Recommended reading
Innovative leaders and innovative thinkers in the public sector may find the following reads useful. These, are of course, just a few examples of relevant literature. To help you, we’ve organised them under four headings:
- Innovative thinking
- Innovative leadership
- Creating an innovative organisation
- Relevant reports for government
Please contact us and let us know if this is a helpful structure or to recommend other useful material.
Innovative thinking
Adair, J., (2009), The Art of Creative Thinking: How to be Innovative and Develop Great Ideas, Kogan Page.
Practical and straightforward ideas on developing your creative thinking.
Buzan T., (1995), The mind map book, BBC Books.
Buzan has popularised ‘mind mapping’ although he didn’t invent it. Here he shows how the technique reflects the creative, right side of the brain.
De Bono, E., (1971), Lateral Thinking for Management, Penguin.
An early, but useful book from one of the masters of the topic.
Design Council Publications.
There are a number of publications, including DCM (Design Council Magazine).
Maher, L., Plsek, P., Garrett S., Bevan, H., (2007) Thinking Differently. NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.
W: www.institute.nhs.uk/innovation
E: institute@newaudience.co.uk
T: 01922 742555 and quote ‘NHSITHINKDIFF001’.
Pink, D. (Narrator), (2009), A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future (MP3 CD), Brilliance Corp.
Not a book but an MP3 CD. A wide ranging exploration of the Conceptual Age. Stimulating, positive and plenty to think about.
Rawlinson, J. G., (1981) Creative Thinking & Brainstorming, Gower.
The author has used brainstorming throughout the world. Here he provides practical tips based on his approach.
Von Wodtke, M., (1993), Mind over Media: Creative Thinking Skills for Electronic Media, McGraw-Hill.
A look at how creative thinking can be applied in a technological environment.
Innovative leadership
Bessant , J., Hughes, T. & Richards, S., (2010), Beyond Light Bulbs and Pipelines: Leading and Nurtuting Innovation in the Public Sector.
Hesselbein, F. et al., (2001), Leading for Innovation, Jossey Bass Wiley.
An interesting series of 27 essays from various business leaders and gurus. Sometimes thought provoking; sometimes offering practical advice. Good bedtime reading for leaders and senior managers.
Isaksen, S. & Tidd, J., Meeting the Innovation Challenge: Leadership for Transformation and Growth, Wiley.
Examines how more creative leadership can help organisations change and succeed.
Maddock, S., (2009) Change you can believe in: The Leadership of Innovation (PDF, 889 Kb) , The National School for Government.
This paper outlines the challenges that innovation presents to government, why the transforming government agenda is a foundation for the implementation of any innovation strategy, and why leadership is critical to innovation and transforming government.
Maher, L., Plsek, P., Bevan, H., (2008), Making a bigger difference. A guide for NHS front-line staff and leaders on assessing and stimulating service innovation. NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.
W: www.institute.nhs.uk/innovation
E: institute@prolog.uk.com
T: 0870 066 2071 and quote ‘NHSIBigdiffront’.
This useful guide to healthcare professionals describes a 5-step process, with supportive tools for assessing and stimulating service delivery innovations. It provides practical tips for application by both front-line staff and organisational leaders.
National School of Government, (2006), Government Reform and the Required Skills for Innovative Leadership.
A document from the National School of Government.
NESTA, (2009), The Innovation Index. NESTA.
This report presents the pilot version of NESTA’s Innovation Index. The aim is to provide a basis for better policymaking about innovation by developing and deploying significantly improved measures of innovation. The development of the Index is a two-year project; the publication of this pilot version represents a half-way point.
NSCL and The Innovation Unit, (2008) How do you measure impact? Next practice in system leadership. Gathering baseline data. NSCL and The Innovation Unit.
For a PDF copy please email: contact@innovation-unit.co.uk
Developed as part of the Next Practice in System Leadership project, this booklet examines the need to gather baseline data in order to capture emergent learning from trial sites. This guide outlines the baselining strategy, with lots of case study examples.
Sloane, P., (2007) The Innovative Leader, Kogan Page: London.
One hundred and seven things to do for yourself, for your company, and with your people. A practical book, each section is between half a page and three pages. It’s organised under six headings: Leading Innovation, Problem Analysis, Generating Ideas, Implementing innovation processes, Building a creative culture, Personal creativity.
Sloane, P., (2007) The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills: Powerful Problem-solving Techniques to Ignite Your Team’s Potential, Kogan Page: London.
Examples and tips to develop your skills and those of your team in creative problem solving.
Creating an innovative organisation
Coulson, T. & Strickland, A., (2000) Wow! How did they think of that? Applied Creativity.
This book helps you understand the principles that give organisations a competitive advantage in creating great ideas.
Hannon, V., (2007), ‘Next Practice’ in education: a disciplined approach to innovation, The Innovation Unit.
For a PDF copy please email: contact@innovation-unit.co.uk
This publication describes a new approach to stimulating, incubating, and accelerating innovation, which is strongly driven by user needs.
