Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a great winter break. I know that I’m a little disappointed that Covid is still challenging us. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end.
When I last wrote to you I said that I was going to try to describe the culture I would like to build. I like the NYU IT core beliefs and so I’m sharing the second one.
Create Space to Innovate: We challenge assumptions, and seek out fresh perspectives and new ways of thinking to fuel our productivity.
A lot of times we think of innovation in the large sense, for example the iPhone, TCP/IP, or a really cool app that helps someone do their job. At one time, universities were an important center for innovative technology, products, and protocols. When I think of innovation, I think more along the lines of creative problem solving.
Many times we see things that could be better. Innovative teams have the will to make things better by entertaining new ways, tools, skills, etc. It takes determination. Any change will result in an immediate drop in productivity. Some will get frustrated and abandon the change, leaving the team worse off than it was. Well-thought-out changes will, over time, result in real gains for the team. Getting through that initial dip takes hard work. You may have heard of the “J Curve” used to describe productivity through change. Pushing through the bottom of the J is the key.
This, of course, assumes that the change is well thought out. Great ideas are easy to come by. Moving a great idea to reality is the hard part. Let’s be a team that challenges assumptions, seeks fresh perspectives, and finds ways to bring great ideas to life.