The other week, I decided to\u00a0take some time out and attend the Chartered Association of Business School\u2019s Executive Education symposium. Like most of us, I had lots\u00a0to do, including\u00a0arranging\u00a0early morning and early evening childcare around my daughter\u2019s nursery, but knew that I hadn\u2019t touched base with what the community was doing for some time, so it was high time I did. Would I get the train,\u00a0so\u00a0I could work? The location of the session meant a car might be easier, so I got in my hire car, drove the two hours to the venue, relishing the opportunity to just listen to the radio and largely, zone out.<\/p>\n
The first part of the event was a committee meeting, where we collectively discussed how we could raise the profile of our work in order to try and\u00a0limit the amount of battles we had to engage in, and win. In that meeting, I shared a model I had developed as a mechanism to explain the importance of our work. This generated some enthusiasm and a passing comment about how it would make the basis of a good article on the organisation\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
The next part of the day involved a series of presentations, all affirming why our work was important and how it benefits society and the economy in many ways. Ideas began to pop into my head about how we could refocus some of our work at Cardiff. As I listened, I sent emails to colleagues, sharing some ideas and trying to elicit their support.<\/p>\n
I left the event that day and began the journey back home. A strange mood had befallen me. What was it? I hadn\u2019t felt anything like it for sometime.\u00a0It was enthusiasm and ideas, optimism and hope. I got in that night, tried to sweep away the guilty \u2018you haven\u2019t seen your child today\u2019 feelings and sat down at my laptop and typed. No, it wasn\u2019t a Jerry Maguire mission statement, but I was so enthused I thought, \u201cI\u2019m going to take the initiative, write that article and send it off that evening\u201d.<\/p>\n
A week later and there it was, published on the website and included\u00a0in\u00a0the Chartered Association of Business School\u2019s newsletter. Retweets, recognition from peers and the Dean followed, but most importantly a lovely feeling that maybe that little bit of extra effort does pay off.<\/p>\n
Inspired by my \u2018away day\u2019 I went to a The Future of Services conference, organised by friend of Cardiff Business School and Director of OEE Consulting Mark Palmer. My journey (this time by train) was not so pleasant as I battled with emails and the turmoils of a Trump victory overseas. I admire Hillary Clinton and really hoped she could continue to pave a path for women all over the world to achieve.<\/p>\n
But life goes on (hopefully). Another fantastic event followed, particularly the presentation by Rory Sutherland, Vice President of Ogilvy &\u00a0Mather Group, amusingly titled: \u2018The science of knowing what your finance director is wrong about\u2019.<\/p>\n
One of the innovation workshops at the conference gave me another important insight. We were asked to build a house and told\u00a0there were packs of Lego on the table we could use. Inside the pack lay a sheet of instructions. Suddenly I was tense, yet I\u00a0still tried to calmly think about how best to set out the pieces and work with my partner to build the house. We were methodical and organised. I beamed with pride at our achievement.<\/p>\n
This feeling was, however, turned on its head when we were reminded that no one had specified we\u00a0follow the instructions, or even that we use the Lego. Some other clever creative fellows had realised the point of the exercise and produced\u00a0bigger, brighter houses. Our little offering, which obeyed the rules and sat anonymously in its uniformity, suddenly didn\u2019t seem as\u00a0wonderful an achievement. Worse still, in the second round, when we were asked to build an elephant, we still diligently clung to the rules and used the blocks, where again those (mildly irritating) creative souls used teacups and tablecloths to fashion their designs. Yet again, I was cross with myself.<\/p>\n
So as I reflected on these experiences, I pulled out a couple \u2018notes to self\u2019 to try to remember how to BE more innovative and not just recognise that \u2018innovation is important\u2019:<\/p>\n