The People Innovation Podcast

It's been a while, but The People Innovation Podcast is back! Season 3 focuses on Leading An Innovation Ecosystem. We're taking the audio from our popular webinar series and making it easily accessible for you where you are, when you want to listen to it. In the first episode of the series, we cover what makes innovation thrive in an organisation and, crucially, how to lead for these elements of the Innovation Ecosystem.

Joe and Zac from The Innovation Beehive outline: 

• how a clear direction ensures people in the business know how to channel their creativity to solve problems that matter
• the importance of creating a leadership and cultural environment that encourages innovation
• how to build and sustain an innovation engine to enable ideas to move from inception to implementation
• what enablers people need in order to innovate effectively

Steve Cayzer is a Senior lecturer in engineering management at the University of Bath for 10 years. Steve has a PHD in Computational neurobiology and he moved into IT consultancy working in the Energy and Utilities sector, then on to Hewlett Packard before moving to the University. 

We recorded this episode just before Clayton Christensen died. The whole world of innovation breathed a sigh of sadness at his loss. In his words "It's easier to hold your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold them 98% of the time." He absolutely lived his principles. Rest in peace.

Listen out for:

R&D isn’t just about proving something about data it can also be about strategic data. 

Three trends in teaching:

• Scale  Universities have been increasing student numbers ( In Australia high numbers 1500 on one course ) and its impact on learning e.g. Moods / Gatekeeping students
• Increase in Diversity sometimes it can be seen as a limitation eg. language barrier / flip it to insight someone might have about how to deliver a product in a certain country.
• Inclusive Design eg. in the classroom if you deliver content that is written clearly for non-native speakers it will help everyone

- The increasing need for people to have real-world impact - what you know, what you can do and how you can behave. Can graduates formulate solutions? Attitude to failure, personal development and growth?

- Problem-based learning - we can do better in class that just talking at students. Idea is you give students a fairly large problem and the students access it in a pull basis

- Team-Based Learning - more structured and it had some advantages in building team development. How do you deliver to large groups - the advantage is you have a large number of smart motivated individuals who have chosen to come to the same place at the same time. Therefore how can we harness that.

 - Transformative use of teaching - passivity and anonymity

 - Readiness Assurance Protocol - discussed within team-based learning that Steve implemented with his teams

 - Assessment of courses how it is tied to teaching eg. real-world case study

Website:

Season 2 

Welcome to another episode of the Innovation Beehive in our Learning and Development Series. Today Joe Nagle is speaking to Mehrnaz Tajmira  a PHD Student In Operations and Supply Chain Management at the University of Bath. Current studying Food waste and Innovation ( Background in Mechanical Engineering) and Henrietta Sherwin, Research Associate on Social Enterprise and Social Enterprise programmes in the School of Management at the University of Bath

Listen out for: 

• Barriers for Start ups  - Henrietta discusses research speaking to people at six month and 1 year interviews and using ecological models to work out how to better support this diverse body.  Failure is a lot to do with people’s personal circumstances. There is a problem is everything is very fragmented within the Social Enterprise and Charity sector
• What is a Social Entrepreneur 
• The power of the Entrepreneurship - Learning by doing is fantastic for young people. A lot of people in University don’t think it’s possible for them. 
• Case Study of 'Cycling for Bath' - Discussion about the 'tipping point' from social influence and research
• Food Waste research - Aim to innovate through more mechanisation, waste processing facilities.  1/3 of the world's produce is going to food waste
• Circular Economy - A New wave of innovation firms eg. Toast Ale, Rubies in Rubble 
• Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship
• Vertically integrated projects - only 1 UK University teaching this way - Strathclyde University

Website:

Welcome back to Season Two where our focus is on Learning and Development and our guest is Roger Mason Head of Learning and Development at Reed Global.

Reed was set up in the 1960’s by Sir Alex Red, still run by the Reed family and has since expanded into Europe and Asia. Reed is a business is one that started before the internet age that has transitioned to be a leader online.

