Innovation is Square

Square watermelons are innovative.

These guys did not invent anything new. In fact they used the same seeds, growing climate and grew the exact same final product of every other watermelon in the world. Except they were square!

“For years consumers struggled to fit the large round fruit in their refrigerators.

And then there was the problem of trying to cut the fruit when it kept rolling around. but 20 years ago a forward-thinking farmer on Japan’s south-western island of Shikoku solved the problem. The farmer, from Zentsuji in Kagawa prefecture, came up with the idea of making a cube-shaped watermelon which could easily be packed and stored.”

The Word Innovation is tossed around a lot in the church world.

We have lists , conferences (which I am speaking at this year by the way) and lots and lots of posts on blogs like this one…

But what is innovation?

Is it inventing new models, new processes or new movements? Or, is it simply using the same models, processes and movements in new ways.

This story about square watermelons caused me to think about a couple of principles that drive us to make the mistake of invention rather than innovation.

1. If it works it must need to stay the same.

When we start to think that “how it is” is “the only way that it can be” simply because it works we have trapped ourselves into always having to invent. If this farmer had taken the thought process o, “the watermelon is great, but it’s round and I need square” and stopped there he would have only had one option. Invent a new square fruit. Instead he thought, “the watermelon is great, but wouldn’t it be even better if it were Square?” and he innovated.

2. Many times it will seem needless.

One of the greatest fears of innovation is the fear of rejection. When a product or program is working “why should we change it”, “it will never work”, “its a waste of time”, are some of the comments that I imagine this guy heard. But the end result is a product that is able to be delivered in a better way to the people that need it that way – now that is innovation.

3. Watermelons are round.

Some people just like things to stay the way they are. No matter how good the innovation may be, it is change and this will always be a stumbling block for some. The key is to decide to innovate for those that the innovation effects and know that round water melons will still be there too.

Multi-site is a great example of all of these.
1. Single-site Church works (at least to some extent) so why in the world do we need multi-site?
2. There is already a model (church planting) in place to solve the issues of single site (put the water-melon in a square box some scream!) It’s needless to do multi-site.
3. Church is one pastor speaking to live audience in one room! Leave me alone! Some will never like the change, and for them there are round watermelons (single-site churches or live speakers)

But the innovation has effected thousands of people who just never tried a round watermelon – square watermelons were just intriguing enough to get them to “taste and see”, and now they have tasted and say, “its good”

Lets make some square watermelons today!Z

bbc link via dumb little man

Filed under: 3 things I learned from..., Church Experience, Leadership Principles, Random, Seacoast Church/Multi-site