Collective discomfort

They say necessity is the mother of invention. I like this way of thinking about innovation, as moments of frustration often act as catalysts for change.

A key component of this philosophy is viewing discomfort as a guidepost rather than an obstacle. When you’re at work, your irritation with a process, software or person is usually an indicator that something can be improved—whether that improvement lies inside or outside of yourself.

It’s important to share frustrations experientially with others. This means giving a realistic timeframe to your team when you need to make last-minute updates to program materials, or sharing with your boss the steps involved in the manual reporting you conducted to accommodate a technical glitch.

If we can feel problems as a collective, the need to assess the seriousness of the situation becomes more acute team-wide, and if a change is going to be implemented, you can be confident in gaining buy-in from others, because everyone is already part of the narrative.