by Nancy Linenkugel
Contributor
The seasonal change from winter into spring is bringing along many welcomed aspects, from warmer temperatures to foliage on trees to lovely flowers. The image of new life abounds and treats our senses everywhere we look.
What has been going on underground or within trees or in many nature places out-of-sight? The old has died away to make room for the re-birth of leaves, grass blades, and flower petals. I look around my space and ask myself, "What needs to die in order to make room for today?"
The management concept of exnovate comes to mind. Exnovate is the opposite of innovate. In the quest for progress and constantly doing more and more to stay or become number one, there’s definitely a push toward innovation all around us. But what happens to innovations when they age and fall out of newness, only to be supplanted by the next new thing?
Enter exnovation. This keeps a check on innovation. Only the valuable and relevant new things remain. The clutter gets cleared, the unused is eliminated, and old practices get purged. There needs to be room for the new.
Maureen Bisognano of IHI (Institute for Health Improvement) says of exnovation, "Get rid of junk in your life so you have energy to innovate." All we have to do is follow the example of nature.
[Nancy Linenkugel is a Sylvania Franciscan sister and chair of the department of Health Services Administration at Xavier University, Cincinnati Ohio.]