Creating a Culture Where Ideas Grow

transcript

Creating a culture where ideas grow…

Cheryl Mitchell, PhDCheryl@RedBallSolutions.com

…into innovations

What is innovation? "Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things."

-Theodore Levitt

"Innovation— any new idea—by definition will not be accepted at first. It

takes repeated attempts, endless demonstrations, monotonous

rehearsals before innovation can be accepted and internalized by an

organization. This requires courageous patience.“

-Warren Bennis

"The innovation point is the pivotal moment when talented and

motivated people seek the opportunity to act on their ideas and dreams."

-W. Arthur Porte

Innovation

The act of producing new ideas to solve

problems.

CultureHow we think,

behave and work in an

organization

Culture of innovation

Creating an organization that welcomes new ideas or new

ways of thinking to solve problems, build solutions or develop new opportunities.

Culture of innovation

• Solution-focussed conversations to

encourage risk-taking.

• Structure and systems which support rather than restrict innovation.

• Learning environment with

an emphasis on autonomy &

accountability.

• Best practices in team development with an emphasis on a diverse range of people.

People Place

PositivityProcess

Different types of innovation

• New products.Product Innovation

• A change in what services are provided.Service Innovation

• A change in how products/services are developed/delivered.

Process Innovation

• New ways that organizations are designed.Structural Innovation

• New forms of patient and citizen engagement.Governance Innovation

• New concepts within the public sector leading to paradigm shifts.

Conceptual Innovation

How to build an innovation culture…

• Incubate ideas by creating safe spaces for ideas and innovation.

•Develop innovation champions.

• Ensure there is a clarity and consistency.

•Allow opportunities for self organization and diverse viewpoints.

• Support innovation with training and tools.

Incubate ideas by creating safe spaces for ideas to become innovations

IHI-style Collaboratives

Team Innovation Challenges

Innovation Labs

Innovation Speaker Series

Brag & Steal Sessions

Innovation Sharepoint Site

Develop innovation champions

CIO – Chief Innovation Officer

CCO – Chief Creative Officer

Innovation Teams

Catch People Innovating

Brag & Steal Sessions

Ensure there is clarity and consistency

Clear and compelling purpose

Consistent messages

Actions aligned with words

Allow opportunities for self organization and diverse viewpoints.

Invite dissension and new ways of thinking

Increase access to information

Design the organization to foster interconnections

Support innovation with training and tools

Topics

Innovation Frameworks

Design Thinking Tools

Idea Generation Strategies

Innovation Dissemination

Collaboration

Creative Conflict

Systems Thinking

Organizational barriers

• Incorrect measures that do not promote innovation

•Dollars $$ not available for innovation

• Extra time required

•Avoidance of error in a bureaucratic culture

• Siloing and artificial boundaries to protect territory & resources

Incorrect Measures

Questions:

-How do we measure success?

-What are other measurement options?

-How do we ensure that innovation is

the priority, not measurement?

Options:

-Measurements that are compelling to

stakeholders

-Measurements that capture integrated

projects

Dollars $$

Questions:

-Do we need $?

-What are sources of $$?

-Do we have partners for this project?

-Who benefits?

Options

-Leverage personal networks in the

system

-Achieve successes

-Source funds

-Leverage other solutions/substitutes

Extra Time

Questions:

-Is the outcome worth the time?

-Where else is time being spent?

-What are the real time commitments?

-Is there a better time in the calendar?

Answers:

-Triage other work

-Invite partners who will also benefit

-Cost Benefit analysis and/or Ease Impact

analysis

Avoidance of Error

Questions:

-What is the risk and impact assessment

mechanism?

-What are the risks of not innovating?

-What are the benefits?

Answers:

-Use a risk impact assessment tool

-Address risk up front and prepare for

concerns

-Promote benefits

-Develop supporters

Siloing

Questions:

-Do all stakeholders benefit?

-Have we communicated the benefit?

