https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/12/12/three-principles-for-building-a-successful-innovation-strategy/?sh=38e191b54fcb

Innovation has long been a hallmark of successful organizations. The world's most iconic companies seem to create the future, while everyone else is trying to predict it.

Over the past several years, however, a growing number of leaders has made innovation a core business objective, and technology has enabled entrepreneurs and tiny companies to execute innovative ideas at scale, changing the business landscape (and changing the way we live in the process). As technology continues to evolve at exponential rates, innovation will be in greater demand than ever.

As the principal of a digital transformation company, I’m fascinated by these developments. Advances in network routing — resulting in the rise of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 technologies — will make all of our connections faster and will transform the internet of things into the internet of everything. A massive number of connected devices will be generating a mind-boggling amount of data, and thanks to ongoing progress in data analytics and artificial intelligence, innovative companies will be able to take advantage of that data.

In short, humans and machines will work together to find better solutions to complex problems and to optimize our lives in new ways. It sounds futuristic, but it's already happening.

The future is here.

Amid unprecedented technological change, opportunities for innovation are everywhere. Capitalizing on these will require prescience and deliberate execution of a thoughtful innovation strategy. Companies need to make sure they aren't simply adopting new technologies for technology's sake, but rather to further their innovative thinking.

A comprehensive innovation strategy will provide a framework for listening to audiences and gathering data, analyzing problems, ideating around potential solutions, applying the right technology to those solutions and prototyping and testing them to ensure they're effective.

Innovation without structure, facilitation and clearly articulated goals will result in flawed products and messy rollouts. In fact, without structure, real innovation is downright impossible. Likewise, real innovation can often require external stimuli.

Go look outside?

Sometimes, the ideas that can move your organization forward don't come from the inside. If you're seeking to transcend your internal office politics and gain a new perspective on a pressing problem, it could be helpful to bring in a partner. Outsiders don't carry the baggage of past workplace feuds or the institutional knowledge that makes it hard to think differently about familiar problems.

Of course, it is possible to handle innovation internally if the right players are ready and willing. You'll need to identify someone with enthusiasm for innovation who would also work as a great facilitator. This person needs to be able to speak up in meetings and give equal weight to all the ideas that stakeholders present instead of just letting the boss run the room. There are certainly enough resources out there to learn some workshop tools that could start someone on the right path to internal innovation initiatives without an outsider perspective. Workshops and sprint guidelines can be learned, but they do take practice to master.

If you decide to look externally, specialized partner companies could help ensure that the best ideas — rather than just the loudest voices — get the most attention, whether through innovation workshops or design sprints. Many outside facilitators don't care about the ideas that the CTO usually approves of or the fact that your lead salesperson always gets their way. Their job is to encourage intellectual honesty in order to ensure that all ideas are considered and to see that the best ones rise to the top.

Typically, by the end of an engagement, even the salesperson and the CTO should be aligned on the way forward because of the rigor and structure inherent in the process. Whether or not you ultimately look outside of your firm for help, keep the following three principles in mind as you work to develop your own innovation strategy:

1. Commitment is key. Companies that set themselves apart as truly innovative usually have to make big sacrifices, and no one talks about those. The reality is that becoming "innovative" requires you to funnel time, money and human capital into ideas that are somewhat risky by nature. This means you may not have leftover resources to allocate to initiatives that might actually be more profitable in the short term.

Success in business is never guaranteed, but a commitment to innovation requires a larger-than-average tolerance for risk and the prioritization of long-term success over short-term growth. That can be a hard pill to swallow for many businesses, especially those beholden to shareholders and other outside investors.

2. Failure is inevitable. In Silicon Valley and other major startup hubs, clichés like "fail fast" and "fail forward" abound. Yet it's no coincidence that those places churn out innovative companies. Until you have a firm understanding of what doesn't work, you'll have a hard time coming up with effective solutions. Most companies look at failure as something to be avoided, but with the right people and processes in place (along with a stalwart commitment to innovation), experiments or prototypes that don't pan out can be catalysts for subsequent success.

3. Feedback is a gift. Innovation is a team effort. If you're trying to build something new or do something in a way that no one else has, you need a team of people who can communicate effectively. An integral part of effective communication is the ability to give and receive constructive feedback. Without feedback, individuals won't know whether they're contributing to the team's progress or hampering it. On the most successful teams, individuals care less about being right and more about being helpful.

These principles are closely related, and they're all deeply ingrained in innovative company cultures. Keep them in mind as you develop and refine your innovation strategy. Doing so will allow you to seize the immense opportunities that the next decade will present and will empower you to lead change rather than simply react to it.