Ep186: If kids can, So can you: Innovation and Entrepreneurialism in Practice, with Liz Jackson, Global Capabilities Lead, Sydney Catholic Schools.

How little do we need to learn about innovation to be innovative? How can we fail to deliver and yet be an entrepreneurial success? What can an evolving education system teach us about the way we learn, and the way we work in the modern world?

Hey, it’s Andrew, and this is Safety on Tap. 

Since you’re listening in, you must be a leader wanting to grow yourself and drastically improve health and safety along the way.  Welcome to you, you’re in the right place.  If this is your first time listening in, thanks for joining us, and well done for trying something different to improve! And of course, welcome back to all of you wonderful regular listeners.

I don’t think this interview needs much introduction, except to say one thing: if you are inclined to turn off because the words innovation or entrepreneurialism seem too fluffy or not relevant to you, stick with this: you’ll be surprised like I was. 

Here’s today’s guest, Liz Jackson:

Here’s my three takeaways from that chat with Liz Jackson:

Takeaway #1: Liz gave us three amazing words to articulate her work, and then applied these to the innovation and entrepreneurialism programs she’s been involved in.  Opportunity, Experience, Value creation.  How would these fit your work? How do you see, create and leverage opportunities in your work? In what ways do you create and tap into learning which comes from real-world experience, either yourself or the people who do the work in your organisation? And finally, how are you and your function creating value, and for whom? Try this out in your next team meeting or performance review, see what you discover. 

Takeaway #2: Liz gave us some awesome examples of reimagining things.  In her context, a highly individualistic perspective on students, personalised learning, letting students control learning themselves, teachers as enablers not deliverers of knowledge, assessments by portfolio not just tests, alternative pathways for entry to higher education, the list goes on.  If a system hundreds of years old is reimagining the way they work, how could you reimagine the way you and your organisation works? 

Takeaway #3: A natural segue from Takeaway #2, based on her experience Liz encouraged us not to take on the whole system but to innovate small, to try new ideas in limited ways in few places, and see what spreads.  

On that note, a few suggestions for the next episode to listen to. 

You will love what I call the ‘ninja’ approach, which you can hear in Episode 105. 

The 702010 learning model is the focus of Episode 36 with Charles Jennings,

Ep87 will give you some encouragement about when you need, and when you don’t need permission to try something different,

and Ep184 with Rory Gallagher from the Behavioural Insights Unit talks about making change using experiments. 

Thanks so much for listening.  Until next time, what’s the one thing you’ll do to take positive, effective, or rewarding action, to grow yourself, and drastically improve health and safety along the way?

Before you go, keep listening for a few words about the work which makes this podcast free for you.  Seeya!

You’ve probably heard me talk about learning teams, and might be wondering what’s that all about. Learning teams are an increasingly popular practical activity to help your organisation to learn better, in order to improve performance.

It’s not an investigation, it’s not a risk assessment, and it’s not a committee meeting – but a learning team approach can help to learn from the past, to anticipate the future, and to engage effectively with people all over your organisation or supply chain.

There’s not one way to do learning teams but some critical principles which will enable you to facilitate better learning whatever your situation.

I’ve created a few short videos which explain What is a learning team? If you’re interested visit safetyontap.com/what

Thanks so much for listening.  Until next time, what’s the one thing you’ll do to take positive, effective, or rewarding action, to grow yourself, and drastically improve health and safety along the way?

Before you go, keep listening for a few words about the work which makes this podcast free for you.  Seeya!