Roger talks about how one of the biggest things that informed Reed’s strategy are the needs of the business. He talks about how learning is hard to measure and how expectations haven’t existed on how to measure the impact. There is much more focus now on performance, so learning with an outcome. He explains how conversations at Learning conferences are moving from Gamification and e-learning modules off the shelf to train compliance to AI, Analytics and robotics

Listen out for :

• Holistic Development - developing the whole person eg. Mentor Programme
• Discussion of cost of Mental Health problems on the economy ( £35 billion a year up from 26 million 10 years ago)
• Reed Mentoring Programme - they aim to pair people with others who are further along. Specific programmes for Graduates, Women aspiring for Leadership.
• Training provided to Mentors and Mentees.
• Details of the Apprenticeship provided
• The ambiguity of Holistic Development
• Nailing the basics & Start Small
• The Future of L&D
• The machines are catching up

Website: 

Miranda Burgum - Head of People

Welcome to Season Two of The People Innovation Podcast, where host Joe Nagle is in conversation with Miranda Burgum, finding out about Gail’s 52 bakeries in local neighbourhoods striving to provide exquisite coffee and bread's for people to enjoy. 

When Miranda joined she described it as being given a blank piece of paper to create a structure to suit the significant growth in its entirety and from a people perspective.

Listen out for:

• 3 things that I follow: attracting the best people, training our talent, engaging with our teams
  
• Making sure the team were well equipped to go on a journey
  
• Customer service programme - SHINE
  

Topics Discussed:

• Creation of a three-year strategy to land the basics and evolve and be a great place to work and grow
  
• The mother dough…
  
• Four values: we care for baking, we care for our community, we care for each other and we care for a job well done
  
• Recruitment at Gail's - Job descriptions are very task orientated. Managers are aware they will recruit based on instinct, behaviour, how they demonstrate themselves on an 'experience' shift
  
• Internal comms - facebook group Gails’ Together
  
• Kneading your Career - development programme
  
• Rise with Gails
  

LINKS:

 Zac Curtis 

Welcome to episode six of the People Innovation Podcast. In this episode Joe Nagle will be in conversation with Zac Curtis, the Capability Director at The Innovation Beehive. 

Listen out for: 

Doug Faulkner - Performance Coach, The Innovation Beehive 

Welcome to episode six of the People Innovation Podcasts where we hear from Doug Faulkner about his use of comedy used to generate engagement and enhance learning 

Doug lived as a teenager in California and when he returned to UK he studied fashion, before working for Dazed and Confused. He found the first innovation agency and his interview involved buying something for £50 that had a secondary function and his task was to let the interviewer know the primary function is working. 

Listen out for:

• “You’re most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”
• The Pin Ball Machine analogy 
• Lazy facilitation
• You never get a second chance to make a first impression - what you’re left with after is endless opportunity to make a lasting impression
• Apology paradigm

Topics Discussed:

1. How working in TV helped Doug to get people to buy into him and for him to be able to read the room, which is what you have to do in innovation sessions. 
2. Don’t underestimate the ‘Power of silly’
3. What are the ways comedy can help  in a business context
4. Be the energy you want to see - match the energy of the room and take it where you wanna go
5. You have a responsibility of managing their mood - if not people will freeze you out, get bored or distracted
6. It’s overindulgent to be nervous. You can’t do that to the people in the room 
7. Do your homework so you can forget your homework 
8. Content needs to be able to be delivered flexibly 
9. Lazy facilitation  - getting them to tell you what they know
10. Collaboration breeds ‘buy in’
11. Transactional analysis 
12. To develop emotional intelligence is essential for innovation 

Social Media 

Nic Walden - Head of Procurement Advisory Membership Programmes for the Hackett group

Welcome to episode five of the People Innovation Podcast, where we are speaking Nic Walden. Originally from New Zealand, Nick moved back to the UK 20 years ago and worked in strategic finance and procurement before moving into consulting and he’s now been at Hackett for 11 years where he works with over 300 different global clients. 

