Charles H' Phillips, III

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Building aCulture of Innovation

• Charles H. Phillips, III
• CIS Department
• FCCJ - South Campus
• March 2005

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What is an Innovative Culture?

• Innovation includes both the creation of ideas
  that are novel and useful and their
  implementation.
• Innovation involves new curriculum and new ways
  of working.
• It is one in which continuous improvement through
  generation and implementation of ideas is the
  norm.
• An innovative Culture is a nurturing environment.

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What is an Innovative Culture?

• All employees (learners and educators) are
  motivated to try new things.
• Employees are equipped with the right types of
  knowledge, skills and motivation to generate and
  implement new ideas.
• Innovation will flourish if the environment is
  supportive of new ideas.
• Management actively supports the growth of
  innovative culture.

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• Innovation is the creation of the new or the
  re-arranging of the old in a new way.
• --- Michael Vance

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Direct Involvement of Customers

• Feedback from customers (students and employers)
  is a major source of ideas for improvement of
  products, services, and procedures.
• Listening to students, faculty, and staff is
  important to the development of an innovative
  culture. Everyone becomes business partners.
• Commutation is a circular and open process.
  Everyone learns from one another.

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• The best way to predict the future is to invent
  it.
• --- Alan Kay

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Hiring Innovative Faculty

• Hiring individuals who are likely to be
  innovative fosters an innovative culture.
• Four key traits of Innovative People
• 1. Openness to frequent change.
• 2. Active championing of change.
• 3. Unstructured approaches to work.
• 4. Preference to trying to do things
  differently.

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• A young reporter once asked Dr. Edison what
  it was like to have failed 100 times before
  inventing the light bulb. Dr. Edison replied, I
  have not failed 100 times, I have learned 100
  ways not to make a light bulb.

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Taking Risks

• Many ideas must be generated in order to produce
  one successful one.
• Implementation is often not successful the first
  time.
• An innovative culture is tolerant of errors and
  risk taking.
• An innovative culture rewards efforts and
  outcomes.
• An innovative culture learns from mistakes.
• All stake holders must accept challenge.

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• Just as energy is the basis of life itself, and
  ideas are the source of innovation, so is
  innovation the vital spark of all human change,
  improvement and progress.
• --- Theodore Levitt

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Rewarding Innovation

• Work itself is motivating in an innovative
  culture. People can freely exchange ideas and
  explore areas of mutual interest.
• Recognition from peers is important.
• Financial rewards should be considered.
• Recognition begins at the departmental level.

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• There is a way to do it better.
• ---- Thomas Edison

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Training for Innovation

• Creativity is a skill that can be learned.
• Training affirms that innovation is important.
• Training provides useful tools and ideas for
  employees.
• Training encourages continuous learning.
• A wide variety of opportunities for training
  allows us to develop new innovations.

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• People can be motivated to creativity simply with
  the instruction to be creative.
• --- Richard Saul Wurman

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Empowering Employees

• Involving employees in decision making leads to
  successful innovations.
• Formal idea capturing processes lead to
  successful innovations.
• Employees can be empowered by taking
  responsibility for managing their own work.
• Self-managing groups can foster successful
  innovations.

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Developing Managers

• Line management is directly linked to greater
  creativity of employees.
• Line managers who are supportive of innovation
  act as role models.
• They give supportive feedback and nurture an
  innovative culture.
• Supportive management and strong leadership are
  the keys to innovation.

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• The innovative point is the pivotal moment when
  talented and motivated people seek the
  opportunity to act on their ideas and
  dreams. --- W. Arthur Porter

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Innovation Development

• College
• ONLlNE Courses exploring course ware and
  delivery. (real-time audio and video)
• Web Development Curriculum.
• Thin line network client for delivering software.
• Information sharing.

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Innovation Development

• Classroom
• Collaborative Learning to create problem solving
  with students and faculty.
• Smart ClassroomsComputers, overhead projects,
  starboards, Classroom network, and internet
  access for research, video and audio
  conferencing.
• New Course development to reflect the changes
  motivated by technology.

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• Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation
  is doing new things.
• --- Theodore Levitt

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Future Innovation

• Key concepts to consider for future innovation
• Innovation is a team effort involving faculty,
  staff and management.
• Innovation will distinguish your institution from
  others.
• Innovation is everyones job.

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Future Innovation

• Innovation is best when development includes all
  stake holders
• Innovation needs to be rewarded.
• Traditional instructional roles are changing. We
  are becoming managers of learning.

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Future Innovation

• General Education needs hands-on computer courses
  with productivity software.
• Training will need to be increased.
• Grants and Mini-grants are needed to foster an
  innovative culture.

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Future Innovation in Information Technology

• IT is rapidly changing. We will have to run
  to keep ahead of it.
• IT is a service industry.
• IT is a technological resource for this country.
• IT serves the needs of local industry, as well as
  needs of individuals for employment in the
  workforce.

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• It is better to have enough ideas for some of
  them to be wrong, than to be always right by
  having no ideas at all.
• --- Edward De Bono

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Conclusion

• Building an innovative culture you must
  accomplish this as a team effort in a nurturing
  environment.
• You must be able to take risk and learn from your
  mistakes.
• You must be both funded and rewarded for
  innovative accomplishments.
• You must have and enjoy the free exchange of
  ideas and the pursuit of mutual goals.
• These concepts will nurture an innovative culture
  for learning.
• Technology is a tool for innovation.

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• Change favors only the prepared mind.
• --- Louis Pasteur

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Topic Discussion

• What in education are some ways to motivate and
  sustain an innovative culture?
• What are some innovative ways you have developed
  using technology in teaching?

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References

• Silicon Literacies Communication, Innovation and
  Education in the Electronic Age (Literacies
  S.)by Illana Snyder
• Shaking Up the Schoolhouse How to Support and
  Sustain Educational Innovation (Jossey-Bass
  Education (Paperback))by Phillip C. Schaech
• Managing Technology and Innovation for
  Competitive Advantageby V.K. Narayanan
• Beyond Productivity Information, Technology,
  Innovation, and Creativityby Alan S. Inouye,
  Marjory S. Blumenthal, William J. Mitchell

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Building aCulture of Innovation

• Charles H. Phillips, III
• CIS Department
• FCCJ - South Campus
• March 2005