What It Really Means to Enable Innovation
It’s interesting the things you learn after spending a week surrounded by construction professionals at an event focused on innovation.
That's because everyone will tell you they want innovation. But all too often, we treat it like a product to buy instead of a culture to build.
In construction, “innovation” has become one of those buzzwords that looks great in a core value statement but feels impossible in real life. Everyone talks about it. Few actually live it. Even the most popular ConTech providers of today are struggling to truly innovate.
Why?
Because the truth is, innovation isn’t something you install; it’s something you enable.
That’s what I learned hanging around folks making a real impact on the industry this last week.
Truly enabling innovation is about more than money, software or slogans. It takes people willing to think differently, processes designed for adaptability and leadership courageous enough to trust both.
Innovation Starts with People, Not Products
Yes, I sound like a broken record, but it’s worth repeating: great technology doesn’t transform projects. Great people do. When you really look at the projects that thrive, they have one thing in common: leaders who focus on the why before the what.
“Change management isn’t about training people how to use the new tech. It’s about helping them understand why the change in tech matters.” - Manny Innamorato
That “why” is everything. Every digital initiative, every new workflow, it all changes someone’s day for better (or worse). Sometimes it changes their entire career. And if you don’t explain the purpose, people fill in their own stories, and innovation stalls.
Manny continues, “At the end of the day, you’re changing someone’s life, and they need to know why. ‘Because we said so’ is not enough.”
As I've said before, when we hand people rigid, “take it or leave it” systems, we don’t empower them. We constrain them. Innovation thrives when users have the freedom to shape their tools to fit how they work, not the other way around.
From Automation to Creation
But once you empower people, the next question becomes: how do we amplify them?
AI is the power tool of the digital era and, just like any other tool, it doesn’t replace people. It empowers them. But while automation has incredible promise, it also comes with real risk.
Since the goal isn’t to replace human ingenuity, but rather to give it more room to breathe, we need to be mindful in our approach. If we start chasing shortcuts instead of craftsmanship, we lose the very thing that makes innovation meaningful.
“People are going to think they have an Easy Button with AI and they aren’t going to do the work [to think]. Then what happens when you have a claim? You can’t just sue OpenAI because someone used the chatbot incorrectly.” - Hugh Seaton
Automation without accountability doesn’t make us smarter. It makes us sloppy.
And that’s where courage comes in. You see, innovation is less about invention and more about bravery. The willingness to take the first step into something uncomfortable.
“If you’ve ever looked at something that’s hard or intimidating, just take that first step. You can do it. Don’t be afraid to take a risk.” – Michelle Glazier
Technology doesn’t eliminate risk; it changes where we face it. The brave thing isn’t pressing “enter” to generate a response. It’s using the response that comes out to continually build something better.
Automation That Connects, Not Confuses
From there, the real test of automation is no longer about how advanced it looks. It becomes about how connected it feels.
“We were double-handling our data anywhere from five to twelve times per project.” - Timothy Arruda
If that line makes you wince, you’re not alone. It’s the quiet chaos that kills efficiency. Because when our tools don’t talk to each other, our people can’t either.
“We always hear ‘double-entry’ and think of entering information into one system and then another. But double-entry can happen within the same system if you’re not structured with your data governance.” - Georgia Aguila
While we love to talk about “breaking down silos” too often we’re building new ones out of digital bricks. Rigid platforms don’t scale creativity, they suffocate it. The same goes for disconnected data: it doesn’t empower collaboration, it exhausts it.
“If you do have two groups that try to work independently, when you put them into the same tool you are forcing them to work more collaboratively.” - Timothy
And that’s the point. Innovation isn’t about adding tools; it’s about creating alignment. Connection is what turns effort into impact.
Innovation That Lasts
And yet, even when we connect everything, innovation still fails if we treat it like a one-time event instead of an ongoing mindset. Sustained innovation happens when everyone (from field engineer to executive) shares the same vision of success. Without alignment, you get friction. Without courage, you get complacency.
“Framing an initiative as a ‘change’ project, not a ‘technology’ project, makes all the difference. The tool isn’t the silver bullet, the new processes and efficiencies are.” - Timothy
“The vision for success in a digital transformation must be consistent from the doers in the field all the way up to the executives.” - Martin Aztiazarain
“Most people do just enough each day to earn their paycheck and not get fired. If you just give a little more — just a bit — you separate yourself very quickly.” – Michelle
That’s what innovation looks like up close. It’s not a flash of genius; it’s a small, intentional decision to build alignment and keep getting better. Even when nobody’s watching.
And when the imposter syndrome hits (and it will), remember this:
“A lot of people go through imposter syndrome once (or more) in their life. Then there are the moments where a client says, ‘Wow, we couldn’t do this without you.’ Those are the moments to be grateful for and lean into.” - Leslie Gowdish
Innovation thrives on grit and determination. Grit and determination last when fueled by gratitude.
Moving Beyond the Hype
For all our talk about AI, automation and digital transformation, the real challenge facing construction is still painfully simple: our data.
“The project after the project is an enormous effort (often 1–4% of project cost) with very little value, because the data is unorganized and unusable.” - Brian Moore
That single sentence captures the problem perfectly. We pour millions into capturing information during design and construction, but when the job is done, the handover data too often ends up disjointed, inconsistent and unreliable. It’s the digital equivalent of a messy file cabinet, but no one can find what they need.
Poor data quality doesn’t just create busywork. It destroys confidence. When owners, contractors, and engineers can’t trust the data, they revert to what they do trust: instinct. And once that happens, all the dashboards, reports and AI models in the world can’t help.
If the data we leave behind isn’t usable, the innovation wasn’t real. It was theater.
But even the cleanest data won’t matter if it’s not safe.
“Security remains the #1 concern of leadership when evaluating AI. Data must remain private, protected, and never commingled.” – Brian
That’s because trust is the backbone of progress. Without it, innovation collapses under its own weight. Every breakthrough in AI or automation carries a parallel responsibility — to handle information ethically, securely and transparently.
We can’t afford to let technology outpace our governance. We need to treat security and privacy as core tenants, not afterthoughts. Because when people trust that their now actionable data is secure, that’s when true innovation begins to scale.
Because at the end of the day, real innovation doesn’t just create value. It protects it.
Where the Innovating Begins
So, what does it really mean to enable innovation?
It means giving people permission to think, courage to try and tools flexible enough to let them build. It means connecting, not complicating. Leading with why, not because I said so. And above all, it means remembering that innovation doesn’t come from software.
It comes from us.
If the past has taught us anything, it’s that you don’t innovate by buying a product, and you don’t innovate by waiting for a crisis. You innovate by enabling people, empowering processes and having the courage to embrace change.
That’s how we move from talking about innovation…to actually building it.
Construction is cool, tell your friends!