The Organizational Network Fieldbook: Best Practices, Techniques, and Exercises to Drive Organizational Innovation and Performance

Part IV: CONNECTING PEOPLE FOR INNOVATION

A tangible outcome that managers often hope to achieve as the result of network-building activities is an increase in innovation. As the authors in this section emphasize, strengthening networks to promote innovation requires looking both inward at how people within the company connect, and outward, beyond the organization's boundaries. In many industries, the most innovative work is being done not by the largest players but by small, emerging enterprises. A company's performance may depend on the ability to tap into new ideas, wherever they are.

Jean Singer and Kristi Droppers describe an intervention they designed and helped to implement, called the Innovation Lab, to open up idea-sharing channels ...