Monthly Archives: August 2021

Digital Transformation Virtual Office Hours – Session One

84% of digital transformations fail, according to research by Michael Gale of PulsePoint Group.

A digital transformation is the journey between a company’s current business operations to a reimagined version of itself from the perspective of how a digital native would build the same business operations leveraging the latest technology and scientific understandings of management science, leadership, decision science, business and process architecture, design, customer experience, etc.

Here is a quick review list of ten things to keep in mind for a successful digital transformation:

Reimagine your business from a digital native perspective
A Human-Centered Data Model (customers & employees)
Put your customers and employees at the center
Identify intersection of what’s needed & what’s possible
Simplify processes
Reduce complexity
Design elegant experiences
Technology comes at the END – not the beginning
Start by making strategic choices
Build capabilities needed to achieve your transformation

LinkedIn Virtual Office Hours – Digital Transformation – Session One

On Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 11am EDT I opened up a Virtual Office Hours session on LinkedIn about Digital Transformation.

To participate in this first in a series of virtual office hours, you only need do two things:

Follow me on LinkedIn
Visit this LinkedIn post, add a comment with your question and I will answer it!

Here is an example of how these Digital Transformation Virtual Office Hours will go:

QUESTION ONE from Howard Tiersky:

How can you determine if your data model is human centered?

Can you talk more about that idea?

ANSWER from Braden Kelley:

Great question Howard! The best way to evaluate whether your data model is human-centered is to look at the most frequent actions driven by your data.

The first mistake people make in building their data model is to not start with the end in mind.

The second mistake people make in building their data model is to not be brutal in insisting that nearly 100% of the data gathered is actionable and not just nice to have. BUT, it is far more difficult to make the decision not to gather a piece of data than it is to just make your forms one field longer.

To try and create a human-centered data model you want to focus on making sure you’re only gathering actionable data and that it is being used to drive outcomes for humans (customers, employees, partners, etc.).

Finally, one side effect that people don’t consider when building their data model and gathering non-actionable data is that they end up inflating the number of reports that get built and that people have to sort through to find the ones that are human-centered and do contain actionable data.

So, design your data models from value derived for humans and the actions necessary to execute, evolve and deliver – backwards!

QUESTION TWO from Mark Schaefer:

In my experience across many verticals, it seems like digital transformation usually occurs only when the pain in business necessitates it. In other words, the cost of avoiding change becomes greater than the cost of implementing solutions.

Do think this is still the case or are companies outside of tech beginning to think more long-term and strategically about these transformations?

ANSWER from Braden Kelley:

While it is definitely true that most companies only engage in the perceived pain of transformation when it is less than the perceived pain of avoiding change, an increasing number of organizations are recognizing that doing nothing is no longer a viable option.

A true digital transformation not only has the potential of equipping the organization to better fight off entrance by digital natives, but also to deliver improved customer and employee experiences and to improve employee retention and recruitment in this tight labor market.

And yes, companies outside of tech are beginning to think more strategically about these transformations as I am about to begin working with a company in the natural resources industry.

Companies in every industry can no longer put off this important work, and in fact a true digital transformation has the side benefits of increasing innovation capabilities and capacity when done well.

Click to Add Your Question on LinkedIn

p.s. If you’re interested in Digital Transformation, you’ll also enjoy some of the articles I’ve written for a number of publications including CEO World, the HCL Technologies Blog, and of course Human-Centered Change and Innovation:

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Co-creating Future-fit Organizations

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Co-creating Future-fit Organizations

GUEST POST from Janet Sernack

In our second blog in this series of three, we opened the door to a threshold for a new kind of co-creative, collaborative and cohesive team spirit that catalyzes change through “innovation evangelism”. Focusing on building both internal and external talent, through empowering, equipping, and enabling internally cohesive and effective innovation teams. They apply their collaborative and collective intelligence towards initiating open innovation initiatives co-creating future-fit organizations that are human-centric, adaptive, engaging, inclusive, collaborative, innovative, accountable, and digitally enabled.

Innovation evangelists are change catalysts who courageously experiment with different business models and processes, to crowdsource broad and deep innovation capabilities. Usually in new ways that breakthrough corporate antibodies and barriers and deliver sustainable, meaningful, and purposeful change. Where, according to the recent Ideascale “Crowd Sourced Innovation Report 2021” “crowdsourced innovation capabilities have grown and innovation output indicators like implementation rate and time to implement have improved. In fact, businesses that were able to rapidly adapt and focus on innovation(in 2020) are poised to outperform their peers in the coming years”.

