Innovation is . . .

Throughout the literature on innovation you will find reference to factors (the usual suspects) that help companies become more innovative. These include such things as: reward and recognition mechanisms; flat corporate structures; a lack of fear; respect for your peers (i.e. he or she might know more than you do); real support from top management; free resources (money and time); an idea collecting system etc. etc.

Assuming that, for the most part, most progress is the result of numerous incremental improvements over time in all areas of the business; what about this factor? How do you create a sense of it in the work place? When the default is not to bother, how do you turn things around?