A Brief Introduction to the Community College Innovation Accelerator
ACCELERATING INNOVATION TO TRANSFORM COMMUNITY COLLEGES
A Brief Introduction to the Community College Innovation Accelerator
BY MINDY FELDBAUM AND MARCY DRUMMOND
Managing and maturing innovation can lead to significant and lasting transformation in community colleges , resulting in agile institutions that implement multiple types of innovation in an intentional , coordinated fashion continuously over time . Higher education institutions fall within a broad spectrum of innovation maturity ranging from nonexistent to transformative ( see graphic ), with a majority falling somewhere between non-existent and emerging . Few mature their innovation beyond the emerging point , which we refer to as the “ innovation valley of death ,” largely because they lack systematized innovation management and execution .
We believe innovation can be matured and even accelerated . Colleges can close the gap between innovation aspiration and execution and reach their greatest potential by :
• Pushing on key levers ;
• Capitalizing on institutional priorities ;
• Developing scalable tools and resources ; and
• Re-thinking competency and capacity building .
Connecting change efforts to innovation acceleration can be supported by making the most of strategic insights from innovative industries such as health care , finance , and information technology , and from transformational higher education institutions and leaders . ultimately achieve improved , equitable student outcomes . We believe these changes can shift the institution at least one stage beyond emerging on the innovation maturity spectrum within three years .
Catalytic Levers for Accelerating Innovation
The CCIA triggers three key catalytic levers with the greatest impact for widescale , enduring change in community colleges :
• Lever I — Demonstrate . The Demonstrate lever moves institutions and leaders from being tactical to transformational , accelerating their change efforts through the “ innovation valley of death .” The strategies and components in this lever build the next generation of institutions and leaders with capacities to manage and execute innovation effectively . Lever I includes activities such as appointing a Chief Innovation Architect and developing and executing an Innovation Blueprint .
• Lever II — Amplify . At the heart of the Amplify lever are strategic communications and building networks at scale . Amplify strategies include capturing and assessing the dynamics of managing and maturing innovation , and networking with like-minded community colleges to share blueprints , execution plans , and overall learnings .
• Lever III — Advocate . The Advocate lever creates enabling conditions for real and meaningful policy changes that foster and accelerate higher education innovation . To ensure innovation practices are sustained and scaled , the Advocate strategy is focused on educating the next generation of higher education policy entrepreneurs to explore higher education innovations , reform efforts , policies , barriers , and high-impact innovation opportunities .
The League , in partnership with The Collaboratory , is promoting and pushing these levers in the community college field .
To that end , the League for Innovation in the Community College and The Collaboratory have come together to develop and implement a multi-year Community College Innovation Accelerator ( CCIA ). The CCIA builds and accelerates the capacity of community college administrators , faculty , and staff to successfully manage innovation and effectively execute change to support reform efforts , create value at scale , and
Mindy Feldbaum is CEO and Marcy Drummond is Senior Fellow , The Collaboratory , LLC .
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