Characterisitics of Innovative Organizations, Pt. 3 of 3

We’ve seen a lot of writing over the last 50 years about business leadership. Only a small percentage of any of the traditional writing and research is likely to have true staying power for one simple fact – the pace of change is far greater than our collective ability to research and write about what works best. So what I’ve been looking for as I’ve put together this 3-part series about The Characteristics of Innovative Organizations are those traits that – at least in our current world – really seem to be common in this organizations. So far, I’ve talked a little about optimism and risk taking, structure and collaboration, and now for the last characteristic common to innovative organizations (I’m borrowing a great term from Sarah Caldicott Miller here) – charismatic leadership.

We have learned enough about leadership to know with a high degree of confidence how important leadership is to an organization’s vitality and success. We have learned what traits people value in their leaders, and we have some good leadership models for leading through change, leading by example, etc. But what we don’t have a lot of is an explanation of how leaders can drive true innovation and why leadership is so critical to successful innovation. There are some writers now contributing to a growing body of work in this area, but this research and work is all relatively new. So I’ll offer my take on the current state of research in the area, what I believe makes sense and a brief description of three excellent books I recommend on the subject.

I want to start by focusing on the word choice I am using here – “charismatic leadership.” I am not arguing or positing that “charismatic leadership” about a management team or structure. It’s not. It’s also not always about the CEO, COO or any other specific member of the top management team. While there are great examples of leaders in those roles who fit this emerging model for innovation leaders, leadership does not always rest in the management structure an organization provides.

We take our leaders where we find them, and frequently, innovative leaders are NOT the people our organizations tell us have “authority.” In fact, innovative leaders are frequently a little scary for traditional management types. Innovation is about driving new ideas and concepts forward, frequently with an evangelistic fervor and little hard evidence to support the notion the “it” will work. Traditional management methods require metrics, data and proof. So innovation frequently flies in the face of business school management teaching, and as such, results in innovative leaders being left out of the “ladder to success” in a traditional career advancement model. Traditional management, therefore, frequently doesn’t “get it,” and move innovation leaders to roles outside the formal management structure of their teams and organizations.
But – there are those organizations that do “get it.” And it’s in these organizations where passionate people find positive reinforcement, encouragement and a place to apply their passion to their ideas. So, here are the traits we most often find in truly charismatic leaders:

1. Generation of lots of ideas. One idea – even a great one – is not an indicator of creativity or innovation. It’s one idea. No more – no less. Innovative people have lots of ideas. Ideas are the currency of innovation, and we need to look for people who have numerous ideas.
2. Curiosity – where do you think ideas come from? Ideas generally are the product of stimulation from a wide range of sources, and to be exposed to lots of different things, innovative leaders are relentlessly curious. They read, the see film, they explore, they think, they exchange ideas, they seek out new things for the pure pleasure of the new experiences that result from these events, things or ideas. Too many traditional management types are unfailingly NOT curious. They do the same things over and over. They get their news from the same two sources, etc. Look for a different sort of leader. (A good interview question for this – “How many books are you currently reading?” Not that I am a model here, but I am usually digging through 5-6 books at a time – fiction, politics, economics, leadership, etc. During a corporate interview I had several years ago, I was asked about THE book I was reading. When I answered truthfully, I got a raised eyebrow or two. After hired, I was told my answer scared them a little. I should have walked out the door on the spot, but – hey – I was optimistic I could help shift the culture a little. WRONG!)
3. Collaborative – this trait is so critical, it is an absolute requirement in my opinion. Truly innovative people are constantly working with others. They share ideas. Refine ideas. Look for improvements. Look for obstacles, etc. And you cannot do this in isolation.
4. Able to see patterns and connections – this is one of those key traits or competencies that many current management methodologies seek to stamp out. There are patterns and connections all around us. Innovative people put things together in ways others of us don’t quickly see. Don’t discount any suggestion that some unusual things are – in fact – connected. Discounting these sorts of observations can lead to missing some terrific new markets, new products or new processes that can really help drive bottom line results. Too many organizations have structures in place to actually discourage people from sharing information across business units or divisions. Those organizations – and those at the very top of such organizations – lack the ability to see broad interconnections and patterns. So they build structures designed to keep people in silos. These companies are frequently successful for a time, because they push on the things they do best to the exclusion of new ideas. And they are rarely innovative over the long haul.
There are other crucial leadership traits, but these (and they are NOT exclusive in my view) seem to be common to the innovative leaders I’ve met and studied. I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Now – here are three books you should read ASAP about these ideas:
A Whole New Mind – Daniel Pink. This is – hands down – my favorite business book ever. I’ve read it 4 times, and am now working on some ideas inspired by this amazing work. We ALL owe Mr. Pink a debt of gratitude for getting his ideas on paper and to all of us to enjoy and read.
Innovative Like Edison – Michael J. Gelb and Sarah Miller Caldicott. It’s really impossible to top Thomas Edison for innovation leadership. This is a must have read for those of us interested in this subject.
The Seeds of Innovation – Elaine Dundon. This another terrific read, and Dundon gives us some great information about how innovative organizations work. LOVE this work!

