Want innovation that "resonates?" A farming analogy can be your guide.

Seldom are “additions” in an organization required for innovation and creative expression to flourish.  On the other hand, gaining innovation may require removing many toxins and barriers that are in place inhibiting or restricting people’s expression, (as pointed out in the post within this blog, "A genesis moment" in the "General Thoughts..." section)  

But there 's a big difference between simply having innovation versus gaining usable, valued innovation. Therefore, to become a Creative Hive, once the barriers and immunities to innovation are removed, attention must be appropriately directed to constructing circumstances that dependably generate the most useful, valuable and needed innovation for the organization's benefit.  In a Creative Hive, a desirable portion of innovation and expression should resonate by design with the tactical and strategic interests of the organization.   Note: This topic and analogy generally relates to Precipitative Resonance, as mentioned in the "Two Matrixes..." topic within the Getting Underway section. 

To that end, gaining creative expression from people that "resonates" positively for the organization is (very much) like farming (or at a smaller scale - gardening).  That is, in order to achieve a reliable, abundant …and relevant harvest, sequential attention must be placed to each of these distinct areas of the analogy:

1. Planning

2. Choosing the right soil and conditions

3. Preparation

4. Seeds and seed planting

5. Cultivation, Fertilizing and Irrigation

6. Weed and pests eradication

7. Harvesting

Unfortunately, all too often, organizations seeking innovation apply something more akin to a woodlands “foraging” analogy.  In other words, they expect small idea berries, “big aha!” truffles, mushroom expressions or herbs of concern to appear whenever and however.  This can be evidenced in approaches used with suggestion boxes, e-mails or innovation databases, communications, meetings and so forth, most of which are rather pitiful in their resulting content (in comparison to the full possibilities).  An "innovation foraging” approach seldom will satisfy the needs of an organization, or be responsive to the organization’s prevailing opportunities and lurking risks.

So how does an organization apply the analogy of farming for optimizing innovation and expression?  You only need to begin to think and act like a farmer! 

For example, a farmer must offer a response professionally to the following eight questions to remain viable as a business and to have a productive farm.   I will attempt to describe how each of their eight questions offer instructive correlation to you as well for the effective "farming" of ideas, comments and concerns from the many, many minds to which you have access:

1.  What should I seek to plant and harvest?

Farmers know that applying diligent thought in deciding what they desire to harvest can make all the difference in their ultimate success or failure at harvest time.  Thus they carefully consider the anticipated marketplace conditions as well as their resources, competencies, environmental conditions, time factors, etc.  In doing this, they decide the crops they should plant and in what order or priority. 

Farmers know they cannot plant everything, nor should they attempt to do all things simultaneously.  They are realistic about what must be done upstream to generate a high yields harvest downstream. They exercise prudence and judgment in choosing from all possibilities as to what crops will be planted for the greatest rewards.

“You reap what you sow.” This ancient wisdom is directly applicable to your innovation programs.  This is not only a sage warning, but it also implies that we must pursue innovation with a clear understanding of our desirable ends, or our preferable destinations, in mind.  This first step is also probably the most alien to most organizations' approaches to innovation, and conversely, it may be the most important.

 Just like a farmer, you must ask, "What kind and type of innovative ideas, creativity or expression of concern am I seeking?"  These should be prioritized, based upon your prevailing operational, market and financial needs including conditions, resources and competencies.  There may be two types of priorities.  Those being strategic and tactical in nature.

Great innovation programs have specific purposes, or ultimate harvesting objectives.  

Innovation, just like farming, should always be by design, not by accident, luck and random fate.   Certainly, sometimes ideas and expressions may emerge that you do not expect, but you must be ready to capture and pounce on them (as opposed to being resistant or oblivious).  Innovation by design resonates directly with the needs, interests and urgencies of the organization. Yes, your plans will change and shift with time as do your needs and opportunities.

Therefore, a well-executed innovation program directs thinking and expression so as to resonate precisely with the outcomes, resource/expense/time reductions and risks mitigation that the organization deems tactically or strategically important.  

So to begin, first answer, “What innovations does my organization need...specifically?”  Applying the farming analogy, this answer could  be the possible "crops" you could envision planting. Each item on this list should ideally be rather specific, or certainly not too general, in its descriptive nature.

