Does your current job allow for innovation

Last week I was invited by ITAU (ICT Teachers' Association of Uganda) Chairperson, Mukalele Rogers to take part in the training of trainers' workshop. While there, I was surprised at the discoveries I made and the rate at which our country was taking digital learning. Its here that I realized that sitting at your desk day-in and day-out  impacts on your level of imagination and creativity. First members were given a chance to demonstrate how they were ensuring school continuity during the COVID-19 lock down. Being a member from an International school, I eagerly waited on my turn to showcase my skills and tech expertise. By the time the third participant finished his deliberation, I had lost all the guts to stand-up or say anything. The most annoying part here is when they kept referring to me as a member with diverse experiences and knowledge in these software looking at my background and current position. Hardly did they know that the platforms they were referring to as ones with less functionality and limited user experience are the ones I had in place as my best. Additionally, platforms like Kolibri and OBS studio that members agreed to uniformly interface with in our projects seemed so fresh in my mind, I had to start learning each one of them.

Members of of ITAU after the training of trainers workshop. Mukalele Rogers, ITAU executive (extreme left), Godfrey Lugolobi, EDIFY Uganda executive (center in white shirt), me (third from right) and other members.

What I am trying to say here is, once you are employed and specialize in one area in your daily duties at work, this gradually works as a "cancer" to your creativity, skill of innovation and problem solving and eventually leads to mental-drain. This is when you wake up one morning after losing your current job and you cannot trouble-shoot the most obvious problems in a network or even give suggestions for system upgrade and patches because of you previous work culture that kept you very comfortable while you lost the most precious element of your profession.

Having professional groups, organisations or clubs in your network is one thing one should consider and start thinking about. These groups do not only keep you updated with information of your area expertise but also work as a channel through which you can land your next job just in case something went amiss with your current position, it also acts a channel through which you get immediate feedback on any work-related challenges and hence you get first-hand solution to the muddle. These social network could social media groups, subscribing to certain websites or occasionally visiting websites within your area of expertise plus any other channels.

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