Characteristics of Innovative Organizations, part 2 of 3.

First – sorry for the long hiatus between posts here. I’ve had a great last few weeks including a wonderful trip to Paris and a week in Chicago doing some certification training. In the meantime, I’ve also been doing some more thinking about innovation, creativity and how organizations can align talent to improve the chances that innovation can occur. So now it’s time to talk about the next two characteristics I see in most innovative organizations.

Collaboration and a “flat” structure that facilitates information exchanges seem to be present in innovative organizations. I am not talking about a free form, wide open floor where everyone is chattering with everyone else. While such a structure might be fun and entertaining, it’s not a structure that really encourages true collaboration, and it’s not what I mean by “flat.” Most of this extremely important work will occur in team situations, and that will lead us to our last (3 of 3) post on this topic which will be ready next week.

Collaboration

We all have ideas. Right? How many good ideas do we develop in isolation? I’d wager that number is low; at least it is for me. But collaboration with no guiding principles or direction will be a disaster.

This is a bit like releasing thousand monkeys into a room of word processors and hoping they’ll produce Shakespeare. If you are lucky enough to have it happen once, you surely wouldn’t expect it to be repeatable.
The Innovator’s Guide to Growth, p. 121 Scott D. Anthony, Mark W. Johnson, Joseph V. Sinfield & Elizabeth J. Altman

Collaboration can occur in many forms. Organizations can build teams. Formalized “collaborative” opportunities can be made to work, but it’s much more difficult to direct innovation in these circumstances. On the other hand, teams can be vitally important as innovative ideas are brought forward towards production or execution.
The sort of collaboration that really helps drive innovation has its roots in the organization’s culture. Its’ collaboration by, among and between people empowered to think expansively and communicate with people across traditional organizational boundaries, that drives innovation.

My most recent experience with a corporate job illustrates just how true collaboration can help drive innovation. When the project was in its start-up phase, there was a lot of excitement around it. Multiple people all over the organization and outside the organization made themselves available for discussions, brainstorming and ideation. This open ended collaboration lasted about 18 months, and it resulted in the introduction into the market of a completely new way to reach the location level management at client organizations about ways to improve margins aligned with the vendor’s third-party administrative services.

Over the next 18 months, relationships became more formal and the open ended culture of free communications and information sharing ended over turf disputes and certain internal players demanding control over the project. The free exchange of ideas ground to a halt. Outside resources were dismissed as irrelevant or inconsequential, and a sort of internal arrogance began to seep into the project. The end result was a stagnant sales effort and an end to the project. The culture surrounding the initial effort changed into a culture dominated by a total lack of collaboration and failure.

Flat Structure

On some levels, a “flat structure” and collaboration are so closely intertwined; it’s hard to separate the two elements. But I believe the two concepts are separate and should be addressed as such. Collaboration has to do with the way in which the people within an organization see themselves and their relative ability to reach out for ideas and assistance as needed. The “flat structure” concept refers to organizational choices related to command/control and the flow of information.
At the terrific blog, The Heart of Innovation, http://www.ideachampions.com/heartofinnovation/ there was a post on June 5, 2009 about how CEO’s sabotage innovation efforts. It’s a provocative read and highlights the dangers of a rigid, hierarchal structure with a short-term view of “shareholder value.”In other words, when organizations are set up with a strong “top-down” management (NOT leadership!) structure, innovation will usually be little more than an afterthought. These sorts of organizations also tend to work in silos with little knowledge and information flowing across structural “boundaries.” All of these factors combine into a management, structure and cultural mix that are toxic and hostile to innovative initiatives.