Once this list of possibilities is reasonably complete, then stratify your answers in order of importance to the organization.  For many, this will actually be two lists, one with tactical or short term needs and the other with strategic or long term needs.  If need be, get input and advice from others who are in a position or have a vantage that can assist your decision-making.  

Stratifying your list(s) may be sobering or perhaps difficult, but doing so is critical to success.  Seldom will your (and applicable others) practical attention span and available resources permit having your full wish list converted into reality instantly.  Optimism is always strongly discouraged!  Whereas, pragmatism and "constructive paranoia" are inversely and strongly encouraged.

By stratifying, a degree of temperance and reality checks are added to ensure that you do not plant more than you can realistically cultivate and harvest at any given time.  If you are a novice to leading innovation programs, it is strongly advised you begin in a conservative manner and place the quality of your first efforts over quantity.  There will be time to increase the scope and scale of innovation later as you develop your expertise.

       To summarize, comprehensive understanding and thoughtful planning that is accurately mapped and prioritized to organizational needs should precede and guide all innovation programs and initiatives.  In doing so, keep in mind this quote (...and implicit warning) from Abe Lincoln:

"If I had 8 hours to cut down a tree, 

I would spend six sharpening my ax."

2.  What soil and conditions will be most suitable for what I seek to plant and harvest?

Once what is desired to be planted and harvested has been determined, the farmer must assure that they choose the most appropriate soil and growing conditions for the crop’s fertility.  The farmer will choose from the possible locations they have across their available landscape.  There can be a surprising span of variations across their acreage and seasons, even in a relatively small geographic locale (such as soil type, sunlight, moisture/drainage, irrigation requirements, chemistry/minerals, temperatures, etc.). 

A farmer also knows they do not want to “over-farm” or “wear-out” the soil, thus they exercise care not to do so.  

Time-related factors are also significant considerations, for the window of time of growing season(s) to harvest tomatoes, wheat, corn and beans may be quite different from that of grapes and blueberries, which may be yet different from that of apples, oranges and pears, which may be extremely different than the time required for walnuts and pecans.

So it is equally true within your organization that you must decide which “soil” will be “the most fertile” for planting your “seeds.”

  

In the farming analogy, 

your “soil” is every human mind 

you can reach and engage.

for precipitating creativity 

and/or harvesting expression.  

We must remember that each of these minds have unique qualities.  These minds reside within human lives, within teams, families, communities, professions and countless other situations to which you have “reach” and access.  A typical organization has multitudes of potential areas (aka: available varieties of minds) for planting, and often most have not ever been considered or farmed. 

 You may be appreciating a certain irony at this point, you should be very innovative to gain optimal innovation.  

Like a farmer's considerations, it is also true that in many cases you may find minds inside and outside of your organization that that may be presently “over-farmed.”  You must exercise care not to over-utilize the minds to which you have access.  You choose and distribute your planting carefully.

Listed below are examples of location and condition variables, as to the minds (soil) that are typically available to organizational leaders.   This list should serve to enable your creativity about possible distinctions as to personal traits, conditions, contexts, qualities, circumstances, networks and attributes that may make critical differences as to their innovation yield potentials.  As in farming, the minds you pursue depend upon the types of innovation you are seeking:

    A. Work role(s)

    B. Profession(s)

    C. Departmental or circumstantial settings

    D. Education and experience variables

    E. Interests and motivations

    F. Divisions, locations or communities

    G. Teams

    H. Suppliers and vendors

    I. Prospective suppliers and vendors

    J. Customers

    K. Prospective customers

    L. Past customers

    M. Psychographics

    N.  Demographics

    O. Random distribution

    P. Workforce alumni

    Q. Work role candidates

    R. Persons that you would like to become a candidate

    S. Board of directors

    T. Advisors, contractors or consultants

    U. External communities, such as professional, research, educational/academic, competitor   communities

    V.  Investors and other stakeholders

    W. Diversity parameters, especially designed diversity of thinking style, culture, age, gender, etc.

    X.  Students (of all ages/levels)

    V.  Retired

    X. Open, global communities, such as web 2.0 social communities

    Y.  Those with special needs, yet unrestricted in the context of your planting

    Z. Other applicable personal situations, circumstances, capabilities, contexts or availabilities

 

As you may or may not appreciate, today’s leaders and managers have access to billions of minds throughout the world like never before.  In many cases they can reach and engage these with little or no incremental expense in doing so.  Yes, incredible, but true.  Never has there been so much potential to be leveraged for organizational gain. Today’s organizations are not limited to seeking innovation only from their workforce, their industry, their marketplace, their supply chain, their city, their nation or even their continent, culture or language.  Equally, and with so many options, they can and should be discerning as to which minds they specifically and effectively reach out to, within or beyond, their workforce, for what and how often. 

