Advice to innovators who believe in the mission/vision you were hired into:
1) Maintain hope and remind yourself that innovation (aka change) initiatives require courage and patience when facing resistance - sometimes it will lonely. The late majority and laggards have been in power for a very long time - they are likely to label you in unflattering ways. Protect your well-being and be patient with others.
2) Detangle yourself from the bureaucratic infrastructure so that you are free to move in the open space (between organizational boundaries - human to human, not role to role - this can overcome the loneliness/isolation often felt by those who push organizational limits) Find the early adopters regardless of organizational role/status. You can encourage each other and move toward the tipping point together.
3) Listen and learn the perspectives of others while staying true to your commitment to innovating toward the mission/vision of the organization. Influence works best within the mental framework of the person being influenced. Listening to, and understanding, others will make you and your collaborators (innovators and early adopters) more influential long term.
4) Believe in the existence of the tipping point and persist.
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Want to go further?
5) See a Peacock in the Land of Penguins (video and book - Thank you Norma and Cathy!)
Use this video and/or book to help create organizational self-awareness as a first step.
6) Read Diffusion of Innovations by Rogers
Understand some insights on how innovations spread throughout a social system
ISBN-13:
978-0743222099
ISBN-10:
0743222091
7) If you are truly innovative, you have choices. Keep your resume up to date for when you're ready to make an organizational move and/or ... become an entrepreneur !
