Are you struggling with time management? Do you feel like you never have enough time to cross off all the things on your ‘to-do’ list, and start being innovative? Trust me, you’re not alone, and I have some tips for you to start managing your time better. Time management is internally driven. Particularly when it feels like others are sucking our time, the responsibility lies on us to manage our own time to make things easier and less stressful by allowing more time and mental space back into our day. That’s where priority management comes in. We may think that categorizing tasks into marketing, strategy, finances, etc. can help, but it doesn't necessarily move us forward — and it didn’t help me get things done. We often mistake checking things off a list with real productivity that moves things forward, but what we need to be doing is prioritizing tasks that really make an impact. When I realized that time management is really about priority management, my world changed. Ask yourself: What's the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary? When you ask yourself that question every day, you’ll be on your way to managing your time so much better. If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group Innovation is Everybody’s Business, by Tamara Ghandour Everyday Innovator's Tribe The One Thing, by Gary Keller  

Inside LaunchStreet

1910: Time Management Isn’t Task Management

A question I often get is, “How do I know when I should collaborate and when I shouldn’t?” In our current work-from-home situations, a lot of us may be suffering from collaboration fatigue from being on virtual meetings all the time, which makes us feel like we’re “collaborating” all day long without seeing any real benefit of these meetings. That’s why it is important for us to consider not just when, but how we should be collaborating.   The thing is, we tend to confuse meetings with actual collaboration. However, we need to be thinking about when collaboration is appropriate and how we want to do it. I share an experience I had from working in corporate, and how my team came up with the four reasons we would use to drive our collaboration — to brainstorm, to build, to debate, and to decide. I explain why these four reasons are the keys to knowing when and how we should collaborate in our teams to drive innovative solutions, to problem solve, and to create better outcomes for the team and the organization.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: “8 Strategies Highly Innovative Business Leaders Are Using Now to Bring Value to Their Organizations”

1909: When and How to Collaborate

How many of us have used the convenient excuse of “they” for our mistakes or failures? “They” didn’t get it, “they” rejected the plan, “they” didn’t give me the tools I needed to succeed. We’ve all done it, but it is so counterproductive to innovation and creates a toxic culture of blame, and this is bad for not just innovation but also company culture. In the last of a four-part interview series where amazing business leaders interview me about innovation, Kris Boesch, the CEO and Founder of Choose People, a company that supports organizations in solving challenging people problems, dons the interviewer’s hat. Together, we dig into why we get caught up in pushing blame to others, and how to overcome ‘they’ syndrome. Words and the language we use are incredibly powerful. Kris and I explore the power of the word “they” and how this can put the brakes on our innovation efforts. In order to innovate, we need accountability and ownership, but the word “they” keeps us in the trap of blame pushing. I share some examples of when this evolved into a toxic company culture, and how simply removing it from the vocabulary can lead to immense mindset shifts. The word “they” is also critical when it comes to communicating ideas and how we communicate our innovation can force us into an us-vs.-them situation, rather than a ‘we’ situation. The truth is, ideas can’t stand on their own without being properly communicated to others — and I share some of my tips for proactively dealing with people’s obstacles and challenges, just by changing your language.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Kris Boesch, Choose People David Marquet Turn The Ship Around!, by David Marquet Strategies to Get Legacy Thinkers Behind Innovation Inside Launch Street Podcast Episode 1906: “Debate Ideas, Not People”    

1908: Getting rid of THEY

We all know that everyone thinks differently, but did you know that male and female brains are actually wired differently from a neurological perspective? That’s why men and women think differently and it can have very significant impacts on how we relate to one another in the workplace. Kate Lanz joins us on this episode to dive into the science behind our gendered brains, and how we can tap into that to drive innovation. Kate Lanz is the founder and CEO of Mindbridge, a UK-based global leadership company specializing in the power of modern neuroscience and releasing latent brain potential. She is also a trained neuropsychologist who works as a leadership coach and organizational psychologist. Her new book, All the Brains in the Business: The Engendered Brain in the 21st Century Organisation, dives into brain gender difference and how it impacts the workplace. What are the differences between female and male brains from a science perspective and how does that show up at work? Kate explains how our brains vary in terms of neural connectivity, hormone levels, and stress responses, and this can really translate to different working styles in a team. Figuring out what kind of brains you have on your team, and how to leverage them can give leaders the edge on getting teams to work together better, in brain-friendly ways. Kate also shares more about managing our emotions to get into ‘thrive” mode, leading the brain in times of crisis, and risk-taking behavior in women vs men.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Kate Lanz on LinkedIn Mindbridge.co.uk All the Brains in the Business: The Engendered Brain in the 21st Century Organisation, by Kate Lanz and Paul Brown  

