Creating a Culture of Innovation: U.S. State Government Guide

Publish date:

Key messages

• Successfully addressing today’s daunting challenges, such as the current economic crisis, requires governments to become better at innovating.
• Government organizations can become “serial innovators” by moving beyond the “idea equals innovation” model to embrace the process of converting best ideas into practice.
• Government agencies can adopt new organizational structures and cultural imperatives that enable them to more easily tap into the collective wisdom of employees, citizens and businesses becomes second nature for government.

Background

The public sector tends to approach innovation as a “one-off” change, using the “big bang” approach instead of a series of new approaches that make up a broader process.

Typically, innovation in government happens in one of two ways. Either innovation intrudes itself on a public sector organization in response to a crisis, or some individual (or small group of individuals) champions a specific innovation. In either instance, the benefits are limited as once the crisis passes or the innovation champion(s) move on, the organization is left with no lasting capacity for sustained innovation.

Government agencies need to realize that just like strategy, planning or budgeting, innovation is a discipline. And like these disciplines, for innovation to take root, there needs to be an integrated approach to the innovation process — from idea generation to diffusion. Sustained innovation also requires a methodical view of the innovation process, a view that links the mission to organizational structure, processes and reward systems. Finally, the guiding principle for any initiative to generate innovations is to understand that ultimately you will get only as many ideas as you have the ability to implement. Leaders need to demonstrate their support to employee initiatives and create a positive environment for innovative ideas.

It is only when public agencies address these steps that they will move from a culture of “innovation by accident” to one in which a sustained organizational commitment to innovation is baked into its DNA.

Reform strategies

Approach innovation as a process, not a one-time event

There are four phases to the innovation cycle — idea generation, selection, implementation and diffusion. It is in the last three phases that innovation often gets derailed in the public sector. Until a new idea delivers desirable results, it cannot be considered a successful innovation. To do that, policymakers need a clear roadmap for converting ideas into effective solutions that earn the support of stakeholders.

Leverage the five innovation strategies

Public agencies can effectively leverage ideas from various sources both within the organization and outside it by following five strategies— cultivate, replicate, partner, network and open source. Traditional innovation strategies such as cultivation, and newer models such as open source and networking, can coexist in organizations seeking to redefine their boundaries.

Create an innovation organization

As government agencies tackle their innovation challenges, they would do well to take an integrated and systemic approach across the continuum of five strategies and four stages of innovation. Four changes can help to create an organization conducive to innovation: redefine organizational boundaries to let ideas flow in and out of the organization; build capabilities to adopt a particular strategy for innovation; transform the organization culture; and create a flat organizational structure that offers meaning, flexibility, and novelty to young workers entering the labor force.

Examples

Tapping into collective wisdom

An innovative service called “311”— started in Baltimore and soon followed up in Chicago, New York City, Barcelona, Tokyo and dozens of other cities around the world — uses a highly sophisticated customer-relationship management software system that taps into a hitherto unused asset: the eyes and ears of millions of residents, to promptly deal with complaints and requests.

A “systems” view of innovation

In April 2007, the U.S. Transportation Security Agency (TSA) launched Idea Factory, a secure intranet site that allows employees to submit ideas for improving agency operations and processes. By the end of January 2009, employees had submitted 7,837 ideas and 69,712 comments, of which 39 had been implemented. Many good ideas were submitted because these ideas were acknowledged and implemented, creating a positive environment for submitting more ideas.

The World Bank’s novel idea selection process

The idea behind the World Bank’s Development Marketplace is simple: people with good ideas are looking to attract funds, and people with funds are looking for good ideas. To develop new strategies to alleviate poverty, the Bank brought together 121 employee teams with ideas to sell and prospective buyers. In a single day, 11 ideas received funding from a total budget of $3 million.

Voluntary collaboration for open source solutions

As part of an initiative to meet tough new education attainment targets, the government of Ontario employed an open source strategy with its E-Learning Ontario initiative. It built an online repository of resources developed by teachers that can be customized to local needs to make this cache of information available to teachers and students at no cost.

Next steps

1. Provide leadership for innovation. Effective leadership is needed to clearly define the organizational mission, which means taking a fresh look at the role of public sector agencies and demonstrating strong political will to change it.
2. Help employees create change. Frontline employees, many having spent a greater part of their working life performing routine jobs in an insulated environment, might not have the skills and acumen required to prepare and present a business case. Leaders can help employees build the business case for change, provide necessary resources and remain involved in implementation
3. Diffuse successful pilots. Programs with proven track records tend to meet less resistance than untried ideas. Agencies can and should build on past successes.
4. Employ strategies to encourage innovations from partners and networks. Use grant money to test and prototype innovative ideas and organize innovation networks. Public sector agencies can also promote community-centered innovations by lending money and credibility to nonprofits that reach out to the community.
5. Engage citizens to contribute innovations to public projects. Develop and organize citizen communities around important issues to serve a public purpose.