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Alaina G. Levine gave a presentation on how to become a challenge agent and foster innovation within organizations. She discussed collecting data to understand pain points, having guts to disrupt systems, and organizations providing top-down permission and safe harbors for employees to take on challenges. Levine argued that diversity, cross-functional teams, and developing challenge agents are critical for stimulating new ideas and should be explicitly rewarded. Organizations should create pathways for sharing ideas across divisions and support employees who see problems and want to create solutions.
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Ball d 8
- 1. © Alaina G.Levine, 2017 @AlainaGLevine Alaina G. Levine President, Quantum Success Solutions Author, Networking for Nerds (Wiley, 2015) SWE – WE17 27 October 2017
- 2. @AlainaGLevine Feel Free toTweet @SWETalk #we17 @AlainaGLevine
- 3. @AlainaGLevine • How toBecome a Challenge Agent • Case Studies of organizations that nurture Challenge Agents • How to foster ecosystems to encourage Challenge Agents
- 4. @AlainaGLevine • Personal • Business •Guy on the plane to Munich • No matter the form, Challenges are a gift • Goal: Make you stronger, more agile, more aware of Challenges everywhere
- 5. @AlainaGLevine Where is thepain point? What is the wall?
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- 7. @AlainaGLevine Note, Remember, Retainthe Facts: • Who you are • The type of person you are • The type of professional you are • Your values • What you have accomplished • Your skills, knowledge, talents, expertise
- 8. @AlainaGLevine • Complete honesty •With yourself, about yourself • About your team, organization, culture • Data Collection • About yourself • About the system • About the culture • About the challenge you want to take on • About the ramifications of this challenge
- 9. @AlainaGLevine • Guts! • Disruption •Creating new categories, products, teaming arrangements • Trusting your gut • Related: Ignoring the Haters • Listening, understanding, empathy
- 10. @AlainaGLevine • Hard work •Planning • Networking and Strong Networks • Willingness to see the bigger picture for yourself and/or your organization/team • Negotiation skills
- 11. @AlainaGLevine • “Inviting challenge”– Betsy Cantwell, PhD ME, VP, ASU • Appreciation for the challenge and what it will teach you • Appreciation for yourself – that you will do the right thing, for you, at that moment • Giving yourself a break • Flexibility and adaptability
- 12. @AlainaGLevine • Top down“permission” • Networking and networks • Diversity and Inclusion • Specific mechanisms for suggesting, deciding, pursuing, investing in solutions to challenges • Access to the Diverse Mind Field within the org. • Safe harbor provided • Ties to employee performance assessments • Allocation of resources
- 13. @AlainaGLevine Alaina G. Levine QuantumSuccess • Innovation is stimulated by diversity • Diversity of Ideas comes from interacting with different people, experiences, places, times, etc. • Essentially, the mirrored elements of problem-solving • Diverse Mind Field • The collection of all diversity as a platform for stimulating innovation
- 14. @AlainaGLevine • The collectionof all diversity as a platform for stimulating innovation • Active, dynamic, continuous, constantly changing resource for Diversity of Ideas • You are a participant – you get and give benefits 14 Image Credit: Healthcareminds.ie
- 15. @AlainaGLevine • Fosters employeeownership of diverse challenges to foster innovation • Can assemble teams across divisions to solve problems not in their job responsibility • Can take ownership of Challenges --Levine, Search Results: Careers in High Tech, Science, 3/16
- 16. @AlainaGLevine 3 Top LeadershipPrinciples: • Customer Obsession • Ownership: “Leaders are owners…They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say ‘that’s not my job’.” • Invent and Simplify
- 17. @AlainaGLevine Mechanisms: • Innovation Competitions •Submit proposals and internal press releases
- 18. @AlainaGLevine • ~100k students,FY17 $2.4B revenue, +$500M research expenses • Fosters a Culture of Permission • “Our stove pipes are porous at ASU” • Share ideas with other units • Do hand-offs of projects if more appropriate for another unit • Share resources • Do this in real time • Hold back portion of our budget for those unknown great ideas --Elizabeth Cantwell, VP, Research Development
- 19. @AlainaGLevine • Invests inits staff • % of staff time: devoted to own projects • Pursuing challenges is rewarded --Dr. Cristina Thomas, PhD, ChemE, Sr Technical Leader, Corporate R&D Services and Operations Support
- 20. @AlainaGLevine • “You haveto have the trust of your teams” • You have to be the guardian (my words) • “They need to know you have their back, that you will defend them even if we are struggling. I will defend you.” • They know their team will make mistakes (move on!) • The Org is willing to take the risk • Must manage patience in your team • Recognize that not everyone will see the “problem” --Dr. Cristina Thomas, PhD, ChemE, Sr Technical Leader, Corporate R&D Services and Operations Support
- 21. @AlainaGLevine • Experts canhelp teams across the company and brands • Senior leadership does not have to be consulted for staff to engage other staff
- 22. @AlainaGLevine • Develop specificpathways and protocols for employees to communicate with leadership • Launch and support metrics within your employee assessments that reward interactions and productivity stemming from the Diverse Mind Field
- 23. @AlainaGLevine • Encourage allemployees to think intrepreneurially • Create informal networking events that allow STEM and Non-STEM employees, to learn about each others’ strengths • Help employees understand the language of tech problem-solvers, and vice versa • Coach all employees to aid in their improvement of their communications practices 23
- 24. @AlainaGLevine • Create, supportand promote leadership development councils and organizations (within your organization) that: • Build leaders from the Diverse Mind Field • Encourage cross-functional teaming arrangements • Foster opportunities to engage with senior leadership • Hone critical business and communications skills • Launch and attend cross-functional colloquia 24
- 25. @AlainaGLevine • Create mechanismsfor Challenges to be identified • Support your employees when they see a pain point • Empower (and specifically communicate this!) your employees to challenge the status quo • Clarify the issues of risk when taking on new Challenges • Address the idea of being a Challenge Agent in performance reviews, make it a metric of success • Invest resources 25
- 26. @AlainaGLevine • Offer professionaldevelopment • Support innovative networking – at conferences, virtually • Offer opportunities for “walk and talks” – where staff and volunteers from diverse backgrounds and in different job functions team up
- 27. @AlainaGLevine • Make ChallengeAgent and intrepreneurial activity a part of your metrics for success – assessments • Encourage your team to develop business plans or commercialization plans • Do surveys of employees regularly to obtain feedback
- 28. @AlainaGLevine • Innovators • Inventors •Entrepreneurs/ Intrepreneurs • Disruptors • World Changers • Influencers • Mentors • Designers • Thinkers • Doers • Next Gen Leaders
- 29. @AlainaGLevine The future ofyour company, field, industry, profession Treat Challenge Agents like a Gift, a Precious Resource
- 30. @AlainaGLevine NETWORKING FOR NERDS(WILEY, 2015) QUANTUM SUCCESS SOLUTIONS ALAINA@ALAINALEVINE.COM WWW.ALAINALEVINE.COM QUANTUMSUCCESSSOLUTIONS @ALAINAGLEVINE “ALAINA’S ALUMNI” Email Me for a free resume template! Speaking – keynotes, workshops, training Leadership, Career, and Comms Consulting Writing – white papers, reports, articles © Alaina G. Levine, 2017