Barriers to Innovation and Creativity

A number of barriers to innovation and creativity that are prevalent in bureaucratic organizations include:

 

• Delivery pressures and administrative burdens. Limited time to dedicate to thinking about how to do things differently causes individuals to miss innovations in delivery service that might be more time- and cost-effective.

• Guidelines, rules, and policies. While these are important for day-to-day work life, over time they become roadblocks for out-of-the-box thinking.

• Short-term budgets and planning horizons. Inability to think outside of day-to-day pressures on how things could be improved is exacerbated by short-term budgets and planning horizons. Innovative strategies are reduced to tactical responses to immediate needs.