The Innovation Conversation: All of us are smarter than any of us

Keith De La Ruehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/dragunsk/

Using conversation to:• Make us individually smarter• Improve group performance• Increase innovation• … and share knowledge!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/antonymayfield/

Getting there• Individual performance• Openness to change• The power of groups• Innovative places• Getting people together• Online spaces• Putting it all together• … Have a conversation and have some fun!

Individual Performance

Table 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-n4eSIsr2c

Activity – Introductions• Introduce yourself by giving:

– Your name– Where you were born– One interesting true statement about yourself– One false statement about yourself– (Not necessarily in that order!)

• The rest of the group will decide which is which

Introductions• Have you got to know people better now?• Did you discover any false preconceptions?• How does this help with performance?...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoetnet/

Friends with cognitive benefits - Ybarra et al, 2010

Talking to others improves individual mental function

Brief, friendly conversations

improve executive function -

working memory, focus

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chipgriffin/

Put yourself in other shoes http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoonabar/

The Johari Window

© Alan Chapman 2003 http://www.businessballs.com/johariwindowmodeldiagram.pdf

Openness to Change

Conversationdoesn't just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards – Theodore Zeldin

From David Gurteen - http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/theodore-zeldin

Activity – Changes• Form into groups of two• Spread around the room• Wait for further instructions…

Changes• Stand face to face• How many things can you change in your

appearance?• Look at your partner• Turn back to back and change three things in

your appearance• Turn face to face and take turns identifying the

three changes• Then…

Changes• How did you feel?• How easy was it to find three changes?• Does change always mean taking away?• How easy is change?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sookie/

"...The kind of conversation I'm

interested in is one which you start with a

willingness to emerge a slightly different person.

It is always an experiment, whose

results are never guaranteed. It involves

risk. It's an adventure in which we agree to cook the world together and

make it taste less bitter"http://www.flickr.com/photos/88691054@N00/

In conversation we…Transform factsReshape themDraw new implicationsDevelop new trains of thought

We must be open…

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“We risk impoverishing

ourselves if weignore the personal”

- Gurteen

http://www.flickr.com/photos/atomicjeep/

Conversation is intrinsically creative

… If we are prepared to change.

The way we talk shapes what we do

If we talk differently, life can be more interesting

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aturkus/

Positive languageWords > Pictures > Emotions > ActionsAnyone have children around?“Don’t spill the milk!”“Don’t take out all the pencils!”“Don’t forget…”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8431398@N04/

So which gives the clearer picture?

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The Power of Groups

The Courage Beer Conversations Survey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_r9Quv4o5Q

Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups - Woolley et al, 2010

Ability to perform group tasksIndependent of individual intelligence

Whole greater than sum of parts

Based from how the team works together

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregloby/

Collective intelligence

Social sensitivity

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36238874@N02/

Equal turnsNo domination

Women and conversation

More sensitivityhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/cmi_managers/

Leadership challenge:facilitation,not control

Not easy for hierarchical organisations

- or rugged individualists

http://www.flickr.com/photos/http2007/

Discussion – Meetings• When have meetings failed?• When have they worked well?• Would they have worked better if these patterns

were followed?

Innovative Places

The Geography of Geniushttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnaPHWFh8DE

The recipe• Mentors• Freshness• Chaos• Discernment• Diverse groups of people

getting together

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cuttingboard/

The Enlightenment – C18

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment

Social Entrepreneurs – C21

http://socialmelb.com/

Casual Conversation• Steve Jobs bought Pixar in 1986• Designed single building with large open space• Moved key functions to atrium

– Mailboxes– Meeting rooms– Cafeteria and coffee bar– Gift shop– Bathrooms

• “Best ideas arrive when having a chat”

Getting People Together

Where GoodIdeas Come From

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU

Innovation – the Eureka moment?Progress is more about one door leading to another door

Sharing and recombining ideas

-> Conversation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karrienodalo/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gastev/

… Don’t isolate the genius in the laboratory!

The adjacent possible: eg

printing press

The multiple

Expect the unexpectedThe most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka’ but ‘That’s funny...’

- Isaac Asimov

New ideas in scienceemerge more fromlab meetings thanfrom solitary research

- Kevin Dunbarhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/karlfrankowski/

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_accept_defeat/

Casual Discovery

Spanning boundaries

https://www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/

Wisdom of crowds – cognitive problems

Diverse membership

Members thinking independently

Knowledge pooledhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/24888116@N06/

From: James Surowiecki

https://twitter.com/ValaAfshar/status/731328508832690176http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2016/01/20/canadian-opportunity-address-right-honourable-justin-trudeau-prime-minister-canada

Get people together in conversation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/MrTopf/

Community

Conversational tools

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Conversations for knowledge sharingand innovation – the Café…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanridgway/

A Tale of Two CafésWorld CaféWorld Café Knowledge CaféKnowledge Café

Started 1995 Started 2002

Community focus Business focus

Uses community language Uses business language

Addresses social issues Addresses business issues

Defined structure Adaptable structure

Uses Table Hosts No Table Hosts

Results “harvested” Knowledge surfacedhttp://delarue.net/blog/2011/06/a-tale-of-two-cafes/

Discussion – Conversational tools• What tools does your organisation use?• When have they worked well?• How could they work better?

OnlineSpaces

We Think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiP79vYsfbo

Microblogging

https://www.yammer.com/

Networking, awareness, chat

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/323447999676/

Any conversation helps!

Discussion – Online spaces• What online spaces does your organisation use?• When have they worked well?• How could they work better?

Putting it all Together

Activity – Knowledge Café• All except one person at each table move to a

different table – choose the people who arethe most different to you

• Discuss:How can we use what we have learntHow can we use what we have learnt

about conversation to makeabout conversation to makeour workplace more innovative?our workplace more innovative?

• Discuss for 10 minutes, then move to another table with a different group of people

• Wrap up with open discussion

http://ozcollab.com/

Conversations help us to …

… find the missing pieces

… face complexity in organisations

http://www.flickr.com/photos/odreiuqzide/

… engage people

https://www.flickr.com/photos/minubeit/

Five rules for more innovative

conversationshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/bytemarks/

Have we all been introducedand learned about each other?

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Is everyone openand willing to

change?

Are we being sensitive to each other and taking

equal turns?

Is the talk friendly and constructive?

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Do we have sufficiently diverse viewpoints?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/untitlism/

Knowledge workers are simply those people whose

job consists of having interesting conversations

David Weinberger, The ClueTrain Manifesto

@kdelarue 0418 51 7676

keith@delarue.nethttp://acknowledgeconsulting.com/