Leading Innovation and Change

1
Leading Innovation and Change

• Review concepts from previous session
• Whats Stifling the Creativity at Coolburst?

2
Challenging the Process

• How can we create and support opportunities for
  change, growth and innovation, for ourselves and
  for our organizations?
• How can we create and support opportunities for
  experimentation, taking risks, and learning from
  mistakes, for ourselves and for our organizations?

3
Whats Stifling the Creativity at Coolburst?

• Statement of the Problem
• Analysis of the Causes of the Problem
• Decision Criteria and Alternate Solutions
• Recommended Solution, Justification, and
  Implementation
• Downside Risk and Contingency Plan

4
Teaching Smart People How to Learn

• Chris Argyris, HBR, 1991
• success in the marketplace depends increasingly
  on learning
• those we assume to be the best at learning, are
  in fact, not very good at learning--well-educated,
  professionals
• to learn, managers must look inward, to
  critically examine their own behaviour, how it
  contributes to an organizations problems, and
  then change how they act
• because professional have rarely failed, they
  have never learned how to learn from failure
• when confronted by failure, we become defensive
  and blame others

5
Teaching Smart People How to Learn

• the ability to learn shuts down precisely at the
  moment when we need it most
• defensive reasoning is not a result of lack of
  motivation
• the idea that their performance might not be at
  its best makes well-educated professionals feel
  guilty
• far from being a catalyst for change, such
  feelings caused most to react defensively
• defensiveness has become a reflexive routine
• problem with blaming others is not that we are
  wrong, as sometimes they are to blame, but that
  it is not useful
• by turning the focus away, learning is brought to
  a halt
• need to teach people how to reason about their
  behaviour in new, more effective ways

6
Teaching Smart People How to Learn

• What explains defensive reasoning?
• master program people actually use is rarely the
  one they think they are using
• most theories in use rest on several values
• maximize winning, minimize losing
• suppress negative feelings
• remain in unilateral control
• be as rational as possible
• purpose is to avoid embarrassment or threat,
  feeling vulnerable or incompetent
• high fear of failure and a propensity to feel
  shame and guilt when we fail to meet our high
  standards

7
Teaching Smart People How to Learn

• defensive reasoning encourages us to keep private
  the premises, inferences and conclusions that
  shape our behaviour
• people who rarely experience failure end up not
  knowing how to deal with it effectively
• How do we learn to reason productively?
• need to change the master program in our heads
• need to recognize the reasoning we use, and how
  we create defenses
• collect valid data, insights from others, analyze
  it, test inferences against the data
• managers at the top can examine critically and
  change their own theories in use

8
Teaching Smart People How to Learn

• connect the change to real business problems
• write a case on real business problems they are
  having
• get the entire management team to talk about the
  issues that have not been discussed before
• the result is that management teams work more
  openly and effectively

9
Developing Resiliency

• Life Balance
• resiliency is associated with balancing the
  aspects of ones life
• Figure portrays the various important life
  activities (next slide)
• individuals who are best able to cope with stress
  have a lot of activities in each aspect of life
  and there is balance between these activities
• those who concentrate exclusively on work are
  less creative, may not think as well
• wellness programs reduce stress-related illness

10
Resiliency Moderating the Effects of Stress
RESILIENCY

• Physiological
• Cardiovascular conditioning
• Proper diet

• Psychological
• Balanced lifestyle
• Hardy personality
• High internal control
• Strong personal commitment
• Love of challenge
• Small-wins strategy
• Deep relaxation techniques

• Social
• Supportive social relations
• Mentors
• Teamwork

11
Balancing Life Activities
12
Developing Resiliency

• Physiological Resiliency
• cardiovascular conditioning
• better able to cope with stressors
• numerous physical benefits
• lowers absenteeism and health care costs
• increases self-esteem, energy and attention,
  reduces depression and anxiety
• dietary control
• steps to good nutrition

13
Developing Resiliency

• Psychological Resiliency
• hardy, stress-resistant personality
• feel in control of your life
• feel committed and involved in what one is doing,
  in its importance
• feel challenged by new experiences rather than
  seeing change as a threat
• incidence of illness and dysfunction under stress
  is lower
• high in internal locus of control gives one sense
  of control over events
• control, commitment and challenge mitigate
  effects of stress

14
Developing Resiliency

• small wins strategy
• sensitive to small successes while coping with
  stress
• confidence, excitement, optimism motivate further
  small wins
• small requests are more likely to be approved and
  complied with
• 75 of the changes in people and organizations
  accounted by small wins
• approach is compatible with learning, perception,
  and motivation
• creates hardiness and overcomes Type A tendency
• deep relaxation strategies
• yoga, meditation, increase hardiness

15
Developing Resiliency

• Social Resiliency
• supportive social network
• share frustrations/suggestions/encouragement
• help to cope with stressful events
• mentor relationship
• career success, satisfaction
• help to avoid stressful situations/cope with them
  
• cohesive team
• communicate well and provide satisfaction, lower
  stress, higher commitment

16
Temporary Stress-Reduction Techniques

• largely reactive, effects are temporary
• muscle relaxation
• deep breathing
• imagery--visualize pleasant past memories
• fantasy--daydreams
• rehearsal--work through stressful situations
• reframing--redefine the situation as manageable

17
Managing Stress and Time Behavioral Guidelines

• Increase your physical resiliency.
• Implement small wins strategy.
• Learn a deep relaxation technique.
• Form an open, close relationship with someone.
• Form teams and share tasks.
• Learn some short-term relaxation techniques

• Delegate effectively.
• Improve interpersonal competency.
• Reaffirm your priorities
• Develop life balance.
• Use time management principles.
• Make your work stress reducing

18
The Value of Creativity

• Tom Peters, Thriving on Chaos
• Todays successful business leaders will be
  those who are flexible of mind. An ability to
  embrace new ideas, routinely change old ones, and
  live with paradox will be the effective leaders
  premier trait. Further, the challenge is for a
  lifetime.
• Richard Foster, Innovation The Attackers
  Advantage
• Winners are those who have constantly attempted
  to make obsolete their most cherished skills and
  products.
• Rosabeth Kanter, The Change Masters
• For middle managers and professionals alike,
  changing times and a new environment create a new
  set of pressures that need new insights, new
  skills, new orientations, and new roles. Together
  these require considerable reorientation of such
  managers, their development, and their skills.