A lot of people ask me about the UNDP Accelerator Labs. What is it all about? Is it all it promises to be? This post is for them.
Also, if you are an innovation evangelist / intrapreneur / organization ecologist, then this post is for you.
Innovation jobs are very attractive - they are interdisciplinary and impactful. I love innovation work and I adore the extent and scope of exposure that it brings. Everyday is a new day and I have agency and flexibility to create new things. I design projects, build system level logic, map donor and government demands and test new methodologies. As the Head of Experimentation, my work is grounded in creating a protocol for experimentation which can help UNDP learn better. But what does it operationally mean - what do I spend my hours on?
Building bridges, demand and pipeline
I spend a major chunk of my time on generating demand for innovation work. Working in established organizations like UNDP means working with established systems. The possibilities for innovation are immense but also very very difficult to realize - like moving an immovable object.
So, for starters, I meet with projects to understand their needs. I introduce new tools and learnings to help them reach their objectives. This usually results in demonstration of a technique / methodology or connections with others who have gone down that path.
If that is indeed useful, we find a means aka entry point which I can support them to take forward. In the least, I curate meetings where learning and collaboration can thrive. At its best, I have a project through which we can test a new way of doing development work.
I need to consistently build pipeline because projects can fall through due to several factors. They aren’t specifically incentivized in the short-term and have several other urgent tasks superseding innovation. They realized that it looked great on paper but its much more challenging to do or the work is progressing in avenues which are beyond the scope of the project. There are many many possible reasons. So I try my best to assess the project’s risk appetite and level of interest so that I have a good sense of how much handholding they require and can manage my own time and expectations better.
Making innovation feel real / make sense / land
Converting entry points into experiments is a long arduous journey. Handholding people through this takes another chunk of my time. As I said, people dropping out of this process is common and in some cases recommended. Innovation work isn’t always for everyone. There is much to navigate - priorities, personalities, and procedures and policy. This maneuvering is exhausting but also exciting. Finding the right balance of de-risking the project and increasing the team’s risk capacity can be very satisfying.
Usually, we start with something of a soft landing where failure can be absorbed. In life, school is the easiest place to fail in, so I frame a lot of my innovation expertise as co-learning. I am not only the project’s innovation advisor but also their learning officer, their coach and finally their cheerleader. We are in it together.
Through the process, we remember to prioritize agility over planning and precision. Innovation is not done by a bunch of optimistic souls sitting and planning in a room. It is done in the moment. Often, it leads us into new frontiers. E.g. your role is to advise governments to integrate climate risk in their planning. Now you have an opportunity to resource a public goods platform which can help them realize this. Would this still be in scope? Development work with its multiple layers and complexity doesn’t have set boundaries like our log frames. From time to time, we consider opening this false abstraction of a boundary to let in new ideas.
This involves a reframing of how we see ourselves and the work we are doing. Sometimes new language can bring you home and other times feel alienating or a bit like innovating-washing. I invite teams to stay with that feeling - especially if it is uncomfortable and some of the proposed elements feel fluffy, pointless and plain nonsensical. This way, we build our joint appetite for uncertainty, start building our innovation muscle and walk the thin line between order and chaos.
Finding leverage points and building champions
Wherever possible, I look for synergies, overlaps, hunger and discontent. Where do national and global priorities meet? Where do resources exist? Where is a government partner hungry for change? Which donor is unhappy with status quo? Through this, I am filtering for stickiness and staying power.
I identify potential champions. Some are motivated by the new pretty shiny thing and marvel at the jargon. Some want to see evidence and substance and roll their eyes at you. Both of these can be innovation champions.
I matchmake, curate and create the conditions of possibility and change. Facilitation and coaching are very useful tools to align people, priorities and possibilities. Nurturing and strengthening connections are all about tending to the soil. Once the soil is fertile, it is just a matter of time for the seed I planted to bloom.
None of this is without its pain and scars. You are often up against procurement, management, partners and even projects. I remember my running motto here - not all that will better my running is about running. So I trust their instincts and wisdom and help where I can. Importantly, I remind myself to not lose my humanity. Numbers, policies, deadlines are as real as they are not.
Staying enthused
For most, I have a fairly comfortable relationship with uncertainty but on some days, the burden is too much to bear. So I ensure mixing up my portfolio of experiments with relatively predictable components as much as the unpredictable ones. This allows me reprieve, breathing space when things go in disarray.
I also leave a bit of my time for exploration. Reading about what is happening in the world, following new trends and research and connecting with peers fuels me and keeps me motivated.
My father says that there is nothing like enthusiasm to bring to the table and I agree. My earliest business card from my travel startup read CEO - Chief Enthusiasm Officer. The startup is long gone but the title remains.
All in all, I love the possibility of learning, being surprised and being proven wrong and this job delivers and how.
What is working for you in your innovation job? I would love to know.
Illustrations by absurd.design