Comments on: Improvisational Innovation

By: ksol

ksol — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:00:55 +0000

I think Margaret Atwood pegged it on the “change is not always good.” Alive – dead … that’s a change.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:33:58 +0000

To the Annoyed Librarian,

Amen sister!

By: Joneser

Joneser — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 20:46:52 +0000

This sounds familiar. When you don’t know what the (*%& to do, reorganize!!

By: rpglibrarian

rpglibrarian — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:18:31 +0000

AL, I am very sorry to hear about your experiences with this person. I hope no one else has to go through with that!

As for these rules of improvisation. They sound a lot like the rules for brainstorming: throw out ideas, do not criticize ideas, keep building ideas.

Daring to dream, improvising ideas and brainstorming ideas for the future can be a lot of fun. That fun could promote creativity, raise moral and help people get back to work with renewed, uplifted spirits. That is what I got from Josh Hadro’s review of the symposium.

But, there comes a time when the brainstorming must stop and you use the ideas that you’ve come up with. This is the time to analyze ideas, to criticize, to ask questions and to determine if the ideas proposed work with the organization’s existing structure – thus avoiding some of the havoc – and the vision for the future. Of course, this assumes that there is already a structure and vision. Mission statements, vision statements, norms and values are helpful in this regard.

Even though the application of critical thinking ignores the rules mentioned above, there could still be a chance for this to be fun too. (I’d also invoke the rules “Give reasons for criticisms” and “Don’t take them personally”.)

When the criticizing is finished and a plan on what to do is agreed upon, hopefully the fun that was generated by the brainstorming / improvisation / criticizing will carry forward into the implementation of the plan, and other areas of the organization.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:01:34 +0000

Cry havoc! And let slip the improvisational innovators…?

By: the.effing.librarian

the.effing.librarian — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:10:58 +0000

thanks. inspired by your post, my new library philosphy is “we’re trying something new.” when anything happens, that’s my response: “your library smells funny.” We’re trying something new. “your book drop is on fire.” We’re trying something new.
so Change is automatic. any event looks like I planned it. and so I become a Change Agent without doing anything. awesome, huh?

By: Annoyed Librarian

Annoyed Librarian — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:59:14 +0000

Maybe we get so much irrational change because rational change is so difficult and we’ve got to do something. Despite the widespread conservatism in the profession, people get bored.

By: Spencer

Spencer — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:11:29 +0000

Randal,

Most people are NOT capable of this. If we don’t change, how to we justify increased budgets?

Seriously, change for change’s sake is just as bad as not changing for tradition’s sake. Asa profession, there should be changes made, but rational changes with reason and evidence to support them.

By: Randal Powell

Randal Powell — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:49:10 +0000

“Change” is not always good, and the “status quo” is not always good. What is needed is clear, logical, well-informed thinking – or if you prefer, critical thinking. But are most people capable of clear, logical, well-informed thinking?