-Is the innovation aligned with policies and

direction?

-Who makes decisions?

Answers:

-Include all stakeholders in development

of innovation

-Create a value proposition

-Understand concerns

-Get to know people not just the roles

SYSTEM STRESSORS

Organizational culture

A & B are the same shade of grey

Perceptual distortions

http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/checkershadow_proof.html

The two center boxes are also the same shade of grey

The red lines are the same length

This image is not moving…

As you just experienced with the visual phenomenon, all of our sensing structures in the brain can result in perceptual distortions in our attempt to understand.

Cognitive biases

Confirmation Bias

Anchor Bias

Status Quo Bias

Not Invented Here Bias

Halo Effect

Cognitive biases

Confirmation Bias

Our desire to seek out information

that supports our existing instinct

or point of view while avoiding

information that contradicts us.

Cognitive biases

Status Quo Bias

Our interest in keeping things the same.

Cognitive biases

Anchor Bias

Our inclination to over-emphasize the

most recent information when making

decisions.

Cognitive biases

Not Invented Here Bias

Our tendency to ignore opinions and

thoughts of others outside our group

Cognitive biases

Halo Effect

Based on a person’s status or profile

in another area we give them status

and profile in another area.

Behavioural phenomenon

Groupthink

Good Samaritan

Inattentional Blindness

Stanford Prison Experience

Milgram Experiment

Behavioral phenomenon

Groupthink

People in a group strive to

consensus and put aside their own

beliefs and opinions leading to

faulty decision making.

Good Samaritan

Depending on the context, we are all susceptible to walk by someone in need.

Inattentional Blindness and

Change Blindness

Depending on the context, we all

miss things – even the gorilla.

Stanford Prison Experience

Depending on the context,

we are all susceptible to

behave towards each other in

a way that is unrecognizable.

Situation matters.

Milgram Experiment

Depending on the context, we are all susceptible to authority or

perceptions of authority over-riding our own values.

Self Belief phenomenon

• Cognitive Dissonance

• Fundamental Attribution Error

• Outsider Disbelief

Cognitive Dissonance

We will arrange our thinking to

resolve our own cognitive

dissonance or mental conflict

especially related to self perception

Fundamental Attribution Error

We over-emphasize individual

personality and under-emphasize

situation when trying to understand

behaviour.

Outsider Disbelief

We believe that we will not make the

errors discussed above.

No Way

Not Me

Prevalence

“Initially, when I thought about blame, I thought, “Hm, I

don’t think I can be much help here”. However, when I started

to really think about the definition of blame, what it means, I

realized, “Oh my goodness, there is actually more blame in

healthcare system than I thought originally… There’s blame in

a lot of places in the hospital, is what I’m starting to think

about here… I think there’s a lot of work to be done on blame

therapy, there’s more blame out there than I could’ve

imagined actually now that I’ve started to think about this.

It’s quite concerning.“

Vicious Cycle of Blame

“People have seen blame enough even if they haven’t been on the

receiving end. They have seen it in public. They’ve seen it at

meetings. So when they see that role modelling of blame, it’s what

sets the culture. It absolutely is. When people see someone

getting yelled at and having a finger pointed at them in a very

disrespectful way, that’s where the whole culture of blame and fear

and lack of transparency and everything comes from. If something

messes up and the person is afraid of being blamed, then that

person blames. The people who see the blame are then afraid of

making a mistake for fear that they get blamed. So it’s kind of this

vicious cycle.”

• Unwarranted

• Warranted

Blame Feels Bad

Fear of Blame

Blame Avoidance

• Deflect

• Defend

• Deny

Vicious Cycle of Blame

Warranted vs. Unwarranted Blame

“Blame to me, initial gut, my initial gut reaction, is it’s like you’ve done something wrong and somebody says it’s your fault. And it’s sort of meant to make you feel bad.”

