A New Perspective on Innovation with Dave Snowden
Posted by webmaster 26 October 2008
At a luncheon of 300 CIN members this week, Dave Snowden of Cognitive Edge held court and offered a number of thought provoking insights into thinking differently and how we might approach the need to innovate.
Sustainability & Environment Secretary, Peter Harris summed up the content of the session best when he said that he could not possibly do it justice with a summary and instead selected key points to comment upon. This brief post will do likewise and make reference to some topic points that seemed to have particular relevance to the VPS.
According to Dave the three key elements that drive innovation are:
- Starvation: the lack of resources to continue on in the same way we have.
- Pressure: Something that is current or impending that motivates us to change, and
- Perspective Shift: Providing ourselves greater access to and paying more attention to alternate views and ideas.
In government we appreciate the the first two fairly well, having to constantly do more with less and to a lesser extent changing policy, however the third offers a real challenge. Perspective shift can be very difficult in an environment where policy and process is determined by the bureaucratically minded. With linear thinking pre-dominant, an alternative perspective can be threatening to the status-quo, and even career limiting.
While of the topic of the bureaucracy, Dave spoke of the phenomena of “entrainment,” brain research shows that if we spend as long as two years in the same position we become entrained with strongly embedded patterns that make it very difficult to move our thinking. To address the problem of bureaucratic entrainment, Dave suggests that every 18 months those is an administrative/process driven position should spent two weeks out in the field doing operational work. This idea resonated strongly with the group who all have stories to tell of the seeming divide between operational staff and head office staff.
Another key factor in driving innovation is disintermediation, this refers to the organisational leaders and decision makers having direct access to the raw data of what is happening out in the field, as opposed to having middle and senior managers reinterpret the data before it is passed up the chain of command. This direct access to data and the real stories allow for more proactive and direct interventions design by leaders.
The manner in which we share knowledge was also a major talking point. The brain is built to scan and make sense of lots of small pieces of information and not large chunks. This fine granularity of detail accounts in part for the success of blogs in which readers can assimilate and make sense of vast amounts of information from multiple sources as opposed to digesting information in large single source chunks.
This has major implications for the way we share we what do. We really what to assimilate our information in small pieces into something that is meaningful to us individually , but organisationally we share our information on databases and intranets in a form that is not conducive to transfer, nor learning.
Perhaps the key point in becoming more innovative is the understanding that everything we do is contextual. An ideal way to understand this is using the Cynefin Framework which has five domains divided into ordered and unordered systems. In ordered systems cause and effect relationships are self evident or can be discerned with some analysis. In an unordered system however, cause and effect can only be determined in hindsight.
This means that the tried and true methods we apply in ordered systems will not work in an unordered system, and here we need to think very differently. As cause and effect cannot be discerned we need to try multiple experiments to see what works and what does not. The experiments that work we build upon and those that do not, we disrupt. In such an environment constant experimentation is required and an interesting KPI might be something like “50% of experiments must fail” because we know that if half have not failed we are not experimenting enough.
This type of experimentation can be very confronting for a risk adverse culture, but ultimately very rewarding as the experiments can be designed as short term, low cost and provide the opportunity to make sense of what is happening in a complex adaptive system. They also allow for the detection of weak signals and early intervention which can ultimately save a great deal of effort and dollars.
As an example of Govt treating an unordered space as if it were ordered Dave offered the UK health system as one in which ordered processes have been mandated to the detriment of the system. This has forced the focus from people onto target and measures and it has been estimated that up to 20% of a hospital’s budget can go into meeting targets which add no value, and that this 20% would be better served in providing a better service to patients.
We could write another 4 pages on this session but keeping fine granularity in mind will stop here and refer you instead to Dave himself.
There is a fascinating podcast of Dave’s presentation that anyone who could not make it should listen to and I’m sure that everyone that was there will listen to again. Make sure you keep an ear out for the “Children’s Party Story” which very succinctly and humorously describes the differences between ordered, chaotic and complex environments.