Innovation teams don’t innovate

The purpose of an innovation team is to create a safe environment that unlocks organizational and its key external stakeholder’s collective intelligence and innovation agility (capacity, competence, and confidence) to build the capability to change as fast as change itself.

Where the goal is to create a high performing, connected, and networked workplace culture where people:

Understand and practice the common language of innovation, what exactly it means in their organizational context, as well as exactly what value means to current and potential customers as well as to the organization,
Develop a shared narrative or story about why innovation is crucial towards initiating and sustaining future success,
Have the time and space to deeply connect, collaborate, and co-create value, internally and externally with customers, suppliers, and other primary connection points to build external talent communities and value-adding ecosystems,
Maximize differences and diversity of thought within customers as well as within communities and ecosystems,
Generate urgency and creative energy to innovate faster than competitors,
Feel safe and have permission to freely share ideas, wisdom, knowledge, information, resources, and perspectives, with customers as well as across communities and ecosystems.

How innovation teams learn and develop

Sustaining success in today’s uncertain, unstable, and highly competitive business environment is becoming increasingly dependent on people’s and team’s abilities to deeply learn, adapt and grow. Yet most people and a large number of organizations don’t yet seem to value learning and adaptiveness as performance improvement enablers, especially in enabling people and teams to thrive in a disruptive world. Nor do they understand how people learn, nor how to strategically develop peoples’ learning agility towards potentially co-creating future-fit organizations that sustain high-impact in VUCA times.

At ImagineNation™ we have integrated the four E’s of learning at work; Education, Experience, Environment, and Exposure with 12 key determining factors for co-creating future-fit organizations that sustain high-impact in VUCA times through our innovation team development, change, learning, and coaching programs.

Case Study Example

Educational customisation and alignment

After conducting desktop research and key stakeholder sensing interviews, we customized our innovation education curriculum specifically to align with the learning needs of the innovation team.

We aligned the program design to the organization’s strategic imperatives, values, and leadership behaviors, we reviewed the results of the previous culture, climate and engagement surveys, as well as the range of business transformation initiatives. We then applied design thinking principles to “bring to life” the trends emerging, diverging, and converging in our client’s and their customer’s industry sectors.

Focusing on:

enabling people to perform well in their current roles,
building people’s long-term career success,
developing their long-term team leadership and membership development capabilities,
laying the foundations for impacting collectively towards co-creating future-fit organizations.

Experiential learning a virtual and remote environment

We designed and offered a diverse and engaging set of high-value learning and development experiences that included a range of stretch and breakthrough assignments as part of their personal and team development process.

Focusing on:

encouraging people to engage in a set of daily reflective practices,
offering a series of customized agile macro learning blended learning options, that could be viewed or consumed over short periods of time,
engaging playful activities and skills practice sessions, with structured feedback and debrief discussions,
providing an aligned leadership growth individual and team assessment process,
introducing key criteria for establishing effective team cohesion and collaboration,
linking team action learning activities and evidence-based assignments to their strategic mandate ensuring their collective contribution towards co-creating future-fit organizations.

Environment to support and encourage deep learning

We aimed at creating permission, tolerance, and a safe learning environment for people to pause, retreat, reflect, and respond authentically and effectively, to ultimately engage and upskill people in new ways of being, thinking, and acting towards co-creating future-fit organizations.

Focusing on:

developing peoples discomfort resilience and change readiness,
encouraging people to be empathic, courageous, and compassionate with one another, to customers as well as to those they were seeking to persuade and influence,
allowing and expecting mistakes to be made and valued as learning opportunities and encouraging smart risk-taking,
reinforcing individual learning as personal responsibility and team learning as a mutual responsibility and establishing a learning buddy system to support accountability,
offering a series of one-on-one individual coaching sessions to set individual goals and support people and the teams’ “on the job” applications.

Exposure to different and diverse learning modalities

We designed a range of immersive microlearning bots by providing regular, consistent, linked, multimedia learning options and a constantly changing range of different and diverse learning modalities.

Focusing on:

providing an informative and targeted reading list and set of website links,
setting a series of coordinated thought leading webinars, videos, podcasts, and magazine articles aligned to deliver the desired learning outcomes,
outlining fortnightly targeted team application and reinforcement tasks,
helping the team to collaborate and set and communicate their passionate purpose, story, and key outputs to the organization to build their credibility and self-efficacy,
designing bespoke culture change initiatives that the innovation team could catalyse across the organization to shift mindsets and behaviors to make innovation a habit for everyone, every day.

Collectively contributing to the good of the whole

Co-creating future-fit organizations require creativity, compassion, and courage to co-create the space and freedom to discuss mistakes, ask questions, and experiment with new ideas. To catalyse change and help shift the workplace culture as well as crowdsource possibilities through open innovation.

