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Innovation communities are groups of individuals who come together to achieve a specific goal by combining their talents and skills. These communities can be found in various contexts, such as neighborhoods, faith traditions, or workplaces. The goal is to create a safe environment where ideas are freely shared, and new and innovative ways of doing things can emerge. Facilitators are often included to keep communication open and mediate any negative activity. Mutual respect and consideration are important for the group’s function.
Also known as innovation communities, innovation communities are individuals who come together for the express purpose of pursuing a specific goal by combining their gifts and talents as a means to achieve a desired end. In many cases, these individuals are volunteers who feel strong enough about the goal to donate their time and talent to the effort. This type of community can arise in a number of contexts, such as a local neighborhood, within a faith tradition, or even in a workplace.
In any context, innovation communities aim to create an environment that allows each participant to feel safe and secure while contributing to the pursuit of the common goal. The idea is that by removing any kind of barriers that would otherwise inhibit the free sharing of ideas and by stimulating inspiration from the collective knowledge and experience of those involved in the community, new understandings will emerge leading to new and innovative ways of doing the things. Because of this, the structure of a community can be somewhat fluid, allowing community members to assume different roles as the movement toward the goal progresses.
The innovation community concept can be applied in different scenarios. Neighborhoods can use this approach to tap into the wisdom and collective experience of residents to address certain types of community issues. Houses of worship can come together to find new and innovative ways to address issues affecting a number of people living in the area, such as unemployment, homelessness, or illegal drug use. Companies too can take advantage of innovation communities, providing the means for interested employees to pool their skills in order to address a problem that faces the company and will ultimately affect everyone connected to the company.
While the nature of innovation communities strives to create a safe environment where ideas are freely shared, there is often some kind of underlying structure that helps move communities forward in some way. Facilitators will often be included in the structure, focusing on keeping the lines of communication open between all participants and mediating when some sort of negative activity threatens to slow down the group’s momentum. Since one of the hallmarks of innovation communities is that participants have a vested interest in the well-being of others within the group, at least in terms of that well-being related to achieving their common goal, mutual respect and consideration are very important for the function group. As long as such respect and consideration is present, participants are more likely to be open about ideas and thoughts than to feel intimidated and possibly withhold something that would ultimately benefit all involved.
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