 

Equally you must consider your “time to harvest” or “season(s).”  In some cases you may seek ideas and authentic expression within the hour, or less, such as in a meeting or conversation.  In other cases you may seek creative viewpoints and comments across a week, months, year or more.  There may be some conditions that are “evergreen” or “perpetual” as you attempt to harvest in an on-going manner (such as new associate referrals, grievances, whistle-blowing, alarm-sounding or risk reporting).  Time and season makes a tremendous difference as to the planing and design of what you plant, where you plant and all other aspects that are involved, all the way to harvesting.

 

3.  What preparation must I perform prior to seeding?

Once the crop decision has been made and the optimal soil is selected, a farmer knows that nothing is more important than ensuring that the chosen soil is carefully prepared and optimally capable before seeding.  Though situations vary depending on what is to be planted, generally three general dimensions are considered:

A.  What will the seed and subsequent growing organism require from the soil and environment at the time of seeding to predictably achieve maximum yields at harvest?

B.  What are the present qualities and attributes of the soil and environment (such as that which can be learned by testing, measuring temperature, moisture, weather conditions, etc.)?

C.  If there is a difference between A and B, what needs to be put in place, added, removed, delayed and so forth to ensure the soil is ready for seeding? 

Likewise, before “seeding a mind” in the pursuit of innovation or gaining valuable expression, the organization considers the same three areas in an analogous manner to prepare the minds they will be depending upon for innovation:

A.  What will the mind(s) (aka: the person/people) require to be ready to accept our seeding of a challenge, problem, opportunity or concern?  For example, what kind of shared relationship, affiliation, understandings, agreements, philosophy, trust, familiarity or world view should be in place for the mind to be most receptive and fruitful?  What personal attributes, skills, education or competencies need to be in place to make the optimal contribution in both creativity and expression?

B.  What is the present condition and status of my targeted minds (or audience)?

C.  If there are differences between A and B, what needs to be put in place, added, delayed, and so forth to ensure the minds are ready for my seeding?  For example, this may be augmenting, better defining or remodeling the relationship, such as letting workers and candidates know that innovation is a primary functional performance responsibility in their work role. 

With customers, clients or suppliers, it may be first thoughtfully inviting them to participate at their discretion in your program, and perhaps ideally conveying why doing so might benefit them (as opposed to being assumptive or seeming to be exploitative in your forthcoming seeding). 

Bridging the difference between A and B may also be accomplished by increasing capabilities, such as thorough training, development, problem-solving exercises, mentoring, shadowing, internships trust-building.  These may amplify personal functional performance in areas of creativity, problem-solving, alertness and vigilance, communications, constructive contention, collaboration, framing and modeling or effective expression, presentation or collaboration.  Other examples of closing the gap between A & B may be by offering the right general tools, systems and resources to enable the minds to be most responsive to your upcoming seeding. 

More examples of "pre-seeding preparation" that are often essential: 

• clearing a person’s schedule and/or dedicating a window of time    

• re-shifting priorities

• establishing legitimacy for applying innovative thought, experiment, and risk-taking (very important for many organizations!)

• establishing respect, clear expectations, confidence-building or constructing an ambient rapport of authenticity (equally vital!)

• preventing punishment for failures, whistle-blowing or the ridicule of any idea (ditto!)

