Cultivating Innovation Where You Work

“Organizations are like gardens, not machines. We keep bringing in mechanics, when what we need are gardeners.” – Peter Senge

If you want to establish a culture of innovation, there are three things you need to know:

1. It’s possible
2. It’s simple (but not easy)
3. It’s just like growing vegetables

Possible? Absolutely! Innovation is all about manifesting what doesn’t yet exist — but could (or, as the more entrepreneurial among us might say, manifesting the seemingly impossible).

Simple? That, too. But simple isn’t always easy, especially since human beings have an odd tendency to make things complicated (especially business processes designed to increase innovation).

Growing vegetables? Really? Yup. If you want the fruits of your labor to yield results, you will need to make the same kind of effort a gardener makes. Forget about theory for a moment. It’s a harvest you’re after.

How to begin? Get the ground ready. Oh … and one more thing: Roll up your sleeves and get to work.

Editor’s Note: You might also want to check out Growing a Garden of Innovation

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Mitch Ditkoff is the Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions and the author of “Awake at the Wheel”, as well as the very popular Heart of Innovation blog.