In Winning Through Innovation, Tushman and O’Reilly advocate for a management problem solving method they call a “congruence approach.” One of the elements the authors argue that needs to be identified and fostered to accomplish the innovative problem solving is for organizations to identify and leverage the informal networks that move information around the organization. These networks, in innovative organizations, are generally informal, defy operational identities (not in silos) and evolve naturally around the abilities of key individuals who serve as connectors between colleagues and for ideas.

Starting Point

It’s people. Innovation always has been and always will be about your people. How do teams within your organization function? Do teams evolve on their own? Are they formally created? Do leaders emerge or are leaders designated? How are your leaders handling the needs and requirements of an innovative culture?
If you have answers to these questions, I’d love to read about them. In the meantime, we will post the third and final installment of the characteristics of innovative organizations next week. Stay tuned!

Characterisitics of Innovative Organizations, Part 1.

We know innovation when we see it – iPhone, X-Box, Wii, Prius, Twitter, etc. And we are seeing a great deal of chatter and a fair amount of good writing about the critical importance of innovation to sustain organizational success and vitality. But what are the characteristics of truly innovative organizations?

There are several things that truly innovative organizations have in common. For today’s post, I am going to focus on two characteristics or traits I believe are at the core of both creativity and innovation – optimism and a willingness to take reasonable risks. Optimism is vital. If an organization goes into an initiative without a belief that it will work and yield positive results, the organization runs the risk that this core lack of belief will dominate the thinking and approach, and you end up with a self-fulfilling outcome of failure. Now optimism alone will not mean every innovative initiative will work, but optimism about the project and its objectives must be present throughout all participants, or the initiative will fall flat. Risk taking is likewise, vital. But its not about recklessness. The risks organizations must embrace to be innovative must be rooted in their long term objectives and linked to their core value system, otherwise there is no framework for determining whether risks are reasonable or not.

The i-Pod serves as a perfect illustration of these two crucial traits in action. The development team at Apple did not build the I-pod in a vacuum. In fact, when the i-Pod hit the market in the late fall of 2001 (yes – just weeks after 9-11) someone (Steve Jobs among others) had an optimistic perspective that THIS MP3 player would make an impact into the portable, digital music playback device market. (Now doesn’t “i-Pod” sound better?) There were other players on the market, so the i-Pod was not an entirely new concept. But the i-Pod introduced a completely different user interface and a truly unique software application that enabled users to buy and organize their music in a truly innovative way. It was this link between an application and a specific device that represented the disruptive innovation Apple sprung on the market in 2001. Who wanted to buy a device that could ONLY link to ONE application? Well – as it turns out, quite a few of us!

But think about the risks Apple took. Apple dropped millions into the development of a product that would not work with any music applications Apple did not sell and deliver. Would we even consider another device that would could not link to generally available music download and organization applications? Probably not. Anyone remember the Microsoft Zune? But Apple had already carved out a niche in the desktop and laptop computer space delivering products that were not compatible with other applications. So i-Tunes and the i-Pod weren’t so far outside their organizational experience as to be unreasonable risks. In fact, the very foundation of the concept was entirely CONSISTENT with Apple’s already successful business model. The results of Apple’s marketing and product development are pretty clear. They now occupy a dominant market share in the MP3 player space, and i-Tune is as common as – well – it’s just everywhere.

The great lesson we can learn from Apple is how critically linked risk taking and a sense of optimism are to innovation. Organizations simply cannot afford to be defensive or afraid to take reasonable risks – especially in this economy. But we are seeing a huge majority of organizations hunker down, button down the hatches and try to “survive” this downturn. This rather pessimistic outlook cannot foster an environment where creativity and innovation can take root. We need more. We need a view to the future that sees possibilities, not threats. We need organizations willing to move their culture to a place where people are free to pursue the ideas and concepts that can position organizations for true success going forward, not mere survival.