Horne, M (2009), Honest Brokers: brokering innovation in public services. The Innovation Unit.
For a PDF copy please email: contact@innovation-unit.co.uk
This booklet explores the role of innovation brokers in public services. It looks at what they are, what they do, and why they might be needed to support innovation in public services.
Light, P. C., (1999), Sustaining Innovation: Creating Nonprofit and Government Organizations that Innovate Naturally, Jossey Bass Wiley.
The book shows how to forge a culture of natural innovation. Divided into four parts: organisational environment, internal bureaucracy, leadership and management systems.
Maher, L., Plsek, P., Bevan, H., (2008), Making a bigger difference. Creating the Culture for Innovation. Guide for Executives. NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.
W: www.institute.nhs.uk/innovation
E: institute@prolog.uk.com
T: 0870 066 2071 and quote product code ‘IN049’.
This guide is a resource for senior leaders who wish to assess and enhance the cultures of their organisations and systems along seven key dimensions.
Merritt, R. & Merritt, A. J., (1985), Innovation in the Public Sector, Sage.
An early and wide-ranging look at international public sector innovations.
Mulgan, G., (2009) The Art of Public Strategy – Mobilising Power and Knowledge for the Common Good, Oxford University Press.
This book is about how the strategies of governments and public officials take shape. How money, people, technologies, and public commitment can be mobilised to achieve important goals. It analyses the tools governments can use to meet their goals, from targets and behaviour change programmes, to innovation and risk management.
Patterson, F., Kerrin, M., Gatto-Roissard, G., Coan, P., (2009), Everyday Innovation: How to enhance innovative working in employees and organisations, NESTA.
The report considers the working practices that promote innovation and whether they are being readily adopted by organisations – public and private. Using several practical examples it shows how to promote everyday innovative working at the employee, group, leader and organisational levels.
Pettigrew, A. & Fenton, E., (2000) The Innovating Organisation, Sage.
Rich with international case studies, this will be of most value to those interested in organisational strategy, theory and design.
Relevant reports for government
Capability Building Programme Project Group (2011), Scaling Up Innovation in the Public Sector
This report sets out proposals to support scaling up innovation in the public sector. It was produced as a result of a twelve week project undertaken by a team drawn from across the public service and, as such, is not a statement of Government policy. Rather, it comprises a set of ideas and propositions to inform and support future policy and service delivery across the wider public sector.
Kohli, J., Mulgan, G., (2010), Capital Ideas: How to Generate Innovation in the Public Sector
Kohli, J., Mulgan, G., (2010), Scaling New Heights: How to Spot Small Successes in the Public Sector and Make Them Big
Department for Business Innovation and Skills, (2010), Evaluation Strategy. Crown
The role of evaluation in evidence-based decision-making.
Bacon, N., Faizullah, N., Mulgan, G., (2008), Transformers. How local areas innovate to address changing social needs. NESTA
Innovation is essential if local areas are to flourish. Transformers explores why some places innovate more effectively than others. The report uses case studies, an easy-to-use model and toolkit to help local authorities understand how to make more of the innovation that currently goes on and how to stimulate more.
Boyle, D. and Harris, M., (2009), Co-production. NESTA
According to the paper, co-production as a new way of thinking about public services has the potential to deliver a major shift in the way we provide health, education, policing and other services, in ways that make them much more effective, more efficient, and so more sustainable. This paper provides the basis for both a better understanding and a stronger evidence base for co-production.
Bunt, L., Harris, M. (2010) Mass Localism. NESTA
This report offers an approach by which central and local government can encourage widespread, high quality local responses to big challenges. The approach draws on the lessons of NESTA’s Big Green Challenge – a successful programme to support communities to reduce carbon emissions.
Department for Business Innovation and Skills, (2010), 2009 Annual Innovation Report. Crown.
The second Annual Innovation Report provides a snapshot of innovation in the UK and an opportunity to compare performance across years.
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (2008) Innovation Nation: Unlocking Talent. White Paper. London, Stationery Office.
The White Paper, Innovation Nation, published on 13 March 2008, sets out the government’s aim to make the UK the best place in the world to run an innovative business or public service.
HM Government (2009), Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government. White Paper.
This plan delivers better public services for lower cost. It outlines how the government will improve public service outcomes while achieving the fiscal consolidation that is vital to helping the economy grow.
NAO, (2009), Innovation across central government, House of Commons Papers.
Since 2006, when the National Audit Office last reported to Parliament on innovation in central government, departments have started to implement some of the report’s recommendations and improve innovation. The Innovation in the Public Sector report outlines how public servants are developing innovations through to implementation.
NAO, (2000), Supporting Innovation: Managing Risk in Government Departments, House of Commons Papers.
Covers culture, risk aversion and the need to manage and evaluate the risks of innovation. Supports better innovation in government.
PDF available from www.nao.gov.uk
Office for Government Commerce and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, (2009), Driving innovation through public procurement.
This short guide shows public procurers how to foster innovation at each stage of the procurement process in order to achieve benefits for the public purse and wider economy.
