Summary
Welcome to our 50th podcast episode!
In this episode, we continue to zero in on what it takes to adopt and shepherd innovation through social change organizations. I interview Emma Proud, head of Learning and Adapting at Brink, an agency that coaches and consults on behavioral innovation approaches.
Emma’s Bio:
- Head of Learning and Adapting at Brink
- Former Director of Organizational Agility at MercyCorps
- Director for Center for Adaptive Management at MercyCorps
- Emma played other roles at MercyCorps, as well as at Save the Children and in private-sector consulting as well
We discuss:
- Leadership mindsets Emma observes in social change organizations that act as an obstacle when it comes to creating innovation-friendly climates:
- overconfidence
- low-risk appetite
- getting distracted by the 'halo effect' of the new or the 'shiny'
- difficulty in killing your 'darling innovation projects' ( sunk costs phenomena also plays a role in this); in other words, difficulty with stopping
- when considering the risks attached to innovation, not thinking through the risk of doing nothing as well
- It is helpful to move clients to an innovation portfolio approach (groups of innovation), accompanied by the development of criteria before you intervene in innovations;
- The importance of aligning innovations with the organization's strategic priorities
- Innovation 'shepherds' are different from those that need to be concerned with the adoption of innovation – the former are more organizational change managers
Quotes
“Innovation is about better, not necessarily about new” (Ann Mei Chang, author of Lean Impact)”
Resources:
Emma's Twitter
Emma's LinkedIn
Brink's website
Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSRI) article by Emma Proud and others: 'The Adoption of Innovation
Youtube video of this podcast
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