Building Trust in Innovation Practices
invested in innovation as they expect their people to be. An innovation framework must make it simple for leaders, and all employees, to embrace the desire to be innovative.
After all, people are the most critical component of a successful innovation framework. Human creativity remains unequalled. Innovation cannot be algorithmically defined, though it may be attempted. Further, the spark of innovation can happen at any time and the environment must be ready to nurture it. So again, an innovation framework needs to foster an innovative culture.
Along with common company goals and missions to inspire a culture of innovation an innovation framework includes paths for technical recognition and career advancement, resources and incentives to generate intellectual property( IP), papers, and talks, special projects and opportunities, and mentorship both giving and receiving. The framework can provide ways to recognize contributions and achievements. Perhaps an acknowledging note, a celebratory gathering, a bonus, a promotion or new role. These examples rapidly grow in cost and effort, reflecting that recognition is not one-size-fits-all and should scale with what is being recognized.
To illustrate what an innovative culture may look like, consider a hypothetical example.
The Quieter Hammer
Sandy is a materials engineer at a major corporation. Her husband, Leo, recently retired, has taken up woodworking and discovered an affinity for hammering. As a result, Sandy has found sudden inspiration to invent a quieter hammer.
She succeeds in inventing a 25 % quieter hammer that costs three times as much to produce compared to a traditional hammer. She uses her company’ s IP resources to submit a patent application which is eventually granted. Her company celebrates her invention, sending her a congratulatory note signed by the VP of Engineering, her name is included in the company newsletter with other recent patent holders, and she is invited to a recognition function where inventors put up posterboards detailing their inventions and people can ask questions while enjoying hors d’ oeuvres.
At this function a factory lead, Darcy, takes a particular interest in the invention. Darcy sees a use case in the factory for this invention if the idea and noise reduction can scale. Darcy pitches the idea to Sandy who is quickly onboard. They put together a business case for R & D and a small pilot, with a path forward for large scale deployment. Leadership is very excited by the plan and the benefits for sound abatement, factory safety, hearing loss prevention, expanded operating hours, and good corporate citizenship. Sandy and Darcy accept roles as Chief Engineer and Program Manager for the project.
A few years later, the idea has paid off. The pilot was a resounding success, and an initiative is underway to upgrade all their factories around the world with the new technology. Not only that but a conversation with customers and other key stakeholders revealed a major commercial opportunity and leadership is exploring options from licensing and new departments to spin-offs. Meanwhile, Sandy and
116 May 2025