Symptom: People cannot afford to spend the money on learning activities such as research and professional development.
Every group should initiate projects to remain up-to-date with research on emerging technologies and methods within its profession.
One way to ensure this continual learning process is to set aside resources for research and professional development. There are two reasons why this might not occur. Prices may be set too low, requiring people to spend too high a percentage of their time on billable work. Or if the organization does not charge for its services, budgets may not set aside adequate overhead and funding for learning activities.
For more dramatic leaps of innovation -- like starting up an entirely new line of business -- special research projects must be funded. Some R&D investments can be justified on technical grounds. But in general, measures of return on investment should be de-emphasized for infrastructure investments. Instead, plans should read like venture capital proposals that anticipate future business. Of course, people must have access to a venture-capital fund, and understand the process of gaining funding for research projects.
Both the "set asides" and access to "venture capital" are aspects of the internal economy.