I will be posting on another pair of key characteristics in a week or so, so stay tuned!

It’s All About Community – New Job, Social Media & Innovation

It’s all about community. It’s true. It really is. Are you searching for a new position? If so, the answer lies in your community. Are you trying to build your business? That next great referral or lead will almost certainly come from your community. Are you looking for that next great idea? It’s out there. Just ask your community.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, reading, and research into three areas lately: job search (especially in this market), social media and innovation. Most of us get the connections between looking for a new job and social media. If you read the TIME cover story about Twitter http://tinyurl.com/nh3kky, you are aware of some of the ways social media is driving the development of some truly innovative communication and research tools. And I’ve written (and so have many others) about the need to be creative and innovative if you’re looking for work in this economy. (You can read more about that in a post here from May 13, 2009 – Networking for a Job – What to Do When Traditional “Networking” Fails http://tinyurl.com/qbeo7u)
There is a very clear thread that runs through all of these topics and ideas. It’s the value and importance of community.

JOB SEARCH

We know the single most effective tactic to locate and identify the best job leads comes through our contacts and connections. Some of us call the process of adding contacts making connections “networking.” [The negative connotations of that term could fill many blog posts, and I’ll save that for later.] I sense a lot of people in the job market are “networking” very effectively. They find people to talk with about opportunities, organizations, etc. But are these same people looking at this process in a broader and more permanent context?
I hope so, because meeting new people and having conversations with a single goal in mind (job lead, sale, consulting referral, etc.) is short sighted. I attended a terrific social media workshop in April. Another attendee said, “You need to build your network before you need your network.” I loved this simple and elegant way to state this idea.
Social media has clearly changed the job search playing field. TIME magazine’s cover article for the week of June 8, 2009 was about the huge impact Twitter is having. Other sites like Linked In and Facebook provide quick access to our contacts and connections like never before. But – the key to success using social media is to quit thinking about simply being “on” Linked In or Facebook. You have to be “in” Linked In and Facebook. In another article from the on-line version of TIME from June 8th, Barbara Kiviat tells a great story about Brian Ward. http://tinyurl.com/ndkak6 Brian lost his job, and using Facebook and Twitter, found a new job in a matter of days. But here’s a telling passage which includes a quote from Brian:
As the sole breadwinner for his wife and three kids, Ward knew that he had to get a new job quickly. He found himself unemployed at 5 in the afternoon; by 8 that night, he’d called four people he knew in Ohio who did the same sort of computer work he did, as well as his college buddy Lyell, down in North Carolina. “I’d been using Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn, but in a very passive, extracurricular way,” says Ward. “I knew Lyell was big into the Twitter scene. He immediately began blasting information out to contacts he had, sending them back my way.” Over the weekend, Ward updated all of his online profiles. He uploaded a fresh résumé to LinkedIn, the professionals’ networking site, and sent out a message to all 200 of his Facebook friends, letting them know he was looking for work.
One of them, a pal from high school, wrote back Sunday night. He now worked for a tech company in Louisiana, and asked if Ward would be interested in being put in touch with the Web-development group. Ward eagerly agreed and had a phone interview the next day. “Here I was four hours into being unemployed and I already had a phone interview,” he recalls. “I was like, Wow, this is going to be impressive.”
Brian had obviously been maintaining a decent network on Facebook and Linked In, and he realized he really had to hit his connections to generate action. None of this would have possible if Brian decided he needed to sign-up at Linked In and Facebook the day he lost his job. While he describes his involvement as “passive”, he had 200 Facebook connections and at least a few of them were ready and willing to help him. It’s a great endorsement for the power of social media, and Brian’s story tells us why we need to stop thinking g about “networking” in terms of transactions – how many people, how many meetings, etc.
Looking for a new job – in this market for sure – is much easier if we are engaged with the communities around his – like Brian. So if networking is only about looking for a job, you are missing out on a great opportunity to become – on a permanent basis – a member of new communities where your involvement can make a difference.

