In 2019 I summarized my observations about innovation in — What is innovation? I concluded that while innovation may be 15 things to 15 different people, I still found nine general guidelines.
- The connection between innovation and learning is evident and we cannot be innovative unless we integrate learning into our work.
- Radical innovation only comes from networks with large structural holes, which are more diverse. This is why our social networks cannot also be our work teams, or they become echo chambers.
- In our work teams we can focus on incremental innovation, to get better at what we already do.
- Communities of practice then become bridges on the continuum between knowledge networks and work teams.
- Innovation is all about connections. At a certain point, not enough connections may even destroy the innovations we have made.
- Innovation is not a process. It’s more of an attitude focused on curiosity, learning, and experimentation.
- A focus on processes and error reduction — such as Six Sigma — actually gets in the way of innovation.
- Innovation is like democracy, it needs people to be free within the system in order to work.
- Creative work is not routine work done faster. It’s a whole different way of work, and a critical part is letting the brain do what it does best — come up with ideas. Without time for reflection, most of those innovative ideas will get buried in the detritus of modern workplace busyness.
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