1907: Our Gendered Brains

Many of us fear debate and conflict within our teams but when it comes to being innovative, it is absolutely critical. The thing is, we don’t always have the right or best idea right out the gate, so questioning and debating help strengthen ideas. Yet, it needs to be constructive conflict to be effective. How can we encourage that in our teams?   In the third of a four-part interview series where amazing business leaders interview me about innovation, Kris Boesch, the CEO and Founder of Choose People, a company that supports organizations in solving challenging people problems, dons the interviewer’s hat. Together we dig into what we as leaders can do to promote constructive conflict on our teams.   Constructive conflict needs to be respectful, and we need to debate ideas, not people. I share some of my strategies to help promote this in our teams, including presenting ourselves in a way that allows that space for constructive conflict. It is also important that we have the element of psychological safety, through vulnerability and trust, on our teams. Debate and constructive conflict can be done in a respectful way by being kind, candid and constructive, and coming from a place of care, concern, and curiosity, and not a place of judgment or assumption. By leveraging the friction that naturally exists between our different Everyday Innovator styles, we can turn it into something positive and drive better innovation.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Kris Boesch, Choose People Everyday Innovator Syles, IQE World War Z Kettering Foundation Hello Bench Project  

1906: Debate ideas, not people

When we think of driving innovation, we often go straight to changing processes to push innovation, but in reality, what we need to be changing is people’s mindsets around how they view innovation. Chuck Swoboda is a strong believer that to get different behaviors, you have to start with different beliefs, and he joins me on this episode to explore how we can help people adopt an innovation mindset.   Chuck Swoboda is Innovator-in-Residence at Marquette University, President of Cape Point Advisors, and retired Chairman and CEO of Cree, Inc. As the co-inventor on more than 25 patents covering LEDs and lighting technology, with over 30 years of experience, Chuck is well-versed with being innovative and enabling innovation in others. His latest book The Innovator’s Spirit: Discover the Mindset to Pursue the Impossible dives into how we can tap into our innovative selves.   Innovation is much more about mindset than anything else. Chuck and I discuss what our roles are in being innovators in a time of crisis, and how we can change the mindset of being uncomfortable and uneasy with upheaval to that of seeing the opportunities. Chuck also shares more about the role of fear in limiting innovation, why it is easier to embrace risk in trying new ideas during crisis times, and how we can get our teams to embrace constructive conflict. How can we avoid getting bogged down in today’s problems, but instead look to the future and solve tomorrow’s problems and see the opportunities there? Chuck has a few key tips on this and how we can get over the hurdles that limit our innovative spirit.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Innovation is Everybody’s Business: How to Ignite, Scale, and Sustain Innovation for Competitive Edge, by Tamara Ghandour Everyday Innovators Tribe Chuck Swoboda The Innovator’s Spirit: Discover the Mindset to Pursue the Impossible, by Chuck Swoboda Innovators on Tap Podcast “For Industry Leaders, Social Distancing Is An Opportunity To Seize — Not A Problem To Solve,” by Chuck Swoboda for Forbes  

