group about "staying sane" while entering multiple challenging learning curves, I have found the most productive way to keep people engaged is through simple kindness and acknowledgment. My fellow speakers in the crowd are surprised to see successful facilitation of a group with total variation in skills. While I admit it is exhausting for me, and I have to recuperate afterward, I do seem to be able to help beginners as well as advanced tech users in the same room. I keep acknowledging the contributions of the advanced people, encouraging them to share more, and simply asking the newer users how they are doing as we go along. I know it sounds rudimentary but the results are excellent. I hope this helps with the concept of "tone." Thank you
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Reading this eminently well supported hack I was reminded of the assumptions that progressed Taylorism or Scientific Management. They left manufacturing gasping. Years had to pass to understand science and its conflict with change. Perhaps the understanding was incomplete for the science of Knowledge Management failed in the 90’s though it had the support of technology. Finally we have come to realize today that change, where personnel are concerned, must be intrinsic. The master of management transformation, Deming, has said very specifically that for change to succeed it must come from within, i.e., be led by a shift of mind. Your hack suggests we respect Agents and tone, perhaps to impart this essential angle. I have my reservations about that and have expressed them in your Barrier on the subject.

It is possible the remapping of neural connections is of consequence to transformation. But, can the remapping progress without exercise of discipline and organization? Dr. Doidge has concluded 10 months are needed to achieve it. Are we to believe that discipline over ten months can be inculcated by Agents and rewards and that this system can transform society? There is mention of very positive feedback on the impact of the methodology. I must accept that but to believe it I ask: has your suggested practice transformed a hierarchical organization? Difficult to believe because Agents cannot go to the heart of any System: Power. I could have enquired whether you believe your practice can impact a bureaucracy but see no reason why bureaucracies should prevent the rest of the world from advancing in management.

I pray you will not misunderstand my post. I see your work as deeply linked to Management Wisdom. It reminded me of a poster Hatim Tyabji, CEO and Chairman of VeriFone, had put up in his room: a dog being taught to sit. The dog sat in the tenth frame. Tyabji confides humans are no different and must be treated with patience and tone.

It is possible my comments are influenced by your incomplete conversation with Mr.Rohit Kashyap. I shall seek his hack to see what Knowledge he has practiced.

Regards,

Dhiraj

Rohit and Ellen, thanks for the opportunity to look at celebration from yet another angle. Yet, I am unsure how these comments relate to a Celebration of Innovation as MITA facilitates it among leaders.

In successful innovations there will be people coming from unique angles, and good tone is evidence of communication that respects all. My suggestion for Rohit is to read the science behind MITA ideas, (such as recent NY Best Seller – The Brain That Changes Itself, by Doidge, MD) since this post is not about Rohit’s notions of knowledge – but is very much about innovation expressed by leaders in a business community, with brain research in mind.

It’s about facilitation. It’s about tone that is genuine, (not meta-messages that mask a terrorist such as Hussein). It’s about evidence of talented people that build together because they communicate innovation in sincerity.

Not sure what is meant here by “hiding cause” as sinister intents are far distant from the evidence of successful innovation among intelligent leaders who work together with integrity for all.

Perhaps your ideas about knowledge would work better in a separate hack, rather than as a comment to a description of MITA's brain based approach to innovation in a celebration that does not include or relate to these concepts you raised.

Rohit and Ellen, to add a bit more perspective to this discussion, here's a bit more... When working with bureaucratic systems, it's hard for difference, invention and innovation to emerge. Rather than merely sticking to the ways an organization "does things," celebration allows people to choose three or more other people, who share interest in shaping something of a similar vein, that's useful by using their talents to move the organization ahead. That "something" might be a new system for one process, an invention, or an idea that needs more shaping and welcomes input after it is well-framed for a wider presentation where that can happen. Following a celebration, the responses have overwhelmingly included the words, "creative," and "innovative," and energizing. [I had written more below and am not able to see it now, so please understand if this is all that appears.]

When

With so many workers coming to organizations dreading a work day, this kind of intrinsic and extrinsic motivator has had life-changing results for people and it leads to the kind of culture that keeps an organization from withering in today's fast-burgeoning competition.

