Innovation takes time; it can be messy and uncomfortable, and there are times when even the keenest designer-thinker might well ask "are we ever going to get 'there'?" And then there is that moment of "ah-hah!", when the expansive thinking, discovery, research, brainstorming, and idea maps snap into focus. At the Tilton School, I am [...]
This is the final post of my five-part review of the state of innovation, prompted by a year-end summary by Paul Hobcraft. In "Innovation: the New Competitive Equation", The Business Performance Network published data from a survey of 200 CEO's about what they felt are the keys to successful innovation in their organizations and industries. I [...]
I am engaged in several year-plus design thinking efforts with schools and districts that are sincerely committed to finding and implementing user-centric solutions that create lasting value. The basic processes are those developed by the Stanford d.school and the Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation, along with others. At the Tilton School in New Hampshire (HT Kate Saunders [...]
Every school serious about change will struggle with the use of time. After our people, time is our most precious resource. Reimagining the use of time is one of the most impactful discussions your school will EVER have. Get it right and all sorts of innovation are possible. Make a few modest tweaks and almost all [...]
“How do we know that our innovation strategy is effective?” This question freezes many organizations, including schools, from creating an intentional, systematic approach to changing traditional practices. Organizations with effective innovation strategies have a portfolio of programs that spread resources (time, people, ideas, money) across a range of projects with varying levels of risk and [...]
What can the ricochet of an elusively aimed volleyball teach us about effective innovation in schools? Plenty. How an elite group of athletes and coaches deal with new ideas, growth mindset, organizational vision, leadership, uncertainty, and stress is a near-perfect analogue for other team-based groups, including schools and school districts. Fortunately, I have a window into one [...]
In his year-end summary of innovation best practices, Paul Hobart references discussions and key questions from the annual executive innovation summit held by consulting firm Innosight. The five key questions below are theirs from "Leading Transformation: 2015 CEO Summit"; the commentary on how these manifest in schools is mine. Is our balance of exploitation vs. [...]
What are the common obstacles to innovation in a school? What are the characteristics of a leader who can routinely overcome those obstacles? In my book #EdJourney, I identified fear, inertia, silos, and college admissions as some of the key obstacles to innovation and school. Now we can drill down into, and learn lessons from, similar studies [...]
How can your school best create the conditions that support innovation? There are essentially three broad levels of concern that take up the attention of innovation-oriented educators: The 10,000 Foot Level: creating a powerful, value-laden, forward-leaning vision, and building towards it through long-term strategies. The 3,000 Foot Level: creating and sustaining the processes and practices [...]
Can students create their own Advanced Placement course? I guess so! I just talked to Katherine Jones and Anya Smith, two juniors at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School in Atlanta. They wrote, developed, submitted, are "taking", and have now been accredited for an AP Language Arts course. According to them it appears to be the first student-written [...]