Innovation is closely aligned to creativity, even a ‘by-product’ in some senses.  Many organisations strive to be ‘innovative’ and yet operate with a culture which stifles a spirit of creativity and innovation.

Buckler (1997) suggests, innovation “is an environment, a culture – almost spiritual force – that exists in a company”.  Many people who have visited an organisation where such a culture exists: Body Shop, Google, Sony etc leave with a strong feeling that they have experienced  something very special and different from the norm.

However, in attempting to create innovation there are a number of factors which are both organisational, cultural and dependent on the skills of the individual.

In an article written by Ahmed Pervaiz and published in the European Journal for Innovation Management (1998), he outlines the following personality traits for innovation:
• high valuation of aesthetic qualities in experience
• broad interests
• attraction to complexity
• high energy
• independence of judgement
• intuition
• self-confidence
• ability to accommodate opposites
• firm sense of self as creative (Baron and Harrington, 1981)
• persistence
• curiosity
• energy
• intellectual honesty (Amabile 1988)
• internal locus of control (reflective/introspective) (Woodman and Schoenfeldt, 1990)

It’s not difficult to see why some organisations find it difficult to encourage innovation, when to be successful, they have to embrace diversity and allow the people in the company to exhibit and develop these aspects of their personality.

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