On Feeding & Caring for an Innovator: Chapter One

Making a Difference

When my dad was in his 70s, he got a Border Collie for a pet.  There are some dogs who would make a great pet for a 70 year old, but a Border Collie isn't the first one that comes to mind.  They require a lot of energy from their owners.  A Border Collie wants a job.  He, or she, is highly motivated, and if the owner isn't careful, the dog will invent his own job to do.  It's not always constructive. Things tend to get 'herded' that should never be 'herded'.

Innovators can behave the same way.  I have a friend - we'll call him Bob - who worked in a computer systems office in the library of a major university.  Bob wasn't a techie - but it was a job.  He possessed a bachelor's degree and an MBA, but he couldn't find a job where he could make what he felt was a significant difference.  This job at least paid the bills, and he was moderately happy.  He was dedicated, always on time, and everyone liked him.  Bob was an innovator, and because he had done time and motion studies in a past job, he was able to find better ways to do this job, even though nobody noticed.

Bob's department head sent out an email asking if anyone wanted to go take a Microsoft course.  Bob watched for replies to the offer, but none came.  A week went by and the department head sent out another email.  Still no replies, so Bob sent an email response saying he would take the course.  A few days went by without a response from the department head.

When Bob next saw her in the hallway, he asked if she had seen his reply to her email.

"Yes," she said, "but I can't spend the money on you."  (Insert raised eyebrow emoticon here)  To say this reply could have been worded better is an understatement.  Bob's heart and motivation were pierced to the core.

The final straw came when Bob invented a way, and the equipment, to digitize microfilm and microfiche quickly and easily.  We've all had to access micro records at one time or another.  You find the location of the roll of microfilm or the sheet of microfiche that contains the photographed information you want, and then you go load it into the reader.  Then you scroll back and forth, up and down, until you find what you're looking for.

Bob approached a couple of the computer specialists in his department and ran the idea by them.  They said it wouldn't work.  It would be a waste of time.  So Bob went to a friend who taught electrical engineering and asked him.  Before long, the university's technology transfer office was involved and the university attorneys had filed a provisional patent for the new technology.

The way these things worked at the university, whenever an employee invented something and the university felt it could commercialize the idea, a letter would be sent to the dean and to the department head over that employee.  The letter would announce the filing of the provisional patent and recognize the employee's achievement.

When Bob's department head received her letter, she came to him and asked how this had all happened, and how Bob of all people had come up with the notion of digitizing micro records.  Bob explained it to her.  She asked why he hadn't included the specialists in the department.  Bob explained that they had rejected the idea.

The department head strongly suggested that Bob work with them, and that's where the invention died.

Bob wanted two things from his job.  He wanted to be appreciated, and he wanted to make a difference.  He was making a difference, but it wasn't a difference anyone appreciated.  The things Bob was doing meant change for the good of the library.  Change, even change for good, sometimes isn't appreciated.

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary often states with sarcasm that "there's got to be a better way".  We all have a little bit of the innovator in us.  When an innovator is allowed to tweak methods and procedures, good things can happen.  Wasted time and effort can be eliminated.  New industries and sources of income can be realized.

A good supervisor recognizes the strengths of the people with whom they work.  The book of Deuteronomy says "You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing".  Don't stifle the innovator.  Listen and watch.  Is the innovator coming to you with suggestions for better ways to do the job?  He or she may require a little more energy as far as direction goes, but an innovator aimed in the right direction can bring about great things!