Ideas, the raw material of innovation, are everywhere. The danger is that we end up looking in the same places for them all the time. Good ideas aren’t exclusive to the C-suite. Those further down the ranks are often closer to the technology and cultural shifts that are taking place, and can provide great insights as well. But workforces, like the management that governs them, can be blighted by homogeny: everyone is just like everyone else. In the sphere of ideas and creativity, homogeny begets more of the same. More of the same is an enemy of innovation. Bureaucracy (ideas get stuck) and hierarchy (ideas don’t get seen) are enemies of innovation.
How can innovation leaders implement structural change to reduce red-tape, make decision-making more horizontal and cultivate a more inclusive workplace environment – one in which new ideas can flower, and through which innovation can easily flow. What are the technologies that might help facilitate this? And, crucially, how can the power at the center get out of the way of the exciting new ideas happening at the edge?