• slaying sacred cows and removing policies, procedures and behaviors that may run counter to your objectives

• ensuring that a supportive infrastructure is in place to support every applicable aspect and process link of the innovation you seek                                                                                                     
                                                                                 
  
• and most importantly for programs within the workplace, ensure BEFORE beginning any seeding that you have work role relationships that are designed with innovation and creative problem solving as functional responsibilities; and accordingly, this is well articulated and agreed between the parties!  In a Creative Hive, accountability for innovative functions should not be considered as optional or discretionary with any worker.  For more information on forming work role relationships and work role agreements, go to: TalentSphere  

All of the above are examples of preparation and they should take place in advance of "placing your seeds."  Each may serve to ensure your targeted audience will be more willing or have a reasonable capacity to nurture the seed you are preparing to plant. 

Note: it's quite common for organizations to seek "added" innovative efforts from folks who are either ill-prepared, weakly-supported, incapable or already over-taxed and even operating in zones of toxic stress, without providing any relief or insulation from these at all. Then the leaders of those organizations tend to scratch their heads and wonder why no one is engaged or being responsive to requests.  The organization must always put the first step forward in functional performance so as to best enable personal performance.

4.  What defines "seeds," their quality and how should they be planted?

Farmers know that seeds hold the future plants and their harvest within them.  A seed is latent potential.   A seed is a kernel that encompasses complete genetic information for creative results.  A seed is a blueprint of possibilities.   Thus the qualities and attributes of a seed, and the correct placement of them into the soil, are essential beginnings on the march to a plant coming into being and bearing fruit.  A wide variety of factors go into determining the quality that is sought in a seed.  Indeed, many farmers work with seeds that are the results of hundreds of years of domestication as well as decades of genetic engineering. 

Equally, a myriad of factors and considerations go into the placement and timing as to how and when the seed is inserted into the soil.  Only the most amateur of farmers fail to have respect for the planning, preparation and careful attention to their seeds and the planing thereof.   Professional, successful farmers resist urges to short-cut any step of  the process,  for they know doing so typically previews almost certain failure.

The farming analogy continues to be almost uncanny in its accuracy and guidance for the optimal  realization of innovation.  As you recall, in this metaphor, the soil equates to all the human minds you have qualified as applicable for a particular innovation agenda, project or program.   

In the farming analogy, the seed is "what" you place into each of those minds (that grows into innovative thoughts).  A seed is what informs, directs, sparks, precipitates and provokes creativity and/or expressive response.  Let’s start with these two points:

I.  Innovation must be seeded for emergent innovation to predictably resonate with the organization’s prevailing needs, thus to be reliably rewarding and valuable.

 

II. A seed offers to a qualified, well-prepared mind that which is required for optimal creativity and expression, and only that which is required.  A well-designed seed precisely poses an “intellectual challenge,” or may effectively invite authentic and insightful responses.  Beyond this, it does not shape, bias or dampen potential thought and response.

If the prior preparation of minds ("the soil" in this analogy) has been performed correctly, hungry minds will be awaiting mental challenges.  An "innovation seed" is information designed, distributed and delivered so as to direct personal creative attention and responsiveness from a targeted audience.  Innovation seeds are carefully placed into minds that are eager to discover new solutions and opportunities.  Innovation seeds serve to focus, precipitate, and provoke personal insight, inspiration, expression and/or creativity that resonates with organizational needs.  

By definition, seeds paradoxically establish "attention boundaries," yet simultaneously unleash limitless imagination.  Innovation seeds can prevent the classical mental paralysis of the "blank slate," as well as inhibit wandering thought and expression that many have no relevance to the organizational mission and circumstances.  Innovation seeds spur personal mental performance on directed vectors that resonates with organizational needs.

Innovation seeds are the first step of a reciprocal information exchange: the organization expresses a need to awaiting minds that are willing and ready to respond creatively and reciprocally express that which the organization may need to consider or discover.  Innovation seeds purposely, contextually and specifically challenge, thus produce valuable innovation harvests. (In fact, one of the primary purposes of Innovation Harvester’s™ iChallenge™ component is to provide the container and structure for high quality innovation seeds.)

What might be the kinds or purposes of “innovation seeds?”

A.  Specific operational problems, areas of burden or certain areas of marketplace opportunities the organization envisions that are in need of better approaches, methods, practices and designs.

B.  Specific areas of problematic costs or expenses that are desired to be reduced.

C.  Invitations for comments prior to specific tactical or strategic decisions.

D.  Referrals to persons in personal networks who may be desirable new talent candidates for certain specific work roles.

