Image by Lodekka - CC (b) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

This elephant is a biggie and quite sensitive.  As I really want to hear from both sides of the fence – you are welcome to comment anonymously. I’d just like to know if  in your reply and in the course of your work you would consider yourself the innovator or the administrator.

This scenario is ripped from the sidelines – a composite of people’s experiences that I’ve read about, listened to at events or read about in research.

Here it is:

Innovator:

You are so passionate about the particular methodology and/or technology that has sparked your interest that you invest considerable personal time in advancing your skills and knowledge – as well as the time allotted at work.

While colleagues come in on most mornings talking about the various entertainment and sporting events they’ve been to or television shows they’ve watched, you come in excited about a new level of learning you’ve reached, new discoveries, hard-won knowledge. Most of your colleagues nod and smile, some might give you an attaboy/attagirl. You invite them to set up a time with you to learn more. No one does. You blog about your work. No one from your organisation comments.

Finally you present your project or findings like the gift it truly is to your organisation.

Here is what you hear them say:

Fantastic! Now X is in charge of this area, so you’ll need to bring him/her up to speed and we can’t have you being the only one who knows how all of this works so you’ll need to set up times to train everyone else during work hours and we think you should get input from this project manager and that senior officer. And this work will feed into the paper that A and B are authoring and the presentation I’m giving next month. Could you get me some screen shots to use in it? Well done!

Administrator:

Your institution just doesn’t seem to be moving forward or open to change and trying new things. A staff member approaches you and sets up a time to show you his/her work in an area of interest to you. You’d allowed some time for this person to do so on the clock but hadn’t had a huge budget for it.

You love it. And want to ensure that the people in your organisation who need to be stirred up and energised are. You also want this work to feed into other projects you’re doing, be of maximum benefit and provide opportunities for collaboration and growth.

There is also a risk that the innovator is the only one who knows how things tick – and that is a big risk. Brain drains can impact all organisations – whether education or business sector. So mitigating this through knowledge sharing is critical.

So you praise the work and explain the next steps to ensure that the organisation as a whole benefits. And the innovator seems reluctant – almost truculent – when you suggest these steps. You paid for this person’s time – what they do in their own time is their business. You have a right to expect a return on investment, don’t you?

Okay, here are the talking points:

• What motivation and recognition could and should the administrator provide to the innovator?
• Should the innovator be named in the presentations and papers that are based on his/her work?
• Should the innovator be consulted regarding how the work is presented?
• What professional return should an innovator have a right to expect?
• What ROI does the institution have a right to expect?
• When does collaboration start to feel like exploitation?

I think she's getting fairly close now.

Posted via email from kerryj’s neotenous posterous

Posted via email from kerryj’s neotenous posterous

Posted via email from kerryj’s neotenous posterous

Posted via email from kerryj’s neotenous posterous

And an audio file too

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tester.mp4 (4238 KB)

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Okay, this is my third post – from my work email address.  I’m going to provide a link to a YouTube video and see if the auto-embed works.

Let’s see what happens…

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In my first post, I used a tool on my FireFox Toolbar – a button that says "Share on Posterous" that I click when I get to a web site that has content I want to share. It blew me away.

Now I'm trying a post from GMail with an attached image.

Let's see how this works!

Posted via email from kerryj’s neotenous posterous

Download an excerpt

A crash course in the business of learning-from the bestselling author of The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution…

According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn’t always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically-we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need “disruptive innovation.”

Now, in his long-awaited new book, Clayton M. Christensen and coauthors Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson take one of the most important issues of our time-education-and apply Christensen’s now-famous theories of “disruptive” change using a wide range of real-life examples. Whether you’re a school administrator, government official, business leader, parent, teacher, or entrepreneur, you’ll discover surprising new ideas, outside-the-box strategies, and straight-A success stories.

You’ll learn how

* Customized learning will help many more students succeed in school

* Student-centric classrooms will increase the demand for new technology

* Computers must be disruptively deployed to every student

* Disruptive innovation can circumvent roadblocks that have prevented other attempts at school reform

* We can compete in the global classroom-and get ahead in the global market

Filled with fascinating case studies, scientific findings, and unprecedented insights on how innovation must be managed, Disrupting Class will open your eyes to new possibilities, unlock hidden potential, and get you to think differently. Professor Christensen and his coauthors provide a bold new lesson in innovation that will help you make the grade for years to come.

The future is now. Class is in session.

I grabbed this via the Share on Postreous link in my FireFox browser.

Posted via web from kerryj’s neotenous posterous