obstacles to innovation: how to plan for a future with roadblocks

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Obstacles to Innovation: How to Plan for a Future with Roadblocks

Breanne Crumpton

GSK Library Fellow

North Carolina Museum of Art

Dilbert by Scott Adam

Personal Roadblocks Things to consider:

• Finding time

• Looking to “perfect” the idea upfront

• Reluctance to ask others for help

• Fear of failure

Personal Roadblocks Things to consider:

• Finding time

• Looking to “perfect” the idea upfront

• Reluctance to ask others for help

• Fear of failure

Is Failure Bad? Things to Consider:

• A learning opportunity (gaps and values)

• Covering up mistakes can have long term consequences

Failure is NECESSARY for innovation.

Gifbin, Grabbed from: http://gifb.in/UqbV

Barriers to Innovation

Scarcity of Resources Overworked Staff:

• Who all needs to be involved in your project?

• How will you encourage them to put aside time to help with your initiative?

Scarcity of Resources Things to Consider

• Layout a clearly defined vision

• Personalize tasks to the individual

• Help evaluate and schedule workload

• Use meeting times wisely

Scarcity of Resources Budget Shortage:

• Where will the money for the project come from?

• What are the library’s current spending priorities?

Scarcity of Resources Things to Consider:

• Look at building partnerships with internally or externally

• Engage in development activities

Communication • Who all needs to be

involved in the communications?

• Are their potential turfs or areas your project might encroach on?

• Will you need to share resources with other departments?

• How is your team communicating?

Communication Things to Consider:

• Mode of communication

• Understanding terminology barriers

• Empathize and be a good listener

• Body language

Iguanamouth, http://lizardshuffle.tumblr.com/

Lack of Technological Infrastructure • What technology is

required to implement your idea?

• Will training be needed for staff?

• Will patrons needs to be trained?

Lack of Technological Infrastructure Things to Consider:

• The digital divide still exists

• Evaluation of adaption by staff and users

• Partnerships to acquire technology support

Resistance to Change Reasons for Resistance:

• Fear of the unknown

• Mistrust

• Loss of job security/control

• Bad timing

• Individual predisposition to change

Resistance to Change Things to Consider:

• Understand the nature of the resistance

• Who all will the change impact and how?

• Have a clear vision with a schedule on when to affect what changes

Patrons and Library Users • Who is the end user

of your innovation?

• How will the innovation impact your user groups?

• Will you innovation meet a user need or fill a gap in user service?

• How will your users react to the change?

Patrons and Library Users Things to Consider:

• Surveys or focus groups

• User experience testing

• Consider community partners

Institutional Culture • How does your

institution handle change? Is it encouraged? Or is there an aversion to risk?

• Are the practiced values different from the advocated ones?

Institutional Culture Things to consider:

• What is institutional culture?

• People are likely to change only if they see the change as easy, rewarding, and normal.

Resources to Always Keep in Mind When Planning Your Idea

• Library/Institution’s Strategic Plan

• Library’s Budget and Spending Priorities

• Organizational Chart

• Risk Management Chart

Risk Management Examples of Risk:

• Financial

• Technical

• People

• Access

• Migration of formats

Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/

Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/

Symptoms of Breakdown:

• Lack of clarity of need or problem

• Lack of ideas

• Low management or employee support

Potential Solutions:

• Concept refinement training

• Customer and market research

• Technology research

Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/

Symptoms of Breakdown:

• Under-resourced projects

• “Flavor of the Month”

• Unclear “why” we are considering concept

Potential Solutions:

• Customer and market research

• Technology research

• Financial analysis

• Competitive analysis

Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/

Symptoms of Breakdown:

• High costs

• Long development cycles

• Solutions don’t satisfy needs

• Poor team morale/motivation

Potential Solutions:

• Project management planning

• Prototyping

• Simulation and modeling

• Failure mode analysis

Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/

Symptoms of Breakdown:

• High costs

• Quality problems

• Solutions don’t satisfy needs

• Team confusion

Potential Solutions:

• Postmortem analysis

• Collect customer feedback

https://betaclassroom.wordpress.com/tag/learning-cycle/

Key Takeaways

• Think ahead and research potential barriers, risk, or resistance

• Know your institution, your peers, and your users

• Keep open communication channels on what the innovation is and why it is happening

• Partnering with others can lead to more resources, buy-in, and strengthen the idea

DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL!

Usually attributed to Gartner Group, Received from: http://navfund.com/blog/is-crowdfunding-a-boon-or-a-disaster

Breanne Crumpton

GSK Library Fellow

North Carolina Museum of Art

becrumpton@gmail.com

THANK YOU!

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