1905: Adopting an Innovation Mindset

When we think about innovation, we’re often thinking about coming up with the best solutions and creative ways to problem-solve. However, spending some time thinking about the questions we’re asking and the problem we’re trying to solve can help create better solutions. So why do we spend too much time on the solutions and not enough on the questions, and how can we start questioning our questions? In the second of a four-part interview series where amazing business leaders interview me about innovation, Kris Boesch, the CEO and Founder of Choose People, a company that supports organizations in solving challenging people problems, dons the interviewer’s hat. Together we dig into how we can change our perspectives and start asking deeper questions. Too often, we get stuck trying to solve superficial problems and addressing the symptoms of the issue instead of getting to the root of the problem. Getting better solutions starts with brainstorming around the questions we're asking. Try asking: 1. Why do I have this challenge? 2. What else does this challenge impact? 3. Why do I need to solve this challenge, to begin with?   Kris also shares some insights on dealing with toxic work cultures, the importance of being “kind, candid and constructive,” and the role of constructive conflict in innovation.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Everyday Innovators Tribe Kris Boesch, Choose People John Lee Dumas

1904: Deeper Questions

When it comes to change and getting people to change, as leaders we recognize that it can often feel really hard to implement, and pushing for change can lead to failed efforts. So what are we doing wrong that keeps up from making change work? Greg Shea and Cassie Solomon join me to dig into how we can lead successful change in our organizations and teams.   Gregory P. Shea is adjunct professor of management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Cassie Solomon is the President and Founder of The New Group Consulting, Inc where she coaches leaders and consults to organizations on the design and implementation of strategic change. Greg and Cassie are co-authors of Leading Successful Change: 8 Keys to Making Change Work, where they share their tested method for leading successful change, developed over a combined 50 years of helping organizations do just that.   Changing the environment is often touted as a way to drive innovation and collaboration. The thing is, making superficial changes to the environment (e.g. with a ping pong table) doesn't help change the system needed to allow for innovation and collaboration. Greg and Cassie explain some of the tenets of making change successful and what has made their approach so successful. They also share more about change fatigue, how it creates resistance and makes people discouraged in wanting to change, and why the holistic approach to leading change helps set a company or team up for adapting and innovating.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Innovation is Everybody’s Business: How to Ignite, Scale, and Sustain Innovation for Competitive Edge, by Tamara Ghandour Email Laura to Claim Your Bonus Gregory Shea Cassie Solomon, The New Group Organizational Consulting Leading Successful Change: 8 Keys to Making Change Work, by Gregory Shea and Cassie Solomon  

1903: Keys to Making Change Work

Have you ever had an idea and automatically shut it immediately down thinking, “No, that won’t work at all,” and then found that you couldn’t come up with any groundbreaking solutions? That’s because it’s next to impossible to innovate and analyze at the same time. So, why is it so difficult to innovate and analyze at the same time, to the point that you can’t do it at all, and it shuts down all innovation?   In this episode, where Kris Boesch, the CEO and Founder of Choose People dons the interviewer’s hat, we dig into the neuroscience and environmental factors that make it almost impossible to innovate and analyze at the same time, as well as how to overcome this problem.   We often shut down our own wild ideas, and as leaders, we shut others down as well. This stunts innovation, and prevents great ideas from emerging, so how do we disrupt that? Recognize what’s happening, and start thinking about innovation and analysis as two different steps, one before the other. We also explore what leaders can do to really support that innovation of thinking, how to keep innovation pathways open as leaders by avoiding the common pitfalls and mistakes, as well as how perfectionism and innovation are interrelated.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Everyday Innovators Tribe Kris Boesch, Choose People Burst of Innovation – Three Ways Virtual Meetings Can Be More Innovative Than Live  

1902: Innovate First, Analyze Later

We’re often asking our teams to come up with better solutions and innovative ideas by “thinking outside the box,” but what if we really need to be thinking about moving to a different box entirely? Steven Shapiro is an expert in pushing people to consider alternative perspectives, changing the questions, and challenging the assumptions.   Word-renowned innovation keynote speaker and author Stephen Shapiro has presented his provocative strategies on innovation to audiences in 50 countries for over 20 years. During his 15-year tenure with the consulting firm Accenture, he led a 20,000-person innovation practice. He is the author of six books, including his latest Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems, where he shares his systematic approach to deal with any problem by asking better questions.   So how do we ask better questions? Steven shares more about why it’s important to take what we think is the opportunity or problem and look at it through different perspectives, and why questions have such a powerful impact on innovation. We also discuss how to identify solutions masquerading as questions, addressing explicit vs. implicit questions, and how to avoid assumptions. Find out more about the challenges with brainstorming, and how to work within the constraints we have.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Innovation is Everybody’s Business: How to Ignite, Scale, and Sustain Innovation for Competitive Edge, by Tamara Ghandour (Pre-Order) Steven Shapiro Accenture Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems, by Steven Shapiro  