Blame Feels Bad

“Blame is about shaming somebody. It’s about making someone else feel bad so that you can feel better.”

It’s your fault;

“People become fearful and people are shunned.”

“Somebody is feeling blamed and it makes everybody else very nervous. They’re afraid to kind of step out or do anything because they might get fired or whatever, you’re feeling very uncertain.”

“People spend a lot of time, a lot of unnecessary time and energy and worry trying to justify everything they’re doing because they don’t know where the next set of blame might be coming from.”

Fear of Blame

“I think it’s a bit of fear why we blame people.”

Deflect

“I don’t want to get into trouble for something so this is going to become somebody else’s fault… Something bad is going to happen to me. And to prevent that, I’m going to go blame somebody else. I’m going to pay that forward or I’m going to think of every excuse of why it’s not my fault.”

“They either try to find somebody else to put the blame on to or say “It’s not me.” Or you try the other way of dealing with it which is, “I didn’t know. I don’t know anything about it.” Which is true, it could be true.”

Defend

“Instead of actually just all coming down to the “trying to figure out what it is everybody is talking about,” when we get blamed, we get defensive. It’s certainly been my experience that we spend time trying to defend our position.”

Avoidance of Blame

Culture of Blame

• Mistrust & Underground Communication

• Risk Aversion & Innovation

Culture of Blame’s Toxic Environment

“Blame creates a toxic environment. It’s not functioning. It’s like we’re so busy blaming each other that we’re actually not focusing on what we should be focusing on which is the patient and their families. We’re so entrenched in, you know, “You did this”, or “We’re not doing that,” or “You’re doing this and I can’t do that because you’ve got this resource,” or whatever it is. So then who gets caught in the middle? It’s the patient and their families that get caught in the middle. And it creates this toxicity between the staff that I’ve actually witnessed, there’s some bashing and blaming going on and that’s not okay.”

“I think it’s almost like you have an underground of what’s really happening and what they’re telling people is really happening. It’s sort of like if you really knew what was going on, I’m going to be in trouble. I’m going to get blamed, so let’s just let a lot of things fly under the screen like the underground economy.”

“Blame manifests itself throughout the whole organization to the point where patient safety becomes an issue. All sorts of things become an issue because nobody… everything goes underground. Blame is the catalyst. You make it worse. I think if an organization has a culture of blame, so much goes underground that then leaders aren’t even aware of what’s happening.”

Mistrust and Underground

Communication

“Well, I think blame is demoralizing sometimes, it’s de-energizing. It takes away the sense of team because if you are a team, then there shouldn’t be blaming because you’re all in it together. I think it instills apathy in some cases. I think people check out to try and sort of protect themselves emotionally. I think blame takes away people’s passion and drive and energy and desire to want to do better.“

“So no matter what role we’re in, we all make an impact on the patient with our decisions and our actions. So ultimately if we work in a blaming organization, that’s going to have a negative impact on patient care. People aren’t going to be innovative. They’re not going to take risks. They’re not going to be out there trying to do things differently that are going to be better for the patients and families or maybe more cost efficient.”

Risk Aversion and Innovation

Summary

1. We have perceptual distortions and we interpret (all the time)

2. We also have a myriad of biases, behaviours and self beliefs, which are usually not conscious choices.

3. Blame, interpretations, biases and social psychological behavioural and cognitive phenomenon are often exacerbated by stress & pressure in the system.

4. We must address these as individuals, teams and leaders to have a culture of innovation.

5. How do we do that?

Next steps

1. Stop the cycle of blame before it starts.

2. Use critical thinking and facilitation models to mitigate biases and other cognitive and behavioural phenomenon

3. Have conversations, be consultative, listen

4. Be solution-focussed

5. Check It Out! You are usually interpreting and other people are usually interpreting you.

Thank you! Cheryl Mitchell, PhDCheryl@RedBallSolutions.com

Creating a Culture Where Ideas Grow

Healthcare