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June 9, 2005
We are all innovation apprentices
Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan
Jim McGee over at McGee's Musings says apprenticeship is the best model when it comes to learning how to do knowledge work. This dovetails with some things I've been thinking about as well in regards to innovation and creativity (though not in nearly as well-developed a manner as Jim has been).
The problem with apprenticeship, says Jim, is that in terms of knowledge work, there really aren't many masters and the process is very slow. It's also self-directed and far from comfortable. It's as far as you can possibly get from the standard "impart expert knowledge, then test" model of learning.
I think this is also true of learning how to "do" innovation or of learning how to "do" creativity. You can teach someone creative skills, but you can't teach them explicitly how to think more creatively. Or to be more innovative.
Yet some companies seem to believe that there's a tangible set of knowledge and skills called "innovation" that can be captured and set free within an organization, quickly transforming everyone within it.
The reality is much more complicated than that. But is there a way to speed up the process without "looking for answers to copy," as Jim says? It almost seems like he is talking about being able to adopt the Zen beginner's mind. Except this would be more like "novice's mind." I wonder if it's even possible in today's corporate world for people to do this. And for those of us who are consultants -- how can we market ourselves as experts and yet still keep our minds open enough to stay innovation apprentices, so we can continue to learn?
Comments (4)
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Renee Hopkins Callahan started IdeaFlow and serves as chief blog-wrangler. She is 
1. Greg Burton on June 9, 2005 2:09 PM writes...
Novice mind is exactly the way I see it, Renee. I posted here last month about the relationship to beginner's mind, and some of the research that supports the idea.
As far as keeping our mindes open, I'm currently reading Wind, Crook, and Gunther's "The Power of Impossible Thinking". It has some excellent ideas about this, particularly Chapters 6 and 7.
Greg
Permalink to Comment2. jules on June 11, 2005 4:36 AM writes...
The caveat is that there are people and companies out there that earn a living by selling the idea that creative thinking and acting can be learned. What they mostly do is teaching some creativity tools and sell the idea that creative thinking is making good use of the tools. But the creative proces is not using creative tools. In creative thinking some think mechanisms seem to keep coming back.
Permalink to CommentThe idea of apprenticeship is not bad but why mark it as the best way? You can teach a dog tricks but it that does not make him a tricky dog.
3. Klas K. on June 14, 2005 8:23 AM writes...
I ran across a few statements by Paul Bennett - IDEO, London, worth keeping in mind when discussing creativity and innovation:
"
Companies don’t innovate – people do!
Companies aren’t diverse – people are!
Companies aren’t creative – people are!
"
I believe that creativity and innovation is more a question individuals mindsets.
For a company the most important thing is probably to give the right level of freedom to its employees, and creating an innovation friendly culture - mistakes are allowed, you get rewarded for innovation etc.
Being a consultant myself, I have seen to many tools, methodologies and checklists claiming to change behaviour and create a desired outcome.
http://www.knowledgebusinessreview.net
Permalink to Comment4. Renee Hopkins Callahan on June 14, 2005 3:45 PM writes...
Great comments! I've had comments in email, besides the one you posted, Jules, about teaching people to think creatively. I'll have to post again to clarify my thoughts. But, I *do* think it's possible to teach people creativity skills. I also agree with Jules that teaching people creativity skills does not make them necessarily more creative. I think you need creative skills *and* something like and apprentice mind. And no, I'm not marking this as the best way. I'm simply noting it and exploring it as one way.
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