ea innovation, or a culture of innovation, there are three key drivers, a model that I use with my clients or in my teaching. They reside just a few centimeters down your own scalp, in your mind, not in any handbook or your library. Granted, some people seem more able than others to exercise them, but my three proposed engines of innovation can also be cultivated, taught and nurtured. And, if this is Joe has been made redundant after many years in the company. He is the victim of cost-cutting, re-structuring, right-sizing, re-deployment...of a re-something. A friend comments: “There he goes. Poor Joe. 20 years of experience going out the window.” The re-engineering consultant overhears the comment and hits back: “There he goes: Joe, one year of experience repeated 20 times.”

As the joke goes it is a clever one that has converted a sad part into something that many people can relate to. Many jobs and tasks have to do with repeated processes with little room for change or improvement, let alone new ways, new thinking and what we broadly call innovation. Indeed I know many who would argue that, in most cases, the last thing you want is innovation – you want the assurance that the task will be done within well defined borders and under well defined rules of the game. Regulated industries such as bio-pharmaceuticals produce environments where the invocation of regulation is very heavy and usually used as a driver to justify a rather conservative view of things. Usually those voices mistake, whether consciously or not, regulated processes with total rigidity as the way of getting things done. Not only is there always plenty of room for maneuvering within a regulated framework, but also the framework often does not include things that we are just happy to attribute to it.

Innovation needs deviation, but most of the time this starts as a mindset, not as a break from a standard operating procedure. Whether the result is one of product innovation, process innovation, idea innovation, or a culture of innovation, there are three key drivers, a model that I use with my clients or in my teaching. They reside just a few centimeters down your own scalp, in your mind, not in any handbook or your library. Granted, some people seem more able than others to exercise them, but my three proposed engines of innovation can also be cultivated, taught and nurtured. And, if this is

the joke goes it is a clever one that has converted a sad part into something that many people can relate to. Many jobs and tasks have to do with repeated processes with little room for change or improvement, let alone new ways, new thinking and what we broadly call innovation. Indeed I know many who would argue that, in most cases, the last thing you want is innovation – you want the assurance that the task will be done within well defined borders and under well defined rules of the game. Regulated industries such as bio-pharmaceuticals produce environments where the invocation of regulation is very heavy and usually used as a driver to justify a rather conservative view of things. Usually those voices mistake, whether consciously or not, regulated processes with total rigidity as the way of getting things done. Not only is there always plenty of room for maneuvering within a regulated framework, but also the framework often does not include things that we are just happy to attribute to it.

Innovation needs deviation, but most of the time this starts as a mindset, not as a break from a standard operating procedure. Whether the result is one of product innovation, process innovation, idea innovation, or a culture of innovation, there are three key drivers, a model that I use with my clients or in my teaching. They reside just a few centimeters down your own scalp, in your mind, not in any handbook or your library. Granted, some people seem more able than others to exercise them, but my three proposed engines of innovation can also be cultivated, taught and nurtured. And, if this is

the task will be done within well defined borders and under well defined rules of the game. Regulated industries such as bio-pharmaceuticals produce environments where the invocation of regulation is very heavy and usually used as a driver to justify a rather conservative view of things. Usually those voices mistake, whether consciously or not, regulated processes with total rigidity as the way of getting things done. Not only is there always plenty of room for maneuvering within a regulated framework, but also the framework often does not include things that we are just happy to attribute to it.

Innovation needs deviation, but most of the time this starts as a mindset, not as a break from a standard operating procedure. Whether the result is one of product innovation, process innovation, idea innovation, or a culture of innovation, there are three key drivers, a model that I use with my clients or in my teaching. They reside just a few centimeters down your own scalp, in your mind, not in any handbook or your library. Granted, some people seem more able than others to exercise them, but my three proposed engines of innovation can also be cultivated, taught and nurtured. And, if this is

ting things done. Not only is there always plenty of room for maneuvering within a regulated framework, but also the framework often does not include things that we are just happy to attribute to it.

Innovation needs deviation, but most of the time this starts as a mindset, not as a break from a standard operating procedure. Whether the result is one of product innovation, process innovation, idea innovation, or a culture of innovation, there are three key drivers, a model that I use with my clients or in my teaching. They reside just a few centimeters down your own scalp, in your mind, not in any handbook or your library. Granted, some people seem more able than others to exercise them, but my three proposed engines of innovation can also be cultivated, taught and nurtured. And, if this is

ea innovation, or a culture of innovation, there are three key drivers, a model that I use with my clients or in my teaching. They reside just a few centimeters down your own scalp, in your mind, not in any handbook or your library. Granted, some people seem more able than others to exercise them, but my three proposed engines of innovation can also be cultivated, taught and nurtured. And, if this is the case, this is good news for children’s education which is surely where it all starts.

1. Seeking unpredictable answers from questions.
It is only from an unpredictable answer (answer, angle, viewpoint…) that we can obtain the ‘deviation’ that generates a new idea, process or way of operating or outcome. Unpredictability comes naturally from people or groups relatively distant from us. It is more likely that an unexpected viewpoint comes from somebody, somewhere, who’s unfamiliar with a way of working, rather than the opposite. Familiarity breeds predictability. This is why cohesive, strong, balanced and established teams are not very good sources of innovation.

If you have worked very closely, and for a long time, with Paul, Peter, Mary and Joe in a team, even if they come from several disciplines, chances are you know their points of view on things. You may even consider them very intelligent and knowledgeable and therefore, surely, a good source of fresh new ideas. And you are probably right about the ‘good’, but not with regards to the ‘new’. There is an embedded predictability within the group. You know each other too well and although good ideas may be generated, they are unlikely to cross the border of the predictable and expected. Those borders may still host a very rich pool of ideas, no question about that, but limitations are created by the very nature of the borders.

To seek unpredictable questions you need to tap into looser connections with people or groups which you do not know much about. In other words, the team above – which could do wonde