E.  Specific liabilities or risks that the organization seeks to reduce.

F.  Specific investments where the organization desires greater returns.

G.  Problems, risks, liabilities or concerns of which the organization may not be aware.

H.  Customer input including value perceptions, product ideas and usage needs as well as user frustrations.

I.  Product or services enhancements, quality improvement, added value or added utilities.

J.  Surveys as to personal issues, concerns, frustrations or grievances at work that the organization needs to know and understand, including those related to supervision, working conditions or safety.

K.  Supplier challenges for product or quality improvements or costs reductions.

L.  Invitations to comment on process, procedural or policy improvements.

M.  Comments on a policy or procedure, including effects and issues.

N.  Inquiries for market segment insights, trends or changes.

O.  Inquiries to gain competitive information.

P.  Inviting comments on areas that may merit general or applied research programs.

Q.  And perhaps the most important of all - the seeking of one small improvement, a modest idea or one new viewpoint that to date has been unseen or unappreciated.

Whatever the kind of seed, any seed is always well considered and designed information content.  The quality of the content is measured by the quality of innovation and/or responses it evokes.  Just as actual seeds carry information that will inform the growth of a plant to and beyond the point it bears fruit, so do the analogous "seeds of innovation."  Seeds are well considered and designed information that are developed to spark responses, ignite creativity and direct mental attention.  Well designed seeds do so with precise efficacy for solving problems, seeking opportunities and causing expression that benefits the organization.  A seed’s informative content directs and guides innovation.  By now you may be realizing a seed must have “enough” information to inform and provoke, but not so much as to restrict, encumber or inhibit creativity.   The following is intended to open your mind to what a seed is and contains: 

 

--A seed offers enough information to prevent problems of mental paralysis and “blank slates," indifference or disengagment. 

--A seed’s content should prevent confusion or misunderstanding. 

--A seed’s content should focus the mind, as applicable, and raise creative attention to a cresendo. 

--A seed accelerates thought and places that thought on the right vector. 

--A seed poses the question, but is careful not to answer, or limit, the answer. 

--A seed enlightens and generates awareness, then abruptly stops to let the mind soar to previously unseen, unknown or unacknowledged vantages. 

--A seed may provoke argument or debate. 

--A seed can battle the status quo, conventions, legacies and dogma. 

--A seed teases, tugs, pushes and pulls thoughts in the targeted minds. 

--A seed instigates and propels disruption and questioning.  

--Seeds sets reasonable contexts and boundaries to thinking, yet they do so without inhibiting and restricting creative thought. 

--Seeds are focused and specific. 

--Seeds often should inform in both the “why?” areas, but be relatively open in the what, when, where, who and how domains. 

--Seeds are “brain catapults.”

--Seeds are “calls to thinking.”

--Seeds solicit the best insights the audience has to offer.

--Seeds inspire and encourage.

--Seeds are an invitation to authentic, uninhibited and free-range contextual expression.

--Seeds are somewhat like well crafted marketing, advertising or public relations messages that are intended to inform and generate specific actions.

--A seed can be water to a parched mind.

--A seed can be a life buoy to someone drowning in frustration and despair.

--A seed can be a messenger or envoy seeking help and inviting assistance.

--An often most important, a seed makes innovation and other forms of valued expression enjoyable and satisfying to the recipient!

Against this backdrop, and to accomplish the above, what type of information may be included (aka: of what does a “seed” consist)?  Here are a few examples of what a seed may contain within its body or structure:

A.  Background or relevant “history” information to well-establish perspective, context and current state of the topic.

B.  Why the topic is presently considered as important by the organization and why it merits the audience’s attention.

C.  What the organization is already doing about the topic to date that may be relevant.

D.  Related issues, ideas, problems, results, experiments or internal and competitive approaches that have been considered or explored to date by your organization, other organizations, including competitors, or even pertinent information in other unrelated industries or areas.

E.  Boundaries of interest, acceptability or tolerance as to new thinking, such as time to development windows, investment parameters, acceptable and unacceptable risks parameters.

F.  Provisioning with any related resources, web links, recent inventions or research that may be applicable and so forth that may facilitate or direct thought, creativity or expression.

