Notes on Design Thinking & Innovation
Written by Annie Weinberg, Innovation Springboard Fellow
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For many people, when they hear the word innovation they often think of creative ideas and bursts of energy and excitement. They think of the life-altering and show-stopping ideas that have made an impact on the world. And although part of the innovative process does include brainstorming and requires energy and enthusiasm, there’s a lot more that goes into it.
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The above illustrates the Theory of Change for Hillel at UVA’s 2020-2021 programming and engagement year. This model is used to map out the necessary steps in the innovation process and hold ourselves accountable to the goals we’ve set.
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In fact, innovation can be a much longer, deliberate, even scientific process. It takes time. The novel idea is just one part of the process.
Most of the time, innovation has to start before the idea. Before you can imagine ideas that will change the name of the game, you need to notice if and what needs changing. You have to do a needs assessment.
At the Brody Jewish Center, we recognized a need in our community. While our student leaders have always been impressive, determined, and successful, we felt that there was an opportunity to make the leadership experience better and to spend our time and resources in a more effective way. By doing this, we would be improving both the individual experience for student leaders, and the collective experience of our community. There was our need.
After you’ve determined your need, you can think of it like your North Star. It helps guide each decision that comes after. You’ve figured out the why, and now it’s time to navigate the how.
We’ve come to the research and brainstorming part of the process. Staff looked at past models of student leadership structures, the engagement internship model, fellowship models, and even some other schools’ methods of providing leadership development to students. Seeing what’s out there and noticing what works well and what doesn’t is a responsible way to develop your own innovation. At the BJC, we saw the growing success of our engagement internship, and that model felt like a good starting point for our new leadership program. We figured out the how. We would shift the model over to an internship format, where each intern was responsible for a certain kind of programming or engagement. They would meet as a cohort and 1:1 with staff to share ideas and update. There would also be an elected Jewish Leadership Advisory Board that would oversee student programming.
But the first go-around isn’t always perfect, and innovators often have to prototype to find the best model. Our first prototype rolled out in the 2019-2020 year, and while we did see positive changes, the model had challenges we hadn’t thought about before. It was clear to us and our student leaders that it wasn’t perfect.
So we spent some time getting feedback- an essential step in the innovation process. We sent out surveys and had honest conversations with our student leaders and community members. We thought critically about where things didn’t seem to be working and how we could adjust.
And on top of all of that, in late spring a new need emerged: programming and engaging during the pandemic.
A new need required us to think about how our student leadership could be best supported to serve their peers under unprecedented circumstances. What would leadership look like? How would programming even happen? What kind of programming seemed the most needed? How would we keep our student leaders motivated and feeling connected to the community from a distance?
That’s where we are now. We heard and understood the challenges student interns faced last year. And they have been doing their own needs assessments too, listening to the concerns of students for the uncertain year ahead. Together, we’ve been working hard to find creative ways of providing students with growth, learning, and belonging safely. From Jewish education podcasts to subscription box-style Shabbats, we’ve adjusted our prototype and we’re ready for our second trial. We know that this year may uncover more challenges for our leaders, but we’re ready to embrace the ongoing cycle of innovation. Because that’s all innovation really is. Trying something, smoothing out the wrinkles, and trying again.
Most of the time, innovation has to start before the idea. Before you can imagine ideas that will change the name of the game, you need to notice if and what needs changing. You have to do a needs assessment.
At the Brody Jewish Center, we recognized a need in our community. While our student leaders have always been impressive, determined, and successful, we felt that there was an opportunity to make the leadership experience better and to spend our time and resources in a more effective way. By doing this, we would be improving both the individual experience for student leaders, and the collective experience of our community. There was our need.
After you’ve determined your need, you can think of it like your North Star. It helps guide each decision that comes after. You’ve figured out the why, and now it’s time to navigate the how.
We’ve come to the research and brainstorming part of the process. Staff looked at past models of student leadership structures, the engagement internship model, fellowship models, and even some other schools’ methods of providing leadership development to students. Seeing what’s out there and noticing what works well and what doesn’t is a responsible way to develop your own innovation. At the BJC, we saw the growing success of our engagement internship, and that model felt like a good starting point for our new leadership program. We figured out the how. We would shift the model over to an internship format, where each intern was responsible for a certain kind of programming or engagement. They would meet as a cohort and 1:1 with staff to share ideas and update. There would also be an elected Jewish Leadership Advisory Board that would oversee student programming.
But the first go-around isn’t always perfect, and innovators often have to prototype to find the best model. Our first prototype rolled out in the 2019-2020 year, and while we did see positive changes, the model had challenges we hadn’t thought about before. It was clear to us and our student leaders that it wasn’t perfect.
So we spent some time getting feedback- an essential step in the innovation process. We sent out surveys and had honest conversations with our student leaders and community members. We thought critically about where things didn’t seem to be working and how we could adjust.
And on top of all of that, in late spring a new need emerged: programming and engaging during the pandemic.
A new need required us to think about how our student leadership could be best supported to serve their peers under unprecedented circumstances. What would leadership look like? How would programming even happen? What kind of programming seemed the most needed? How would we keep our student leaders motivated and feeling connected to the community from a distance?
That’s where we are now. We heard and understood the challenges student interns faced last year. And they have been doing their own needs assessments too, listening to the concerns of students for the uncertain year ahead. Together, we’ve been working hard to find creative ways of providing students with growth, learning, and belonging safely. From Jewish education podcasts to subscription box-style Shabbats, we’ve adjusted our prototype and we’re ready for our second trial. We know that this year may uncover more challenges for our leaders, but we’re ready to embrace the ongoing cycle of innovation. Because that’s all innovation really is. Trying something, smoothing out the wrinkles, and trying again.