New ideas need time to germinate.
And seeds need soil – so if the context is toxic the seeds will remain dormant or die.
And gardeners need to have patience.
And gardeners need to prepare. The seeds, the soil and to nurture and nourish the green shoots of innovation.
When a seed-of-change finds itself in fertile soil it will germinate. That is just the first step.
The fragile new shoot of improvement must be watered and protected from harm as it grows taller and gains strength-of-evidence.
The goal is for the new growth to bear its own fruit, and its own seeds which then spread the proven practice far and wide.
Experienced Improvement Science Practitioners know this.
They know that when the seeds of a proven improvement meet resistance then the cultural soil is not ready. A few hard winters may be needed to break up the clods. Or perhaps the sharp spade of an external inspection is needed to crack through the carapace of complacency.
And competition from the worthless weeds if weak thinking is always present. The bindweed of bureaucracy saps energy and enthusiasm and hacking at it is futile. It only grows even more vigorously. Weeds need to be approached from the roots upwards. Without roots they will wither.
Purpose, practice, patience, preparation and persistence are the characteristics that lead to sustained success.
And when the new fruit of the improvement tree are ready and the seeds are ripe it is important not to jealously protect and store them away from harsh critique … they need to be scattered to the four winds and to have an opportunity to find fertile soil elsewhere and to establish their own colonies.
Many will not succeed. And a few will evolve into opportunities that were never anticipated.
That is the way of innovation, germination, dissemination and evolution.
That is the way of Improvement Science.