Listen out for: 

How Procurement is experiencing rapid change

How technology is driving a lot of change

Discussion about ‘Innovation scouting’

Topics discussed:

• What Procurement is and what value it brings to businesses large and small
• How Innovation is important to procurement
• How innovation and procurement can increase revenue 
• How Hackett partner and collaborate with suppliers
• Supplier Relationship Management - the opportunity for organisations to take a more systematic company-wide approach to supply management with top tier suppliers who can generate the most value
• Transactions and Interactions in internal and external relationships 
• Learning from other parts of the same business 
• Problem of implementing a new engine in an organisation - Don’t be afraid to start small and look to sale over time 6 months / 1 year / 2 year - demonstrate success
• Advice to Procurement teams - regarding innovation 

Links: 

Nic Roome  - Ground Control manager at Airbnb

Welcome to episode two of The People Innovation Podcast, where Mok O'Keeffe will be chatting with Nic Roome

Listen out for: 

 4 core values

• Be a host - someone who cares for others and makes them feel like they belong
• Championing the mission - a world where anyone can belong anywhere
• Embrace the adventure - the adventure of curiosity, be curious and ask for help, how can you demonstrate an ability to grow and learn from your mistakes. 
• Being a serial entrepreneur - applying bold thinking to any situation - imagine ideal outcome and being resourceful to make it happen - “Cereal Entrepreneurs” 

Topics discussed: 

• Building close connections with hosts, bring them into buildings and hear their point of view
• Engaging and hear their stories 
• Share tips and practices - the people on the ground bringing it all together
• Employer experience starts from the moment they first engage from end to end
• Titles - how not many people put the level of where they work in email signatures
• Employer experience is to partner with teams such as facilities food, learning and development to bring the team together over different things
• The importance of the physical space - Global offices ensure the culture is a manifestation of the product, people’s homes or spaces they are sharing
• Internal Comms - each team reaches out and asks what’s been going on in your area, what was that milestone, political issues. 
• Pooling of ideas to make newsletter makes it rounded and creative 
• Essential to know your audience.. 
• Foster an environment where people can bring something to you 
• Importance of using your get and asking what can you sense
• Push for the sprint and support the marathon 

 Harvey Wade – formerly at Cisco , talking about the Innovation Direction

Welcome to the first episode of The People Innovation Podcast . 

Host, Joe Nagle and Mok O’Keeffe catch up after  Mok has just returned from ‘Front End’ a Innovation conference in Boston. One of Mok's big takeaways was from Ivy Ross, Chief Creative at Google Hardware who said  “Fall in love with the problem not the solution”. 

Listen out for:

1. Having a very clearly articulated innovation direction 
2. Developing and investing in the people in the organisation and empowering them
3. Helping people fail and learn from their failure  

Harvey Wade started in the insurance world at Allianz, where his research showed innovative companies make more money. He was part of setting up the innovation team where he set up the programme for employees and built system and spent five years before he moved to a more consulting role, getting experience of innovation of different companies and different sectors - retail, oil and gas. He stated how innovation principles are the same; it is the problems that are different. 

Define what innovation is

• Problem solving to create business value… some may be change, some may be innovation
• You need to be thinking about the future: what does my tomorrow world look like… Where are your burning problems.. 
• When you have an innovation definition, be comfortable to allow your definition to innovate every time 
• Have a clear strategy around what they want to achieve in innovation 

Topics Discussed: 

Harvey works with leaders to think about that balance between sustaining innovation and disrupting innovation, asking what about the future. “We should spend 10% of our time thinking about it, so how do we do that?”

Harvey is trying to help leaders make innovation practical so he has to be visually active with coaching, training, working to do practical things  

Leaders need to encourage those who are thinking of ideas and make examples of them and say it’s OK to try things. 

Harvey also works with a lot of engineers and explains how often they don’t know why they are doing what they are. They just like fixing and jump to the first solution. “You need to understand the problem before you try to fix it. Why does a problem exist? Who does it impact".

Celebrating Innovation 

Harvey discusses ownership of innovation and how the leaders are responsible for the direction. They own the responsibility for innovation and how every individual has a responsibility for it. People who come up with the ideas who are celebrated. 

Harvey also focuses on the people in the group who think ‘I don’t come up with ideas’ but they help make it better’ highlighting how it has got to be a team effort.  

His takeaway: 

"Be aware of the cultural environment to engage people to help them understand what’s in it for them.. People don’t always want cash - they may want a career reward."

Bringing the conversation about innovation, culture, and leadership and sharing how to release the energy and potential of people at work