Innovation is for everyone—be innovative!

Are you thinking there’s a department of innovation at Yale where all the great improvements come from?  Think again!  Being innovative and making things better happens all across the university and can be a great way to make what we do more interesting, more challenging, and even more fun.  The “status quo” or the “Yale way” doesn’t always serve us as well or as long as it may have in the past.  We are recognizing that we have to be more agile, and the opportunities to improve are many and everywhere. 

In a message from President Salovey to all staff, he calls on all of us to be innovators “For us to build the best possible version of Yale, now and for generations to come, we must … strive for the highest standards of quality … encouraging every colleague to achieve his or her personal best while seeking opportunities to improve the way we do business.”

So how do we begin?  Using our imaginations and visualizing are good ways to start thinking about how we might do things better, quicker, or easier.  If you provide a service think, “what would we do, and how would we do it if the sky was the limit, no holds barred?”  In conversations about problem solving and when generating ideas, replace phrases like “we tried that …” and “that won’t work here …”, with “tell me more …” and “how would we go about that …”.

Keeping eyes and ears peeled for trouble spots, or their opposite is another good way to begin thinking about possibilities.  There is a term called “the Voice of the Customer” which calls on us to stay close and listen carefully to those who rely on our services and outputs, not just via surveys, but through intentional conversations designed to discover what’s working excellently – so we can expand or repeat it – or what’s a painful sticking point – so we might figure how to remove it. 

Expanding your horizons is important too.  Do you belong to a professional group that allows you to compare notes with others who do what you do, but perhaps a little differently?  Ask your colleagues how they are handling similar challenges, and also ask if they know of an IVY Plus group for your discipline, as these groups will share information on best practices and often meet annually to compare notes with other academic institutions.  At Yale, we expect all our people to lead innovation and positive change.  We encourage people to look for innovative ways to accomplish goals, and to search for and apply new ideas from inside Yale and other organizations.

There are lots of ways to move towards innovative thinking.  Making time for reflecting and imagining is key, which means we need to take an intentional break from “doing” sometimes and move to “thinking” about how things are going.

For a little inspiration, visit the President’s Office web page and check out prior year winners of the LKL award, which is bestowed annually by President Salovey to recognize staff excellence and innovation.  You’ll find everything from the invention of prize winning vegan healthy baked goods for students initiated by Yale Hospitality, to significantly advancing the Digitization and availability of open Yale Courses, to introducing time and cost saving Total Quality Processes at the animal resource center, and much more.   

–Meredith Fahey