In ways, that are truly collaborative, and energize, catalyze, harness, and mobilize people’s and customers’ collective genius, in ways that are appreciated and cherished by all. To ultimately collectively co-create a future-fit organization that contributes to an improved future, for customers, stakeholders, leaders, teams, organizations as well as for the good of the whole.

This is the final blog in a series of three about catalyzing change through innovation teams, why innovation teams are important in catalyzing culture change, and what an innovation team does, and how they collectively contribute toward co-creating the future-fit organization.

Find out about our learning products and tools, including The Coach for Innovators Certified Program, a collaborative, intimate, and deep personalized innovation coaching and learning program, supported by a global group of peers over 8-weeks, starting Tuesday, October 19, 2021.

It is a blended and transformational change and learning program that will give you a deep understanding of the language, principles, and applications of a human-centred approach and emergent structure (Theory U) to innovation, within your unique context. Find out more

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How to Overcome Innovation Roadblocks and Foster a Growth Mindset

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How to Overcome Innovation Roadblocks and Foster a Growth Mindset

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

In today’s business landscape, innovation is not just a buzzword; it is a necessity. Organizations are under constant pressure to innovate to stay competitive and relevant. However, the journey to innovation is often fraught with roadblocks. Overcoming these barriers requires fostering a growth mindset across the organization. In this article, we will delve into the common roadblocks to innovation and provide actionable strategies to foster a growth mindset, enriched with two illuminating case studies.

Common Innovation Roadblocks

Fear of Failure: Employees may hesitate to take risks due to fear of negative outcomes.
Status Quo Bias: Organizations often prefer stability over change, hindering innovation.
Lack of Resources: Innovation requires time, money, and talent, which may be in short supply.
Poor Communication: Siloed departments and poor communication can stifle collaboration and idea sharing.
Short-term Focus: Immediate financial pressures can divert attention from long-term innovation goals.

Strategies to Overcome Innovation Roadblocks

1. Cultivate a Growth Mindset

Psychologist Carol Dweck’s concept of a growth mindset—believing that abilities and intelligence can be developed—sets the foundation for an innovative culture. Here’s how to foster it:

Encourage Learning: Offer continuous learning opportunities through workshops, training sessions, and online courses.
Celebrate Effort: Recognize and reward efforts, not just outcomes. This will encourage employees to take risks.
Create Safe Spaces: Build an environment where employees feel safe to voice new ideas without fear of criticism.

2. Implement Cross-functional Teams

Creating cross-functional teams can break down silos and improve communication. When team members from different departments collaborate, they bring diverse perspectives and ideas. This diversity fosters creativity and innovation.

3. Allocate Resources Wisely

Ensure that teams working on innovation projects have access to the resources they need, whether it’s budget, time, or talent. Create dedicated innovation hubs or labs if possible.

4. Emphasize Long-term Vision

Communicate the importance of long-term innovation goals to all stakeholders. Align these goals with the organization’s mission and vision to garner support and commitment.

Case Study 1: Google – The 20% Time Rule

Google is renowned for its innovative culture, and one of its key strategies is the “20% Time Rule.” This policy allows employees to spend 20% of their work time on projects they are passionate about, even if these projects are not part of their job description.

Outcome: This strategy led to the creation of groundbreaking products such as Gmail, Google News, and AdSense.
Learning: Giving employees the freedom to explore their ideas can lead to transformative innovation.

Case Study 2: 3M – The Post-it Note

3M’s Post-it Note is another classic example of successful innovation born out of a growth mindset. In the late 1960s, Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist, invented a low-tack adhesive but struggled to find its practical application. It wasn’t until a colleague, Art Fry, used the adhesive to anchor his bookmarks in his hymn book that the Post-it Note was conceived.

Outcome: The Post-it Note became one of 3M’s most successful products, generating billions in revenue.
Learning: Innovation often involves serendipity and rethinking existing ideas in new contexts.

Conclusion

Overcoming innovation roadblocks requires a multi-faceted approach centered around fostering a growth mindset. By encouraging continuous learning, celebrating effort, creating safe spaces for idea sharing, implementing cross-functional teams, allocating resources wisely, and aligning innovation with long-term goals, organizations can unlock their full innovative potential. As demonstrated by Google and 3M, the results can be transformative and lead to sustained success.

Remember, innovation is not a destination but a journey. Embrace challenges as opportunities to grow and evolve, and your organization will be well on its way to fostering a culture of innovation and growth.

