Stop the World; I Want to Get Off  Be Innovative

Beth Schaefer IPD Director  

In the first Stop the World article, I discussed making room for important work.  Read Stop the World; I Want to Get Off Do Important Things to set the stage to engage or re-engage with your work and your coworkers.  While that article discussed important work, some readers may have noted that it left out Innovation.

This month’s article focuses on making time to be innovative, which – because it’s so important – gets its own article.  60% of CEO’s rate innovation as important to the organization.  Innovation is what allows an organization to flex, adapt, grow, and offer unique solutions to customers.  Some might say innovate or disappear.

Take a look at your calendar for this week; how much time have you set aside to be innovative?

10 Strategies to Balance Necessity with Innovation

1.      Improve processes so that mundane tasks don’t take so long! 

Find out what rules and protocols are soaking up work time and fix them.  “Process debt” can build up in small pieces without being noticed.  Innovative people will be innovative if you remove the routines that prevent innovativeness.  Ask your people.  They will tell you which processes are overburdened and can be easily streamlined. Create an agile or flexible list and reorder each month based on current needs and new suggestions. Pick one cumbersome process each month and fix it.

2.      Add innovation to performance goals. 

Established goals are green lights that allow people to schedule innovation time.  Host regularly scheduled “innovation sprints” every 2 weeks or once a month to help your team meet those goals.  Consider inviting other departments to your sprint to create/revise a process you share.

3.      Grant permission to turn off the world. 

Encourage your team members to occasionally ignore the phone and turn on an Out of Office message to create blocks of time for activities that promote creativity.  Set the example by blocking off time on your own calendar and pointing that out to your team.

4.      Be Attuned. 

Do not schedule or expect innovation during busy times.  Most organizations have hectic periods where business is brisk or times when holidays or vacations are more frequent and fewer workers are in the office. Do not squeeze innovation into time when people are scrambling to serve customers.

5.      Allow reading and viewing.

Reading leads to learning. Learning leads to innovation. Learning can also happen when viewing a Ted Talk or listening to a scientific podcast, or similar program. “I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think.  That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think.” -Warren Buffet.

6.      Subtract something old before adding something new. 

Innovation equals projects.  Projects equal work.  More work equals tough choices.  Encouraging innovation may generate more ideas than can be simultaneously executed and sustained. If you continue to launch the new without removing the old, you have a recipe for overwhelming your team, and they will circle back to innovation stagnation.

7.      Reward subtraction.

Addition is visible. Subtraction is invisible.  Leidy Klotz addresses this in Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less where he calls this Shiny New Object Syndrome. Organizations tend to reward new things – additions – but they seldom recognize when someone is able to subtract an underperforming project or streamline steps to a process. Hold meetings focused on subtraction. Create a guideline to complete or subtract a priority or project before adding a new one. Openly celebrate subtractions; do not limit innovation to additions.

I know… All of this is easier said than done, so next month we will tackle, Stop the World, I Want to Get Off Find More Time 

Stop the World Series Resource List
The 7 Habits
Encouraging Creative Thinking in the Workplace
Falling Behind on Work? Take These Steps to Get Back on Track
Finding Your Innovation Sweet Spot
The Hidden Tactic Overloaded Workers Are Using to Catch Up
How CEO’s Make Time to Create That Unexpected Lead Forward
How to Catch up on Work When You’ve Fallen Behind
How to Give Busy People the Time to Innovate
How to Gossip Strategically to Get Ahead at Work
Systematic Innovative Thinking
Top 10 Productivity Killers in the Workplace

Many of us are familiar with office politics – advocating for power in the workplace.

Increasingly, the angst created by office politics is taking second place to angst generated by politics in the office.

The 2024 Presidential election is being touted as “high-stakes.”  This sense of urgency makes it almost impossible to keep political discussions out of the workplace.  And, with all that comes with high-stakes election rhetoric, it seems almost impossible to maintain a welcoming workplace culture that is inclusive to all points of view.

During my career, I have played many roles in workplace political discussions. Here are some roles I have tried out over the years.

