Innovation Lessons from The Office

Innovation Lessons from The Office

A couple of years ago while I was watching The Office I recognized some innovation parallels in the story of Kevin's Parking Victory from Season Four. Now, please remember that The Office is a parody and while the innovation concepts are portrayed it is usually done in a sarcastic or backwards way. Watch the clip below and you'll see what I mean.

Kevin's Parking Victory - The Office

Innovation Concepts

1. Contextual understanding (0:00 - 1:00) - Jobs to Be Done architect Bob Moesta teaches that "Context creates meaning" and that "the struggling moment is the seed of innovation." Kevin is having a hard time adjusting to the new parking situation. 
   
   
2. Empathy (1:00 - 1:30) - The first step of design thinking is empathy. Customary of the Michael Scott character, he displays an understanding of the idea but not the execution. Actively develop empathy for your customer, just not the way Michael does it.
   
   
3. Collaboration (1:53 - 2:48) - Woodrow Wilson is credited with saying, "I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow." When innovating, involve all the interested stakeholders in the process, thus maximizing the likelihood of their buy-in when a solution is devised. Some phrases I've heard frequently are, "Nothing about us without us" and "Design with, not for."
   
   
4. Define (2:48 - 3:27) - Frankly, Kevin Malone does an apt job at defining exactly what the problem is and why it's painful. Clarity around the problem definition is crucial. "A problem well stated is half solved." 
   
   
5. Ideate (3:27 - 3:40) - Typically the goal of ideation is to generate as many ideas as possible via divergent thinking. But in some cases, as in this episode, the answer is so exceedingly self-evident that it doesn't require much in the way of ideation. 

What innovation lessons did you glean from this episode?