I thought I'd follow up my two recent posts (scroll down) on innovation and Campus Crusade for Christ with a diagram to further clarify my strong opinions about lacking in innovation.
Diagram Key:
- Present/Future: The orientation towards maintenance vs change. The light blue line represents the 50% mark
- National/Global Level: From my perspective it seems like they are oriented 80/20 or 70/30 towards the FUTURE.
- Regional Level: They seem to be oriented 80/20 or 70/30 towards the PRESENT.
- Field Level: I'm calling it a draw because the field represents such a broad range of people/contexts/etc. It also seems the field is much more swayed by an individual, while the levels "above" represent larger chunks of people.
Reflections based on this diagram:
- Those on the national/global level are often frustrated/surprised/curious/suspicious of those on the field who are frustrated with the lack of innovation because by and large they are oriented and lead out of the same future-oriented paradigm, but do not experience the weight of being under two organizational layers.
- Those on the regional level identify with both the national and field level, but often have so many responsibilities and roles related to the PRESENT that they simply cannot invest the time needed to identify and grow field innovations. It has LITTLE or NOTHING to do with their personal orientation or even desire to see things changed.
- Those on the field who are oriented towards the present have no reason rarely experience organizational frustration as it relates to change.
- Those on the field oriented towards the FUTURE have difficulty understanding the true organizational value towards innovation because they rarely if ever interact personally with global/national leaders AND are heavily exposed towards the regional realities which are PRESENT-oriented. ---this has definitely been my experience on staff.