Innovation Mindset

Picture, if you will, a wagon on the early American trail. Picture the wheels of the wagon turning along the dirt road with well worn ruts. Think about how easy it is to continue on the road as compared to trying to steer the wagon off the track. If you steer off track you risk tipping the wagon. You risk breaking an axle. You risk additional work if you use a lever to push as well as pull the wagon off the trail. It's a rut. We often say we are in a rut, but do we think critically about how to get out of the rut. Rut = worn in habit.

Innovative ideas = change. Introducing something new. Something not in a rut. Opposing forces. It is difficult at times to change perspectives. Having facilitated vision work (or ideation or innovation or whatever term you use) meetings to draw new ideas out of people and found myself staring at an audience in a rut (actually I have been on both sides of the equation). They default to the standard answer as they glance casually at their watch as they imagine all of the things they need to be doing back at their desks, calls they need to make, groceries they need to pick. The rut is easy. It allows for other distractions such as entertainment and self back slapping congragulatory activities.

To snap people out of the rut, tools and techniques are essential. I've written about problem solving as a tool to anchor people's thoughts and create a single topic that everyone can work towards. Recently I am reading a book that talks about mental locks in a very entertaining way. I recommend "A Whack on the Side of the Head" by Roger von Oech. Take a read and see if those mental locks ring true to your situation.