ate the space for others to innovate by providing resources and giving innovation value and meaning. They can integrate the promotion of innovation into their interactions and communications, i.e. in the messages they send out. They can also encourage innovation by being innovators themselves. By walking the talk innovation is highly visible and those around organisational leaders become infected with the innovation bug. By taking ownership of change and innovation leaders legitimise it, but by allowing others to share ownership the motivation to innovate can be increased. Leadership of innovation is therefore a balance between taking the lead, and fostering innovation in others.Communication and collaboration These are well-recognised factors in stimulating ideas. Openness, sharing and knowledge transfer increase the quantity of quality information, and help people see the world from a different perspective. They are also crucial factors in ensuring that ideas are implemented into valuable organisational innovations. Cross-functional communication (via internal communication or cross functional teams) keeps people involved in all parts of the organisation and makes innovations usable and useful to all. Individuals, groups and organisations can learn from each other only if they communicate.Diversity of information and interactions The extent to which people and groups are subject to different sets of information and different points of contact has an impact on the level of innovation. The more diversity there is the more likely the outcomes are to be original and innovative. By challenging ideas and creating a constructive controversy between groups, new ways of thinking, and new solutions emerge. One way to produce diversity is to encourage dissident sub-cultures within the organisation. Outliers can change the order of things and challenge our core assumptions.Challenge assumptionsStaying within accepted boundaries preserves Normalit...