Bottom line: Futurology is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futurology themselves.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Scaling-up, the next frontier for innovation organization

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Guest Post from Nicolas Bry

How to transform innovative bottom-up initiatives into a movement spread across the company? How to scale your innovation program widely? Here are a few lessons learned from creating innovation programs in Europe, and tweaking them to Africa and Middle-East contexts.

Leveraging local and global innovation

Supplementing wisely central techno-pushed innovation with local innovation, closer to the fields and to the user needs, opening new windows of opportunities, is the goal of the open and local innovation approach developed for Orange Africa.

The purpose is to balance the technical expertise from a central innovation division, with the possibility of bottom-up initiatives, experimenting locally up to 100 innovative solutions every semester with the circa 20 countries where Orange operates in Africa and Middles-East.

The local innovation focus is on agility, pragmatism, and value created for the users and for Orange business, while leveraging a key technological asset that Orange can bring to the innovative service.

Smartphone Noir

One emblematic story is the birth of Orange Money, a mobile money service solving the problem of money transfer and payment for unbanked people. The idea was born in Kenya, and it clearly could not have emerged in Europe where everyone is banked, even kids! Orange developed centrally a platform capable of supporting all African countries in their progressive roll-out over 18 countries: ten years later, 50 millions users signed in for Orange Money. Furthermore, the central Orange Money platform enables local developments blossom, tailored to each country needs, and being picked-up, and replicated from one country to another over the region.

This is probably the most brilliant innovation of Orange over the decade, still no cutting-edge tech embedded: it’s low tech (SMS). As it solves a real user problem, it transforms people’s life, and got a massive adoption rate.

Orange Money map

Conducting short experiments in connection with business units

I created Orange intrapreneurship program 5 years ago, with a view to help innovative ideas transition more fluently into business, with the help of a sponsoring business unit, and to open the innovation doors to every Orange employee, letting them benefit from a tunnel of goodwill around their idea. The program acted like an innovation center of expertise or incubator. It clearly involved the business units very upstream: I’m a strong believer in co-developing innovations that create opportunities for business units, giving them a competitive advantage or solving one of their problems. “Find out the business unit problem that your innovation is solving”, I kept saying to the innovators I mentored!

Now we are adapting the process for the 20 countries of Orange Africa taking into account contextual particularities. We keep the employees participation and the business unit ownership aspects, but we also try to test refinements on the exploration stage. The key here is to conduct innovation exploration with short experiments in connection with business units:

achieving quick business wins with innovative process improvement, impacting internal organization, and not only new product and services: for instance, streamlining the authentification process for new customers;
mixing employees and business representatives with startups that help experimenting quickly; this has been pioneered by Orange Belgium, and these teams are called innovation squads like in the Spotify vocabulary;
keeping the process nimble, in a stretched time frame of a few weeks, so as to conduct a high number of experiments, confronting mock-ups to users, and collecting a maximum of users’ feedback, finding The Right IT before any product development.

Our target is to build proximity with our target users, rather than falling in love with our product, to explore and conduct short experiments, and pave the way to exploitation capitalizing on users’ feedback.

Personne Pointant Sur Un Appareil Photo Noir Et Gris Près De Macbook Pro

Designing innovation program, boosting innovation community

I’ve been through 10 steps to design an corporate entrepreneur program in my book The Intrapreneurs’ Factory. These 10 milestones are also an appropriate framework to design the innovation process with the countries of Orange Africa.

10 steps

It’s important first of all to define the reason why you start the program, what problem you’re trying to solve, what goals and KPIs will make the management team satisfied if they are reached. Then, some delicate gates are:

Finding out the right sponsor, both visible and accessible; sometimes a deputy sponsor can compensate a lack of avaibility!
Involving the business side soon enough in the process to trigger ownership, and further facilitate the exit, aka the transition from exploration to exploitation;
Closely coaching the process along the way, sharing the innovation tools from design thinking and lean start-up, bespoke tools to design mock-ups, and conduct experiment, but also the very peculiar mindset of the successful innovator: flexible and stubborn at the same time as says Jeff Bezos, as the key relies in the management of iteration in short cycles.

To operate this innovation process, we move together with a community of 20 staggering innovation champions, representing the countries of Orange Africa. Not only we discuss the innovation process to test locally, but we share view on innovation organization, and share success stories during a weekly Radio Innovation.

