Shifting the focus from techniques and procedures that are popular among innovation managers to the sometimes overlooked areas of communication and culture. Often failure to innovate is due to failure to communicate clearly on the floor. This inability can be traced to differences and barriers between corporate cultures and to poor communication practice for key communication events in the innovation process; such as brainstorming, problem statements, ideation exercises, networking in the ecosystem, pitching, Q&A sessions, giving briefings, giving feedback, drafting milestone plans, mock-up presentations, investment pitches, writing business plans, motivating teams, conducting focused meetings, document design, selecting appropriate media, using social media, the list long.

1. overlooked
barriers to
innovation
photo credit: FlickR – Mark Holloway

2. a magic
formula is
hard to find,
failure
on the other
hand...
photo credit: FlickR – Mark Holloway

3. photo credit: FlickR – 1000HEADS
innovation
management
is fine,
… if it equips
the floor

4. experts
equip the floor
with
techniques
&
procedures
photo credit: FlickR – adactio

5. … but we
overlook two
fields where
we're all experts
(we think) -
communication
and culture
photo credit: FlickR – Jon Olav

6. photo credit: FlickR – Mark Holloway
… and failure
often resides in
such
overlooked
places ...

7. it's ok to train
techniques
defining a
probortunity
brainstorming
ecosystem
scanning
benchmarking
trialling
photo credit: FlickR – dougwoods

8. photo credit: FlickR – takomabibelot
to focus on
procedures
management
decision
allocating
resources
gatekeepers &
incubators

9. photo credit: FlickR – ehnark
but we tend
to
communicate
… poorly
messy problem
statement
unclear pitch
confusing briefing
...

10. photo credit: FlickR – USNavyt
and assume
our cultural
norms are
universal
no focus on
shared mission
values
no sensitivity for
other approaches
...

11. comment on
Harvard Business
Review blog
“I never thought of
communication as a
barrier to innovation.
But of course!

12. to innovate
we need to
train the floor
for culture and
communication
as well
photo credit: FlickR – chachijones

13. for more materials and insight
talkthefloor.com
corporate communication training
Photo credits/FlickR heroes:
Matti Mattila; takomabibelot; TooFarNorth; Mark Holloway; Doug Woods;
Paul Englefield; USNavy; ehnark; Jon Olav, adactio, 1000heads,
chachijones
click to read CC 2.5 policyphoto credit: FlickR – Matti Mattila