Bottoms up communications for creative innovation

In research and development operations, there must be rather dramatic emphasis on communication from the lower echelons upward. Free, often direct communication links between the younger, creative minds and the top-level planners are vital. When scientists are regarded as professionals only, rather than part of a company team, they tend to approach their problems as chemists, physicists, or engineers working in their narrow professional areas with professional, rather than with company rewards and goals as their motivation. Only an atmosphere that provides for “bottoms up” flow of communications can unlock the innovative contributions that these talented people, specially trained in great depth, can make toward corporate goals.