Radio Innovation

Weekly Radio Innovation also puts forward tremendous testimonials to inspire the innovation community:

from innovation managers and communities connected to Africa: Seedstars startups competition and programs for African entrepreneurs; Make Sense Africa incubator and the Dakar Citylab; Norrsken Kigali innovation hub, the startups gateway to East Africa; YUX Design Agency from Senegal, validating innovation ideas with users; innovation in the informal sector in Africa with GoodPoint/Archipel-co.com; Total Africa open innovation in Chad; Entrepreneurship Communities for innovation in Africa, with Archipel&Co and Africa Farmers Club; Liferay digital platform, and an Africa’s approach to tech and innovation; Innovation in Africa with Vodafone;
from startups growing their business in Africa: cloud telephony for SMEs, with Mteja from Kenya, and AfricaTalks; South-African MFS Africa: moving money across countries with one API that makes Africa look like one country; Kenya Pezesha loan marketplace for small African businesses; Chari.ma from Morocco, market place for local businesses; African startups investment report by Briter Bridges;
from Orange collaborators illustrating the group assets: Orange Ventures Africa seeds challenge; Social listening with Orange Data Studio in Guinea; Orange Fab Belgium innovation squads; Orange Senegal design thinking toolbox; Orange Slovakia open innovation; Orange Amman innovation team; First 100% digital mobile offer Flex by Orange Polska; Orange Romania innovation ecosystem, and cooperation with startups;
from broader innovation experts: innovation community management at Gefco; Booster incubation studio at Total; innovation in the energy industry, Innovation Vesta Wind Systems; collaborating with startups through the Venture Client Model, by 27pilots.

For these innovation champions in charge of setting-up an organization for innovation in their country, the challenge is to seek for integration (integrating seamlessly innovation with the business) before seeking for success. These mind-boggling testimonials feed them, upgrade their skills, and consolidate their innovation culture.

Scaling-up innovation oragnization

Once the innovation program gets traction, the next step is about scaling-up the approach, engaging progressively all participants. If all Orange countries commit to the innovation process in Africa, that will lead to the tremendous portfolio of 100 creative solutions experimented per semester, 200 on a yearly basis on the regional footprint: what a eye-catching achievement!

At the innovation project level, one can use the scale-up canvas to check whether the project is ready to grow, and move from a start-up to a scale-up stage.

At the program level, Is your innovation organization resilient? is the topic of a short assessment I have designed to know how your innovation organization fare across 10 key areas, and cements its resilience. Whether you are leading open innovation, internal innovation, participative innovation and intrapreneurship, digital factory or disruptive labs, you will learn from this tool which works like an innovation calculator, it’s actually quite fun to run it! To start, click here, see how you rank, and get pieces of advice for improvement.

Image credits: Pexels.com 1, Pexels.com 2

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The Dos and Don’ts of Customer Journey Mapping

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The Dos and Don'ts of Customer Journey Mapping

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

Introduction

Customer Journey Mapping is a powerful tool that allows businesses to understand and enhance the experiences customers have with their brand. By mapping out each interaction a customer has with your company, you can identify pain points, optimize touchpoints, and create a more seamless and satisfying customer experience. However, it’s important to approach Customer Journey Mapping with care and intentionality. Here, I outline the key dos and don’ts, supported by real-world case studies, to help you make the most out of your journey mapping initiatives.

The Dos

Do Involve a Cross-Functional Team: Ensure that representatives from different departments—such as marketing, sales, customer service, and IT—are involved in the mapping process. This will provide a holistic view of the customer experience.
Do Use Actual Customer Data: Rely on real customer data gathered through interviews, surveys, and analytics to build your map. Assumptions and gut feelings should not drive the process.
Do Focus on Key Interactions: Prioritize mapping the key touchpoints that significantly impact customer satisfaction and business outcomes.
Do Establish Clear Goals: Define specific objectives for your customer journey mapping initiative. Are you looking to improve customer retention, enhance user experience, or boost conversion rates? Have clear goals in mind as you proceed.
Do Regularly Update the Map: Customer behavior and market conditions are always changing. Make sure to revisit and update your journey map periodically to keep it relevant.

The Don’ts

Don’t Overcomplicate the Map: While details are essential, don’t make the map so complex that it’s hard to understand or act upon. Strive for clarity and simplicity.
Don’t Ignore Negative Feedback: Negative customer feedback is invaluable for identifying pain points. Don’t dismiss it; use it to drive improvements.
Don’t Forget to Act: A journey map is only as good as the actions it inspires. Ensure you have a system in place to turn insights into actionable strategies.
Don’t Work in Isolation: Customer journey mapping should be a collaborative effort. Avoid working in silos and missing out on valuable perspectives from different departments.
Don’t Assume One Size Fits All: Different customer segments can have vastly different journeys. Make sure to map out the experiences of various segments rather than assuming a universal journey.

