NEGOTIATING BETWEEN INNOVATION & SUSTAINABILITY
“This must be, I think, a time of risk.… What I mean is reaching toward the unknown, pushing past our comfort zones, not haphazardly but armed with our best instincts, our history of knowledge, the input of others.… Risk is that capacity that lies at the heart of growth and learning.” Ben Cameron, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
WHAT IS INNOVATION?
“Innovation, to our thinking, is less about gadgets and devices than it is about coming up with new ways to capture ideas, vet them, and bring them to market; about tapping the creativity of employees, customers, partners, even competitors; and about developing systems to ensure constant, incremental improvement in what it is a company does.” Entrepreneur Magazine
- impact, not risk
- different, not better
- resilience, not revolution
- future, not present
- responsive, not reactive
- opportunities, not threats
- meaning, not product
- learning, not failure
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INNOVATION & SUSTAINABILITY?
“In order to sustain an artistic organization, you must innovate continually.” Marita Fairbanks, Fresh Arts
- paradox, not dichotomy
- synergy, not struggle
- investment, not cost
WHY DO WE NEED TO INNOVATE?
Weaknesses of Cultural Sector:
- organizational structure
- organizational capacity
- undercapitalization
Threats to Cultural Sector:
- demographics
- lifestyles
- technology
- funding
- economy
- definition of creativity
- accessibility of creative tools
GET CLEAR ABOUT YOUR MISSION
“We’re always reinventing ourselves. That’s why we’re 30 years old. But we’re thinking about sustainability, not innovation.” Jane Hirshberg, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange
Ask yourself: “What business are we in?”
- Arts
- Media
- Entertainment
- Personal development
- Education
- Community development
Ask yourself: “Whom are we serving?”
Ask yourself: “What is our unique value-added?”
Ask yourself: “What do we want to accomplish?”
“To ‘keep on keeping on’ is death. Our obligation, as stewards of this art form, is to bring as many people as possible to it. So the question is, how do we keep bringing people in?” Cookie Ruiz, Austin Ballet Theatre
GET CLEAR ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY
“Innovation means taking an honest and serious look at the environment and its ecology and making choices about how you’ll put your art out there.” Martin Cohen, Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative
Ask yourself: “How is our community changing?”
Ask yourself: “What are our community’s changing needs?”
Ask yourself: “How can we continue to be relevant tomorrow?”
“Nothing replaces the concert hall experience. But the truth is, most people don’t even get close to the concert hall.… The performing arts tend to be too product-focused rather than market-focused.… We need better market research before launching new products. No matter how exciting the product is, there may be no need.” Maria Coldwell, Early Music America
BUILD AN INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATION
“As soon as you’re fearful of risk-taking, you’re in a slow decline anyway.” Jill Kelly, 4Culture
“Innovation means knowing there’s no template.” Bill Bissell, Dance Advance
“When I watched my son learn to walk, I noticed that he didn’t learn to walk by walking. He learned to walk by falling.” Cliff Redd, Long Center for Performing Arts
WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF AN INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATION?
- leadership (vision)
- people (capabilities)
- processes (systems)
- culture (values)
- business model (what is sold, to whom)
“If we reimagine what we’re all about, and move from being a product to a process, it opens up the pathways to innovation. Process is the link between old and new. The process of the artist is similar to the habits of the technically adept.… Our job is to enable everybody’s creativity.… That’s the promise of art in society.… Innovation is finding ways to enable the creative capacity in everyday people. You have to rethink how you do what you do.” Josephine Ramirez, Los Angeles Music Center
HOW DOES AN INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATION OPERATE?
- strategically
- synergistically
- opportunistically
- honestly
- inter-generationally
“We can’t leave all the innovation on stage.” Margaret Wyszomirski, Ohio State University
WHAT ARE THE PRACTICES OF AN INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATION?
- looks for role models outside its sector
- establishes platforms for connection and conversation
- values time for reflection
- allots time for pet projects
- connects ideas & resources
- identifies and question assumptions
- How come . . . ?
- What if . . . ?
- learns from failure
- encourages ideas from all staff and stakeholders
- defines a structured, ongoing process of inquiry
“The model for me is professional baseball and football, where the more connected they are electronically, the more people want to come experience the real thing.” Peter Gelb, Metropolitan Opera
TAKE IT STEP-BY-STEP
“As you get older, the desire for stability increases. That’s human. But stability demands more innovation.” Anna Drozdowski, Headlong Dance Theater
- Commit to strategic plan
- Search for opportunities: “look, ask, and listen”
- mashing different kinds of knowledge
- trend-spotting
- insights from failures
- Research
- Evaluate best options
- impact?
- feasibility?
- profitability?
- Test
- Launch/Abandon
- Assess and Adjust
- Sustain
“For innovation to be reliable, it needs to be addressed systematically, like any business issue in which you define the problem and then solve it: What do we want to accomplish, and how? What resources will we need? Who will be on the team? How do we motivate and reward them? And how will we measure success?” Craig Wynett, Proctor & Gamble
Thanks to: Bill Bissell, Martin Cohen, Maria Coldwell, Llewelyn Crain, D. Jack Davis, Anna Drozdowski, Marita Fairbanks, Sandra Gibson, Jane Hirshberg, Jim Kelly, Jim Bob McMillan, Sam Miller, Jason Neulander, Mark Powell, Josephine Ramirez, Cliff Redd, Cookie Ruiz, Janice Shapiro, Elizabeth Streb, Katie West, Margaret Wyszomirski, Leslie Zucker
Further reading: Innovation to the Core by Peter Skarzynski and Rowan Gibson (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2008)
2008 Ann Daly Arts Consulting LLC