SOCIAL MEDIA

I am not an early adopted of social media – far from it actually. I started this blog in late 2008, joined Linked In only after clients were asking me about it (Aug. – Sept. 2008), and set up a Twitter account (@cosbornsspbpi – just in case you want to follow me) a few short weeks ago. So – now I’m becoming a bit of an evangelist within my organization for the power of social media. How did this happen? In a word – I learned something very valuable.
Social media as a series of web-based applications standing alone doesn’t mean diddly-squat. But social media as a means to become part of a broader community is amazing. I admit freely that it’s taken me months to become aware of the communities to which I now belong. But now I do my best to be active, offer ideas, share information and add value to my colleagues, friends, followers, etc. here, at Linked In and Twitter. I also utilize my connections to assist clients and friends who I meet in my daily work –in some part by using social media.
Am I surprised that I now see myself as part of “communities” separate and apart from my physical communities? Well – yes. I am surprised. But I am truly part of newly emerging “communities.” Now if you go to a traditional definition of “community,” maybe these communities within social media venues aren’t really communities. After all, we’ve traditionally defined community as having a “place” and a physical component. But what if we defined the term “community” differently? Maybe community is a collection of people drawn and bound together by common interests, needs and commitments to be engaged. If this is a workable definition, then the groups to which I belong at Linked In, my networks at Facebook, my followers and the people I follow all constitute communities. I think – no – I know I am part of communities within these spaces. And that’s a very comforting realization.

INNOVATION

Read anything out there on Twitter, or social media more broadly and you will learn quickly just how much true innovation is emerging. One very visible example has been the information coming out of Iran after the disputed election of this week. The broad media couldn’t get anything out. But images, ideas and information were still available – on Twitter. I saw an article recently in Business Week that claimed American innovation was dead. http://tinyurl.com/oasorr Right. With all due respect to Michael Mandel, the thinking he exhibits in his article is exactly what CAN be wrong with organizations. But Mandel is focused on only one thing – money. What did innovation “earn” that we can benchmark and measure? Well – ironically – that’s hardly innovative or creative thinking.
Innovation can’t be forced, rushed, hurried, put into a box, kept neat and tidy or benchmarked. Americans are enormously innovative, but Mandel missed it all because he’s too busy looking for a traditional measurement that Wall Street might report about the Fortune 500. Instead, innovation has been bubbling up all around us. Just in the past 10 years or so, Americans introduced the world to “America Online, Netscape, Amazon, Google, Blogger, Wikipedia, Craigslist, TiVo, Netflix, eBay, the iPod and iPhone, Xbox, Facebook and Twitter itself.” Stephen Johnson, TIME, June 8, 2009. Innovation is here all right, it’s just not where traditionalists are looking.
But look at the list of amazing innovations cited by Johnson. Most of them – if not all of them – are about connections and community. These innovations are helping us see the world – as it happens – on our own terms. And these innovations are helping shape a whole new way of thinking about and being members of communities.

SUMMARY

Well – I certainly blew the 140 character limit at Twitter. Sorry. But I wanted to gather these ideas into something a little more cohesive than a series of short notes.
Communities matter and are enormously important, and it does NOT matter where we find them or even if they exist is a physical space. Communities exist because WE make them exist. We belong to them. We shape them , and we frame them. So for your job search or next career move, gather ideas, information and help from your communities. For your next research exercise, seek information and inspiration from your communities. And most of all – be “in” your community, not “on” one or simply “at” one.

Wordle Word CLoud from Last Post – Innovation Lessons from “Up”

Innovation Lessons from “Up” – Disney & Pixar’s Latest

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about innovation, and it seems like half the known universe is doing the same thing. This isn’t bad. In fact, seeing innovation all over the media, net, blog world, Twitter, etc., encourages me. Maybe – just maybe – we (as in a huge swath of people in organizations & business) are finally coming around to the realization that we can’t sit back and wait for “the way things used to be” to come back. Traditional thinking and business models either are, or will soon be, obsolete. We must move forward with new ways of looking at things and new ideas to not only suceed in this “new world order.” I suggest that innovation for all of us is necessary to simple survival.

I saw the Disney/Pixar animated film, “Up” over the weekend. I won’t rehash the well-deserved rave reviews here. But I will explain some valuable innovation lessons contained in this terrific story.

