Principled Innovation LLC

Looking back on the first Skypecast

June 2nd, 2006

If you’ve been reading the blog recently, you know that I held the first Principled Innovation Skypecast this past Wednesday. Two of my good buddies, Jamie Notter and Ben Martin, joined me along with a few others Skypers from around the the world who just dropped in, including one from Bahrain. Some of them stayed on for awhile, left and then returned, while others simply did a drive-by on the conversation. One person who tried repeatedly and, I’m sorry to say, unsuccessfully to connect asked me to post something about the Skypecast so he could get a feel for both the content and the experience. Here are a few thoughts:

• Skype is very clear on its website that what they are offering now is an “early preview” of Skypecasts. There will be enhancements and improvements to this product/service prior to its official launch. I’m glad they’ve put this prototype out there, however, because it is helpful to know what the service can do, and what it needs to be able to do going forward. My hope is that the official Skypecast product will include the option of making Skypecasts private and for hosts to enter the interface at least a few minutes prior to the session (right now, you just jump in at the scheduled time), more robust hosting/moderator tools to enhance the experience and the ability to easily share documents with all participants through the interface. Eventually, video Skypecasts would be great, and I imagine that is on the company’s roadmap for this service. If it isn’t, it should be.
• As for the experience itself, I really enjoyed it. Of course, a few more people would have been nice, but I’m grateful to Jamie and Ben and the others who popped in for giving it a chance. It was a test after all, and I’m really focused on growing participation. I’ve led many virtual sessions over the last few years using several different technologies, but I was still unsure how to lead this conversation. One thing I learned is that I need to pay attention to both the Skypecast interface and the regular Skype box because some of the participants were trying to reach me by chat during the session. All in all, it was fun for me. I hope that future Skypecasts can be a bit more free-wheeling rather than in presentation mode, and I think I’ll be able to do that as I grow more comfortable with how it all works.
• In the conversation, I shared my thoughts about the importance of freedom and discipline to innovation. We often view those two ideas as contradictory, when in fact they are better described as counterintuitive but connected. Freedom and discipline actually exist as a duality in any system, i.e., there is discipline in certain areas that enables freedom in others and vice versa, but we tend to focus only on the apparent dichotomy of the two ideas. When we balance freedom and discipline in our organizations, innovation becomes possible. Leading innovators such as 3M, Google and P&G understand that innovation involves both imagination and the opportunity to think about big ideas AND organizational, technological and marketplace constraints. Such constraints should drive our creativity, not stifle it. This is a major issue in the association community.
• The very term “non-profit” begins any conversation about innovation from a place of constraint. The very limitations that we perceive as obstacles to innovation are baked right into the language we use to talk about our work. This means we have to work harder. Ben pointed out that working in a $5 million association, he faces financial constraints everyday and must “innovate on a shoestring.” The inference I draw from this perspective is that if the organization had a larger budget, there would be more resources and more opportunity for innovation. (Perhaps on a “boot lace” instead, huh Ben? ;>) If that is true, I am compelled to ask a pretty basic question: how will our organizations grow their budgets without innovation? If we’re not growing at a healthy pace right now, what are we going to do to spark that growth if innovation is off the table?
• I’m poking fun at Ben because he is my friend and I know he embraces the need for innovation. Still, I do believe that the scarcity mentality and constraints orientation are so deeply inculcated into association culture that many staff and volunteer leaders either don’t comprehend or refuse to accept that growth depends on innovation. Productivity and efficiency are important elements of organizational sustainability, but without robust, transformative growth over time there won’t be anything with which to be efficient and productive. Growth drives the sustainable association enterprise, and what I hope more association executives will soon realize is that the capacity for innovation is the biggest and most valuable tool in their value creation and growth toolkit. (BTW, I’ve taken a bit of detour here from the Skypecast, since I didn’t address most of those issues directly during the call. I still think they are important though!)
• Jamie asked a question about control within the context of freedom and discipline for innovation. (I didn’t write it down, Jamie, so I don’t remember exactly what it was…sorry!) My answer is that while there are certain aspects of the innovation process where control is necessary and even desirable, the work of association innovation should remain largely out of the direct and immediate control of the organization’s most senior leaders. Instead, those leaders should seek to influence the process without trying to drive it. This is also a challenging shift for many association CEOs and senior executives, who are accustomed to being in control. But they must step back from the actual work of innovation to focus more of their energy and attention on orchestrating the balance of freedom and discipline throughout the entire innovation process by clearing obstacles, managing board expectations and evangelizing innovation to members and other stakeholders. Such efforts positively influence the direction of the association’s broader innovation initiatives without impeding them.

I know we talked about other stuff during the call, but I can’t remember specifically what it was. Perhaps Jamie and Ben will post their thoughts below. It is my hope to record future Skypecasts so I can put them up on the blog. I’ll keep you posted on those plans. Speaking of the next Skypecast, it will be on Wednesday, June 14 at 2 pm EDT, 11 am PDT and 6 pm GMT. Next month, as well as in July and August, I will begin laying out a blueprint for accelerating innovation in the association community. I will post some of my thoughts on this topic in the next few weeks.

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Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, Social Media, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, Random Thoughts, Skypecasts