From June 21 to July 8, I took part inthe Mosaic HEC Montréal Summer School, a training experience spread between Montreal and Barcelona, where we discussed and applied innovation management concepts.
Here are four things I realized during my experience of returning to school.
—Joyce McLean, Summit and Community Relations Manager at MAIN
together, we go further
The premise of the Mosaic Summer School is to team up with other participants to work on a joint project for three weeks. Ours: how to bring a world-class innovation hub to life in Montreal, i.e., the recently announced Ax-C project.
My team: students from HEC Montréal, people from different countries, people with backgrounds that seem unrelated to the subject we are working on.
Even though I was excited to see who I would be working with, on the first day of summer school, I admit that I was apprehensive about spending three weeks with this group of enthusiastic but mismatched people.
Finally, at the end of our stay, we succeeded in bringing a different perspective to the project, based on our background and knowledge.
and that allowed us to arrive at a reflection that had many more dimensions than I could have worked on alone, even with twice the time.
We talk a lot about the importance of agreeing on a common destination, but we forget that we sometimes have different motivations for getting there.
From the start of the summer school, it was agreed that we had to deliver 20 slides to present our work. One would tend to think that it is enough to agree on the goal to be achieved.
At one point during the course, I suggested going around the table to find out what motivated each person to work on the project we had been assigned.
The answers were as surprising as they were varied: one person wanted to adhere as closely as possible to academic methodologies in order to validate their master's degree studies; another was involved in the innovation hub and placed less importance on the final outcome than on the exchanges that enabled us to achieve that outcome; and another was mainly there to have a good time (which is perfectly fine too!).
In a team, we don't take enough time to share what we consider to be a successful experience, beyond KPIs.
We can both agree that we want to take a trip to the Magdalen Islands next summer. However, you may want to get there as efficiently as possible to make the most of your stay, while I may want to take my time to admire the scenery along the way and stop to see my aunt in Moncton.
Give generously when you can, and be kind to those who are having a bad day.
I experienced a minor personal crisis during the summer school, and it slowed me down for a few days. At that point, I thought that perhaps it wasn't worth it for me to join the team anymore.
When I returned, I was welcomed with great kindness. Things had gone smoothly. The project was progressing as planned.
I was able to move the project forward when others needed a break.
That's what a work team is all about. Some days, you're "on a roll," as my cousins say. Things are moving forward, productivity is at its peak. Support your coworkers who are having a harder time that day.
Eventually, you'll have a bad day; everyone does eventually. And on the day when you can't give as much as usual, the others will be there to keep the boat afloat.
adapt your plans, all the time
I experienced a slight frustration during the Summer School: that of realizing, every day, that I knew even less than the day before.
As we learned new concepts and saw new examples of innovation, we had to change the course of our work.
Innovation (or life) is not like a mathematical formula that can be applied and reapplied with the certainty of getting exactly the right answer.
It's important not to get too attached to an idea or a well-defined plan. Startups are told, " don't fall in love with your product ."
Well, let's not fall too much in love with our well-defined plans. There's almost nothing that will end up happening as we had planned.
— Joyce McLean, Community Relations Manager
