In innovation, most attention is the work within the project. Before your next project begins, consider what questions your team should answer. This documentation provides transparency, alignment, and sets you up for success.

Your colleagues, especially your manager, need to know if you’re bored, buried, or somewhere in between. Share your workload so the team can balance the workload!

Perceptions of health are important! They can be as easy to share as Red, Yellow, and Green. THEN the conversation starts!

In a fast-moving world, you need a simple framework for weekly reflection. Your colleagues don’t have to finish and share every sentence every week, but everyone must be thoughtful of these every week. Own your praise. Own your critique. Own your silence.

Don’t rely on HR to define and govern feedback. Own it. Conduct it yourself. Be approachable. Groom it in others. Isolate feedback into three communication channels: email etiquette, meeting etiquette, and deliverable contribution. Neutralize personality conflict. Ask and negotiate “What do you want me to do differently?”

Every innovation professional should have a grasp of the share of their time they spend on innovation, versus operations, versus chaos. Managers should be approximately on the same page with their employee’s view of their pie chart.

Frameworks for feedback can be simple and helpful! Here is one such framework. For every point of feedback, ask reviewers to share these three ingredients.

Every week, every team member should share a snapshot of their recent accomplishments and their near-future plans. “Manage up” without “kissing up.”