Michelle Williams

U.LAB BOOK // CROWD-SHARE INNOVATION - excerpt of book.

Culture block. Ideation is not innovation.
Anyone can come up with good ideas; implementing them takes sweat and conviction. Why is it we are built to think of ideas, not make them happen? How does the ratio get inversed? What drives make-it-happen cultures in complex organisations?

Ideas are free, execution is priceless. We all have ideas on how to make this world a better place, to make our lives easier, to help the disadvantaged, to make a million dollars.

Change is hard, many strategies fail, so how do you pick the right idea to pursue? How do you get buy-in? And, most importantly, how do you successfully implement and make a positive impact for you, your organisation and the people around you?

In an era of constant change, a time of transition and flux, when external factors such as the Internet, economic instability and environmental change cause uncertainty in day to day operations, being adaptable is more important than ever.

Even considering this high rate of change it is still easy to remain the same. Many large organisations and government mitigate risk, stagnate, and even though they are proven to be incredibly inefficient, the price of change is too great.

Many of our current models in the private and public sector were built in the industrial era where mass production, one size fits all, designing services for people not with people, was the standard.

To change this, to move into a new mode of thinking and strategic action many organisations are tackling this on the edge.  Small innovation projects that test ideas, allow for small wins and prove the model before widespread adoption.

The tech entrepreneur community have become efficient at starting small and focused with the wide-spread adoption of the Lean StartUp methodology. Coined by Eric Ries it’s principles allow testing and validation of ideas, thus decreasing waste and increasing success. A selected idea has a Minimum Viable Product built and released. Testing is explored through customer development and, if needed, if the idea is proved invalid, the process iterates to a new version of the idea and the process starts again. This methodology has been successfully implemented for many leading tech startups including the online cloud service DropBox.

Effective design to implement ideas is also imperative. Design Thinking and Service Design are methods that are increasingly being adopted to help develop ideas, or rather, explore problems so that innovation on the delivery of solutions can be developed. As opposed to recent methods of designing services ‘for’ people this method designs services ‘with’ people and cares about the experience of all people involved.

To drive a make-it-happen culture, of utmost importance is buy-in from people. Often too few people have been brought into the new vision. In other cases, employees aren’t urgent or enthusiastic about the changes taking place. And, many times, too little effort has been made to get people involved in driving new strategies forward.

To turn this around, collaboration is key. All good ideas need a team to move them to completion. Teams make more progress than individuals. When you get more people excited in your idea, that’s when you can make it happen.

Previous modes of implementing ideas within organisations have taken a top-down approach, where ideas are dictated from high-level management and employees are given commands on what to do. This has contributed to 70% of employees being disengaged with their work.

Emergent models of social innovation and collaboration counter this. Ideas implemented from a “grass-roots” level, a flat hierarchy, with collective collaboration focused on the power of the group, allow for a holistic approach to implementing ideas. This method empowers those involved in the implementation process to drive the idea themselves.

Social innovation is defined as new ideas that meet social needs of all kinds. Business of the future will have the competitive edge by adopting and exploring opportunities of social innovation.  And the models are emerging to turn these social innovations into action.

“I’m deeply convinced that humanity’s future relies on our ability to explore and invent new business models and new types of business corporations” Frank Riboud, CEO Groupe DANONE

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is dead, Giving money to charity, staff volunteering, painting the community centre - all good things but they are peripheral to business. They don’t lead to the creation of new products and services, differentiate your brand, engage your people or achieve lasting social or environmental impact.

The answers to the world’s biggest social challenges will not be found by governments, charities or NGO’s alone. Increasingly big companies are creating new business models, new products and services that deliver lasting, financially viable solutions to the big problems that we face.

The world of social innovation, and the pace of change is constantly accelerating thanks to the development of technology. We live in a hyper-connected world. Our iPhones give us access to more information than Bill Clinton had access to 15 years ago when he was the president of the United States.

“Every 2 days we produce more information than we did from the dawn of humankind to 2003” Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google.