Just wanted to add to the sketch that Ellen started, with a wee bit of light that may help you see past any shadows.

Hello Ellen
Thank you for taking my comment gamely when it was so obviously at variance with your conception of your work.

Command & Control: This developed from something very basic and selfish and animal in human nature. It was the only way to fight wars and govern in peace time with power hungry nobles queering the pitch. And basic human nature is not going to change. What is changing is the means to influence it. Earlier it was authority. Now that is rapidly being replaced with flow of Knowledge. Freedom / free-flow of Knowledge can control even the extreme rightists. The problem is assuring the “Free” word. You have stated tone as your alternative. I assure you Saddam Hussein had a kind tone with those he met! My point: Tone is an effect and not the cause. By pursuing an effect you can hide the cause but not create it.

Please read this: “Host a Celebration of Innovation where staff will showcase innovative projects and insights similar to tradeshows. An innovation team of facilitators will direct the institution of this celebration and will track progress and ensure multiple talents are developed, shared and leveraged into profitability.” Is this extrinsic or intrinsic? Are you not seeking to herd personnel in a direction and institutionalize it, i.e., launch a culture? I agree it is better than no fun and a dull and dreary workplace but it did for a minute sound like Orwell’s “Animal Farm” which is all about manipulation. Sorry, but I would call regular Celebration as conceived by you subtle brainwashing.

My use of process referred to not MITA but to the approach used for Management transformation. Process has meaning in relation to a philosophy. ‘Celebration of Innovation’ is not a philosophy but a method for the management to communicate what it likes. It does not seek to liberate the human spirit. I did not see a belief in the human spirit anywhere. What you had was precise understanding of logical sequences supported by the flow of neurons. Thereupon I was almost driven to my statement on brain spots which gave you the creeps.

My use of “regret”: I was sad I could not agree with your passion and also did not wish to agree.Regret was a good mid-point between the two emotions.

Hello Ellen
I have read your hack with the following criteria in mind:
- The need is to evolve out of Command & Control. Does the hack define an alternative?
- The alternative must be compelling. It must recognize the need to overcome the constraints of time, energy and motivation.
- An alternative without the use of technology is unlikely to succeed.
- The alternative must create a constructive collective by intrinsic means, i.e., desist from 'brain-washing' personnel for discipline and organization.

In relation to my stated criteria I found your hack asked me to believe:
- You can convince all the people all the time with regular fairs for establishing culture
- Manipulation of thought is all that is needed to change the attitude of people
- No process is needed to progress new ways of thinking, in particular to progress innovation.
- Innovation is just a matter of touching the right brain spots. The spots may be reached with the aid of either display like exhibitions or reason. People will listen to reason.

I regret I could not accept your belief system.

Celebrate Innovation (and Failure)

I have often thought that it would be helpful to also have a way to “celebrate” and put an end to intelligent innovation projects that fail or get cut. This would apply particularly when larger projects are ended, and there are mixed feelings about the consequences of ending the project among employees and management. You want to acknowledge the gains of information and skills learned from the project; honor the efforts made; reassure the participants and others that intelligent failures are to be expected and are not career-threatening; and bring closure so the company can move on in an upbeat and positive fashion.

My thought is to have a New Orleans-style wake, with mournful music followed by upbeat music and food. It could take place at the end of a company meeting, and project teams and a small band (maybe from employees, maybe hired) could help lead the employees to an area for food and mingling. This would eliminate blame, relieve tensions, and allow a continued culture of experimentation.

Thanks for a great challenge, Ellen. The Celebration described here is a key MITA method that makes work more like play in a business format. People often achieved a state of flow that pushed new possibilities as we facilitated them to implement novelty. Celebration of Innovation here raises the bar for business leaders in workplaces and leads to productive innovation results as ongoing motivation.

The comment below may contribute to implementation of this exciting idea into traditional workplaces with innovative results. Again, thanks.

T

Perhaps you need to include ideas for best times to work on the innovation, that allows time for weekly tasks that also needs to be accomplished in a workplace.