Innovation, Learning and...Soccer?

I spent a good portion of this past Saturday coaching my kids’ soccer teams. I try not to be that dad, reliving my better days through my kids. I coach like crazy in practice and then in games I sit in my chair and watch. I was proud to see my teams do some great stuff on the field and it reminded me of how we learn to play games like soccer. Sure, as a coach I provide skill practice and drills to hone soccer ability. But true soccer knowledge is gained from playing the game, through trial and error. Kids learn what works (what helps them score goals, or stop the other team from doing the same) when they try the things I’ve been telling them and it pays off. The thrill of scoring or stopping that attack brings its own sense of fulfillment that I can’t create on the practice field.

As I watched my kids play, it reminded me of a webinar I viewed recently featuring Scott Anthony of Innosight. In his presentation, he emphasized the need for organizations to practice the art of innovation. He provided some great guidelines and some memorable facts and figures. His position is that for companies to be successful in these tough times they must be innovative all the time. He gave many examples of companies that rose out of tough times by doing exactly that. In every case, companies that rigorously practice and encourage innovation, ultimately succeed.

Innovation, like learning, demands that we try new ideas and often fail. Okay, I said it. It means we fail. Scott shared a great quote by Ted Williams, one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

"Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer."

Scott does a great job showing how companies invest wisely in innovation because they know that many ideas won’t pan out. They plan for it. They invest a little, to learn a lot.

In a learning culture, failure has to be an option. We often learn the most when we fail. Failure, and the introspection that follows, guides us to new directions that we may not have tried before. I love the quote from Batman Begins (2005), in which Alfred Pennyworth, the faithful butler to the Dark Knight, asks a young Bruce Wayne, “Why do we fall, sir?” The answer, though it seems trite, is packed with meaning. “So that we might learn to pick ourselves up.” I admit to being a comic book fan, which makes the quote more memorable. Regardless this is still a great lesson. For learning to actually work, participants need the chance to get all the information and practice it in a safe setting in which failure is an option.
Back on the job, our clients will have the opportunity to try the new skills. If our design was solid and the course a success, our learners should have some success at the new skills. When they do fail, and they will, the learning organization should be there to quickly assess the conditions that caused failure, provide the introspection required, and be ready to meet the need in a timely and cost-efficient manner. I’m not condoning failure as a standard. My belief is that in failing, we learn what not to do and sometimes that’s a good piece of information to have.

Soccer coaching may not be the best model for how to run a learning organization but there are some good parallels:

1. Give learners a safe environment to practice the skills and use the relevant information.
2. Provide lots of feedback and generate dialogue about what’s working and what isn’t.
3. Motivate participants with praise and positive reinforcement.
4. Unfreeze counterproductive behaviors and refreeze productive ones.
5. Prepare learners as best we can for “game time”.
6. Document the successes and failures and build new training experiences to address the shortcomings.
7. Repeat and have fun.

I'm constantly telling my assistant coaches, a group of helpful dads, to relax. If we teach our kids the basic soccer skills and make it fun, the kids will start to experiment and have success. That's how we can support innovation on the soccer field.
How is your learning department supporting innovation in your business?