Vancouver Innovation Camp

I always hate having to start the first post in months with an apology, so I won’t.

I finished a long contract about two months ago and have written nothing since. I wrote almost nothing while I was contracting too.

Here’s the issue: I have a tendency to be consumed by my work. I go to work, I give pretty much all I’ve got and then I go home and I continue to think about work. I fret over everything – even (and maybe especially) the things I have absolutely no control over. I talk about the project and its issues ad nauseam, I spend time puzzling over possible solutions,  I often sleep poorly because I keep waking myself either thinking of work or dreaming about it.

In short, over the course of my last contract, I became my job and drove my husband up the wall.

Enter the multi-talented Nicole Sheldrake and the Vancouver Innovation Camp.

Innovation Camp, to quote the website, is the place where you will learn to “challenge assumptions, connect ideas, embrace failure and see problems as opportunities for creative solutions in order to take your entrepreneurial venture to the next step. Our workshops are hands-on learning opportunities which engage learners through real life situations and challenges – no lectures.”

No lectures? Doing something creative instead of just talking about doing something creative? Count me in.

I needed a creative kick in the pants anyway.

Innovation Camp delivers exactly what it promises; I learned some really valuable lessons:

1. I am an anal retentive planner who is not always very comfortable with half-baked, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants plans. Yesterday, for the final activity, I had no choice but to go along with this approach (and I had great teammates who basically said “You go freak out over there and we’ll come get you when we’re off and flying. Everything will be fine.”) And you know, it was fine. I joined in, still feeling a little iffy about half-formed plans and then just improvised on the fly with everyone else. Everything worked out great and it was a lot more fun than following a pre-made plan to the letter.
2. Promoting ideas and building on them – especially the ideas that aren’t yours – is a great way to generate even better ideas with a team. Being told “No.” or being the one to say it to every idea ever stifles future ideas, makes people angry and unmotivated and will completely kill a project. Worse, the project won’t die, but it will be weak and boring.
3. Allowing team members to use their strengths and strengthen their weak points is the best way to build a great team. I’m a lousy negotiator – I’m too abrupt, and I have no qualms about walking away from what I feel is a poor deal and that burns bridges. After watching some of my teammates negotiate successfully, I learned a few things and tried again. I was only negotiating a trade of peanut M&Ms for some cheddar Sunchips, but you have to start somewhere right? Besides, those Sunchips were delicious.
4. Gut instincts count for a lot. If you are really certain that the final product will be unclear to the intended audience, say so before it’s presented. Presenting something confusing to people and knowing they have no idea what you’re on about is not a good feeling.
5. A ball of wool has A LOT of potential (trust me on this, it just does) and if a ball of wool can generate discussion, make people happy, add value to someones life (even if only for a few minutes) and be the catalyst for awesome ideas – imagine what you can do!
6. We need more freedom – we are not our job titles or our paycheques. So I don’t make $80,000 a year or own a car or my very own tiny condo…who cares? As one of my teammates said “You can cry in a BMW, or smile on a bike.” (I know, I know, the choices are not quite that black and white, but to have those things – I’d have to make myself unhappy. I don’t want any of that stuff that badly).

In addition to learning useful things, I met some great people that I will definitely have future contact with. Will we band together and start our own business? Maybe. Will we stay in touch and support each others endeavors?  We will if I have anything to say about it.

Innovation Camp was exactly what I needed – without it, this post would not exist. I would still be sitting in front of the blank screen thinking “I have to look for proper work. I must bring home a big, fat paycheque from somewhere. I must swallow my hatred of the 9-5 world and be an adult.”

I would still be paralyzed by a sense of duty to something I really don’t like – and what use is that really? My workaholic tendencies add no value to my life or the lives of the people I care about.

So thank you Nicole, and fellow teammates – you’ve made a big difference and given me the courage I needed to start moving forward instead of just talking about it.