Session Information:

Demystify Innovation: Don’t Let Your Deathline Kill Innovation

Flummoxed by Innovation? Join this Fireside Chat to learn why innovation mystifies so many. Dr. Karen Tilstra, Innovation Architect & Consultant, shares her original theory on how to DEMYSTIFY INNOVATION. Innovative thinking and creative problem solving is hijacked by personal ‘Deathlines’ that kill innovation.

Karen shares how to become the destroyer of your personal Deathline and transform you into a stellar problem solver and creative thinker. Participants will learn four simple yet effective ways to dismantle Deathlines.

Karen has created innovation labs and trained innovation teams in healthcare, business, education and government. Karen and her team have run over 700 innovation projects both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Tilstra believes teaching innovation and creative problem solving should always be fun, simple and practical.

Key takeaways of this session include:

• Defining Deathlines and how they destroy innovation
• Overcoming personal Deathlines
• Enacting the 4 ACE Probes that result in stellar innovative outcomes
• Fostering a culture of innovation

Session Transcript:

Hello and thank you for joining us on this fireside chat my name is Andy Tilstra and I have the pleasure to interview and introduce Dr. Karen Tilstra the CEO and founder of creativity effect an innovation education arm that helps you innovate in a simple fun and effective way.

My name is Andy Tilstra and I'm the CIO of creativity effects we're very happy to be here and i am extremely happy to be interviewing Dr. Karen Tilstra about her new book labeled demystifying innovation how to face your Deathlines now there's a lot of questions a lot of material to get over but first hello Karen how are you today hello I'm great I'm really excited to be here and have this opportunity to share.

What I've seen helped has helped a lot of people, thank you yeah and I'm really excited to learn more about this and first lastly before we start getting the material even though this is a pre-recorded session me and Karen will be in the chat to be able to interact and answer any questions that you have so even though this is a pre-recorded this will be as interactive and engaging as we can make it right well let's get into it.

So Dr. Tilstra you recently wrote this book labeled demystifying innovation how to face your Deathlines first why did you write this book well um it kind of came about from just noticing after creating innovation labs and helping a lot of teams through innovation projects that it seemed like that people would get would be excited about innovation be excited to be involved and they'd get to a point and they would stop and as I pushed a little farther something.

They were afraid they were afraid that they were going too far afraid they were going to make their bosses upset afraid they were going to say something that didn't set well with other people afraid they wouldn't know what to do next and i started noticing um or actually i started drawing back from my um experience growing up in a logging world my father was a logger and how they loggers really addressed their fears and I started noticing.

We really don't have a way in the corporate world or with a lot of businesses to really address our fears we oftentimes just stop talking or that's not going to work or let's not do that or we'll just stick to tradition and so i started noticing that people would get to a point of the thing they were most afraid of such as making a mistake failing being embarrassed in front of people and when they got close to that their behavior became worse.

So I had this thought that it's sort of like a death line that we all have death lines every single one of us every single one of us has something that we are afraid of or we don't want to happen and we'll do almost anything to not let that happen and so the closer we get to that the worse our behavior comes and i noticed that in innovation teams that when we got closer to say for example one team that would they would have to go speak to an executive uh no that's not gonna work we're gonna go a different direction and then I started saying you know we need to really address our Deathlines and it just kind of came to me as I had seen so many innovation projects falter or delay and I just drew on the board.

This line that said you know this is a deaf line it's like what we're really afraid of the closer we get to that line the worse our behavior gets and we will do anything to not cross that line so it halts innovation it um towards creative thinking it stops collaboration so knowing about our personal death lines is very helpful and knowing that we can manage them that's some that's inspiring to hear because I think the word deathlines or the phrase deathlines is very serious sounding sounds like something you don't want to ever interact with but from what you're saying it could be something very common something in every day right and that's the whole point it could be.

So simple but yet it makes people act in in ways that blocks moving forward or creative thinking it could be a very simple thing that's the mystery of it well Karen that's very interesting um you've mentioned in a previous comment that you grew up on a logging farm with your family and that's actually where you got this idea for a deathline maybe in retrospect or maybe as a child can we go a little deeper into this logging reality where a deathline would be something that you draw out of.

So how did that well i think it wasn't really until my adult years and looking back it made sense but loggers have very clear um ways to handle big fears like a tree falling um so what i thought about and it was actually came about as an educational psychologist and then getting into the study of innovation i um started to to think back on that and that loggers work very well in a high dangerous high danger everything about it is dangerous but they do it they they have dangerous in which way i mean obviously falling there was falling trees and being able having to communicate in very loud environments big logging trucks rolling in and out chainsaws chains can break and fly through the air.

There's so many things that can go wrong but growing up these aren't just small trees right these are this is out in California and sierra Nevada's big trees they weren't what i say the beloved wimpy trees of Florida where my dad gets three logs on a truck was amazing and i was behind a logging truck coming up from Miami and that logging truck must have had 40 trees on it so I'd say okay i took a picture and sent it to my dad this is these are the trees in Florida anyway but what i thought about is in a very dangerous environment.

They had figured out what lines not to cross and how to manage it by different signals by different calls i go more into my book in the book about it but so i thought we could do the same thing we could identify the fears like making a boss mad for example and then have ways to manage it instead of just taking the lowest common denominator every time and I noticed this with a lot of frontline staff we worked with too is it to to never get close to the death line don't want to make the boss mad don't want to make my employees mad don't want to do anything to cause to cause a ripple i mean it's really not a way for a human to live because we when you think about the human brain.

We have more neurons and synapses than all of the stars and planets and all of the the whole solar system the whole universe and then we so oftentimes settle for varies below average problem solving and oftentimes creative thinking what's that and I know I'm probably over dramatizing it but i think the key is is to really be able to work at our highest level potential is to learn how to identify a death deathline and how to manage it so at first i was just focused on oh teaching about the death line then i started to notice there were four three or four things that really mattered and so um i started thinking a lot about that and i said.

So we can identify our deathline but what are we going to do about it but then i started putting some words to it so then i came up with the words space as in mental space grace extending understanding and forgiveness in innovation and when challenges happen or problems happen because innovation's never just an easy road pace what pace is needed for good problem solving or innovation and then place what's a good place what we don't always have we shouldn't always be in the same place what place do we need so again it's space grace pace and place and then i notice that they they rhymed it just kind of i just kind of came i put that way and then i said oh so they all end in a c e so i said ace and then as i looked at that i said what commonality exists between them and i said so these really are ways to always create engagement.

So ace always create engagement and so as i started to work with these four words i noticed teaching them to innovation teams it could be applied to any innovation model any challenge they're facing if it's design thinking create a problem-solving process six sigma whatever the creative problem solving model or way that they're trying to um come up with better solutions you could apply these four aces space grace pace and place and it it created a opening for people to think about now are we in the right head space for this um obviously something.

A problem had arisen most innovation comes out of some kind of difficulty are we blaming are we focused on the anger blaming these guys made a mistake they should be fired is that consuming our energy can we learn more about the problem so we have grace because i do believe innovation when it comes to innovation forgiveness is core to innovation because forgiveness allows us to move and innovation is all about movement and then pace we oftentimes are hurry hurry hurry rush rush rush what kind of pace is needed do we need to hurry or is this one that we can take more time and by just asking the question what's the proper pace to really solve this problem.

Really makes a difference with teams I couldn't believe it I just couldn't believe over and over just asking that question i said well you know this is one problem or one challenge that we're gonna need to spend more time with and then that gave them the courage to actually talk with bosses or directors and almost always it was yes we want the right answer let's let's create more time then the place factor is i started noticing our general tendency in the work world corporate America and work settings was to solve problems right where we were or go to the conference room but if we were to ask ourselves what's the right place to solve this problem.

That also really illuminated teams it was like well maybe not not in this conference room why don't we go take a walk or maybe let's go talk to some people or let's go to the innovation lab or whatever the case is just asking the question and then i started noticing if when we started working with innovation teams when we started asking people to think about their mental space the grace they had coming into this project what kind of pace what kind of place really made a difference and then i noticed that when they asked those questions the deaf line their fears tended to subside because now they were actually able to address some of the things.

That were never brought to the front well then as we went on i noticed that when we would ask the questions i hadn't really thought so much about the questions i just said more of the words the ace words the four aces and then i thought well the aces really as we started moving forward weren't that helpful without the questions and so now i say uh identify your death line manage it with the four aces and the the questions or I've been calling them probes because they really are probes questions I love questions we need questions questions really drive us forward but when it comes to addressing a deathline and really setting us up for good innovation.

We want probes we want to probe ourselves forward with the aces so i so now we've been calling it the four ace probes we might change the name we're still working with it but i have found it to be helpful for people and that's really what it's all about is how can we help people be more creative thinkers and better problem solvers we all need that wherever we are.

That's fascinating now this death line and these these ace probe questions and all these things are meant to create collaborative introspective teams that are able to problem solve at any place correct right any situation yeah have you seen common barriers or blocks to stop a team from approaching these because these seem fairly intuitive right that is the mystery they are intuitive so I'm not telling people anything they don't know is that well.

We've yeah yeah we get that right but from my uh over a decade working in innovation and working with hundreds of innovation teams and helping lots and lots of different companies it's us innovation is ultimately about humans every problem is solvable and it goes right back to a human problems are about humans ultimately and we are the ones that trip up innovation we block innovation without even realizing it and that's actually I think what was driving me forward is i saw people tripping up on their fears which i started calling death lines because it not to be morbid but i just saw it in my head a line and then as they crossed it's like I'm gonna die.

I'm gonna be embarrassed if I say that or I don't want to say something stupid in front of my boss you cannot believe how many people worry about that and i understand it um but I want to say push past it but um we are the ones that halt innovation and creative process it's us we're the ones it's almost like who said that um fear um we have nothing to fear except fear itself no we found what it is we found we fear and the fear is us what does that say I you're you're yeah does anyone put on this film crew know that you know what's going on in the chat everybody.

We have found the enemy and the enemies us I think that is so good when it comes to innovation right because we are the enemy to innovation in the creative process because here's the cool thing every one of us no matter where you are who you are where you sit what you what language you speak you are creative and you are you can become a good problem solver we just lack skill well this conversation you're saying it's reminding me of how you know we've had a lot of conversations about people and how how they can interact within stimuli right so it sounds we've talked about people externalizing their fears or objections right.

I can't do that because i have a lot of work i don't want to do this because my boss will get mad at me that sounds like it's external factors but what you're saying right now is that the blocks innovation are internal everything is the internal even what we say with otto sharma in theory you the internal condition of the leader dictates the outcome of innovation and i think that can be encapsulated by your death line theory because the death line is the ultimatum of the internal condition right well and also here's the thing.

That I've been amazed and kind of inspired by I've yet to meet anybody that comes into the innovation lab any of the innovation labs I've helped build any of the teams I've helped develop and to develop their innovation skill nobody that I've met comes in and wants to thwart innovation not be a creative thinker to be a wet blanket innovation and often times what they're proposing is to they honestly from their perspective.

It's they feel it's helping and that's I think the mystery because innovation is really the melding of art and science together and we get the science part we have the processes we know the the um the rules but the art part is like the mystery of it it's like we're a little afraid to go there or whatever we do somebody doesn't make sense and that's what I think the safeguard is if we do have these four aces space grace pace and place it gives us an opportunity to open up to pause and reflect and think and oftentimes it it creates a way for us to be iterative because with innovation.

You never just go from a to z it's always a a discovery a co-discovery we get co-inspired what to do and then we create then we prototype and we iterate it and I think that's what is the mystery to a lot of people is we don't have we don't have time to do that we're so busy in fact i remember one day so clearly a head nurse in one of the innovation labs.

We were working with she said you know what we no longer have any time to think i thought oh okay that is a true statement and it's a sobering statement we all want to have time to think but we get so busy and the pressure's on to reach goals and be successful we just oftentimes don't have time to think that's what these four aces help us do just pause create a little more opening so we can think and we never have to do it in one jump iterative uh we we try something did it work did it not work get the feedback and it gives us opportunities to do that and then it makes sense and it it works with us and it's just not what we're always come.

We're just not comfortable with it because it's we're process driven and we're goal-oriented and we don't want to make mistakes and we put ourselves into really insane asylums powerful statement um i mean invisible i say the silence right yeah the uh the internally constructed yes insane asylums um i would say watch one floor of the cuckoo's nest and you can start to see yeah nurse ratchet on oh sponsored by these uh sponsors so we've talked a lot about the death line and the the philosophy maybe the theory around it and you've alluded to the the four ace questions or the four ace probes um i want to get a little bit more deeper into the practical application of those four ace questions so how have you seen teams or organizations able to foster those four aids questions if say worst case scenario everything is resistant to creating a a culture of innovation how do you see teams accepting practicing and expanding on those well that's all these questions no that's a good question um this is what I've learned from experience.

There because I was saying it's iterative when teams come together to to the innovation lab and bring a challenge or we put a team together a cross-functional team a diverse team to solve a problem or it could even be explore an opportunity but when you start launching people into an innovation process they're eager and excited they might be nervous and afraid but there's still an eagerness and excitement to it and when you share with them some things some realities about the innovation process about creative thinking they become oh that's interesting.

