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Too often fresh new thinking is doused with a bucket of ice water words like, “It’ll never work.” or “Oh, we tried something like that already.”

But how do you encourage people to come up with new ways of thinking? William Coyne, senior vice president of research and development for the 3M company says his comapnay has identified 6 smart “drivers of innovation:” vision, foresight, stretch objectives, empowerment, networking, and peer recognition.

Vision is staying focused on a big goal. Bill Gates, for example, said many years ago his vision was a pc on every desk — which has just about come true.

Foresight means looking ahead to how a new idea might fill a need in the marketplace.

Stretch objectives keep people pushing their limitations a little farther than they believed they could go.

Empowerment is giving people the freedom to let their minds soar. At 3M, employees may use 15% of their job time to explore their own ideas for new products.

Networking is merging concepts from smart people in different departments to generate new solutions. For example, putting together a focus team from accounting, marketing and production can produce innovative solutions to challenges in shipping.

Peer recognition for innovation means awards for excellence and innovation. At 3M, only 1 to 3 scientists a year are inducted into the prestigious Carleton Society. That’s an honor many strive for.

Can this work for you? You bet. Just as greenhouses and incubators nurture little things into big successes, your work environment can nurture human creativity.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006 at 5:30 am and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.