Improvement and Innovation (Expert / leading)

70% on-the-job learning

• Challenge the status quo and don't accept the way things have always been done.
• Identify existing boundaries and find ways to overcome or work around them.
• Provide opportunities with colleagues to do new things and support them to overcome the fear of failure.
• Borrow from different approaches that encourage iterative and continuous improvement.
• Use large-scale methods such as crowd sourcing and text mining to gain insights.
• Use tools such as vignettes and personas to understand how different people think about a situation.
• Use challenges and awards to encourage people to think differently.
• Explore the Australian Government’s Agile Policy Playbook and consider whether you can use Agile policy methods in your work.
• Forge alliances among both internal and external partners that can support change. Think about working with unusual partners who can assist in identifying different approaches.
• Reflect on what lessons you have learned and use that to question your assumptions and practices.
• Be open to ‘unlearning’ what you have previously learned, if ways of thinking are no longer relevant.
• Share new ideas, innovations, and lessons with your colleagues.
• Mentor and coach less experienced colleagues in thinking outside the box.

20% learning from others

• Facilitate creative workshops to explore new ideas and approaches.
• Ask people to peer review your approaches and identify alternative options based on their practice.
• Analyse the approaches of people and organisations from different sectors.
• Build international networks in your field, so you can exchange ideas.

10% formal learning

• Attend courses that build your understanding of how service design can encourage innovations.