Innovation that Sticks

Are you doing innovation wrong?

Leaders who are new to established organizations often turn to innovation as a way to do new things, make new choices, or bring in new tech.

If you've been brought on as a new leader in an organization, you and your board of directors have probably had important conversations about the urgent need for innovation - meaning big, bold, new, never-done ideas, often heavily reliant on leveraging technology - to move the organization to a new level of growth, success, or impact.

New can be good. Bold can be inspiring.

But here's something I've learned across 20 years of executive leadership and advising clients in high-change settings:

Innovation that sticks is powered by intention, not urgency.

Getting intentional requires us to thoughtfully consider:
→ Why are we doing this?
→ Why is now the right time?
→ How does this align with our stated strategy and planned investments?
→ What are we testing and what do we think it'll achieve? Do we need to test this whole initiative at once, or could we test part of it and refine our approach?
→ What do we hope to learn from these tests so we can apply those learnings in other contexts?
→ How can we make it as easy as possible for our team to turn this into our new way of working?
→ When will we evaluate progress, adapt as needed, and make further decisions about this innovation?

When we focus on launching new, innovative initiatives quickly without considering these questions upfront, we create environments where follow-through is unlikely - because we've already moved on to the next/new launch.

Then this initiative, like so many before it, joins the pile of "stuff we tried that didn't work."

And we've damaged trust with our team in the process.

How are you using intention - and resisting urgency - to drive innovation in your organization? Join the conversation on LinkedIn.