Experience Matters

Building a Culture of Innovation Part II

In a recent post which I titled “Building A Culture of Innovation. Literally” I began documenting a small project in the Chicago office which I was hoping would become a reality sooner than later. I’m happy to report that in just weeks—this little initiative which started as an idea, became a reality. But the idea was the easy part. Here’s how our little “genius bar” came to life:

1. Find An Opportunity For Improvement
There have been many conversations floating around our Chicago office around how we would like to improve it—we all like the space, but want to make it special. But part of the challenge in a situation like this is that even with the best of intentions, anyone can fall into the trap of “analysis paralysis” which means that you explore every option and eventually take action against nothing. By narrowing down the opportunity to improve both the first impression of our office and create a collaboration friendly “nook”—we were able to successfully avoid the trap.

2. Visualize + Build Consensus
Several members of the office stepped up big time and started visualizing the initiative using 2.0 tools to create sketches and building inventories of materials/furnishing options. The “genius bar” is part of a larger effort, but it was critical to get things down on paper in order to move even this one part forward. Visualization is a critical tool for any initiative that you want to see through and it was extremely effective in getting people on the same page.

3. Just Do It
THE most important step in the process was this, by far. Change does not happen as a result of an idea or strategy—it happens when an idea actually motivates people to action. The action is often times the difficult part to come to fruition. In the case of our genius bar project, several folks from all levels in the office stepped up BIG time to make this happen. They took individual ownership, put expenses on personal credit cards, sacrificed weekend time and even used personal workshop equipment to help construct the bar. Execution is the most underrated word in our vocabulary—yet it makes all the difference.

4. Document It
Make no mistake, the genius bar is a pilot project. Our hope is that more office enhancements will come to life as a result of this. As with all pilot projects, they should be documented, marketed and celebrated if they are successful. That’s part of the reason you are reading this post.

5. See What Happens
The last thing you want to do with any initiative like this is to send out formal communications that “instruct” people how to use or not use the fixture. It’s there, and as the last photo shows, people are beginning to use it. When building a culture of innovation for any office—it’s best to keep this mantra in mind. Pretend that you are a playground designer, and when you create something for the “children” to play on, don’t create rules. Let them create their own rules of engagement. Your role then becomes an observer. Sit on the “bench” and watch them play. Learn from it, and apply what you learn to your next initiative.

Thanks to everyone who made this little project actually happen. You did all the hard work.