{"id":1217,"date":"2013-11-10T10:47:16","date_gmt":"2013-11-10T18:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/?p=1217"},"modified":"2013-11-10T10:47:16","modified_gmt":"2013-11-10T18:47:16","slug":"treasure-wild-ducks-the-flight-of-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/?p=1217","title":{"rendered":"Treasure Wild Ducks: The Flight of Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Innovation, in the true sense, is something that is applied. For CIOs <\/span>(CEOs)<\/strong>,<\/em> one best practice they can help drive within their organizations is what we refer to at IBM as \u201ctreasure your wild ducks.\u201d\u00a0 This means that we must embrace new ideas and nurture those who think differently.
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Dr. Kaiserworth<\/span>, bold mine<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have a number of Wild Ducks in my team and have come across many in my career in and outside of IBM. They don’t always stay in formation,\u00a0but that’s the fun of flying with them<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Theresa Alfonso, IBM Manager<\/p>\n

The IBM notion of <\/span>treasuring the wild duck<\/em> intrigues and surfaces a key inquiry question\u2014how is treasuring the wild duck and leading the innovation enterprise alike?\u00a0\u00a0 IBM has one purpose: \u201cBe essential\u201d and offers nine key practices.\u00a0 One of those is \u201cTreasure wild ducks.\u201d As soon as I saw it on Tom Vines, IBM Human Resources Vice-President\u2019s slide, I had to ask: What does that mean? Treasure wild ducks?\u00a0 His response: Those are the people who are \u201cway out there\u201d, the innovators, and we highly value them as they are central to IBM\u2019s purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In education, there are many teachers and administrators that are trying new ways of teaching, new ways of organizing and new ways of innovating. Despite an ever increasing knowledge of how to lead innovation, educators still struggle. There are strong organizational cultural and psychological barriers that stop leaders and others from moving from \u201cthinking\u201d about innovation toward \u201cdoing\u201d and \u201csustaining\u201d innovation.\u00a0 \u00a0Leading the pursuit of innovative ways can be lonely and isolating. Perhaps the wisdom of treasuring the wild duck<\/em> will help navigate the WHY?<\/p>\n

Former IBM<\/a> Chairman Thomas J. Watson, Jr. first told the story behind the IBM practice of treasuring wild ducks. \u00a0“In IBM we frequently refer to our need for ‘wild ducks.’ The moral is drawn from a story by the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, who told of a man who fed the wild ducks flying south in great flocks each fall. After a while some of the ducks no longer bothered to fly south; they wintered in Denmark on what he fed them. \u00a0Kierkegaard drew his point: you can make wild ducks tame, but you can never make tame ducks wild again. One might also add that the duck that is tamed will never fly anywhere anymore.\u201d – IBM illustrates this principle applied in their organization (see video).<\/p>\n