(More) newcomer innovation

Actually, this heading intended for this post was "Why should the newcomers learn?", but standing on the shoulders of the recent post, it is now about newcomer innovation, but other newcomers than those in the recent post.
Because when an organization meets new people who come to it, there are two kinds of beginners - the obvious ones from yesterday, who are to learn how to act in the organization, and they less obvious yet not less interesting: those who are already part of the organization and who need inspiration to think differently - a field within which they can easily be as much beginners as the newcomers to they are facing.
The headline did not end up as it was originally thought. Of course, I do not imply that new people in an organization should not learn how the organization works, or learn how to work with it - but I'd love to use this post, on top of the recent one, to point out that the organization should take it as an obvious task to make sure to make use of all the useful new energy from these people before they unlearn whatever exciting arts they knew of before they sunk into the organization's conformance.
I explicitly write "a task". I could have written "a duty", I maybe should - but let me restrict myself to saying that unless you learn from the new ones before starting to teach them, you lose an important possible step in an innovation process.
(Translated from Innovation for (andre) begyndere, originally published December 26th, 2012)

Newcomer innovation

Image courtesy of pixabay / geralt

Everyone has experienced being a newcomer - to start something new in a field, where other people have more experience than the newcomer have. I remember when I got my first job, and soon after I was employed, I was invited to a meeting where the topics were important things that I did not have the least knowledge of.
I remember how I sat at that meeting - paralysed with fear of saying something stupid. I'm not sure that if I had said anything, I could have contributed with anything constructive. But I have since realized that people sitting in that situation should be encouraged to say something - because they are in a unique situation as the people who do not know what is not possible.
So I promised myself that in the future when I'm in such situations - either as as the newcomer who knows nothing, or as the one who is the experienced knowledgable guy - I will use the situation. Either by speaking up after having apologized for my ignorance, or by inviting the newcomer to speak her mind, no matter how stupid she may feel. Because in that situation there are no stupid comments or questions - there are only unexpected ideas, and it would be stupid not to benefit from them.
(Translated from Innovation for begyndere, originally published December 25th, 2012)