The Observer

The Observer listens to what is being said, but remains silent.  The Observer may (or may not) have a viewpoint, but attempts to appear neutral or mysterious on political views. Never weighing in has several advantages:

1. You never reveal your ignorance of politics or your lack of attention to current events.
2. You never reveal your apathy of politics and risk having someone tell you that you NEED to care and take a stand. It is your FUTURE!
3. You never offend anyone because you have never said anything.
4. You never get lectured by someone who follows you down the hall or catches you in the parking lot trying to convince you of how wrong you are about your beliefs or vote.

The Apathetic

The Apathetic does not care.  And they are vocal about it so that all who work with them know that they find politics to be a waste of time. This allows them the freedom to disengage from any political discussion. While we may find it easy to make presumptions about The Apathetic, there could be several reasons for political apathy:

1. Perhaps they do not feel that either side can fix anything.
2. Perhaps they are embarrassed by the behavior of political leaders and wish to avoid association with any side.
3. Perhaps they are young and free and having too much fun to worry about THE FUTURE.
4. Perhaps, they are too busy working 2 jobs or caring for 3 children or caretaking parents or fighting a medical illness to take the time needed to truly study the issues for an informed opinion.

The Apathetic can present as The Observer IF they do not ever voice their apathy.  Once you take a pronounced Apathetic stance, you will be immersed in workplace political discussions: See #4 from The Observer.

The Worker

The Worker has definite opinions on the state of the country and is current in their knowledge of the political landscape. The Worker may even agree with most of the political rhetoric being heard in the workplace. However, The Worker wants time spent at work to be about working. They want workplace harmony so that they can get things done. If and when progress is derailed, The Worker wants those challenges to be related to the work. I am often The Worker, and I use similar techniques to The Marginal (see below) to manage political conversations in the workplace. Because The Worker is head-down productive, the Worker might be mistaken for The Observer or The Apathetic.

The Marginal

The Marginal believes their opinion is the opposite of most of the people they work with.  As our politics become more combative, more us vs them, more we’re right and you’re wrong, and more all or nothing, I can often find myself in the margins.  Even if I want some of the same outcomes as the majority, the approach and rhetoric being used makes me uncomfortable. I do not want to nod my head in agreement nor do I want to find myself facilitating a political discussion.  The Marginal role is difficult and uncomfortable; you can feel limited on options:

1. Go along to get along. You pretend to agree with political platforms touted by others to avoid an argument, but you may feel like a fraud.
2. Speak up. You can speak up and spark a discussion, but you risk isolation and see (again) #4 of The Observer about people following you to your car.  And, do you risk promotion if you disagree with the wrong people?
3. Divert. The weather is always a good option. This option, while a safe route, can make you feel shallow because it avoids important life topics- at least at work.
4. Avoid. You take steps to avoid certain coworkers or even workplace gatherings and meetings to avoid having to navigate this political situation.  This option can also limit your workplace productivity.

The Majority

The Majority believes that their opinion is the opinion of everyone in the office.  As a young teacher, I firmly believed that those I worked with were on the left.  This appeared to make workplace political discussions easy to navigate because I thought I could predict which statements would be acceptable and which statements would generate animosity.  The environment felt safe because even if I never said a word, I could nod in agreement.  As I spend more time in the workplace, I realize that I am probably never in the majority, but more likely, surrounded by:

1. Observers
2. Apathetics
3. Workers
4. Marginals

When in the role of The Majority, I was making a lot of assumptions about the people in my workplace. And, most likely, I was making many coworkers uncomfortable with my “I have all the answers” political statements.

Perhaps, you have also played (or play) these same roles.  In reflecting on these roles, I realize that I do not think I have ever received any guidance for how to handle politics in the office.  September’s article: Politics in the Office: Part 2 will provide some resources that we might all find helpful to navigate the workplace during this 2024 election season.

Sources Cited

No resources were used in the writing of this article – just my own experiences, observations, and reflections of XX years of being a part of the American workplace.