By 2020 it is predicted that the Participatory Revolution will be upon us. We are increasingly participating online in dialogue on politics and how responsible corporations are. What impact will this have on implementing ideas? If we crowdsource ideas and the knowledge of the crowd will we also be able to crowdsource the implementation of ideas? In what way can this be achieved?

All of our current business models are being challenged by a faster rate of change. Our ability to turn ideas into action, to implement, execute well and with team participation will need to become business standard. We need to be adaptable to change, to be resilient and we need to embrace collaboration and inclusiveness. We need to stop being risk averse and celebrate innovation as the new standard!

2nd chat on Eagle Waves Radio in September, on Business for Purpose and the new opportunities of Shared Value.

It’s common in large enterprise and institutions to let bureaucracy and avoidance of risk to overshadow any opportunity for innovation or change.

Any change is fraught with risk and the potential impact is difficult to measure and often not seen for years.

As an entrepreneur with the freedom to explore the edges of innovation over the last couple of years being agile, lean, and open to design thinking seem logical. 

Last night’s event with Jeanne M Liedtka, International Design Thinking expert and Author of the book The Catalyst: How You Can Become an Extraordinary Growth Leader explored these notions. 

Jeanne mentioned that when she discusses this with entrepreneurs it was like preaching to the converted. 

It was business managers that were not able to see this, that managing risk, relying on analysis of heavy data was the focus, not being open to the uncertainty of innovation and change, change for growth of a company. 

So how do we get managers and institutions to look past risk aversion, something that is so indicative in government, who’s short term view is not preparing or allowing for future uncertainty, and corporations who are stifling innovation to high profit for their shareholders and maintaining the status quo.

Jeanne left us with this take away:

Reframing the Question:
“The design thinking approach forces you to stay in the questions and not define exactly what the problem is. We all have a tendency to jump to the solution mode far too quickly, so the design thinking approach forces you really to live in this unclear, sometimes very muddy place to get a better understanding. This ends up producing a much better understanding of the problem and the challenge that you’re trying to solve.” Barry MacDevitt, founder, Design Dublin

Can our leaders and institutions handle this uncertainty?

Barry O’Farrell forced Clover Moore to resign the state seat she’s held for 24 years last week. Michelle Williams on why the independent pollie inspires progressives in Sydney and beyond    

New Matilda

As urban sprawl continues its unabated growth, house sizes get bigger with an average of 2 cars, communities become more and more fragmented. Contrasting that is the inner city’s increased density, smaller residencies and no room cars.

This evolution of community and individualism coincides with our ever increasing connectivity. Where it was once an exciting trend to login to ‘facebook’ on our iPhone, or to even have access to high speed Internet, it is now an accepted, almost routine and habitual part of lives.

It’s often complained that social media and the Internet are reducing the need for physical contact. I will declare that nothing can ever replace face-to-face contact. What this new found connectivity gives us is a way to reshape and redesign our communities to suit our own tastes, interests, passions and personality types.

In the past, where we were born, the friends we made at school, university or our workplaces largely dictated the structures of our social lives and our lifestyle choices. The only way to pursue a passion was through the local community group or on the football field.

A few years ago I decided it was time for my career change, to pursue my passions. I joined Twitter, started connecting and following people that shared my interests, my passions. It sounds so passe now as I know this story is quite common. Interestingly, this is not the norm yet. 

Sydney is experiencing a renaissance in creativity, web tech, social/business with purpose. These are entrepreneurs and groups that are connecting, learning from each other, supporting eac

h other. Their building new businesses, pursuing their passions, or their at the stage where they’re dipping a toe in to test the current and whether it works for them. They are connecting online, sharing events, research findings, new methodologies, and finding trusted thought leaders.

This to me is a definition of “social innovation”. A persons circumstance does not make them. It’s now a possibility for any person, from any background, experience and passion to create “their world”. This connection, this opportunity to find meaning and purpose is exciting. And this is only a glimpse of what’s possible.

NB. This post was developed after attending the Gratten Institute’s delivery of report findings on “Tomorrow’s Suburbs”. When questioned they responded that they did not see value in people being in front of their computers as it took away from one-one contact. It seems it may take some time for large organisations and research bodies to understand the impact of these reengineered communities.

