Guiding Principles of Open Innovation – Communication

I found this quote today on Blogging Innovation.  It is an appropriate post on collaboration since the process of innovation requires an ecouraging corporate culture, proper communication vehicles for conncting to collaborate, and a lead-by-example approach.  All great examples, not only on how to open innovation, but also to collaborate with any organization:

• Many large organisations are trying to become open innovators by first trying to change their culture. Whilst this is rational, it rarely seems to work. Companies will often change their ways of doing things more happily and spontaneously if the see first-hand evidence of colleagues adopting a new approach and it working. Success sells. 
• Communicate with the outside world effectively. We’ve see many a large organisation get so wrapped up in its open innovation process and goals to the extent that it fails to communicate effectively, thereby rendering the endeavour less effective. 
• If Corporate innovation requires different structures, it also requires a different way of thinking. The new mindset needs to be more cooperative and less command-and-control – and its new innovators need to be literally open-minded and communicative. 
• If a company is to place open innovation at its heart, management needs to communicate supportively and instigate mechanisms and behaviours that encourage it. Whose responsibility is it? How is open innovation rewarded? When and where does open it happen? 
• Setting an innovation culture is also about personal transformation, starting at the top. Do organisations have enough polymath leaders – multi-skilled individuals, who combine designer flair, engineering skill and marketing imagination? Training and recruitment will play a part.
business-strategy-innovation.com, Blogging Innovation » Guiding Principles of Open Innovation – Communication, Apr 2010