1. Persistence. One of the most important lessons great innovators teach us is the stick with the effort. You simply can’t give in to frustration, or apparent dead ends, or being tired. You have to keep at it and keep at some more until that great idea gets refined to the point that it represents real innovation. In the film, the hero (voiced by Ed Asner) had several chances to give up his dream of taking his beloved Ellie to a mystical world. First, he could have simply gone to a retirement home. Instead, he tied balloons to his house and flew away. Then, after he landed, Carl could have just settled for the spot the wind chose. Again, he acted and took matters into his own hands and found a way to reach his dream.
2. Optimism. Balloons tied to a house? Yes. Carl believed, and it worked. But other characters showed optimism in the face of circumstances that looked desperate. Russell, a young “little mailman” (see the film!) was optimistic every step of the way. This trait helped keep Carl and Russell moving when it would have been easy to simply sit down and call it a day.
3. Curiosity. The whole adventure would not have happened but for Carl and his wife’s curiosity about a world they’d never seen. It was this willingness to try new things that provided the spark for Carl’s rather daring adventure. And when things looked their darkest (a near disaster of a fire), Carl’s willingness to seek out even newer experiences and explore new adventures moved the story past what could have been an easy out for the old man and young boy.
4. Open Minded. Kevin, the bird Carl and Russell befriend, turns out not be a boy at all but a mother. Russell and Carl never batted an eye. So what? Kevin she was, and Kevin she stayed. But more than that, both Carl and Russell remained open throughout the entire story to whatever came their way. Dug the loyal (and very funny) dog was originally shunned by the “pack.” But Dug’s open and kind heart led him to discover a whole new pack to join. If only we could be open to new opportunities with the same optimistic, open minded view of the world!

“Up” may not be the best movie ever made, but it’s certainly an entertaining one. It also helps illustrate just how some simple traits can foster an environment where new and different ideas can flourish.

Personal Brand – How Do You Build Yours?

We are seeing clear examples of why personal branding is important in this job market. A good way to think of your brand is to ask yourself, “Why would an employer buy me or my value proposition over a competitor for the same position?”

We use the term “personal brand” to communicate a fundamental concept related to job searching or career changing. Basically, your brand is another way of expressing your unique and personal value proposition.

How do you define your brand? First – think about what you do best, and a great way to figure that out is to answer this question. What stories do you most want to tell during an interview? For these stories, identify:

1. What motivated you in the situation?
2. What did you enjoy most about the outcome or actions you took?
3. Are there any recurring themes across several “first choice” interview stories?

For instance, maybe all of your best stories revolve in some way around building relationships or solving customer service problems. You most enjoyed the feeling you got from seeing rough relationships smoothed over. From these elements, you might be able to start fashioning a personal brand around being a world class client relationship professional who is the “go to” person for the most difficult customer and client issues and problems.

Let me use myself as a possible example. I really get a charge out of seeing that “ah-ha” moment when I explain a new concept to someone and they get it. I enjoy trying different things, and I like to be a part of start-up projects and initiatives. From this snippet of information, we could start building a brand around driving new concepts into implementation.

Once you get a solid handle on your “brand,” the next challenge is to get that brand out there. Take a look at the post here about what to do when traditional networking stalls and the pages on job searching issues facing baby boomers for some ideas about how to get that part of the process off square one.

Sparking Creativity and Innovation

Saw Sarah Miller Caldicott, co-author of Innovate Like Edison at a book signing event hosted by SSP BPI Group in St. Louis. (Michael Gelb was her collaborator on the project.)

Sarah was terrific. She’s smart and dynamic, and she’s very passionate about her topic. There were many excellent takeaways from her presentation, but my personal favorite was her explanation of the three core elements usually present in innovative people:

1. Curiosity.
2. Persistence
3. Ability to see patterns & connections.

These three broad statements strike me a true. She used Thomas Edison as her example, and – of course – he exhibited each of these characteristics. Sarah’s terrific book also went into quite a bit of depth explaining the five core competencies of innovation as exemplified by Edison.

http://www.innovatelikeedison.com/

 

Book Jacket - Innovate Like Edison

 

The link above will take you to the website, and I encourage you to explore it a little.

Networking for New Job –What to do When Traditional “Networking” Fails?

