NGO Soul + Strategy 050. Innovation in social change organizations: shepherds or adopters? Emma Proud
Summary
Welcome to our 50th podcast episode!
In this episode, we continue to zero in on what it takes to adopt and shepherd innovation through social change organizations. I interview Emma Proud, head of Learning and Adapting at Brink, an agency that coaches and consults on behavioral innovation approaches.
Emma’s Bio:
- Head of Learning and Adapting at Brink
- Former Director of Organizational Agility at MercyCorps
- Director for Center for Adaptive Management at MercyCorps
- Emma played other roles at MercyCorps, as well as at Save the Children and in private-sector consulting as well
We discuss:
- Leadership mindsets Emma observes in social change organizations that act as an obstacle when it comes to creating innovation-friendly climates:
- overconfidence
- low-risk appetite
- getting distracted by the 'halo effect' of the new or the 'shiny'
- difficulty in killing your 'darling innovation projects' ( sunk costs phenomena also plays a role in this); in other words, difficulty with stopping
- when considering the risks attached to innovation, not thinking through the risk of doing nothing as well
- It is helpful to move clients to an innovation portfolio approach (groups of innovation), accompanied by the development of criteria before you intervene in innovations;
- The importance of aligning innovations with the organization's strategic priorities
- Innovation 'shepherds' are different from those that need to be concerned with the adoption of innovation – the former are more organizational change managers
Quotes
“Innovation is about better, not necessarily about new” (Ann Mei Chang, author of Lean Impact)”
Resources:
Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSRI) article by Emma Proud and others: 'The Adoption of Innovation
Youtube video of this podcast
Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces.
Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization’s needs, challenges, and opportunities.
You can find Tosca’s content by following her on her social media channels: