Innovation: From Business to Education

Have you noticed how the word “innovation” has become one of the biggest buzz words right now?  Just google it, and see how many times it pops up.  It’s everywhere! From Forbes, to Business Week, “Social Innovation,” Innovation Magazines, even the Whitehouse has a page dedicated to innovation.

So what does "innovation" really mean?  I decided to find out exactly. 

According to Wickipedia, innovation means “the creation of a better or more efficient product, process, service, technology or idea that is accepted by people.”

Other definitions surrounding it include “bringing something new into an environment.”

I realized that I’ve mistakenly assumed innovation always had something to do with technology.  But let’s be real.  The invention of the screwdriver, the hard hat, and even the toothbrush changed the way we lived our lives and got things done. 

And today, what's really innovative might be how a business or nonprofit achieves it’s mission, or delivers its products and services in an exciting new way.  In thinking about this I reflected on alinea.  I realized that if you took apart our formula of Story + Direction + Relationships, which equals effective community engagement, all the pieces could be considered commodities that any number of people could say they do for clients.

But what makes alinea innovative and successful with clients however, has less to do with us, and more to do with our clients.   The two most important criteria for success has to do with clients' mindset (we can do this) and their behavior (willingness to learn how to connect with people) and less to do with actual resource strategies.  We promise them this:  If you do what we tell you to do, you will attract resources!

Innovation in Wisconsin Schools

You may have noticed me tweeting on the road as I’ve been visiting with almost 20 small public school districts around Wisconsin.  Speaking of innovation, I’ve been blown away by all the innovating thinking going on.  I wanted to share some examples.  If you live in Wisconsin, you might be surprised at all the great things going on right in your own backyard.  Check this out:

1.              Mt. Lebanon Lutheran School, right here in Milwaukee, loves working with the children that other teachers and schools think are too hard to teach.  Some of the parents come to Mt. Lebanon having been told by their last school not to expect much of their child.  I don’t know about you, but I think a teacher or principal should be arrested for saying that to a parent. 

So, what’s innovative about Mt. Lebanon?  If a child isn’t successful, Mt. Lebanon teachers find a way.  For example, one of their younger students has sensory integration issues.  The parents informed the school of a brushing strategy that helps at home.  Now, the teacher takes a couple minutes every two hours to brush the student, and it makes a world of difference.  This school doesn’t have enough resources to have all the expertise they need to meet some of these children’s needs.  Instead, they aggressively seek out knowledge, education and training on strategies that usually only special education teachers employ.  This is innovative

2.              Altoona School District in the Chippewa Valley in Wisconsin has an aging population.  As the school district seeks to become relevant to all community members, they have begun offering adult education programs to older adults, as well as cross-generational activities for youngsters and older adults.  Something else that they’re doing really blew me away.  Typically, school districts are very protective of their enrollment, because there is a time during the year when parents can try to enroll their children in “any school.”  Because government resources are tied to enrollment, there is tension between school districts and competition for families.  Altoona school district is in talks with two other school districts in the area to figure out how best to provide education in a way that meets student needs and the needs of their communities.  This is innovative, because I have never heard of separate school districts collaborating for what is truly best for kids.  They envision each school district possibly offering a unique program based on their strengths.

3.              Montello School District in Wisconsin is really on the cutting edge.  They have launched the “Montello Idea,” a long-term plan to become a truly community-based school.  They’re on the fast track having already launched several initiatives.  The first is reaching out to home-schoolers, not to talk them into coming back into the school, but to offer them resources to improve what they’re doing at home plus opportunities to fill gaps like group activities, extra curriculars, foreign language, etc.  That is truly innovative, because typically schools see home-schoolers as taking away resources from the school and have misperceptions and stereotypes of people who choose to home school their children.  The second is designing classroom environments that are actually conducive to learning and meet the needs of different types of learners.  I saw a classroom that looked more like a living room, with soft light, and a variety of seating and some high top and conference size tables.  The children sat more in a big circle where they could really engage with each other.  There wasn’t a traditional desk or row in the room.  The teacher has already noticed an improvement in attention and performance.

 Oh, this next one is really amazing!  Montello is actually allowing teachers who have expertise in certain areas like science and math to focus on teaching in their area of expertise.  This is so common sense, but today it is truly innovative to have teachers who are experts teach the topics that are critical.  The results are already there.  In addition to students gaining a deeper understanding of the subject, teachers are so happy and students are more excited.  When you’re being taught by a teacher who’s really excited about a topic, the impact is going to be greater.

4.              Oconto School District in Wisconsin is seeing the true talent of their young adults in high school.  A group of students actually prepared a business plan for a small business in town.  Community members were blown away by the professionalism of the plan.  Other students are involved in designing logos for local businesses. 

5.              Cedar Grove-Belgium School District already has so much support from local and surrounding communities.  People are just waiting to invest in their next big initiative.  They have a partnership with a local two-year college to create a skilled trades program that will be offered to adults as well as students.  They envision separate programs and spaces for trades related to wood, metal, robotics and more.  They’ve received significant donations already for the latest equipment. 

6.              Wisconsin Dells School District is in a very unique position.  The Dells, known for its huge tourism economy has very few actual residents compared to vacation homeowners and visitors.  Many of the huge resort and water park owners grew up in the area and went to the public schools.  They realize how important their businesses are to the local and international young people who get valuable work experience during the summer.  Students who graduate from Wisconsin Dells Public Schools are used to working with people from all over the world speaking different languages and from different cultures, have a strong work ethic and have an entrepreneurial spirit.  Right now, led in no small part by the business community, the Dells is for the first time building their amazing story and embarking on connecting with all of the tourists and non-resident property owners.

I haven’t even talked about all the ways these schools are using technology.  But I wanted to give you a taste of all the amazing innovative things going on in the State of Wisconsin.  I’d love to hear what’s happening in your community around innovatively delivering quality education.  Please share your story!