April 29th

What are the windows of opportunity where we, as an organization, can even better cultivate a culture of innovation? And more specifically, how might we, as members of the Leadership Academy from a range of divisions across Fedcap, continue to work together to cultivate a culture of innovation?


As leaders at Fedcap, I think we can better cultivate a culture of innovation by working hard to inspire our teams to think critically, and by empowering them to think of solutions to the challenges our programs face daily.  For example, today I was meeting with an Assistant Director that reports to me, and we were discussing the challenge of keeping our participants engaged, and getting them to show up.  He expressed frustration because despite the work he and his supervisors put into enhancing the curriculum covered in our Work Readiness Workshops, we were still struggling to get our participants to show up.  My advice to him was "listen to your stakeholders".  I encouraged him to first talk to, and listen to, the Work Readiness Instructors to find out what they thought we could be doing differently to engage more participants.  I next suggested that he go directly to the people he was trying to engage; I challenged him to call, and have his team call, at least 5-10  participants each for 3 weeks to ask them what they would like to see in our program and what we could be doing differently.  I encouraged him to focus on calling participants who were not attending because these were the individuals whose attention we were trying to capture.  I warned him that he may hear some ridiculous recommendations, but I was confident that he would also hear insightful recommendations that he could use.  He left the meeting with me motivated, and enthusiastic about the possibilities he might uncover.  

I think we create a culture of innovation by consistently asking ourselves, and our teams, these types of questions.  We're often reluctant to ask these questions for fear of hearing outrageous requests and recommendations that may not seem realistic to us. By failing to ask these questions, we also miss out on hearing innovative, and insightful suggestions from the people on our front lines and the people we service.



What types of questions might you pose to your team to inspire innovation?


Earlier this year I read a book by Entrepreneur, Author, and Venture Capitalist Ben Horowitz called "The Hard Thing About Hard Things", and in it he shared a few questions he used as a CEO when meeting with members of his team.  I think each of the questions he listed would cause staff members to think in a way that promotes and inspires innovation.  I've listed the questions below for you all to view.

· If we could improve in any way, how would we do it?

· What’s the number-one problem with our organization? Why?

· What’s not fun about working here?

· Who is really kicking ass in the company? Whom do you admire?

· If you were me, what changes would you make?

· What don’t you like about the product?

· What’s the biggest opportunity that we’re missing out on?

· What are we not doing that we should be doing?

· Are you happy working here?"
*Excerpt From: Horowitz, Ben. “The Hard Thing About Hard Things.” HarperCollins, 2014-03-04


How do we make sure that we are looking at the right problem? For example, what assumptions do we make in workforce development about people who are out of work - how do we look at the problem from different angles to see the problem differently?

I don't think there is a fool-proof way of guaranteeing that we are looking at the right problem.  I think the only way to maximize our effectiveness is if we are always looking for ways to improve and refuse to assume that we've solved all of the problems. 

I think one assumption we tend to make in workforce development about people who are out of work is that we have a better idea of what's best for them than they do.  I think, in some cases, that may be true but there are several cases where we'd be better off listening to what the participant wants and helping to guide them towards the goal they've set for themselves.  Because of the large volume of clients we service, I think staff sometimes forgets that every participant is different from the next.  So even though they may have heard similar goals and stories from a previous participant, it's important to give newer participants the benefit of the doubt when their stories sound familiar and their goals sound too lofty.

How might we surmount those barriers?


I think we surmount those barriers by being open; being open to ideas, and willing to listen to suggestions made by our staff members.  I think it's important that we seek out those suggestions and encourage our staff to speak openly about what they think might work better.  As leaders, I know this approach opens us up to having our egos bruised and potentially causing us to feel like our staff doesn't believe in us, but it must be done. To combat those feelings, our self-confidence needs to kick into overdrive to fight off any doubts that may arise when our current practices are called into question.  It's in those moments that we must remind ourselves of the larger goal of effectively carrying out Fedcap's mission.

What is the next thing?



I think the next thing involves incorporating more technology into our classrooms, finding ways to engage our participants through their mobile phones, and by partnering with innovative, socially-conscious start-ups looking to hire staff while finding ways to positively impact society.