-The Leadership Commitment to Innovate - Getting Started on Your Innovation Journey –

LeadingAge of MA Annual Conference – 7 May, 2015

  1. What dreams do you hold for expansion of your organization’s mission that could be supported by a formal Innovation Plan?
  1. What role do you want to play personally in your organization’s Innovation Journey?
  1. What three actions will you take when returning to your organization to further the commitment to innovation?

Articulate Your Organization’s Commitment

  • Are the key stakeholders in your organization willing to experiment, and fail? For each group, what actions are needed to further this commitment?
  • Board
  • Chief Executive/ Senior Team
  • Residents
  • Team Members
  • What existing forums will you integrate a new focus on innovation and how?
  • Board
  • Senior Team
  • Residents
  • Team Members
  • What new forums will you create to focus on innovation? How often will they meet? What will their responsibilities for innovation be? How will the work / outcomes / insights be shared among stakeholders?
  • Board
  • Senior Team
  • Residents
  • Team Members
  • What will you commit in your budget next year for innovation and how will it be funded?
  • Who will develop your Innovation Plan? How will it plug and play with your Strategic Plan?
  • Are there natural partners (outside your organization) with whom you caninnovate?
  • How will your reward and recognition programs evolve to support your commitment to innovation?
  • What actions can be taken to inspire and engage stakeholders around the commitment to innovate?
  • From which other organizations, companies or industries can you Network for Ideas?

Identify the Change Makers

  • List the Truth Tellersin your organization.
  • List the Visionaries in your organization.
  • List the Creatives in your organization.
  • List the most influential (and preferably informal) leaders in your organization.
  • Who emerges for you as potentially becoming The Catalyst (the heart and soul of innovation)?
  • What will this person need more or less of to be successful?
  • How can you form diverse groups (people from lists 1-4)to fuel the innovation journey alongside your Catalyst?

Understand the Limits and Opportunities Available in Mental Models

(This is great group exercise. Answering these questions individually by key stakeholder group will offer deeper insights.)

  • What are the deeply rooted norms, values, ways of being, beliefs in your organization?
  • Which of those support a culture of innovation and creativity?
  • Which of those will be a barrier to your innovation goals?
  • Whose buy-in will be needed change cultural norms, breakdown of mental models? How will that be accomplished?
  • Apply your organization’s mental models to the environment you work within – your customer desires, market demands, financial constraints and resources, social norms. Are any mental models identified above outdated and ripe for change?