Discusses roadblocks to consider when undertaking a new project and how to prepare for barriers that might jeopardize the success, and engage the audience in discussion of challenges they have faced in trying to innovate and creative solutions to work around them.

1. Obstacles to Innovation: How to
Plan for a Future with Roadblocks
Breanne Crumpton
GSK Library Fellow
North Carolina Museum of Art
Dilbert by Scott Adam

2. Personal
Roadblocks
Things to consider:
• Finding time
• Looking to “perfect”
the idea upfront
• Reluctance to ask
others for help
• Fear of failure

4. Personal
Roadblocks
Things to consider:
• Finding time
• Looking to “perfect”
the idea upfront
• Reluctance to ask
others for help
• Fear of failure

6. Is Failure Bad?
Things to Consider:
• A learning
opportunity (gaps
and values)
• Covering up
mistakes can have
long term
consequences
Failure is NECESSARY
for innovation. Gifbin, Grabbed from: http://gifb.in/UqbV

7. Barriers to
Innovation

8. Scarcity of
Resources
Overworked Staff:
• Who all needs to be
involved in your
project?
• How will you
encourage them to
put aside time to
help with your
initiative?

9. Scarcity of
Resources
Things to Consider
• Layout a clearly
defined vision
• Personalize tasks to
the individual
• Help evaluate and
schedule workload
• Use meeting times
wisely

10. Scarcity of
Resources
Budget Shortage:
• Where will the
money for the
project come from?
• What are the
library’s current
spending priorities?

11. Scarcity of
Resources
Things to Consider:
• Look at building
partnerships with
internally or
externally
• Engage in
development
activities

12. Communication
• Who all needs to be
involved in the
communications?
• Are their potential
turfs or areas your
project might
encroach on?
• Will you need to
share resources
with other
departments?
• How is your team
communicating?

13. Communication
Things to Consider:
• Mode of
communication
• Understanding
terminology
barriers
• Empathize and be a
good listener
• Body language Iguanamouth, http://lizardshuffle.tumblr.com/

14. Lack of
Technological
Infrastructure
• What technology is
required to
implement your
idea?
• Will training be
needed for staff?
• Will patrons needs
to be trained?

15. Lack of
Technological
Infrastructure
Things to Consider:
• The digital divide
still exists
• Evaluation of
adaption by staff
and users
• Partnerships to
acquire technology
support

16. Resistance to
Change
Reasons for
Resistance:
• Fear of the
unknown
• Mistrust
• Loss of job
security/control
• Bad timing
• Individual
predisposition to
change

17. Resistance to
Change
Things to Consider:
• Understand the
nature of the
resistance
• Who all will the
change impact and
how?
• Have a clear vision
with a schedule on
when to affect what
changes

18. Patrons and
Library Users
• Who is the end user
of your innovation?
• How will the
innovation impact
your user groups?
• Will you innovation
meet a user need or
fill a gap in user
service?
• How will your users
react to the change?

19. Patrons and
Library Users
Things to Consider:
• Surveys or focus
groups
• User experience
testing
• Consider
community
partners

20. Institutional
Culture
• How does your
institution handle
change? Is it
encouraged? Or is
there an aversion to
risk?
• Are the practiced
values different
from the advocated
ones?

21. Institutional
Culture
Things to consider:
• What is
institutional
culture?
• People are likely to
change only if they
see the change as
easy, rewarding,
and normal.

22. Resources to Always Keep in Mind
When Planning Your Idea
• Library/Institution’s Strategic Plan
• Library’s Budget and Spending Priorities
• Organizational Chart
• Risk Management Chart

23. Risk
Management
Examples of Risk:
• Financial
• Technical
• People
• Access
• Migration of
formats

24. Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/

25. Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/
Symptoms of Breakdown:
• Lack of clarity of need or
problem
• Lack of ideas
• Low management or
employee support
Potential Solutions:
• Concept refinement
training
• Customer and market
research
• Technology research

26. Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/
Symptoms of Breakdown:
• Under-resourced projects
• “Flavor of the Month”
• Unclear “why” we are
considering concept
Potential Solutions:
• Customer and market
research
• Technology research
• Financial analysis
• Competitive analysis

27. Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/
Symptoms of Breakdown:
• High costs
• Long development cycles
• Solutions don’t satisfy
needs
• Poor team
morale/motivation
Potential Solutions:
• Project management
planning
• Prototyping
• Simulation and modeling
• Failure mode analysis

28. Iowa State University, Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), found at: http://www.ciras.iastate.edu/innovation/
Symptoms of Breakdown:
• High costs
• Quality problems
• Solutions don’t satisfy
needs
• Team confusion
Potential Solutions:
• Postmortem analysis
• Collect customer feedback

29. https://betaclassroom.wordpress.com/tag/learning-cycle/

30. Key Takeaways
• Think ahead and research potential barriers, risk,
or resistance
• Know your institution, your peers, and your users
• Keep open communication channels on what the
innovation is and why it is happening
• Partnering with others can lead to more
resources, buy-in, and strengthen the idea
DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL!

31. Usually attributed to Gartner Group,
Received from: http://navfund.com/blog/is-crowdfunding-a-boon-or-a-disaster

32. Breanne Crumpton
GSK Library Fellow
North Carolina Museum of Art
becrumpton@gmail.com
THANK YOU!