Portuguese
Dear innovators,
Innovation does not happen in isolated offices or closed laboratories. It arises from connections, from the flow of knowledge that crosses teams, areas, organizations, and even entire value chains. In an increasingly interdependent world, innovation is less about having a brilliant idea and more about creating an environment where knowledge circulates, combines, and transforms into new solutions.
Professionals who support innovation, managers, analysts, consultants, and support leaders are the strategic supporters of knowledge circulation. They are the ones who create the conditions for ideas to find space, people to exchange experiences, and organizations to learn together. But we must recognize that managing this flow is not simple. Innovation is a dynamic skill that underpins organizations’ ability to respond to uncertain, competitive, and changing environments. Its success depends on the articulation between leadership, learning, and management practices that structure dispersed knowledge flows and promote continuous adaptation.
This logic extends when we consider that organizations do not innovate alone. Knowledge is a critical resource that needs to be managed in collaborative networks, not only within companies, but also between them. In supply chains, innovation depends as much on the quality of these interorganizational flows as on the human capacity to deal with tensions and asymmetries.
What does this mean in practice?
- Promote intentional connections: Knowledge only turns into innovation when it circulates. Encourage meetings between departments, promote exchanges between teams that rarely talk to each other, and create spaces for sharing lessons learned from projects, mistakes, and successes. Small connections can generate big leaps in creativity.
- Recognize the value of tacit knowledge: Not everything that matters is documented. A fundamental part of innovation comes from what people know how to do, but cannot explain. Listening, observing, and valuing this practical experience is as important as investing in information systems.
- Treat knowledge as a collective asset: Learning in one area does not belong only to that area. When knowledge remains restricted, the company loses power. Help your team think of sharing as part of their job, not as something “extra.” What is shared multiplies value.
- Accept contradictions and learn from them: Where there is innovation, there are differences. It is natural for different areas to see the same problem from different angles. Instead of seeking immediate consensus, encourage listening and constructive confrontation. It is in friction that the new takes shape.
- Turn complexity into learning: Complex environments are not the enemy of innovation; they are its fertile ground. When dealing with challenges that involve multiple actors, systems, and perspectives, the manager’s role is to facilitate continuous learning. Mistakes cease to be failures and become part of the discovery process.
- Strengthen networks of trust: Sharing knowledge requires psychological safety. People need to feel that they can raise questions, test hypotheses, and admit uncertainties without fear. Managers who build trusting relationships increase the speed and quality of innovation.
- Support informed decision-making: Innovation requires autonomy, but also direction. Ensure that the flow of knowledge is connected to the organization’s strategic objectives. Innovative decisions require data, context, and purpose.
- Value interorganizational learning: Innovation rarely arises within a single company. Partnerships with suppliers, customers, universities, and startups broaden vision and accelerate evolution. Invest in collaborative relationships and think of the supply chain as a learning ecosystem.
Managing innovation is, above all, an act of courage. Courage to accept uncertainty, engage with difference, and try new things even without guarantees of success. This requires a balance between structure and flexibility, between processes that ensure direction and practices that embrace the unexpected. Innovative organizations learn to adjust course as they go, turning improvisation into strategy and uncertainty into learning.
The good news is that courage can also be learned and strengthened through networking. When managers create safe spaces to explore ideas, make mistakes, and learn, they inspire their teams to do the same. And that is how organizations become truly innovative: not by decree, but by culture.
In short, innovation is a living process. It requires knowledge in motion, trusting relationships, and management that knows how to deal with complexity without being paralyzed by it. The role of professionals who support innovation, often behind the scenes, is essential: they keep the wheels turning and ensure that knowledge continues to flow.
Stay curious, connected, and courageous. Innovation needs you.
With appreciation,
Prof. Ana Lívia Cazane, PhD
Universidade de Marília – Master’s Degree in Business Administration
analivia.ead@unimar.br
Further reading:
Wang, J., & Hu, S. (2023). Knowledge management and supply chain innovation: an integrative framework. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Cazane, A. L. (2023). A inter-relação entre a gestão do conhecimento e a gestão da cadeia de suprimentos: análise do estado da arte. Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Marília.
