A New Innovation Framework

Current employment strategies usually rely on some rational compromise between hiring people with skills that are needed immediately and hiring people with skills that will likely be needed in the future. A more open approach to innovation promises access to “smart people” that are outside of your organization. But most strategies fall far short of effectively tapping that external crowd. A new framework for innovation should position leaders to understand both why and how to extract value external to their organization. A framework will be posited in lieu of the traditional innovation approach of stage-gate management. That new framework is designed to subdivide projects into modules, not stages—modules that are more amenable to sharing within a network of resources and among a variety of innovation approaches. The human resources department, along with the innovation functions, in a company practicing Challenge Driven Innovation recognizes their broader role in accessing talent. They realize that 3