We are seeing some progress – albeit slow – in the job market. Yes – the broader economy keeps shedding jobs, and most experts agree that we are likely to see several more months of significant job loss. But – there are glimmers of hope, and we are seeing many of our clients getting interviews and fielding job offers.

Key to Successful Networking - Try New Things!

How are they doing that? In a word — networking.  They are building and utilizing connections and contacts to personalize their interest in the positions they are targeting.

But there is also a lot of frustration building out there. Some of our clients are seeing “many people are overworked . . .  too busy or too self-absorbed” to offer a lot of help. I met with another individual – a networking meeting, by the way, late last week. And he told me he was totally frustrated with traditional “networking.”  He’s finding people are generally very busy and don’t know anything about jobs openings.

So – what do you do when traditional networking no longer works? The answer is – keep networking, but try something different and don’t ignore social media.

First, quit thinking about locating jobs.

Wait – isn’t that what I’m looking for? Maybe.

Try instead to identify work you can do, and then you have to be able to explain the value your work can generate. The client I mentioned whom I met last week has a great background in an interesting niche. He is a redevelopment tax credit professional. Redevelopment – along with the whole construction industry – is more than a little flat. But – once again – there are people and organizations involved in current and on-going redevelopment projects. He’s going to approach a few targeted organizations with this proposition – the work of identifying and then successfully pursuing tax credits can be time consuming – especially if you are not an expert – so he can generate value for the organization by performing that work for them. He is willing to take a percentage of any tax credits earned.

So think about how this approach changes the “job/employment” equation. The target organizations don’t have to find money for additional payroll. They realize a gain, and share the gain with the person bring this added value to them. So you’re not approaching somebody about additional payroll expenses. You’re offering to add value.

Look for work, not jobs, and identify the “why” for organizations to use you to do this work.

Second, dive into social media. Yes, it can feel a bit overwhelming for those of us not used to Linked In, Twitter, texting and Facebook. But – guess what? The current world is rapidly moving in that direction. It’s not a fad. In fact, it’s going to become more and more theway people and organizations interact and communicate. There are 35 million+ people using Linked In today. Millions use Twitter. Millions more use Facebook. How many people used these tools 10 years ago? Zero. None. Not one person. They didn’t exist. We don’t know what will be next, but rest assured the “next thing” will build upon the current thing. So you’d better get involved in social media right away.

But it’s not enough to simply be “on” Facebook or Linked In. You need to be “in” those communities, because that’s what they are. These sites collect people into communities based upon mutual interests and needs. That means you need to make a commitment to participate in these communities by asking questions, answering questions, offering value and advice and not just out there asking about jobs. Once you are a trusted member of these communities, you are likely to reap the benefits that come with trusting relationships – opportunities and referrals.

I’d love to hear your networking horror stories and what you’re doing about it.

Creativity – What is it? & How do we do it?

There is quite a bit of writing out there about creativity – some good & some, well – not so much. (I’m working up a list of site I’ll recommend later.)

First – what is creativity? I like a definition I found in Eileen Dundon’s book, The Seeds of Innovation. She says (I’m paraphrasing here) creativity is making connections between two or more concepts or ideas. I’m sure there are many other good definitions, and I’d LOVE to see any you might want to contribute!

Second – how do we do it? This is a lot tougher question to answer, and I am not even certain there is a single “right” answer to the question at all. That said, I’d suggest the following things have to either line up or be present for a spark of creativity to ignite an idea or concept.

1. Curiosity.
2. A good question to answer or challenge to meet.
3. Lots of ideas.
4. No premature judgement of the quality of ideas.
5. Time to think and reflect.

Most of the writing in the broader market is about creativity and innovation in an organizational context. But what about our own need to create as individuals? Do we have such a need? If so, what can we do to spark it?

I believe we do – indeed – need personal creativity. I’m not the most creative person around, but I am happiest when I am dreaming about new and different things. I find myself doing this most while listening to music. But I try and manage to carve out time to listen and explore new music.

Oddly, when I’ve been most engaged in exploring new ideas around music, that’s when I’ve been the most productive from a creative perspective at work.

What do you do when you want to dream up ideas? Walk? Garden? Read? Run? Let us know!