1901: Changing the Questions and Challenging the Assumptions

It's a common myth that systems and processes hinder innovation — but if done right, it actually removes the mundane and gives you the space to innovate. In addition, having the right systems and processes in place can help you get your business working for you, instead of the other way around. Josh Fonger joins me to show us how.   Josh Fonger is a consultant, coach, and speaker who is recognized as the leading authority in Business Performance Architecture, i.e. how to set up systems and structures in your business to work for you. After reading Sam Carpenter’s book Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, Josh approached Sam to form a partnership focused on helping businesses properly organize and systematize their operations so they can achieve exponential growth. Today, Josh is one of the most in-demand Small Business Consultants in North America and has helped small startup businesses to $500 million enterprises from over 50 countries get unstuck using systematic solutions.   We dive into what inspired Josh to connect with Sam and start helping others “work the system,” as well as why we often don’t realize our systems aren’t working for us until it’s too late. Josh shares some of the top warning signs that our systems need an overhaul, as well as his insights into why people allow themselves to become the bottleneck. We also discuss how people can get into the system mindset, effective triggers for change, and how to balance systems with innovation, as well as why it’s as much about building the right systems as it is having the right people carry out the systems to get to success.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Josh Fonger, Work The System Sam Carpenter Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, by Sam Carpenter Derek Sivers — The First Follower The Infinite Game, by Simon Sinek Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization, by John Wooden  

1900: Getting Your Systems to Work for You with Josh Fonger

How can we as leaders build a robust team that thinks through ideas and solutions from all different perspectives? To do that, we really need to tap diversity of thinking on the team at the cognitive level, and that’s where vulnerability and openness about failure can come in.   In the second installation of this two-part interview series, Maureen Berkner Boyt, founder of the Moxie Exchange, and creator of the Everyday Inclusion App, interviews me about innovation and how it can help us build high-performing teams. We dive into what leaders do right and wrong in building a high-performing team, and how to sustain these efforts.   Innovation is not a straight line to success — I share insights about why building an innovative team is about thinking about the J curve all the time and anticipating what the response is going to look like for different people. I also share my favorite tools for unlocking innovation in your team — asking questions to improve, create, transform, disrupt, worsen. We also dig into some ways that leaders accidentally shut down innovation, and why rewarding behavior instead of focusing on success and failure is the key to unlocking the innovation on your team.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Innovation is Everybody’s Business: How to Ignite, Scale, and Sustain Innovation for Competitive Edge, by Tamara Ghandour (Pre-Order) Bulk Orders — Call or Email Inside LaunchStreet Podcast Episode 1897: “Tapping the power of innovation to build a high-performing team” Maureen “Mo” Berkner Boyt Moxie Exchange Micro-Learning Courses Everyday Inclusion App Rock Your Moxie: Power Moves for Women Leading the Way, by Maureen Berkner Boyt Disrupt HR Talk: Hack Your Biased Brain IQE Assessment Anthony Lambatos, Footers Catering Quad/Graphics  

1899: Tapping the power of innovation to build a high-performing team (Part 2)

The modern workplace and 8-hour workdays seem to be dedicated to being busy and have forced us to give up our most valuable resources — time and energy. Yet, when more of our tasks demand creativity, critical thinking, and innovation, how can we reclaim our time and energy to improve our outputs?   Steve Glaveski is the CEO of Collective Campus, an innovation accelerator based in Melbourne and Singapore, that works with large organizations around the globe. As an entrepreneur, author, and podcast host, his mission is to unlock the latent potential of people so that they can create more impact for humanity and lead more fulfilling lives. His newly released book, Time Rich: Do Your Best Work, Live Your Best Life, aims to be a guide to achieving twice as much in half the time, and living your best life.   In this interview, we dig into what’s wrong with the way the modern workplace is set up, and how it impacts us in various ways — from a long feedback loop to poor employee morale, and feeling a lack of control. Steve also explains why being busy is a false measure of success, and why we need to focus on learning how to manage our energy, efficiency, and attention. He shares his advice about how to prioritize tasks, how to overcome the confusion between time worked and output created, and why reclaiming your time can create space for more innovation.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Innovation is Everybody’s Business: How to Ignite, Scale, and Sustain Innovation for Competitive Edge, by Tamara Ghandour (Pre-Order) Steve Glaveski Time Rich: Do Your Best Work, Live Your Best Life, by Steve Glaveski Collective Campus “The Case for the 6-Hour Workday,” by Steve Glaveski for Harvard Business Review (HBR) The One Thing, by Gary Keller Alexis Ohanian BlockSite InboxPause  

