Are You Connecting the Dots

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it“ – Ferris Bueller

Business is complex. Information comes at us from every angle possible. As change leaders, we need to be able to pull together seemingly unrelated information from a variety of sources and generate innovative solutions.

For some people this is an innate talent and skill. One I never realized I had until I learned about the Innovator’s DNA. Along with Questioning, Networking, Experimenting and Observing, Associating plays a key role in the five discovery skills and behaviours practiced by innovative people (Dyer, Gregersen, Christensen, Innovator’s DNA).

For me, I’m quick, maybe too quick sometimes to collect information from different meetings and jump to how we can bring it all together. I love being able to understand organizational problems, cut through the complexity and suggest collaborative win/win solutions. It’s super fun and it can be little disruptive.

Bringing seemingly unrelated information together may throw some people off, so it’s important to use it as an opportunity to start the conversation, engage others and see where the new insights take you – together, as a team. And…. when you start “connecting dots”, you’ll be surprised by how many better, more innovative ideas start to surface.

If you’re as passionate about leading change as I am, you never want to miss the opportunity to solve problems for your customers, employees or organizations. So, how do we do this well?

Pay Attention – Always be listening carefully, regardless of the circumstance. Train your mind to consciously aggregate and assimilate information as you get exposed to new insights, problems or projects.

Organize Your Thoughts – Every meeting, presentation or informal interaction has something to offer. As ideas start to percolate, be sure to take notes or draw a mind map to visualize the connections. This will help formulate your thinking and give you a resource to iterate over time.

Ask Questions – Aim to fully understand the information you’re receiving so you can easily articulate how the data, insights or knowledge are somehow associated. Ask curious questions about how the current situation could possibly be related or crossover with other conversations happening in the organization.

Engage Others – Consider bringing together a variety of groups and experts to the conversation (internal and/or external). This will help you uncover how others see the problem, brainstorm solutions, and glean insights from new and divergent perspectives (Manville, Forbes).

Think Big Picture – We can all get siloed in our thinking. We need to stop. Lift your head, look around and consider what else is happening in the organization. The big wins come from understanding problems from a variety of angles and not only focusing on one piece of the puzzle.

“Collecting the dots. Then connecting them. And then sharing the connections with those around you. This is how a creative human works. Collecting, connecting, sharing”. – Amanda Palmer

References

Dyer, J., Gregersen, H., & Christensen, C. M. (2019). Innovator’s DNA, Updated, with a New Preface: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators (Revised ed.). Harvard Business Review Press.

Manville, B. (2015, October 10). Network Leaders Connect The Dots To Innovate. Forbes. Retrieved July 23, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookmanville/2015/10/10/network-leaders-connect-the-dots-to-innovate/?sh=35d424bb653c