# The Ingredients of a Great Innovation Culture

> Innovation requires a special culture, a shared mindset that encourages the exploration of new ways to improve business outcomes. But how could a company develop an ‘innovation culture’? Here is a ‘protocol’ that can boost the innovation spirit and accelerate the organic growth of your innovation community.

- Author: [George Krasadakis](https://theinnovationmode.com/george-krasadakis)
- Published: 2021-01-26
- Topic: [Corporate innovation](https://theinnovationmode.com/the-innovation-blog/topic/corporate-innovation)
- Source: https://theinnovationmode.com/the-innovation-blog/the-ingredients-of-a-great-innovation-culture

![The Ingredients of a Great Innovation Culture](https://theinnovationmode.com/media/blog/the-ingredients-of-a-great-innovation/unsplash-image-5q07ss54d0q-1500w.webp)

*“When it comes to innovation, people make a difference. And culture is what unites people through a system of shared values, enabling them to collaborate effectively toward a big purpose. A healthy culture can become the inner force driving the transformation of the organization while cultural blockers can prove to be the single point of failure even for well-planned, expensive innovation programs.”*

![A person writes notes and circles with a marker on a glass board, seen from the other side](https://theinnovationmode.com/media/blog/the-ingredients-of-a-great-innovation/unsplash-image-5q07ss54d0q-1500w.webp)

[Innovation requires a special culture](https://theinnovationmode.com/the-innovation-blog/how-to-establish-an-innovation-culture) - a shared mindset that encourages the exploration of new ways to improve business outcomes. But how could a company develop an ‘innovation culture’? Here is a ‘protocol’ that can boost the innovation spirit and accelerate the organic growth of your innovation community.

### 1. Innovation is always on, open to all.

### 2. People show respect for others’ ideas.

### 3. There is no such thing as a “bad idea.”

### 4. Some ideas are better than others, in a given context.

### 5. Great ideas can still fail.

### 6. Critique is constructive, meaningful, justified, and welcome.

### 7. Ideas do not have owners; they have originators and contributors.

### 8. Ideas are free to reuse; attribution is required.

### 9. Attribution references the chain of originators and contributors.

### 10. Similar ideas are merged; complementary ideas are combined.

### 11. There is no single decision-maker for the future of an idea.

### 12. Originators may not be involved in idea execution.

### 13. Top innovators are named based on robust, transparent assessment logic.

### 14. Rules and resulting decisions are transparent and consistent.

### 15. The detailed history of ideas and initiatives is accessible by all.

### 16. There is no space for corporate politics.

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Krasadakis G. (2020) The Culture of Innovation. In: The Innovation Mode. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45139-4_2

Check also the [Innovation Toolkit](https://theinnovationmode.com/innovation-toolkit): eight editable templates for framing problems, shaping ideas and defining products.