Joyce's post on the elements of innovation bears some serious thought. Coincidentally, at almost the same time she posted, I received an interesting email from an IdeaFlow reader about the importance of communication in innovation (communication, of course, was one of the elements of innovation she discussed in her post).

It was such a good email, in fact, that I'm going to quote it, even though the reader in question is my ex-husband! Here he is on the importance of communication in corporate innovation:

What I see as the big hurdle for most creative endeavors is establishing an effective communications system. Thousands of words are subject to as many perceived meanings as "creativity" and "innovation." Getting all the members of a functional unit on the same page about what their organizaitional language is, in precise detail, isn't easy.


Lousy comms has been my number one pet peeve all my professional life, and I don't think many organizations do them well. Dozens of times, I've seen a new idea pitched and proven in one corner of a firm but never effectively transmitted and taught to the rest of the organization, leaving potential productivity completely wasted.


Worse yet, when the new idea was introduced without detailed clarity and supporting structure, it was actually counterproductive. It usually works better to maintain the status quo than do a half-ass job of trying to innovate.


In my many sermonettes about this over the years, I've used a musical analogy, as you might imagine: Writing a good song is a fine creative accomplishment, but performing the song with voice and guitar or piano is a pretty simple external communications exercise. Teaching a four-piece band to perform the song effectively is far more complex. Teaching an orchestra to perform it well is very complex. Try creating an effective performance with musicians that either aren't accomplished or are inexperienced with the associated genre, and the task is darn near impossible.


If the communications systems that support a creative product aren't working so hot, the creation isn't going to be what it could be.


Without Pete Anderson, Dwight Yoakam's songs wouldn't have become Dwight Yoakam records as we've known them. In a lot of companies I've worked for, Dwight's songs would have been turned into records that sounded like Barry Manilow or Tiny Tim, and most members of the organization would have had no idea what they were missing.


As talented and creatively brilliant as Dwight is, I don't think he'd have gotten to the "Dwight Yoakam sound" himself without Pete, and his songs would have led different lives. However you'd classify Pete's contributions as a producer/communicator vis a vis "creative," he sure makes a difference. I say the world needs a lot more Pete Andersons!  -- Tom Kinsey