A year ago, the town of Newton, Iowa, population 15,000, was in the doldrums. In a pattern that is worth noting because it’s going to be repeated throughout the U.S. in towns large and small as the economy crawls toward new sources of productivity, the town’s largest employer, Maytag Washing Machines, closed its plant and officer there in October of 2007, costing Newton 1,800 jobs, 800 in management and 1,000 in manufacturing.
By early 2007, Newton had already seen the writing on the wall, and had begun mapping its evolution–from washing machines to wind machines, as it would turn out. Today, Newton is home to a manufacturing plant for Boston-based TPI, one of the country’s leading wind turbine brands. CBS Evening News covered the story last week. How Newton did it can serve as a blueprint for other similar-sized communities, whose fortunes (and mis-fortunes) are tightly tied to a single large employer.
The key elements, from an improvisation standpoint, are these: Improvisers act on their environment, and in turn, environment acts on them. By ‘acting on environment’ early in 2007, before Maytag closed, Newton created an environment hospitable to new business that in turn acted (favorably) on them. Second, they collaborated with one another and used the resources they had within the community to improve their scene. Focusing on the reality in front of you, and the group ‘onstage’ with you is much more productive than trying to conjure up some imaginary event, or relying on players who aren’t in the scene with you.
Evolving the agitation systems of washing machines into giant wind-agitated turbines was obviously an achievable reality. It’s a desirable outcome that no one would have scripted or predicted when Maytag’s slow exit began. That’s good improvisation.
Tags: Alternative Energy, Innovation, Iowa, Newton, Reality, TPI, Transformation, Wind Turbines