{"id":1641,"date":"2009-12-13T08:40:37","date_gmt":"2009-12-13T08:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/leading-amidst-the-disruptive-innovation-storm\/"},"modified":"2009-12-13T08:40:37","modified_gmt":"2009-12-13T08:40:37","slug":"leading-amidst-the-disruptive-innovation-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/nasa\/leading-amidst-the-disruptive-innovation-storm.php","title":{"rendered":"Leading Amidst the Disruptive Innovation Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

I read a report<\/a> this morning on BusinessWeek about Singularity University<\/a> that really got me thinking about our path forward amidst a technological revolution filled with disruptive innovations.\u00a0 How do you prepare for something you can’t see coming?\u00a0 Even if a few people can see it coming, how do we ensure that these voices get heard?\u00a0 How do we use this technological storm to our advantage, instead of to our demise?<\/p>\n

In order for NASA to prosper moving forward, it will have to be adaptable, efficient and possibly even prophetic.\u00a0 Now making this statement is very simple.\u00a0 Everybody knows philosophically that an organization needs to be efficient and adaptable, but implementation is a much more daunting task.\u00a0 This time instead of first asking “How do we make NASA adaptable, efficient and prophetic?”, we should ask<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“What is needed to make NASA adaptable, efficient and prophetic?”<\/p>\n

Below are a few things that I think NASA needs to start building.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0 Trust from Employees (civil servants and contractors)
\n2)\u00a0 Empowerment of Employees
\n3)\u00a0 Multi-disciplined Employees
\n4)\u00a0 Partnership w\/ External Organizations<\/p>\n

Trust from Employees<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trust is by far the most important thing that NASA can build between its employees.\u00a0 With trust invisible walls get eliminated, and everything works faster.\u00a0 An employee has to know that leadership has their best interest at heart or they will not offer cost saving suggestions, and will not speak up when they see issues that need consideration.\u00a0 If the decisions that NASA makes cause good employees to fear for their livelihoods, trust will be broken.\u00a0 When trust is broken, employees best move is always to take care of themselves and bureaucracies form as a result.\u00a0 Plans can’t get executed without people; therefore, people matter. Without trust between its employees NASA will not be able to succeed moving forward.<\/p>\n

Empowerment of Employees<\/strong><\/p>\n

NASA has some of the brightest and most dedicated individuals.\u00a0 With such talent, it begs the question why are all decisions still being made at the top?\u00a0 In a time of disruptive innovation, employees have to be empowered to try things that could make themselves and NASA better?<\/p>\n

How does NASA empower its employees?<\/p>\n

What if every employee got given $500 yearly to invest in cost-cutting initiatives?\u00a0\u00a0 What if the top 10 people that came up with the greatest cost savings, each got an award of $10k tax free?\u00a0 Now this would empower employees to take initiative, and it would also create an incentive for the employees to be accountable.<\/p>\n

What if on top of that, each employee was given $500 more to use with others in a group effort (3-10 people)?\u00a0 Assuming a similar award incentive as before, this would help larger groups become more efficient while building a collaborative environment.<\/p>\n

The final award has to be large enough to be beneficial to the individuals, but not too large that it causes fighting.<\/p>\n

Multi-Disciplined Employees<\/strong><\/p>\n

In times of such great disruptive change, not only does NASA have to be adaptable so do the employees.\u00a0 It won’t always be possible for NASA to employ everybody.\u00a0 What NASA can do is ensure that every person under its employment has a diverse set of skills and that each employee is given growth opportunities that make them marketable.\u00a0 Focusing on growing employees might seem inefficient at the onset, but at the end not only does the employee win so does NASA.\u00a0 As the customer, NASA has a responsibility to ensure that not only civil-servants have sufficient training, but that their contractors also have sufficient training.\u00a0 Passing the buck, only increases the long-term cost of operation.<\/p>\n

Partnership w\/ External Organizations <\/strong><\/p>\n

NASA can’t afford to do everything.\u00a0 NASA simply does not have the resources to do everything on its own; therefore, NASA will have to be a great partner.\u00a0 In order for NASA to be an effective partner, NASA has to be willing to give.\u00a0 NASA can’t take the “partnership” idea as a way of just getting more money.\u00a0 Nobody likes to partner with a moocher. \u00a0 NASA has to be flexible and willing to listen, or partnerships won’t work.
\nIn the Internet age, NASA will have to be able to “connect” with its partners via the internet easily and without hassle, or communication will be halted.
\n
\nConclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

By creating multi-disciplined, empowered and trusting employees NASA will be able to leverage its internal resources to be adaptable, efficient and even prophetic (wisdom of the crowds).\u00a0 By developing great, brotherly partnerships with external organizations, NASA will be able fulfill its mission with less of its own resources and account for disruptive change which NASA can’t see coming.<\/p>\n

NASA will float or sink based on the ability and effort of its employees (civil servants AND contractors), and its external partners.\u00a0 If NASA is to succeed it has to edify both its employees and its partners.<\/p>\n

I leave you with the following video on innovation management, which relates to adaptability.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read a report this morning on BusinessWeek about Singularity University that really got me thinking about our path forward amidst a technological revolution filled with disruptive innovations.\u00a0 How do you prepare for something you can’t see coming?\u00a0 Even if … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nasa"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}