Transparency: If people see what others do it generates support and peer pressure.
Greenhousing: Innovative ideas often start out as fragile little shoots that need nurturing.
Benefit focus: Keep asking what it is you’re trying to achieve – don’t just tick boxes.
Diversity: Of people, background, experience and outlook. Avoid groups of people who all think the same.
Risk-taking: Recognise risks, watch out for politics, listen to people at the sharp end.
Avoid deficiency models: Telling people they need to be there rather than here does not work.
Mistakes: It has to be all right to say, ‘That didn’t work – let’s try something else.’
Long-term planning: Can’t be done for innovation. Sensible next step is best that can be done. Then look closely at what happens and take another step.
Merlin John’s Innovators series is developing very nicely indeed, with articles to date on Ewan McIntosh, Paul Kelley, Margaret Vass, Carol Allen, Jaye Richards and John Davitt. The latest is a great piece on David Gilmour, East Lothian’s techno-boffin (sorry, David!).
David Gilmour’s Conditions for Innovation : John Connell: The Blog
