One of the great myths of innovation is that breakthrough ideas are produced solely by intuitive individuals or by small creative teams working in isolation. The reality is that whether we think of Thomas Edison, Ted Turner, Jeff Bezos or Steve Jobs, most well-known innovators developed their breakthrough ideas as a result of interacting with a rich and diverse community of people.

The small size and all-hands-on-deck culture of start-ups provides fertile ground for innovation, but leaders of larger companies have to make deliberate choices to establish the right conditions for innovation. Here are four ways to make the connections and spark the conversations that make innovation happen:

1. RETHINK THE ORGANIZATION CHART. For decades, organization charts have forced innovation to live in a disconnected silo (e.g., research and development) where it neither involves nor infects the rest of the organization. Making innovation a corporate-wide capability calls for new structures that actively foster cross-boundary interaction and that distribute the responsibility and expertise for innovation throughout the company.

Questions for leaders to ask:

§          Do we have a management infrastructure for innovation that spreads the responsibility through every level of the organization and involves everyone in the company? Or does our organization structure continue to make innovation the exclusive responsibility of specific departments or groups?

§          What steps has my company taken in the last year to encourage previously unconnected groups to trade ideas and competencies?

§          What are we doing to facilitate direct, person-to-person communication across the organization rather than up and down traditional chains of command?

2. CREATE AN OPEN MARKET FOR IDEAS. In many companies, new ideas are in short supply—stifled by a corporate climate that discourages change and demands conformity. Companies that want to get serious about innovation have to create a culture where anyone in the organization can voice an idea and, if it’s an interesting one, obtain fast, easy access to capital and talent for pushing that idea forward.

Questions for leaders to ask:

§          Does our management truly believe, deep down, that “ordinary” employees can be a source of extraordinary innovation?

§          Is my company building an “innovation democracy” where ideas really can come from anyone and anywhere, both inside and outside the company?

§          What have we done to communicate—both in word and in deed—that everyone at our company is expected to innovate?

§          If a person or a group comes up with an idea, how easy or difficult is it for them to get access to funding and top management support?

§          What have we done in the last 12 months to engage the imagination, know-how and resources of people outside our organization?

3. USE THE WEB TO HARNESS IMAGINATION. Usually, corporate information technology infrastructures end up being rather sterile tools that do nothing more than propagate simple, explicit knowledge. Companies must learn to use information technology as a global operating system for innovation, engaging tens of thousands of people throughout the organization—and millions of people beyond it—in a global, 24-hour, innovation-focused dialogue.

Questions for leaders to ask:

§          Has my company created any new forums for cross-corporate, innovation-focused dialogue/conversation in the past 24 months?

§          Are we using our information technology infrastructures to distribute the responsibility for generating new ideas throughout the organization and beyond its walls?

§          Does our corporate intranet inspire people to stretch their thinking and then show them how to initiate an innovation project?

§          Could we describe our intranet as an electronic marketplace that brings ideas, capital and talent together?

§          Are the people in our company connected with a rich community of internal/external experts who can quickly help them solve innovation challenges?

§          Are we making proper use of Web-based opportunities for testing new ideas in the market and gauging direct customer feedback?

§          Are we using our information technology infrastructure to help “unstick” opportunities and rekindle projects that seem to be going nowhere?

4. MAKE MORE TIME FOR FACE TIME. Companies that want to foster innovation should create opportunities for employees to interact deeply with people who work outside their own business unit, product category, geography and—ideally—their industry. Look for ways to bring diverse groups of people together face-to-face to share insights and generate ideas together in an experiential setting.

Questions for leaders to ask:

§          Within the past 12 months, has every employee in my division had the opportunity to participate in some organized innovation process?

§          How often does my company/division/business unit organize face-to-face events for knowledge sharing and collaborative ideation?

§          When was the last time we invited hundreds or even thousands of our people to participate in a “live” conversation on innovation and future strategy, either online or in a town hall setting?

Adapted from Innovation to the Core, by Peter Skarzynski and Rowan Gibson. Peter Skarzynski is the CEO and a founder of the international strategy and innovation firm Strategos. Rowan Gibson is a global business strategist and innovation expert whose book Rethinking the Future has been translated into more than 20 languages.

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