Creating a space for ideas
March 18th, 2009The biggest let down with firms trying to innovate is that they do not create the space for innovation to occur.
What happens when staff have new ideas? Who do they pitch to? Do they know who they should pitch to?
More often than not the ideas get squashed, as they threaten someone else.
To create a culture of innovation, ideas need to be open, shared, spared and rewarded.
Create a space for it to happen, have a Monday Ideas Post, a 12 hour startup day, a huge whiteboard in the middle of headquarters (like Google).
Once you have created that void, people will fill it and surprisingly fast.
Tags: 12 hour startup, innovation, space, vacuum, void
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 7:05 pm. 
March 19th, 2009 at 4:42 am
I totally agree with your views. This happens in most organisations. Junior staff are either threatened or their ideas are swallowed by the big fish and used as their own creative thoughts. Having an open forum with staff from all levels of the organisation will provide an open opportunity for everyone to contribute their ideas. Sir Richard Branson is a master of this concept.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Creating space for ideas is good , but it needs more than that.
I’ve done this a few times and for it to work it needs to be a path. Creating a big empty space and inviting people to contribute can be really daunting if the organisational culture has been one of ‘management giving permission to create an idea’ – it will be scary.
Best way I have found is to start small – not grand – and get some small groups using this before it gets bigger. A culture of every idea is ok is very threatening to an organisation which is based on ‘you will only do what management tells you to do’
March 25th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Thanks Miki for sharing your experience, really adds to the conversation.