For those interested in learning more about how to operate within complex adaptive systems there is an accreditation happening in the Cognitive Edge methods here in Melbourne in early November. There are only a handful of places left so if you are interested click here and follow the links.
Many thanks to Dave Snowden for again sharing his knowledge and experience with the CIN membership.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Dave Snowden gave us some great tools for understanding complexity and innovation.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Outstanding presentation.
One of the world’s great thinkers.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Great Session – Sensational observations. I love speakers with the insight and courage for a bit of iconoclasm.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Dave Snowden was an incredibly interesting and entertaining speaker who kept us fascinated for an hour and sent us away inspired.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Very entertaining and informative.
Sharing of knowledge by narrative is very important – more important than mission statements.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Fantastic intellectual journey to keep your mind open to adaptive learning and capacity rather than pre-empting and trying to apply solutions developed elsewhere in different context.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
There are not many speakers who could have made such an inspiring lunchtime presentation. Dave Snowden is one. I went away ready to take a fresh look at my problems.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Refreshing to have an opportunity to break traditional thinking and ways of looking at solving problems. This respected person gives us permission gives us “permission” to solve problems differently – an exciting opportunity to make a real difference.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Very illuminating content and progression through the ideas – and use of the stories to provide context.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
A humorous and insightful presentation.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I found that many of the concepts shared by Dave required broad knowledge of matters of which I am unfamiliar. There appears an assumption that these things are known, but I’m not sure about this.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Excellent!
October 26th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Very worthwhile.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Thought provoking. What a breath of fresh air. I’d like to see our Vic Govt senior management undertake a session or two with Dave.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Looking forward to the blog.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Insightful, amusing and highly original ideas about innovation, organisational systems and the power of a good story.
October 26th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
The use of stories eg; views of Middle Easterners in an evolution biology map was particularly interesting – a rich source of contextual data including early weak signal detection.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
A wonderful hour of thought provoking encouragement to do things differently.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Challenged so many conventional “wisdoms” and in such a short time.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Many concepts well explained and in an interesting way.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Fantastic!
October 26th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Totally new ways of thinking about innovation.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
A wonderful thought provoking entertaining luncheon. An enjoyable series of stories which provided me with another perspective on innovation which although complex, made sense to me.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Great perspective that requires a cultural shift from all levels within an organisation to adopt a different approach to innovative thinking.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Dave Snowden’s presentation was illuminating in its simplicity of application. There is a great opportunity to learn and apply some of these insights. I wonder of Govt is brave enough to embrace them ?
How do you make the top listen and do?
October 26th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Bring Dave Back !
October 26th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
The way to go is multiple bottom up solutions supported by top down support.
How do we achieve this in our bureaucracies?
October 26th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
SO much fabulous information, I just wish I could have written faster – thanks Dave.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
An important observation – Context is king. We have to recognise shifting contexts and build on our connectivity if we are to achieve innovation. The concept of distributed intelligence is an untapped resource.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
It is refreshing to hear that change can come from listening to our own communities.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Extremely stimulating – Real mind food!
October 26th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
This was excellent. My brain has been made to work hard today absorbing new ideas. An opportunity to be shaken out of bureaucratic thinking, reliance on best practice, outcomes and measurement. I will look forward to listening to this presentation again online.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
VPSCIN sessions like this should be mandatory for all Victorians …. is that is little extreme?
October 26th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Dave’s insight has hopefully provided a perspective shift for those managers present on how to manage innovation in the public sector.
It was fascinating.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Bring back Dave.
I look forward to attending his next seminar. Thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining, valuable and insightful.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Great thinking and a new approach can be really useful for long term problems.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Dave’s thinking on innovation was thought provoking, inspiring, challenging and radical. His experience and narratives challenged the fundamental approach by which government policy development is based.
My assumptions have been shaken!
