The Sunningdale Institute has recently launched Beyond Light Bulbs and Pipelines: Leadning and Nurturing Innovation in the Public Sector; a report we hope will broaden senior public servants’ understanding of innovation and how to lead and nurture it in their sector. We set out a number of models of innovation, suggest where they are most appropriate and offer guidance on how they can be supported.

Our key points are:

• Different settings require different types of innovation with different sources and forms of support. Models of innovation we identify are: R&D Led, High Involvement, Network, Radical, Entrepreneur Driven, Recombinant, and User-Led.
• Strategic leadership is vital to ensuring that the right kind of innovation and the right kind of support are in place.
• Leaders must create the space, rewards and recognition for developing and adopting ideas.
• The level of discretion held by frontline workers will affect the type of innovation needed – continuous improvement (e.g. lean) may work for those with limited discretion (e.g. benefit delivery staff), but won’t work for doctors and teachers.
• Where possible, innovations should be co-produced with frontline workers and citizens.
• Opportunities for platform innovations should be sought, from which other innovations may spring.
• Organisations should be continually open to new ideas from inside and outside, and make the most of networks, scouts, intermediaries and brokers to nurture and spread innovation.

innovation, Transformation, Leadership, public service reform, sunningdale institute

Last updated 679 days ago by Tim Hughes