G.  How responses and submissions will be considered, reviewed, accepted or rejected, including processes, organizing principles or parameters for selection and any other decision-making criteria as applicable.

H. When responses or feedback can be anticipated.

I.  If related discussions or other forms of activities are applicable, when, where, what to bring and other logistical information.

J.  If there will be online collaboration, wiki or forum environments are to be used, what are the locations, and what is the access?

K.  Who is “the owner(s)” of “the seed” and related contact information for pertinent inquiries?

L.  Tools and thought or framing devices that may better enable innovation and/or expression.

M.  Anything that would be legal or regulatory considerations, such as confidentiality, non-disclosure, rights, assignments, etc.

Planting the seed….

     

Farmers place their seeds into the soil with great care.  They are attentive to factors such as depth, process, procedure and conditions so as to ensure that the seed will be in optimal contact and arrangement within the soil.  Specifically what they do and how they accomplish this has to do with the seed, the soil and the equipment they apply for planting.  In some cases, the seed is planted in one manner and in one location in a specified manner (such as in a greenhouse or seed bed), the subsequent young plant is transplanted into another location in a differing manner at a later date.  Planting seeds can be one of the most sophisticated efforts of the farmer’s growing season.  An exercise of great prudence and diligence are the order of the day.

 

The architect or director of an innovation project or program also applies great care in the planting of their innovation seeds.  The primary venue or container of the seed, that is, the information is the iChallenge™ component of Innovation Harvester™.   The iChallenge contains all the basic information, documents, references and support that are required to precipitate and guide a creative response from a person within the target audience.  The iChallenge is web-based and can carry with it any type of digital file, including video and audio content as well as spreadsheets and drawings plus links to applicable research or competitor sites. 

 

The iChallenge’s content should be optimized as a compelling and engaging reason for the targeted audiences creative thought and expression.  The iChallenge content should be developed expressly to be appetizing to the targeted audience, thus in many cases, such content would not be universally appealing, even to the creators or producers of the content.  Thinking styles, bodies of experience, personal interests and mental, intellectual and creative “turn-ons” should be considered (as well as equally potential turn-offs and aversions).  The iChallenge should comprehensively inform the audience, yet must not restrain, restrict or inhibit creativity.

Download Planting Innovation Seeds 

Just as a passive seed must be placed into optimal contact with the soil, the iChallenge must be placed into optimal contact within each person’s mind in the target audience (see nearby graphic). This requires:

1.   Precipitating awareness of the iChallenge and the need that it carries.
2.   Generating an adequate level of interest within each person in the audience so as to get them to seek out and consume the iChallenge’s information.  

 

Note: Once iChallenge information is consumed by those persons within the audience, "planting" per se is consummated, …for the information is within the mind at this point  (aka: the seed is in the soil).

 

Accomplishing items 1 & 2 above are basically a specialized form of communication that entails causing awareness within a specifically selected audience and enticing them to learn more (from your iChallenge).  Said another way, this is a marketing and advertising effort.  Generally speaking, with your planting efforts, you must let people that you seek their thoughts and you must cause them to desire to offer their thinking to you.  The iChallenge’s content should be designed so as to reliably cause the latter, whereas your marketing and advertising program should generally be designed to bring people to the iChallenge (that is its web-based URL).   

 

Just as in the world of consumer marketing and advertising, there are many means, methods, venues and media for reaching and engaging the minds of your targeted audience.  Some of these are:

 

            • e-mail or letters

• print media, including posters, flyers, content within newsletters

            • applying features and environments of Innovation Harvester

            • organizational meetings

• word of mouth, especially from supervisors, leaders and co-workers

• supplier meetings

• phone calls

• dedicated presentations

• embedded information into customer manuals, invoices, etc.

• conventional advertising, PR or marketing programs

• applicable blogs, wikis, user forums and social media

• HR-related sites such as worker HRIS systems, etc.

• candidate queries additions

• solicitations, such as to campus academic environments

• highly targeted outreach programs to select persons or audiences.

 

Keep in mind that getting your targeted audience to your iChallenge is your primary and perhaps only advertising/marketing objective.  As such the advertising/marketing content should generally be succinct and seductive.  Share only enough information to get the interest of person and to generate enough curiosity to cause them to seek out and consume your iChallenge.

The iChallenge content and the advertising content should be designed to work together well, and certainly should be congruous with each other and without inherent conflicts.

As applicable, advertising and iChallenge content must be constructed to as to optimally generate creativity; and in doing so, be designed break down preexisting prejudices and conventional thinking that may be held within the audience’s minds. 

One final point on planting seeds...

Seeds are planted so as to be harvested with efficacy.  Farmers arrange their seeds as they plant them as to dimensional spacing and so forth to make for a relative ease, speed, yields and quality in the future harvest. They consider future conditions as well as the resources, equipment or tools that may be a part of the harvest. 

Likewise, an organization's innovation architect or program director will ensure harvesting efficiencies and effectiveness at the time of, or preceding, seed planting.  Primarily this relates to putting content, mechanisms, structure, support and arrangement in place as an integral part of the seeding to ensure that the content of each forthcoming idea or expression will be optimally crafted, structured, submitted, vetted, reviewed, considered and archived.  This is a science in itself that demands no small measure of attention.  Fortunately, Innovation Harvester is designed to provide wide ranging assistance and enablement in all of these seed content and planting areas.

Want a pertinent diversion?  Think farmers are low-tech and not innovative?  Think farmers don't harvest open-source innovation as well as crops?  Think again!  Take the link at this end of this paragraph to explore how one farmer's meticulous attention to detail and innovation pays off in huge yields.  (Note: turbocharged seeds!)  Then as you read his methods and approaches, consider the many analogies to your workplaces, marketplaces, supply chains and innovation programs... for every step:  go to multi-page article about "super farmer".

5. Cultivation, Fertilizing, Irrigation

A farmer knows that there’s much to attend to during the period between planting and harvest.  This is no time for relaxation, indifference or complacency.  Accordingly, he/she will be constantly performing functions to ensure the seeds germinate and the resulting plants grow in the most effective, healthy and efficient manner to predictably produce a bountiful harvest. 

 

The farmer attends to the soil with care and diligence, providing nutrients as needed to supplement the soils natural minerals and making sure adequate water is always present (if irrigation mechanisms are within his resources when moisture is not provided by natural rainfall).  In other words, you could say that the farmer becomes a midwife, nurse, nanny, parent and guardian to the millions of seeds he/she has planted to make sure the plants mature correctly and abundantly and bear the intended fruit and with the least possible presence of any risks.

 

 

What is a Creative Hive architect’s analogy to cultivation, fertilizing and irrigation?  There are many.  Pardon please if I stretch the analogy too far for your tastes, for here I think it best to take the analogy quite literally to spur the many potential insights of relevance…

 

 If we agree that by “soil” in this analogy, we mean the minds we reach and engage, how might we attend to their best performance for the seeds we have planted (aka: cultivate and fertilize)?

 •  by ensuring internally that the right people are placed in the right roles so as to be highly satisfied in the functions that we need them to perform.  Indeed, one of the two best indicators of personal work role satisfaction is personal innovation and creative expression productivity

•  by making sure that we as an organization are doing “our part” to support, enable and facilitate peak personal functional performance (for in a Creative Hive functional performance is always acknowledged as both parties’ responsibility)

•  by developing, coaching and enabling personal capabilities for the functions that we need them to perform.  This also means that if creativity, problem solving or compelling expression/presentations are functional requirements (and they should be!), we develop each of these.  This area is directly analogous to fertilizing, for growing a person’s capabilities makes them more “fertile” for the organizational gain!

•  by equipping each applicable person and especially their mind for innovation, creativity, problem-solving and compelling expression and effective presentation of ideas, including tools, structure, organizing principles, research resources and an innovation support infrastructure

• by providing forums for discussion, comment, inquiry and collaboration on specific problems or opportunities

• by extending due respect, personal affirmation and recognition at all times

• by allowing (and ideally promoting) time and conditions for thought

• by accepting and responding to expression

• by providing a means for “approved experimentation” and acceptance of failures therein

• by offering availability and access to supporting information and resources thereof, which facilitates thoughtful, creative personal response.  Informing also includes feedback, effective engagements and dialog that occur throughout the innovation process

• by offering leadership, vision and purpose

• by providing an environment that is authentically conducive and receptive to innovation

• by instructing and affirming to those outside of our walls (suppliers, customers, investors, etc), how it may benefit them to provide innovation and expression, even if no more than gaining sincere gratitude.

 

 

 

And what is analogous to irrigation? 

 

The “irrigation” or “the water” for innovation is always the stewardship of a high-quality relationship with the person, as defined and agreed upon by both parties.

 

 

 

 

6. Weeding and Pest Prevention

A good farmer possesses “constructive paranoia” and constant vigilance.  They are not naïve, nor irresponsible optimist that rely upon hope, luck or fate.

They are keenly aware that countless other plants would like to grow in the same fertile, nutritious spot as where the seeds are that they have carefully planted (and in doing so, take away the seed’s or young plant’s precious space and nutrients).  Thus a battle must be waged from planting to harvest on any other plant that may be competitive with the desired plant.

The farmer also knows that their landscape, …on the surface, above in the air and below the surface, …is filled with "hungry critters" that are perfectly designed and eager to harvest the crop before he/she has the opportunity to do, …and at any time or stage, day and night, from seed to fruit!  These hungry farm denizens may take the seen and unseen forms of insects, bacteria, mold, birds or mammals.  Thus another expansive battle must be simultaneously waged by the prudent farmer against anything desiring to attack and or harvest the crop before the farmer can do so.

If the farmer is to have a successful harvest, he/she must be victorious on both battlefronts against all noxious, resource consuming plants, toxic agents and hungry herbivores that can harm the growing plants. Any defeat suffered at any time or from any negative source can be severely detrimental, or perhaps fatal, to the harvest yields.

 

 

Does the Creative Hive architect have analogies that can guide them here?  

Most certainly!

 

An organization’s 

innovation “weeds” 

are anything that takes 

vital resources

 and “nutrients” away 

from the innovative thought, 

expression, process 

or environments...

 

A few examples are:

 

• Weak, diverting, misleading, conflicting or confusing information (including information about the nature of work roles as to internal innovation; as well as any information that may be in conflict or contaminate the “seeds of information” you have planted)

• Causing or allowing distractions that steal precious time and/or attention

• Conflicting priorities

• Work role functions in place that are not essential for desirable or required work role yields

• Inappropriate placement of attention and incorrect determination of urgencies and matters of importance

• Poor assignment or allocations of resources

• Poor utilization of talent

• Absence of clear leadership, vision and purpose

• Inadequate work role design

• Failures in talent selection

• Weak or absent talent development and stewardship

• Absence of innovation architecture, leadership and management

• Absence of applicable compliance, measurement and reporting mechanisms

•  Absence of applicable knowledge management

•  Absence of applicable processes of continuous improvement

• In external and open source innovation programs: weak, deficits or absences in positive customer, supplier and investor relations, public relations, poor responsiveness, barriers to access and expression, failures in quid pro quo expectations, etc.

 

And on the other battlefront in achieving optimal innovation ...

 

An organization’s 

“innovation pests and predators” are anything 

that threatens, restrains or destroys innovative thought 

and expression 

during any point 

of the process or within any aspect of the environment...

 

A few examples are:

 

• Any factor or element that demoralizes, disengages or disenfranchises a person’s interest or morale, including actions, words and behaviors of others, especially those of supervision, leadership and other significant influencers.

• Anyone at anytime holding rigid points of view, prejudice and resistance to entertaining new ideas, constructive criticism or contrary viewpoints.

• Champions and defenders of the status quo, conventions and legacies.

• Hypocritical or inept leadership or management that espouse and advocate innovation and expression, but are not accountable or effective in establishing the conditions and means for same.

• Policies, rules, procedures, processes and routines that suppress, inhibit or restrain new ideas, constructive criticism, innovation or creativity.

• Anything or anyone that punishes or restricts innovation, approved experimentation and failure or open, inclusive expression.

• Non-responsiveness, indifference, complacency, ingratitude or failure to express recognition and appreciation.

 

Note: cultivation, fertilizing and irrigation, as well as weed control and pest eradication may seem quite similar to that of the pre-planting soil preparation.  Just like in actual farming, the two do have strong similarities in Creative Hives.   It may be beneficial to consider why this is true.

This is an "evolving post"... thus more steps, content and editing will be following.  Check back often....

Danny

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