Define the direction of learning
âWhat are we trying to learn and who should be learning from whom?â Iâve found it helpful to ask this question when designing new business innovation initiatives in the context of established organizations. It tends to expose a number of organizational dynamics that inform the structuring of innovation teams and their borrowing relationships with the established organization.
My fundamental argument is that if you want to truly innovate you must define two things: 1) what you are trying to learn and 2) who is tasked with doing the learning. The bias within the innovation initiative must be toward forgetting the old way and learning a new way.
Where this gets tricky is when youâre trying a new business model for a well established area of expertise. In the thick of the growing pains people tend to want to âgo back to Egyptâ and revert to the tried and true. Sometimes they want to do that even before you set off on the new path!
In these cases the burden of argumentation needs to be on the person who wants to do it the tried and true way, not the people trying to do it differently. This often makes established experts very uncomfortable. It can feel like they are being sidelined, disrespected, or outmoded. Ideally you will be able to communicate why you are endeavoring to learn the new way and structure the relationships in ways that enable you to elicit and incorporate the wisdom of experts so learning can be focused and agile.
For a great book on these concepts see: Beyond the Idea: How to Execute Innovation in Any Organization by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble
