Have you ever heard of the idea to have people stand on airplanes instead of being seated? Does that sound crazy to you? Do you immediately think that is not possible? Well don’t jump to that conclusion yet.

Today Erwin De beuckelaer joins Deepa to discuss innovation, change and challenging assumptions. Every team and organization needs to set the right foundation for innovation to happen - this includes psychological safety, setting the right candor and being explicit about critiques on the idea instead of on the person. Erwin shares his best practices for engaging with innovation from his experience.

Erwin’s tips for Innovation and Change:

It can be hard to bring change to highly regulated areas, but also the most rewarding.
Signaling is a great tool when bringing up new ideas. Frame the conversation of innovation to your audience. You are signaling the type of responses you want to receive.
Every belief about if an idea will work or won’t work is an assumption. It is important to test assumptions. Testing an assumption will then offer a shared belief in your team.
There should be a story that is told with innovation and new changes within the business. You have to know the very clear “why” in the change and how the “why” changes at every level of the organization.
It’s easy to think of innovation in terms of products. Don’t forget that innovation can be applied to culture and team management too. Teams can get stuck doing the same thing, don’t be afraid to check in with your team and see what’s working or not working. Find something to test together as a team!
Give yourself permission to innovate - it’s easy to get caught in perceived barriers.

Signaling can be a powerful tool for you to create breakthroughs in your ecosystem. You and your crazy ideas are needed, don’t give up. If you need a place to start your innovation, pick up a paper and pen and answer this question, “What would I do if I gave myself full permission?”. Set a timer for 10 minutes and see what you come up with!

We hope you liked this episode! Please feel free to connect with Erwin and Deepa through LinkedIn to continue the conversation.

About Erwin

Erwin De beuckelaer is a guest professor at the University College of Ghent and the Director of Innovative Capabilities at The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. He is transforming innovative practice and culture for the Quality & Compliance in Clinical Trials team. He is an expert in design thinking, digital health, strategy definition and business process management.

Thanks for listening and stay cool!

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