Case Study 1: Company A’s Onboarding Process

Company A, a SaaS provider, was facing high churn rates in the first 90 days of customer acquisition. To tackle this, they decided to map out their customer onboarding journey. They involved a cross-functional team including sales, customer support, and product development to understand the various touchpoints new customers had.

Through customer interviews and surveys, they discovered several pain points, such as unclear instructions and unresponsive support channels. By focusing on these key interactions and making targeted improvements—like improving their onboarding guides and enhancing their support response times—Company A managed to reduce their churn rate by 20% within six months.

Case Study 2: Retail Brand B’s In-Store Experience

Retail Brand B sought to improve their in-store experience by creating a customer journey map focused on the physical shopping experience. They gathered a diverse team, including store associates, marketing professionals, and data analysts, to collectively explore the customer journey.

Using data from customer feedback forms, in-store observations, and sales data, they identified several pain points, such as long checkout lines and difficulty finding products. Brand B implemented a series of quick-win initiatives, including better store signage, more staff at peak times, and the introduction of self-checkout kiosks. These changes led to a noticeable increase in customer satisfaction and a 15% boost in same-store sales.

Conclusion

Customer Journey Mapping is a vital exercise for businesses aiming to improve their customer experience. By following the dos and avoiding the don’ts, and by learning from real-life examples, you can create a journey map that not only identifies pain points but also drives meaningful action and results. Remember, the ultimate goal is to foster a deeper understanding of your customers and to use that knowledge to offer more personalized, efficient, and enjoyable experiences.

Let’s start mapping!

SPECIAL BONUS: The very best change planners use a visual, collaborative approach to create their deliverables. A methodology and tools like those in Change Planning Toolkit™ can empower anyone to become great change planners themselves.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Digital Transformation – Ask Me Anything on LinkedIn

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Ask Me Anything on LinkedIn about Digital Transformation

On Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 11am EDT I will we be hosting an Ask Me Anything session on LinkedIn about Digital Transformation.

To participate in this first in a series of virtual office hours, you only need do two things:

Follow me on LinkedIn
Visit my LinkedIn profile at 11am EDT this Tuesday, August 31, 2001 and post a comment on the 11am EDT post with your question and I will answer it!

I’ve written extensively about Digital Transformation for a number of publications including CEO World, the HCL Technologies Blog, and of course Human-Centered Change and Innovation. Please feel free to check out some of my writings to inspire your questions August 31st at 11am EDT!

Join me with your questions Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 11am EDT on LinkedIn!
(watch for the post and add your question as a comment)

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What is your sickcare technology burnout impact factor (BIF)?

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What is your sickcare technology burnout impact factor (BIF)?

Guest Post from Arlen Meyers

A group of former and current providers convened recently to discuss how digital transformation can be both contributing to and alleviating burnout.

Technofatigue, innovation fatigue and change fatigue are as ubiquitous as the Delta variant in unvaccinated people.

It’s time for sickcare delivery organizations to demand a burnout impact statement from vendors as part of the vetting, piloting and implementation process. We should call a time out to deal with the systemic causes of sickcare professional burnout attributable to technology.

John Elkington coined the “Triple Bottom Line” of People, Planet and Profit (also known as the 3Ps, TBL or 3BL). Up to today it is still gaining popularity and it has become part of everyday business language. All reason to be satisfied, one would think. However, despite its increasing popularity, Elkington has “recalled” the 3BL in a short article in Harvard Business Review. The reason, so we can extract from his comments, is the rhetorical misuse of the framework as an accounting and reporting tool, while profit still remains center stage.

There are many tools to measure the specific impact on people, planet and profits of a specific intervention.

The environmental impact statement (EIS) is a government document that outlines the impact of a proposed project on its surrounding environment. In the United States, these statements are mandated by federal law for certain projects. Environmental impact statements are meant to inform the work and decisions of policymakers and community leaders.

The Economic Impact Analysis (EIA) tool shows how your community health project’s spending on staff, supplies, equipment, and other expenses benefits your community. The EIA Tool can be used by any community health organization wanting to understand how its activities affect the community.

The burnout impact statement (BIS) would likewise outline the impact of a proposed digital health project on sickcare stakeholders, particularly end user sickcare professionals.

