Training Industry Magazine - Summer 2022 - 19

when the person is sleep-deprived,
undernourished or experiencing stress.
Putting sleep pods in the office actually
boosts productivity and creativity.
2 PATHS TO INNOVATION:
INCREMENTAL AND BREAKTHROUGH
Build a safe work environment. When
people are anxious or worried, the
amygdala is overactive, keeping people
in a hyper-focused state, the opposite
of what the brain needs for creativity.
Your goal should be physical and
psychological safety.
Provide training on creativity. Playing
certain games can enhance creativity, as
does a positive mood. Teaching people
what sparks creativity and innovation
helps them make choices that increase
their success.
TWO PATHS TO INNOVATION
Innovation is how we capitalize on
creative ideas and turn them into viable
products for the marketplace. Studies
show that nearly all (84%) of executives
consider their future success very or
extremely dependent on innovation. Yet,
in McKinsey's 2020 report " Innovation
in Crisis, " they found that innovation was
down across every industry except medical
and pharmaceutical products. They also
discovered that companies that invest
in innovation through a crisis outperform
their peers during the recovery.
Organizations typically follow two
paths to innovation: incremental and
breakthrough (see sidebar).
Another place organizations falter is with
execution. While they may be innovating,
they struggle with realizing their ideas.
The authors of " The Other Side of
Innovation " state, " We like to think of an
organization's capacity for innovation as
creativity multiplied by execution. "
STRATEGIES TO
BOOST INNOVATION
If your organization struggles with
execution, identify and address the
sources. It usually requires commitment
to a shared practice of identifying key
priorities, cascading information across
the organization and closing any gaps in
processes or collaboration.
* Incremental is a slow process that involves identifying a current
process or product and taking small steps to further improve or
enhance it.
* Breakthrough is a transformative process designed to disrupt
current processes or assumptions. It involves taking big risks and
making mistakes to achieve something groundbreaking.
True innovation requires breaking some
glass, so give your people permission
to take risks and make mistakes. This
is the hallmark of psychological safety
- people feel they will not experience
ridicule, rejection or punishment for asking
questions, trying new things or making
mistakes. Create a culture where failure is
seen as a vital step in the path to success.
Consider the word FAIL as an acronym -
" First Attempt In Learning. "
This may be a challenge, since typically
we do our best every day to succeed.
So try some new things and fail together
on the way to innovation. Consider
challenging each team to develop
four new ideas, at least three of which
will fail. Give the event a set number
of weeks and book a conference call
at the end of each week to compare
efforts and results. Give fun awards for
the most spectacular fails and the most
creative efforts. Integrate conversations
along the way into the innovation
process. Watch how the space to try and
the space to fail open new ways to think
about possibilities.
TRAINING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2022 I WWW.TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM/MAGAZINE
Invest in a structured sprint process
to help yourself and your company
break out of old patterns. Jake
Knapp's book, " Sprint: How to Solve
Big Problems and Test New Ideas in
Just Five Days " provides tools to lead
short-burst innovation sessions. The
accompanying website supports the
process with the tools necessary to
run a sprint in any function.
All organizations benefit from boosting
creativity and innovation. As we navigate
uncertain times and attempt to plan
for uncertain futures, having a culture
that supports creativity and innovation
will help your organization consistently
thrive and achieve.
Dr. Britt Andreatta is an internationally
recognized thought leader who uses
her unique background in leadership,
neuroscience, psychology and education
to create brain-science-based solutions
for today's workplace challenges. Britt
is the former CLO of Lynda.com (now
LinkedIn Learning) and has over 10
million views of her courses. Email Britt.
| 19

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/innovation-and-commercialization-2010-mckinsey-global-survey-results https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/innovation-and-commercialization-2010-mckinsey-global-survey-results https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business%20Functions/Strategy%20and%20Corporate%20Finance/Our%20Insights/Innovation%20in%20a%20crisis%20Why%20it%20is%20more%20critical%20than%20ever/Innovation-in-a-crisis-Why-it-is-more-critical-than-ever-vF.pdf https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business%20Functions/Strategy%20and%20Corporate%20Finance/Our%20Insights/Innovation%20in%20a%20crisis%20Why%20it%20is%20more%20critical%20than%20ever/Innovation-in-a-crisis-Why-it-is-more-critical-than-ever-vF.pdf https://trainingindustry.com/glossary/psychological-safety/ https://www.thesprintbook.com/book https://www.thesprintbook.com/book https://www.thesprintbook.com/book http://www.Lynda.com https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Training Industry Magazine - Summer 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Summer 2022