Like many companies, our leadership is setting the challenge that all departments be more "innovative" as we search for the next big idea. My question is how does the learning/training team support this initiative? What steps can we take to stay relevant?

thank you.

Our experience has been that true Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. In other words, to be truly innovative you need to be collaborative. Those who develop your product/service need to be in constant communication with those who sell it and those who support it. When individuals try to innovate they usually miss out on gathering multiple perspectives. Our job in learning is helping teams learn how collaborate and communicate with each other effectively. It also helps if collaboration is somehow rewarded.

Innovation, creativity, improvement, involves risk.... risk to share a different way of thinking, of looking at things... The culture of the organization needs to be there in order for innovation to happen. It needs to be one of the living values of the organization. The training/ learning team can support the efforts by undertanding the actual culture vs. the culture needed to promote and nurture innovation. Educate management, create strategies and plan to move from point A to B and then to C. Identify the necessary training and learning needs and how the training team can support those efforts. Your people may need training on communication skills, transition management, problem solving, collaborative work, presentation skills, diversity, etc. The learning team may work very closely with Human Resources helping them to create or improve performance evaluations, communication systems, etc.

Have a good day!

Innovation requires more than just ideas. In order to innovate an organization must develop and test selected ideas. In many types of organizations, the learning function can support this stage. An action-learning based leadership development program can serve as an ideal forum for developing and testing potential innovations. Program participants - high-potential future leaders - are assigned to project teams but at the same time must achieve individual development objectives. The projects should run about 13 weeks, and you would have 3-4 of them in each round of the program together. All teams have an executive sponsor, and would report their results together to an overall executive committee. All teams start and end together, and your learning function orchestrates the launch, reviews, and close-out presentations, as well as other activities throughout the program (development coaching, team member feedback, etc.). In this way, the learning function can serve as the primary "engine" by which new ideas are developed and tested prior to implementation.

Let me know if I can help further. A couple years ago I published an article about this in ASTD's magazine, and I probably have other supporting material I could provide.

Andy Beaulieu
Results for a Change

Hi, have a look at the work or Jacqueline Byrd's work on 'the innovation equation' - a great practical book that looks at innovation as a behaviour rather than a process.
for more information check out http://www.creatrix.com

Mike