Some useful parts of the BIS process would include:

A national BIS database
An evidence based registry of results
Including the BIS as a KPI during pilots
Mandatory input by end users during the evaluation and vetting stages by care innovation centers
A standardized pre and post pilot/implementation measurement tool
A BIS adverse events reporting system
A BIS risk management evaluation and mitigation strategy
A patient engagement and communications strategy to clarify expectations about when, how and who will respond to electronic requests for information
Reimbursement and payment for electronic communications and a new revenue model for responding to them. You pay more for same day delivery from Amazon don’t you?
Creating third parties as data and information delivery managers or a data concierge service

If you are not burned out, digital health will probably make you cooked but not fried. Sorry, but EMRs were only the start. The bad news of the BIS requirement, though, is we would have to hire even more MD/MBAs, who left practice because they were burned out by technology, to manage all of this.

Image credit: Pixabay

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The Art of Resilience in the Face of Innovation Challenges

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The Art of Resilience in the Face of Innovation Challenges

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

Innovation is the heartbeat of progress. However, what often goes unnoticed are the immense challenges that come with it. Resilience, the ability to withstand and recover from difficulties, is a crucial trait for individuals and organizations pursuing innovative paths. This article delves into the art of resilience in the face of innovation challenges, highlighted through two case studies that exemplify the triumphs and tribulations of persevering in the relentless pursuit of progress.

Case Study 1: Netflix – Revolutionizing Entertainment

Netflix began its journey as a DVD rental service in the late 1990s. However, the rise of digital streaming media posed a significant threat to its business model. The leadership, led by Reed Hastings, displayed remarkable resilience by pivoting the company’s strategy towards online streaming, eventually transforming the entire entertainment industry. The following points underscore this transformation:

Adaptability: Netflix showcased resilience by embracing the disruptive technology of the internet rather than resisting it. They transitioned from DVDs to online streaming, foreseeing the potential shift in consumer behavior.
Customer-Centric Approach: By continuously listening to customer feedback and iteratively improving the user experience, Netflix built a loyal subscriber base. The company focused on making content accessible and personalized.
Constant Innovation: Netflix didn’t stop at streaming; they ventured into original content production, setting new benchmarks for quality and storytelling. This move cemented their position as an industry leader.

Netflix’s resilience in the face of technological shifts and competitive pressures underscores that being open to change and continuously evolving is key to thriving amidst innovation challenges.

Case Study 2: SpaceX – Pioneering Private Space Exploration

SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, epitomizes the spirit of resilience. The company set out to revolutionize space travel, which had been dominated by governmental agencies for decades. However, the path to success was fraught with setbacks:

Handling Failures: SpaceX faced numerous failed launches in its early stages. Each failure was a critical learning opportunity. Instead of succumbing to these setbacks, the team analyzed what went wrong and implemented improvements relentlessly.
Financial Struggles: The financial pressure of creating cost-effective space travel nearly drove SpaceX to bankruptcy. Musk’s personal investment and unwavering belief in the vision held the company together during tough times.
Breakthroughs: The successful launch of the Falcon 1 in 2008 marked a turning point. Subsequent innovations, such as the reusable Falcon 9 rocket, showcased their resilience and commitment to reducing the cost of space exploration.

SpaceX’s journey highlights that resilience in innovation is not just about enduring hardships but also about learning from them and iteratively refining processes to achieve breakthroughs.

Lessons Learned

These case studies provide profound lessons in the art of resilience:

Embrace Change: Innovation often requires radical changes to existing business models and strategies. Embracing rather than resisting change is fundamental to resilience.
Learn from Failures: Failures are inevitable in the journey of innovation. What distinguishes resilient innovators is their ability to learn from failures and transform setbacks into stepping stones.
Long-term Vision: A clear and compelling vision helps navigate the complex landscape of innovation. It provides the motivation to persevere through challenging times.
Supportive Leadership: Leadership plays a critical role in fostering resilience. Leaders who are supportive, visionary, and capable of making tough decisions are key to steering organizations through turbulent times.

Conclusion

Resilience in the face of innovation challenges is an art, blending adaptability, learning, visionary thinking, and leadership. Organizations and individuals poised to navigate the uncertainties of innovation must cultivate resilience as a core competency. As demonstrated by Netflix and SpaceX, those who master the art of resilience not only survive but thrive, setting new paradigms in their respective fields.

In the relentless pursuit of innovation, remember that resilience is not just about bouncing back – it’s about bouncing forward, better prepared and more determined to turn visionary ideas into reality.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Recognizing and Celebrating Small Wins in the Change Process

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Recognizing and Celebrating Small Wins in the Change Process

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

Change can be daunting, especially in large organizations. Yet, it’s often the small wins along the journey that keep teams motivated and bring transformational change to fruition. In this article, we’ll explore why recognizing and celebrating small wins is crucial in the change process. We’ll also look at two case studies from organizations that have successfully embedded this practice into their transformation efforts.

