Innovation: from best practices to fresh practices

Helene Blowers, Director, Digital Strategy, Columbus Metropolitan Library

Link: Slides for this presentation.
librarybytes.com Helene’s blog

What is innovation? doing something a bit different.
What innovation is not? It’s not about a just using a plan or recipe that comes from a book, but taking a fresh set of ingredients and doing something with it. Innovation is doing new things, and this is the easy part, but getting management buy-in is not always easy. For management, making innovation happen is not always easy either. The role of supervisors is to get out of the way, and help creative work happen among workers.

Innovation is not about duplicating someone else’s successes, but taking an idea and applying it to your own situation. Creative ideas come from the most unexpected places. Take an application or process that works in one place, and turn it around into a new idea. Put some energy and passion into this process to help others. The best ideas can come from places outside your usual work environment. Come up with lots of ideas, the more the better, so you have a lot to work with. The most difficult part of creative work at the library is how to get an idea through the implementation part. Strategy is the next part, that needs the most focus. Create connections and alliances to develop creative projects. “Don’t ask for permission, ask for support” “sell your vision personally, not just in written reports” You cannot sell ideas just on paper, but through alliances. Make an appointment with the person who you can see will help champion your idea, or a group, and ask for time to meet with them, even 15 minutes. Find a champion for your idea to promote it with you. Implementation of a project is a triangle consisting of resources, time, and scope.
Books she referred to:
The Innovation Circle
Purple Cow

Comments: how does your work look from the other side of the desk, as a reason for creating change?