Everyday innovation report - Nesta

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25. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999)
Op. cit.
Figure 3: Working practices that facilitate innovation within organisations
Managers provide practical support
for new ideas and their application
There is a 'we are in it together' attitude
We strive for a reputation
for being innovative
The general management style is
participative and collaborative
The organisational goals are directly
aligned with innovation
Management practices actively
enhance innovation
There is a 'no blame' culture - mistakes
are talked about freely so that other
people can learn from them
Resources and facilities are readily available
for use in testing out new ideas
Personal development objectives explicitly
related to innovation are set
Job assignments ensure that there is enough
time and scope for trying out new ideas
The appraisal system is directly linked to
rewarding creativity and innovation
Innovative thinking is often stifled
4.4 Managerial support and working
practices that promote innovation
Over half of the organisations surveyed
reported having organisational goals that
are aligned with innovation (see Figure 3).
However: “Asking employees to innovate more
is not the right approach as it is too generic
and too disconnected from the real world”
(Jurij Paraszczak, Director of IBM Research
Industry Solutions in New York). The research
literature clearly shows that in order to promote
innovative working, organisational goals must
be specific. 25 In supporting the goals, the
three most common working practices cited
by survey respondents to facilitate innovation
were ‘managerial support’; a ‘we’re in it
together’ attitude; and ‘a strive to acquire a
reputation for innovation’ (see Figure 3).
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Percentage
69 17 13 1
69 14 16 1
67 18 14
66 16 18
54 21 25
53 24 23
51 19 29
47 22 30
34 27 38
34 26 39
32 25 42
26 25 48
Strongly agree/agree Strongly Disagree/Disagree
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Don’t know
Base: N=843-849 as non-responses are not included in the calculation of proportions
However, as shown in Table 2, employees from
public sector organisations cited significantly
fewer relevant working practices as conducive
to innovation compared to employees from the
private sector. This is an important finding as
the survey analysis finds that the prevalence
of specific working practices to promote
innovation serve as significant predictors of
innovative working. “Public sector working
practices dis-incentivise innovation. Paper
chasing processes undermine judgements
where over time the decision making process is
weakened” (Su Maddock, Innovation Whitehall
Hub).
Results here show that different working
practices are likely to be used in different
sectors to achieve different business outcomes,
as might be expected. For example, financial
service organisations are more likely to offer
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