Understanding the Importance of Small Wins

In the change management process, small wins act as building blocks that contribute to larger goals. These milestones:

Boost Morale: Regularly celebrating achievements fosters a positive atmosphere and maintains momentum.
Build Confidence: Teams gain confidence as they see progress, no matter how minor.
Provide Feedback: Early successes or failures offer insights, allowing teams to adapt swiftly.

Case Study 1: The Tech Giant Rejuvenation

Context

A leading tech company was struggling with declining market share and a need to reinvent its outdated software products. The leadership realized that the transformation would require a cultural shift towards innovation, collaboration, and agility.

Approach

The company began its change journey by setting smaller, achievable goals and celebrating each success along the way.

Steps Taken:

Setting Clear Objectives: The leadership team identified key strategic goals and broke them down into smaller, actionable tasks.
Creating Teams: Cross-functional teams were established to tackle each objective, blending diverse skills and perspectives.
Recognition Programs: They instituted immediate recognition programs. Teams were applauded in company meetings, featured in newsletters, and given ‘innovation badges’.

Results

Increased Morale: Employees felt valued and were more engaged.
Faster Adaptation: Teams were quicker to adapt to new methodologies, given the constant positive reinforcement.
Market Recovery: The company regained its market share through innovative product launches.

Case Study 2: Healthcare System Transition

Context

A multi-hospital healthcare system needed to transition from paper-based records to an electronic health record (EHR) system. The task was immense, involving thousands of staff and complex workflows.

Approach

To ensure a smooth transition, the leadership emphasized recognizing small wins throughout the process.

Steps Taken:

Initial Training Milestones: Small milestones were set for training modules completion.
Celebratory Events: They held regular celebratory events whenever a significant portion of the staff completed training.
Ongoing Feedback Loop: A feedback mechanism was established to celebrate and recognize those who provided valuable insights and suggestions.

Results

Enhanced Participation: More staff participated proactively, reducing resistance to change.
Early Problem Detection: Mistakes or issues were swiftly identified and rectified, thanks to the open feedback culture.
Successful Launch: The healthcare system successfully launched the EHR system with minimal disruption.

Best Practices for Recognizing Small Wins

Integrate Recognition

Incorporate recognition into daily routines and meetings. Leaders should make it a habit to acknowledge efforts frequently.

Personalized Celebrations

Tailor celebrations to suit team preferences. Some teams may prefer public recognition, while others might value private acknowledgment.

Create a Culture of Appreciation

Foster an organizational culture where acknowledging small achievements becomes second nature. This could be through official awards, shout-outs, or even informal team gatherings.

Leverage Technology

Use platforms like Slack, Trello, or internal social networks to celebrate wins. Share stories and milestones to create a collective sense of achievement.

Conclusion

Recognizing and celebrating small wins is a critical component of successful change management. By acknowledging incremental progress, organizations can maintain momentum, motivate their teams, and ultimately achieve their transformational goals. As these case studies demonstrate, the journey becomes less about the daunting destination and more about the exciting milestones along the way.

Let’s not underestimate the power of small victories. They pave the way for great accomplishments.

Engage with the journey, celebrate the process, and embrace the wins—no matter how small.

Image credit: Pexels

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Thank You for Your Thinkers50 Nominations

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Thinkers 50 - Nominations and Votes Needed

Just wanted to write a quick post to thank you all for your support over the years as I’ve done my best to make innovation insights accessible for the greater good.

Whether you started following along when I launched Blogging Innovation back in 2006 or became part of the world’s most popular global innovation community when we launched Innovation Excellence, your support has been greatly appreciated.

Many of you have been kind enough to nominate me again this year for the Thinkers50 ranking.

There is still time to nominate me or any of your other favorite innovation authors for the 2021 edition of the Thinkers50 rankings.

Nominations close September 1, 2021 at 9am GMT.

Blogging Innovation, and then Innovation Excellence, became home to more than 8,000 innovation-related articles from 400+ contributing authors.

I’m super excited about The Rebirth of Blogging Innovation as Human-Centered Change and Innovation as a place to share with you a multitude of different voices and perspectives from super-talented authors from around the globe on a range of innovation and transformation-related topics.

ESPECIALLY those coming at change and innovation from a human-centered perspective.

If you’ve contributed articles to Blogging Innovation or Innovation Excellence in the past or know someone who has, or know someone who should, please point your browser or their browser to my contact page and we’ll turn the initial trickle of innovation content back into a true Human-Centered Change and Innovation river.

Here are the first GUEST POSTS from Arlen Meyers, Janet Sernack, Paul Sloane, and Nicolas Bry: