{"id":48677,"date":"2024-01-19T13:58:37","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T18:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=48677"},"modified":"2025-05-08T06:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T10:58:06","slug":"stop-winging-it-how-innovation-works-and-how-to-lead-it","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/stop-winging-it-how-innovation-works-and-how-to-lead-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Innovation Process Works and How to Lead It"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Stay Focused With a Targeted Innovation Process<\/h2>\n<p>To remain competitive and relevant, innovation has always been a high priority for businesses. But lately, the pandemic and its corresponding economic upheaval have forced organizations of all types to rethink their business models.<\/p>\n<p>Who are your customers now, what do these customers need, and how will those needs change in the coming months \u2014 and even years?<\/p>\n<p>Overwhelmed by the push for innovation, many leaders feel like they\u2019re swimming upstream with no end in sight.<\/p>\n<p>After decades of research, we know there is a universal process on how innovation happens \u2014 the <strong>targeted innovation process<\/strong>. Understanding the innovation process not only will help you focus, but it will also inspire you to lead your team as they develop valuable solutions for your organization and your clients.<\/p>\n<h2>4 Steps for Leading the Innovation Process<\/h2>\n<p>At CCL, we believe that <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/role-innovation-depends\/\">no matter where you sit in the organization, you have a role to play<\/a> in the innovation process.<\/p>\n<p>And if you\u2019re leading innovation, much of your work involves championing and connecting across and beyond your organization in order to gain traction for a proposed solution. Sometimes, the challenge is to get an initial solution out into the world and learn how to continuously develop and refine it. Other times, the challenge is to balance rigor and creativity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The innovation process has 4 stages:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>clarification,<\/li>\n<li>ideation,<\/li>\n<li>development, and<\/li>\n<li>implementation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As an innovation leader, it\u2019s important to note that all 4 phases of the innovation process need to happen. Part of the challenge for leaders is understanding when to spend more time on a phase and when to move ahead. And keep in mind that you may need to be flexible, going back and forth between the phases.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/innovation-4-part-process-center-for-creative-leadership.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/innovation-4-part-process-center-for-creative-leadership.png\" alt=\"Infographic: 4-Step Targeted Innovation Process\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>The 4-Step Targeted Innovation Process<\/h3>\n<p>The targeted innovation process helps you focus on innovation efforts and clarify your leadership role.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-48680\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/innovation-process-clarify-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg\" alt=\"Infographic: Clarify\" width=\"150\" height=\"125\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>Step 1: Clarify.<\/h4>\n<p>The exploration process begins by framing the challenge in a way that encourages creative problem-solving. Then the people involved gather data, such as insights into potential clients. From dialog and discussion, information and perspectives emerge, allowing for new opportunities. Typically, your team will re-frame the challenge at least once during this stage. For more tips on how to define an innovation challenge, read\u00a0<a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/hr-pipeline-3-ways-to-get-more-innovation\/\">3 Practices That Will Help Drive Innovation in Your Organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your leadership challenge:<\/strong> In the Clarify stage, it\u2019s your job to develop a shared understanding of the situation and bring together many diverse perspectives. Not clarifying enough may lead to innovation that doesn\u2019t resonate in the market because it doesn\u2019t solve the right customer challenge. On the other hand, too much clarification could leave your project stuck in \u201canalysis paralysis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-48682\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/innovation-process-ideate-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg\" alt=\"Infographic: Ideate\" width=\"150\" height=\"125\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>Step 2: Ideate.<\/h4>\n<p>This is the process of generating, refining, and selecting ideas. As a leader, you want to create a collective sense of what is possible while avoiding the \u201cfeasibility trap.\u201d Our research reveals when managers look at new ideas, they look for the most <em>feasible<\/em> ideas as their measure of desirability. Yet when customers look for new ideas, their measure of desirability is <em>creativity<\/em>. In fact, evidence suggests that customers want feasible ideas even less because they\u2019re viewed as less creative.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your leadership challenge:<\/strong> Hastily ideating might give you an idea, but maybe the idea is too obvious and you need to push your team for a more out-of-the-box concept. To avoid killing ideas and shutting down participation, encourage team members to stay open-minded. As you ideate, remember to keep your scope realistic and stay focused on the original challenge.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-48681\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/innovation-process-develop-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg\" alt=\"Infographic: Develop\" width=\"150\" height=\"125\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>Step 3: Develop.<\/h4>\n<p>Leadership at this phase is about creating a well-refined concept through prototypes, experimenting and testing, and low-risk sharing. As ideas are refined, help your team identify additional stakeholders and develop collaborative relationships to introduce the idea and gain wide acceptance across the organization.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your leadership challenge:<\/strong> Concepts, solutions, and plans need development and refining. After all, if you aren\u2019t tweaking and adjusting the idea until the high-level concept works, you may find yourself redoing your concept later. On the other hand, if you keep developing an idea, it may never get to market.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-48683\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/innovation-process-implement-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg\" alt=\"Infographic: Implement\" width=\"150\" height=\"125\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>Step 4: Implement.<\/h4>\n<p>The \u201cdoing\u201d phase is about piloting and rolling out a solution. It\u2019s also the learning and adapting phase. During product development or process improvement, help your team take in new information and adjust as needed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your leadership challenge:<\/strong> Leadership during this phase is about keeping the innovation on target and meeting the customer needs or the organizational challenge that initiated the innovation process. Before you roll out a solution, be sure you\u2019ve thoroughly completed the previous 3 steps. Implementing too early can mean bringing a solution to market that nobody asked for (clarification), with an obvious idea (ideation), that isn\u2019t thought through (development).<\/p>\n<div class=\"callOut webinar\">\n<h3>Access Our Webinar!<\/h3>\n<p>Watch our webinar, <a href=\"\/webinars\/how-to-promote-wellbeing-at-work\/\"><em>How to Promote Wellbeing at Work<\/em><\/a>, and learn how to build a workplace culture that supports and promotes wellbeing for all employees.<\/p>\n<div class=\"buttonPosition\"><a class=\"buttons button1\" href=\"\/webinars\/how-to-promote-wellbeing-at-work\/\" aria-label=\"Access the webinar about wellbeing at work\">Access Webinar<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Support the Innovation Process at Your Organization by Understanding Your Team<\/h2>\n<p>When you understand how the innovation process works, you can see what\u2019s missing in your approach to leading innovation. Start to discern development needs for you and your team by asking these questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>What part of the process comes most easily to you?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>What needs to happen to bring others in the organization to embrace and champion the innovation?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Do you need new skills or tools to work through the targeted innovation process?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Does your managerial mindset need to expand or shift to effectively lead innovation?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>In what ways does the organizational culture support your team\u2019s innovation, and what is getting in the way?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We\u2019ve found that people tend to have preferences for one or more of these stages, which makes it twice as interesting for people tasked with leading innovation. Knowing your team\u2019s preferences is essential for <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/purpose-in-leadership-why-how\/\">purpose-driven leadership<\/a> and can reveal predictable dynamics, tensions, or blind spots as you work through the innovation process together.<\/p>\n<h2>Special Considerations Around the Innovation Process for Executives<\/h2>\n<p>Gerard Puccio researched these preferences and created the FourSight assessment, which we use in our <a href=\"\/leadership-solutions\/leadership-development-tools\/customized-leadership-development\/\">custom leadership programs<\/a> for innovation leadership. Research reveals that as we go up the corporate ladder, we find <strong>stronger <em>ideation<\/em> preferences<\/strong> \u2014 the tendency to generate lots of possibilities and think in original ways \u2014 and\u00a0<strong>stronger <em>implementation<\/em> preferences<\/strong> \u2014 an inclination toward action and risk.<\/p>\n<p>Together, these preferences form the profile of a \u201cdriver,\u201d and organizations tend to have a bias toward the driver profile for senior-level leadership positions.<\/p>\n<p>However, <strong>the <em>clarification<\/em> preference stays relatively stable<\/strong> across the corporate ladder, and <strong>the <em>development<\/em> preference stays relatively stable<\/strong> at low ends.<\/p>\n<p>What does that mean? It means<em><strong> at higher levels of the organization, there might be a tendency to move from idea to implementation, without sufficient clarification on what problem you\u2019re solving or without thinking through the solution.<\/strong><\/em> Knowing this, senior teams can and should pay more attention to these phases of the innovation process, and make sure team members who advocate for deeper clarification and better development are heard. This requires creating a work environment of safety and candor, taking particular care to <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/9-ways-senior-leaders-sabotage-innovation\/\">encourage innovation instead of sabotaging it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Ready to Take the Next Step?<\/h2>\n<p><strong><em>Help your people learn more about the innovation process and how to drive it forward with a customized learning journey for your leaders at all levels using our research-backed modules. Available <a href=\"\/leadership-solutions\/leadership-topics\/\">leadership topics<\/a> include Leading Through Change &amp; Disruption, Emotional Intelligence, <a href=\"\/leadership-solutions\/leadership-topics\/innovation-leadership\/\">Innovation Leadership<\/a>, Learning Agility, Teamwork &amp; Collaboration, and more.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overwhelmed by the push for innovation in your organization? Learn how innovation works and how best to drive it using the targeted innovation process, plus some special considerations for senior executives who want to support more innovation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":48678,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48677","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categories-innovation-creativity","audience-leaders-managers","impact-level-senior-leaders","region-global","article-type-leading-effectively-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How the Innovation Process Works and How to Lead It | CCL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Facing a push for innovation in your organization? 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