1.
Obstacles to Innovation: How to
Plan for a Future with Roadblocks
Breanne Crumpton
GSK Library Fellow
North Carolina Museum of Art
Dilbert by Scott Adam

2.
Personal
Roadblocks
Things to consider:
• Finding time
• Looking to “perfect”
the idea upfront
• Reluctance to ask
others for help
• Fear of failure

3.
Personal
Roadblocks
Things to consider:
• Finding time
• Looking to “perfect”
the idea upfront
• Reluctance to ask
others for help
• Fear of failure

4.
Is Failure Bad?
Things to Consider:
• A learning
opportunity (gaps
and values)
• Covering up
mistakes can have
long term
consequences
Failure is NECESSARY
for innovation. Gifbin, Grabbed from: http://gifb.in/UqbV

5.
Barriers to
Innovation

6.
Scarcity of
Resources
Overworked Staff:
• Who all needs to be
involved in your
project?
• How will you
encourage them to
put aside time to
help with your
initiative?

7.
Scarcity of
Resources
Things to Consider
• Layout a clearly
defined vision
• Personalize tasks to
the individual
• Help evaluate and
schedule workload
• Use meeting times
wisely

8.
Scarcity of
Resources
Budget Shortage:
• Where will the
money for the
project come from?
• What are the
library’s current
spending priorities?

9.
Scarcity of
Resources
Things to Consider:
• Look at building
partnerships with
internally or
externally
• Engage in
development
activities

10.
Communication
• Who all needs to be
involved in the
communications?
• Are their potential
turfs or areas your
project might
encroach on?
• Will you need to
share resources
with other
departments?
• How is your team
communicating?

11.
Communication
Things to Consider:
• Mode of
communication
• Understanding
terminology
barriers
• Empathize and be a
good listener
• Body language Iguanamouth, http://lizardshuffle.tumblr.com/

12.
Lack of
Technological
Infrastructure
• What technology is
required to
implement your
idea?
• Will training be
needed for staff?
• Will patrons needs
to be trained?

13.
Lack of
Technological
Infrastructure
Things to Consider:
• The digital divide
still exists
• Evaluation of
adaption by staff
and users
• Partnerships to
acquire technology
support

14.
Resistance to
Change
Reasons for
Resistance:
• Fear of the
unknown
• Mistrust
• Loss of job
security/control
• Bad timing
• Individual
predisposition to
change

15.
Resistance to
Change
Things to Consider:
• Understand the
nature of the
resistance
• Who all will the
change impact and
how?
• Have a clear vision
with a schedule on
when to affect what
changes

16.
Patrons and
Library Users
• Who is the end user
of your innovation?
• How will the
innovation impact
your user groups?
• Will you innovation
meet a user need or
fill a gap in user
service?
• How will your users
react to the change?

17.
Patrons and
Library Users
Things to Consider:
• Surveys or focus
groups
• User experience
testing
• Consider
community
partners

18.
Institutional
Culture
• How does your
institution handle
change? Is it
encouraged? Or is
there an aversion to
risk?
• Are the practiced
values different
from the advocated
ones?

19.
Institutional
Culture
Things to consider:
• What is
institutional
culture?
• People are likely to
change only if they
see the change as
easy, rewarding,
and normal.

20.
Resources to Always Keep in Mind
When Planning Your Idea
• Library/Institution’s Strategic Plan
• Library’s Budget and Spending Priorities
• Organizational Chart
• Risk Management Chart

21.
Risk
Management
Examples of Risk:
• Financial
• Technical
• People
• Access
• Migration of
formats

22.
Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/

23.
Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/
Symptoms of Breakdown:
• Lack of clarity of need or
problem
• Lack of ideas
• Low management or
employee support
Potential Solutions:
• Concept refinement
training
• Customer and market
research
• Technology research

24.
Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/
Symptoms of Breakdown:
• Under-resourced projects
• “Flavor of the Month”
• Unclear “why” we are
considering concept
Potential Solutions:
• Customer and market
research
• Technology research
• Financial analysis
• Competitive analysis

25.
Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/
Symptoms of Breakdown:
• High costs
• Long development cycles
• Solutions don’t satisfy
needs
• Poor team
morale/motivation
Potential Solutions:
• Project management
planning
• Prototyping
• Simulation and modeling
• Failure mode analysis

26.
Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/
Symptoms of Breakdown:
• High costs
• Quality problems
• Solutions don’t satisfy
needs
• Team confusion
Potential Solutions:
• Postmortem analysis
• Collect customer feedback

27.
https://betaclassroom.wordpress.com/tag/learning-cycle/

28.
Key Takeaways
• Think ahead and research potential barriers, risk,
or resistance
• Know your institution, your peers, and your users
• Keep open communication channels on what the
innovation is and why it is happening
• Partnering with others can lead to more
resources, buy-in, and strengthen the idea
DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL!

29.
Usually attributed to Gartner Group,
Received from: http://navfund.com/blog/is-crowdfunding-a-boon-or-a-disaster

30.
Breanne Crumpton
GSK Library Fellow
North Carolina Museum of Art
becrumpton@gmail.com
THANK YOU!