1898: Reclaim Your Time & Energy with Steve Glaveski

Our teams are made up of diverse individuals with unique styles of innovating, but we often fail to leverage their strengths — a critical step in building a high-performing team that is ready to tackle challenges and produce better results. But why is tapping into the power of innovation so important, and how can we do it?   In this two-part interview series, Maureen Berkner Boyt, founder of the Moxie Exchange, and author of Rock Your Moxie: Power Moves for Women Leading the Way, interviews me about innovation. We discuss my “Steve story” — how I realized that everyone has an innovator within them, and why it’s so important for people to realize not only that they innovate, but also how they do it in a way that’s unique to them.   We dive into the difference between ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’ and explore why, while genius is rare, innovation is extremely common. Realizing that you’re innovative encourages innovation, and when everyone on the team recognizes the power that everyone else has, they begin to leverage each other in new and powerful ways. We also discuss why respect, trust, and understanding are the foundation for driving innovation, and how vulnerability ties into that.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Innovation is Everybody’s Business: How to Ignite, Scale, and Sustain Innovation for Competitive Edge, by Tamara Ghandour (Pre-Order) Bulk Orders — Call or EmailMaureen “Mo” Berkner Boyt Moxie Exchange Micro Learning Courses Everyday Inclusion App Rock Your Moxie: Power Moves for Women Leading the Way, by Maureen Berkner Boyt Disrupt HR Talk: Hack Your Bias Brain IQE AssessmentChef Boyardee Inside LaunchStreet Podcast Episode: Everyday Innovator Spotlight — How to Drive Company-Wide Innovation

1897: Tapping the power of innovation to build a high-performing team

Everyday innovators are the ones driving the innovation we are seeing across a variety of industries, companies, and governments that are making the pivots and changes needed to address the current pandemic and adapt to the changing times. Alex Goryachev, Cisco’s Senior Director of Innovation Strategy and Programs and author of Fearless Innovation: Going Beyond the Buzzword to Continuously Drive Growth, Improve the Bottom Line, and Enact Change, is one of these innovators I’ve featured in my book.   There are two parts to this extra-value episode. In the first part, Alex shares a story about how he realized he was looking for innovation in the wrong place — outside the organization. He shares more about how he reacted when this was pointed out to him, and the impact on Cisco of making the change and shifting to focus on innovation from within, both on the bottom line and employee engagement.   In the second part of this episode, we dive into his book, Fearless Innovation, where he tackles themes such as why innovation waits for no-one, why having teams and silos can have a negative impact on innovation, and how being pragmatic can unlock innovation. Communicating the value of innovation in a way that gets people on board with taking action is critical to driving innovation and we get into a really open conversation about quantifying the impact of “inaction” when you don’t change.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Innovation is Everybody’s Business: How to Ignite, Scale, and Sustain Innovation for Competitive Edge, by Tamara Ghandour (Pre-Order) IQE Assessment Dr. Rex Jung Alex Goryachev Fearless Innovation: Going Beyond the Buzzword to Continuously Drive Growth, Improve the Bottom Line, and Enact Change, by Alex Goryachev Cisco  

1896: Fearless Innovation with Alex Goryachev

Inside LaunchStreet is the leading business innovation podcast. Tamara interviews top innovation leaders and everyday innovators out there shaking things up so that you can tap the power of your greatest personal advantage - your innovative mind. Join thousands of other innovators who have sharpened their edge by listening to this incredible innovation podcast.

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