# 5 Time-limited focus on innovation

What is it?
Giving individuals or teams an agreed amount of time to develop ideas.

How could I use it?
Organisations around the world have been using time-limited innovation hubs, innovation units and innovation teams to promote new work. The method became popular in the 1940s with the success of Skunk Works and has since been adapted in a number of forms, including short-term secondments and A teams, which bring together professionals from different backgrounds to work together on specific issues for a limited amount of time.

Where has it been used?

1.    South Australia’s A Teams is a programme between the South Australia Office for Youth and the Adelaide Thinkers in Residence
•  Small groups of young employees (20s and 30s) are seconded into an A team for a limited period of time, tasked with working on a single issue or priority
•  To date teams have worked on issues of homelessness, young people in family business, early childhood development and social innovation
•  The programme allows those involved to work with professionals from other disciplines and interact with senior policymakers and officials
•   For examples visit South Australia’s A Teams website

2.   Improvers in Haringey Council
•    Improvers work across departments within the council to improve services
•    Improver posts were advertised in 2002 and 2004 in property management, corporate finance, project management, environmental and recreation services, IT and customer services
•    The aim was to attract individuals with a proven track record of innovation and the ability to encourage others. 

3.    Skunk Works in Kent Council, Malaysia Airlines and IBM
•    Teams working outside the regular organisational structure, and often away from the premises, of a company for a limited amount of time.
•    Successes in Kent County Council [see #7] and IBM suggest workers feel less restricted by organisational norms and therefore think more freely about solutions, stay focused on the task and form a strong cohesive unit. As a result innovation flourishes.
•    First utilised during World War II by Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Projects Unit where a secret team of engineers were encouraged to break company rules in the name of innovation and as a result developed highly successful spy-planes and supersonic bombers.