Building communities focusing on creativity, culture and the new opportunities of Shared Value! on Eagle Waves Small Business Radio  

Creating shared value is not an option, it’s the future.

Not sure if you’ve noticed that the world is going through a heightened state of change.

What does that mean for us mere mortals? 

My recent talk for TED@Sydney:

We’re living in a time of mass change, with advances in technology and instability economically, politically and environmentally.

We’re feeling fear and anxiety about these changes but this is a time of great opportunity. 

This is a time of self expressions, tapping into our passions and true potential and finding new ways of giving back to the world.

Welcome to the era of creativity.

Indigenous Australia have an increasing role to play in defining our Australian identity. With a focus on Indigenous excellence, positive dialogue and innovation the tide is turning on the relationship between indigenous people and the rest of Australia.

Tuesday night’s Indigenous Innovation event, as part of the ASIX Changemakers Festival, is one step in sharing Indigenous Innovation. The real-life example of the LIFE (Lifestyle Innovations for Everyone) program was a great example of these new opportunities.   

In Sydney, the social innovation and changemaker community is thriving. It is connecting, collaborating and communicating. Many opportunities and new models of innovation are emerging. 

Indigenous Innovation has a large role and opportunity in these emerging social innovation models. By social and indigenous innovators collaborating indigenous knowledge, heritage and unique understanding can be applied to solving wicked problems.

For non indigenous Australian’s, trying to become involved in this space is sometimes difficult with the need for trust to be developed.  Events like these can start to bridge that gap in understanding.

A great point from one of the Aunties: “Learn to listen…you’ve got two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you speak”.

It’s time for us to listen, not speak, and tap into this enormous amount of knowledge, expertise and creativity.

Some great quotes from Jason’s talk:

“We want to change the opportunity profile of our young people.”

“Indigenous people have been innovating for years almost as “business as usual”

“We want to change the story from one of disadvantage to one of indigenous excellence.”

“Excellence is the new black”

Jason Glanville, CEO of NCIE

And some of the key points from The LIFE team:

Life Project: Lifestyle Innovations for Everyone; listen to users/customers, do simple things well.

Simple behavioural rules, nudging the stuff of daily routines (like having a smoke when you have a break) often key to innovation.

It’s clear that there is a “new” brand of social entrepreneurship emerging—one that is more market-driven, measurement-oriented, and corporate-friendly than before. The question is: Will these trends lead to greater social impact?

When I mention social enterprise, people who don’t understand the term always think that it’s ‘not for profit’.

It seems that “doing something for good” can never make money, well that’s the assumption. Businesses purely created for profit and continuous growth has worked well for us say 100 years before we were connected, informed, before we started to wake up from our materialistic coma and before we started to see and feel our environment and social structures creaking under the pressure of our industrial progress.

Now it’s time to remodel business. It makes sense to place an equal value on social & environmental impact alongside profit.

Businesses of the future will have a strategic advantage having a purpose. Social capital will translate to successful businesses. Partnerships between innovative social enterprises, the community & corporates are to become the norm.

What we’re talking about here is only the start as this is about fundamentally changing business, & the concepts & processes of how to do this are still emerging.
The future is very bright.

It’s easy to have an idea, to think of an opportunity. How many times have you had an idea which, 10 months later Facebook purchases a company executing your idea, for $1Billion?

We seem to be in the midst of a great transition globally. A great opportunity for change when the forces creating it are increasing at massive rate.

We know the Internet & technology is reshaping our society. We’re more tech savvy, informed & connected.

It seems crazy to me that 80% of us are working in jobs we don’t like at a time when self expression, creativity & pursuing our passion is becoming an easier & more accessible prospect.

At the moment, in our media, in our daily observations & conversations we all find it very easy to be critical thinkers, to know the answers to the big problems, to have better solutions than our leaders and much disparaged politicians.

But how many of us are actually taking action,  in being the change that we all seek? How many of us know how? How many of us have that level of fire to drive us to make change?

How do we turn Ideas into Action?

