It’s a common refrain we’re so busy. We have so much on our plates. It’s hard, or impossible to try new things when we could barely keep our heads above water with our existing work.Mr. Shailesh Rajpal founder and CEO of Rajpal group implored ‘Try, Experiment. But learn to discern.’ And the need to change: communication is evolving at a rapid pace, and its pace that we are not setting. For higher ed to keep up the rest of the web and our audience’s expectations for online user experience- cannot be complacent.

In the era where money is tight and news rooms have shrunk, why crave out rooms for experiments that may not turn into anything?...because the traditional business model is in such disarray that it makes sense to invest in ideas that could turn into something bigger. I think in many ways it’s perfectly legitimate for an organization to track innovation. “How do we translate an entrepreneurial attitude into practice?” … Here are some ideas:

·         Try out new ideas within an existing framework.

Define and communicate the boundaries of the experiment ahead of time. Measure the results, assess and decide how to proceed.

 

·         Get your content allies invested and involved.

Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum, you have different people to try the same new experiment in different contexts, you learn from each other’s mistakes, you develop and share best practices and you can also primarily lay the foundation of consensus that you might need should a new effort prove promising.

 

·         Get people who aren’t your content allies invested and involved.

Learn from the experienced editors to adapt and learn their craft to new media, try framing it this way: it’s not about what they need to catch up or learn, it’s about how their experience and knowledge can inform our exploration of these emerging technologies.

 

·         Build innovation touch points into your organizational structure.

Add a standing agenda item to staff meetings to discuss and evaluate new ideas.

 

·         Devote 20% of your time.

Work on something that is both company related and of a personal interest. It’s easy to see the win-win here, but how can we do this? Well, maybe it’s not 20% and just 10%, or an hour or two a week. Whatever it is, it’s important to sanctify time. Set a shadow meeting on your calendar.

He (Mr. Shailesh Rajpal) says, “So as long as you are getting everything else done, you can work on a secret stuff.”