Keeping Innovation Alive After the Consultants Leave

OVERVIEW: Leaders of R&D usually want consistently higher levels of innovative outcomes from their organizations than they normally experience. Attempts at “shotgunning” the problem may produce sporadic improvements, but, more often, innovative outcomes diminish when the shotgun is put away. A better way to sustain innovation is to make it as much a part of the organization's value system as, say, honesty and integrity. This, in turn, requires making values “real” by taking action in the “support legs” of awards, taboos and repetitive reinforcement.