October 26th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
I loved the use of Dave’s children’s stories as I have teenagers myself and could relate.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Innovation is a collective phenomenon.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
It was excellent.
Dave’s perspective on how to tackle climate change was particularly pertinent.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
A great opportunity to hear from a world renowned speaker in this field.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Some really nice ideas that resonate with what works in departments.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
WOW, WOW, WOW!
Highly entertaining and informative. Over the years I have attended many CIN sessions and university based courses and without doubt my favourite speaker has been Dave Snowden. Having heard dave before at a CIN event and having completed the cognitive edge accreditation in 2006, I can not recommend his seminars enough!
I highly recommend Cognitive Edge accreditation for all of our senior leaders and those aspiring to lead in the VPS.
I always have something important re-inforced and learn something new when I hear him.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Very inspiring Renaissance man.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
managers and leaders with the courage to employ “Safe-Fail” experimentation are rare, but those that can admit those failures and move on to new experiments are even rarer.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
A brain sharpening experience.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Thought provoking, allowed you to think outside of the square and forgot about process.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Insightful and thought provoking.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
An idea provoking session that was extremely engaging and a timely cause for self-reflection on government’s over-reliance on consultants. Very enjoyable.
October 27th, 2008 at 12:12 am
I often wonder why Govt spends so of the tax payers dollars on external consultants that rarely produce the goods. (Anecdotally, one of the reasons you hear around the traps is that if the project goes belly-up we can them blame the consultants and in doing so, somehow deflect blame from ourselves – yeah right! I’ve often wondered how much truth there is in this.)
Over my brief journey I’ve had the great displeasure to see many external consultancies brought in for 10’s and 100’s of thousand of dollars who have ultimately left with pockets lined and the govt no better off (in fact often worse off.)
Some of the classic ones are culture surveys/projects and staff satisfaction surveys which tend to have a negative impact. 96 out of 100 VPS staff are cynical about these (I’ve pulled that figure out of my head, but my red hat says its not far off the mark) – this in itself, along with the poor return rates should be enough to tell us they are not working as they should. (One of my very own “witticisms” of which I’ve always been proud is, “Mineral Matter, Vegetable Matter, People Matter.” …… Sorry about that.)
The methods and thinking espoused by Dave virtually says that the knowledge we need to solve our big issues and design a way forward resides within the VPS, our stakeholders and the community we serve, not with some consultant bearing a magical off the shelf formula that seemed to work somewhere else.
Don’t get me wrong, not all are like this, the CIN comes into regular contact with many brilliant people who create value. The most valuable consultants are those who help us to help ourselves in specific areas of deficiency, build that internal capability and then move on. The image around consultancy in general however that pops into my mind is that of a floundering blue whale that is slowly having chunks removed by a circling school of sharks. Govt is still viewed by many as the fatted calf and this “soft touch” image should be dispelled by senior decision makers leveling greater responsibility and trust to staff who usually know a way forward.
Using the distributed cognition across the VPS rather than ignoring it, is surely the way forward as we head into some uncharted and challenging times.
October 27th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Having spent time over a three day period with Dave Snowden, my head is skipping about with quite a lot of thinking. Several things stand out for me from the time. One is that of distributed cognition and how this idea is a real challenge to hierachically driven organisations such as the one I am in now or in my previous life working in the health field. The risk to do it differently is great for these organisations. But how important it is to do it differently, encouraging diverse thinking and decision making. Secondly how important it is to encourage differences and diversity in teams in order to foster innovation. Often we see leaders in organisations surrounding themselves with like minded people which means that blind spots are never identified and contended so limiting innovation and possibilities.
I could go on further with linkages and thoughts, but conscious of the notion of chunked information enough is enough.
Thankyou Dave for a stimulating and thought provoking (and in some ways reassuring)three days.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Dave’s presentation was interesting and informative. I enjoyed the stories and found it quite entertaining.
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