Yeah that makes sense and to say and ask the questions let's just take a moment in fact um with some of the we're working with a group down in lake no no um let's just ask ourselves it's and we oftentimes give journals to teams that oh as they're working through a innovation project think about these for a minute what is your current mental space about this challenge and what do you mean by mental space do you have the right mindset are you willing to open your mind are you willing to uh re suspend judgment reject the voice of judgment fear and cynicism do you think someone can honestly look at their own mindset and be able to answer that about it well that is a very good question sometimes they can sometimes they can't but what I've learned by just asking the question raises awareness well Karen.

So you just talked to us about space about the mental space of going into innovation can we go what is the grace in the four ace questions can we get a little bit more the practical application of that how could i foster that at my organization no I love I love grace because innovation is about moving forward and mistakes and learning iteratively as we go forward and forgiveness grace is all allows that to happen if we don't have forgiveness when it comes to innovation innovation can't happen and so the grace factor is what really keeps us moving forward.

It keeps us not taking ourselves too seriously we take the work seriously but ourselves not so seriously and it keeps us moving forward with anticipation and energy a positive energy i don't mean that to sound sappy but it's innovation is about learning from mistakes and you have to have grace when it comes to that awesome very succinct very clear um i think we live in a world where blame is almost right validating and i think grace is a response to that well we need more grace in every sector in every aspect of society and next would be pace so how could you find the pacing for proper innovation pace is i think probably the easiest one to ask just asking what is the proper pace we need for this just asking that question just kind of gets people thinking yeah what is the right pace we need for this because if we don't ask it we just fly through it.

So sometimes flying through is good other times we need to slow down and figure out what's going on and finally but probably not least the place place and again place is pretty clear when we're trying to solve a problem or explore an opportunity or come up with a re um reimagine a way to do something get into a place that works our tendency is to stay where we are like we're sitting here now it takes it takes some energy to buy this fire which is heating up this chair but it takes energy to stand up and so for example uh this is a little example i guess works um when we're brainstorming and people are sitting in chairs they're much more hesitant to get up but if you have them high stools and they're leaning more on stools.

They get up with just it's just a lean forward and i think that's an example of place what is the right place is the best for the problem you're trying to solve or what you're trying to reimagine or opportunity you're trying to explore and if we don't ask that question we tend to stay in the same place and just changing your environment can really get uh the the mind open it's like i like to say going into an innovation space is like going on vacation because your mind's like oh wow this looks different what's going on here that's what happens the chemicals that get sparked in your mind the serotonin oxytocin when you experience something new and those are positive chemicals and we have no problem activating negative chemicals fear um isolation sadness deathline and we want to offset that so the faces actually evoke positive chemicals in the mind.

It's like oh possibility what what should my metal space be where is grace what kind of pace what kind of place you may say instead of having an ace up the sleeve I've got four of them um yeah that's dude how to ace your innovation how to yeah i just aced this test all uh all the while um well we're nearing the end of time and as always this can go on for oh we could talk forever yes but if i want to think on on the perspective of a listener who maybe this is brand new.

So if this is all completely new information to me and i have no idea what you're talking about or not no idea but it seems overwhelming what is one thing that you want that employee that middle manager that CEO to hear to take back to their community their culture their organization that really enhances the aces and helps them innovate and collaborate what's that one thing that you would say i would say um if they could just take the four aces space grace pace and place and just ask their group it could be any group you're that it could just be even a department meeting a conference meeting a monthly conference meeting group of executives have just ask the questions do i have the right headspace am i open-minded have i extended grace to the challenge where and grace really means trying to understand.

what's going on what's really going on here that's that's what evokes grace what pace do we need are we in the right place and i i always think place physical place but maybe it means are we in the right place um in the problem too just asking those questions can shift people's thinking and it opens up a way for us to dive deeper and be it lowers defenses and it puts us into a forward motion which is what we want.

It's exciting Dr. Karen Tilstra thank you so much for oh it was talking with us today um next is roaring fire yes i chat you may have noticed this die down a little bit because it was a bit much and thank goodness but thank you so much for joining us if you're on chat or at BTOES me and Karen will be in the chat and we'll be able to interact with you we hope that you can take something from this bringing back your innovation your collaboration your community your organization to reach those better and more sustainable effective solutions.

So we're from creativity effect please reach out to us if you have any questions um my name is Andy this is Dr. Karen Tilstra and I hope this has been helpful in some way because we really enjoy innovating and helping teams innovate and so if we can help you innovate better.

we are happy so see you in the chat thanks guys see you later...