Guiding Principles on Open Innovation: Communication - Stefan Lindegaard

This is a guest post by Stefan Lindegaard. Stefan Lindegaard is a speaker, network facilitator and strategic advisor who focus on the topics of open innovation, intrapreneurship and how to identify and develop the people who drive innovation. You can read further at 15inno.com

I have just attended a great conference by 100% Open which is a new agency specialising in open innovation. They have an interesting Jam & Discover approach to open innovation and they also run networks and extend into training and venturing. Check out their site: 100% Open

At the conference, I picked up a new report: Open innovation – From marginal to mainstream. In this, they had some guiding principles and since I could not find it online I have typed in their guiding principle on communication below as I find it worth sharing. UPDATE: You can read the full report here: NESTA

100% Open Guiding Principle on Communication:

• Many large organisations are trying to become open innovators by first trying to change their culture. Whilst this is rational, it rarely seems to work. Companies will often change their ways of doing things more happily and spontaneously if the see first-hand evidence of colleagues adopting a new approach and it working. Success sells.

• Communicate with the outside world effectively. We’ve see many a large organisation get so wrapped up in its open innovation process and goals to the extent that it fails to communicate effectively, thereby rendering the endeavour less effective.

• If Corporate Open Innovation requires different structures, it also requires a different way of thinking. The new mindset needs to be more cooperative and less command-and-control – and its new innovators need to be literally open-minded and communicative.

• If a company is to place open innovation at its heart, management needs to communicate supportively and instigate mechanisms and behaviours that encourage it. Whose responsibility is it? How is open innovation rewarded? When and where does open it happen?

• Setting an innovation culture is also about personal transformation, starting at the top. Do organisations have enough polymath leaders – multi-skilled individuals, who combine designer flair, engineering skill and marketing imagination? Training and recruitment will play a part.