This is what Ideaction will explore. We will find international examples, develop our own methodology & work with some of the key change makers in Sydney & internationally to unravel and execute our ideas for change.

Starting and incubating a business is an adventure full of possibilities. 

For the past couple of months I’ve been developing Ideaction, allowing this enterprise to emerge from the multitude of conversations I’ve been having.

How much is too little? So many questions that are pushing the process to formation at a present slow pace: How much governance? What’s the correct messaging to articulate what Ideaction is? Can I start small now? Logo design? What’s the best business model approach?

Over the 6 weeks since the original Ideaction session I’ve completed many related projects including the UTS Ideas to Action 3 part Social Innovation workshop, managing a crowdsourcing event, the Ignite talk with the theme  ”Smashing boredom by finding your passion and changing the world”. I’ve also engaged in a DSchool Service design crash course (highly recommended), facilitation training, and a shared value workshop - building effective partnerships with corporates, plus a few other big projects not ready for comms.

But it’s time to get the process moving again, to collaborate with the amazing group of superstars…

“Ideaction’s vision is of a shift in business and society to build enterprises that are economically viable, socially beneficial, culturally stimulating, politically influential and environmentally sustainable.

Ideaction is a response to the major challenges faced by the Changemaker community in Sydney and Australia, identified through hands on experience and the active input of the progressive leaders and thinkers who are a part of the Ideaction team.”

I will now write regular blog posts about the progress of Ideaction, kety issues and themes and also interview key people in the space.

Stay tuned.

Michelle Williams
Founder, Ideaction 

Turning ideas into action.

Ideaction (incubation stage) is in response to the the need to reimagine business.
Creativity as it’s core ethos, Ideaction aims to support a new wave of business that are focused on their contribution to society and the environment, combined with sustainable business models.

Trailblazers, innovators, changemakers. While the Occupy movement organised mass movements to highlight the disparity, Ideaction is part of a movement that aims to reimagine business and society, where status is not based on how much $ or stuff you have but on your creativity and what you contribute back to society and or the environment.

“Creative changemakers turning ideas into action!

In this new creativity age, businesses embracing their social, environmental and community contribution will be ahead.

Ideaction is here to educate, support and build these new enterprises (and support the transition for organisations already established).”

Stay tuned for more details.

Loving the new Folas album - Perfect Sunday afternoon tunes, or any time tunes really

#hottest100 list so far on Spotify. Except a few that aren’t on Spotify.

Nice tunes to work to.. new album from Toro Y Moi. Familiar track is So Many Details (give it till 27 seconds.. trust me.

Nice tunes to work to.. new album from Toro Y Moi. Familiar track is So Many Details (give it till 27 seconds.. trust me).

Nice tunes to work to…

ooh, I can’t wait till Thom Yorke releases this in March…another taster for now.

So loving this tune from Flume. “I need the top, top, top.”

Radiohead interpreted on classical piano…perfect.

New Grizzly Bear album Shields perfect chilled co-working tunes.

Mumford and Sons General Store & whiskey bar. #unm with @theprojecttv here tonight. (Taken with Instagram at Under New Management)

Beautiful, smooth, soothing tune for a late winter Sunday afternoon

Friday afternoon tune…

National Park on Oxford St: picnic or camp here o/night #unm (Taken with Instagram at Oxford Street National Park)

Apparently this song makes you feel like your stoned riding, riding an elephant, in India. Feeling it? http://spoti.fi/R6wrtD #Spotify

Apparently this song makes you feel like your stoned riding, riding an elephant, in India. Feeling it?

Day 2 = role plays & dress ups #makegood (Taken with Instagram at Fishburners)

Still can’t stop listening to this Radiohead tune. I do that, with Radiohead.

“Art & culture not just a side anymore, like sport, but now an intrinsic part of who are” professor Dick Rijken #utscilabs Final master class so speaking to my heart. at UTS Building 3

Robot hugging. Thx STU the robot. Creative Innovation Labs UTS #utscilabs (Taken with Instagram at UTS Aerial Function Centre)

Wow, I love this tune… deep, emerging sounds & lyrics….