"Too Innovative"?
I think that there’s a number of “SLIC” (Silver Linings In COVID) moments happening all around us (Slick if you prefer.) Obviously, these don’t minimize an iota of the illness, deaths, economic situation, etc. However, it’s useful (and psychologically beneficial) to realize that there are these moments happening every day.
Some of the obvious ones are better environmental quality, figuring out how to remotely work and teach people efficiently and effectively, and the burgeoning of new respect for frontline workers. (How many kids do you think will put “medical professional” at the top of their list of careers when asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up”?)
Another of my favorite SLICs is innovation. Innovation is thriving like never before. Thousands of companies have “pivoted” to make medical/PPE-related products, figure out new technologies to make hospitals more efficient, and even to change the way we think about take-out food.
In the world of philanthropy, the work that foundations have done in both creating efficiencies in applying for and funding grants, as well as the amazing progress in their working together to solve major world problems, has been breathtaking.
So what’s with a comment that a nonprofit board member made online last week, that nonprofits were being “too innovative"? Is it that some think that being innovative is "throwing the baby out with the bathwater”? Does the word “innovation” suggest technology, which feels intimidating and/or expensive? Or is it just that change is scary?
Innovation doesn’t mean forgetting your base, your history, or your mission. It does, however, mean that change is part of your culture. And, done well, it will keep your organization resilient and moving forward.
This is a perfect time to get your nonprofit’s entire team together — staff, lay leaders, volunteers, etc. — and to seriously get on the page that says that innovation is a required part of ensuring sustainability.
Several years ago, a HuffPost piece addressed this issue — with a step-by-step roadmap for becoming an organization that believes in and respects innovation. Here and here are a few other articles doing the same. (I love the part in the Kellogg School article saying that innovation can lead to “renewed birth” for the organization. So appropriate for right now).
Here’s another idea. Embed innovation into your organization’s overall culture. Make it a part of how to choose your leaders and your board members. Include it in performance reviews for your staff members.
This pandemic, and everything associated with it, should make the need to respect, support and encourage innovation absolutely obvious.
And once you’re on that page, you’ll see that innovation is exciting, rewarding, fun and not so scary after all.
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- Lisa