Hack:
Create an Army of Innovators with 125 New Habit Formation Cards

We know a lot about the skills and habits of successful innovators. A review of the literature (see References in Materials section for details) reveals innovators are successful because they:

1. Find and are energized by an innovation calling
2. Reframe thinking to find new ways of creating value
3. Learn rapidly and deeply from experience
4. Influence others to adopt new ideas and practices.

In short, the best innovators have a cause, think flexibly, experiment and can influence others to take action.  Each of these four competencies involves specific techniques and vital behaviors that can be learned from experience and mature into habits.  As far as habit formation goes, there is nothing unique or difficult about innovation habits, they are like health habits, relationship habits and other habits. This means we can use behavior change techniques that have worked in other domains to develop an innovation habit.

This is exactly what our team is doing now.  We are applying a small-step behavior change technique called knowledge cards to the challenge of developing innovation habits. Knowledge cards or kCard for short work by nudging us daily to experiment with simple but vital behaviors associated with the new skills we want to master. For example, if I want to improve customer service skills I must practice smiling and explaining what I am doing. While we all understand smiling is important for a positive customer experience we do not always practice it as a matter of habit. There is a gap between our knowing and doing. Knowledge cards are 3x5 cards that include a title that promises a benefit, a motivating quote, a single thought and a single behavior to practice regularly. By breaking change into such small well-engineered steps, the gap between knowing and doing shrinks and the probability of trying something new increases dramatically.

An example kCard is shown below.

This card teaches the use of mindfulness to improve observation skills as part of learning from experience. The card’s title provides a simple description of the behavior to experiment with and the motivation for doing so. The quote is an opportunity to build energy or refer to authority to strengthen motivation for the experiment.  The title and quote also clearly reflect the attitude or value that stands behind the effective use of the technique.

 The THINK section of the card lays out a hypothesis to test by describing the technique and offering additional context or the supporting attitudes and values.  The DO section describes exactly what to try out. There should be no doubt about what to do.

 Imagine having decks of knowledge cards covering all the techniques, attitudes and behaviors needed to learn the four competencies of innovation.  You could play the cards daily and quickly discover those techniques and behaviors that work best in your context. The deck accelerates the learning from experience process because it predefines most of the relevant experiments for you to try but still leaves room for individualized experimentation.  The back of cards can be used to document the results from each play creating data to learn from. Having a card to carry with you during the day (or an electronic version on your phone or tablet) acts as a natural reminder to try the experiment. Each card is a nudge. Sorting through the deck to select just those cards that fit your environment and learning needs creates a personalized path which means fewer cycles and more immediate results.

 In short, kCards naturally support every step in the learning from experience process.  They tell us specifically what to try and provide guidance on how to observe and interpret. The choice to continue with a card or select another one can be simplified with instructions for how to use the deck. For example, you may want to play a single card until it becomes a habit or you might want to play different cards every day.

The best knowledge cards can be read in less than a minute and include vital behaviors that can be tested with a 2-3 minutes of effort. This small-step design is critical as it keeps the cognitive load of learning from experience down to a manageable level even for very busy people.

 The kCard approach is grounded in the science of behavior change and has been tested and refined by over a hundred clients and graduate students in dozens of firms across multiple industries.

Our team has created a set of five knowledge card decks designed to support the innovation habit including decks to:

1. Find Your Innovation Calling
2. Reframe Your Thinking
3. Sharpen Your Observation Skills
4. Sharpen Your Interpretation Skills
5. Sharpen Your Influence Skills

Taken together the decks offer 125 cards all backed by research that teach the habits of successful innovators including having a cause, thinking flexibly, experimenting and influencing others to take action.  The decks script a small-steps learning experience that accumulates over time into an innovation habit.

 A description of each deck along with a list of card titles can be found in Innovation Card Overview in the Materials section of this Hack. You will also find a Sample Innovation Deck that provides 25 cards so you can try them out.

 We are developing an iOS application for the iPhone and iPad called NewHabits. The NewHabits app will make it easy to access, use and share not only the innovation cards but other knowledge card application as well. We expect to launch the NewHabits app later in January. Sample screen shots are shown below.

Once authored, knowledge cards can be deployed in a stand-alone fashion or embedded in training, development programs, coaching, culture management  or continuous improvement programs.  They work best when: 

• Participants receive a brief orientation to the knowledge cards concept and understand why the organization is using them.
• The learning and habit formation occurs as participants work and interact with others at home and in the community so no off-line training time is required. But an expectation to play a card each working day and record results should be set.
• Participants are free to select the cards they play and are encouraged to write their own cards and share them with others.
• Participants working on the same deck can interact with each other (in-person and on-line) to share experiences and build community.
• A part-time facilitator is available to answer questions, teach others how to write knowledge cards and expedite group interaction.
• There are specific outcomes or behaviors that can be observed that signal progress toward the new skills and behavior changes the cards were designed to create.  Formal outcome measures as well as anecdotes and impressions from participates can be used to demonstrate progress or spot problems.

Below are the use guidelines that will be published for the NewHabits app.

You can play NewHabit cards by yourself, with a partner or in groups.  Use them as standalone program or to augment other training, development and coaching materials.

• Get started by picking any card that interests you
• Play a card every day or every few days 
• Expect to play a card multiple times
• You can play the same card repeatedly or pick a new card
• Try each card in the deck at least once unless it is already a habit
• To master a card play it as many times as it takes to become a habit
• You don’t need to master all the cards to see big improvements
• Expect to play a deck for at least 90 days
• You should see improvements or gain insight every few days
• Jot down ideas for new cards or decks
• Share your cards

Knowledge cards produce organizational behavior change and help form new organizational competencies from the bottom up.  They trigger a continuous organizational learning process that requires little infrastructure, investment or formal management.