Strategies for Sustaining Innovation Through Change Management

Nonprofit executives - are you doing innovation wrong? Let's find out. 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? #nonprofit #leadership #management #strategy #innovation #ChangeManagement --- Hi, I'm Veronica LaFemina. I help CEOs and Department Heads at established nonprofits create strategic clarity, lead and manage change, and move their organizations from stressed to strategic. On LinkedIn, I write about practical approaches to improving the ways we think, plan, and work.

I’ve been a huge fan of Tom Fishburne for years since we were classmates at Harvard Business School. Tom started drawing cartoons on the backs of HBS business cases, which evolve to become his famous and insightful Sky Deck cartoons.  I was always on the lookout for them. I invite my connections across all industries to subscribe to Tom’s insightful newsletter. Last week’s issue particularly resonated with me. Tom highlighted that labeling an idea as polarizing can quickly kill it, as businesses usually avoid such ideas in favor of safer, more universally appealing ones. However, there’s power in polarization. Trying to appeal to everyone often results in appealing to no one. In a cluttered world, the last thing a company can afford is to create indifference. Several years ago, I was helping the innovation group of a large carrier and saw firsthand the graveyard of idea killers. Many innovative ideas, often originating from those in the field who directly experience pain points, did not make it past the first round of evaluation. To help this carrier effectively evaluate innovative ideas and develop a repeatable process, we implemented a few key strategies: 1. Idea Champion Program: We assigned champions to promising ideas to advocate for them, gather feedback, and iterate on the concepts. 2. Cross-Functional Evaluation Committees: We created committees with members from various departments to ensure diverse perspectives in idea evaluation. 3. Fail Fast, Learn Faster: We encouraged a culture where failure is acceptable as long as we learn from it quickly. Prototyping and piloting ideas in controlled environments helped us make informed decisions. 4. Customer-Centric Approach: We focused on ideas that directly addressed customer/staff pain points, involving these stakeholders early in the development process. 5. Regular Review Cycles: We established regular review cycles for all submitted ideas to ensure they received proper attention. By implementing these strategies, we helped the carrier create an environment where innovative ideas could thrive. This process not only brought new solutions to the market but also fostered a culture of creativity and continuous improvement. Remember, the goal is not to avoid polarization but to harness it. Great ideas often provoke strong reactions, and that’s where their power lies. By creating a structured process to evaluate and nurture these ideas, we can ensure that they have the opportunity to make a significant impact. https://lnkd.in/eWfV_a-t

Balancing innovation and responsibility under recent AI-related executive order changes requires a deliberate strategy, and #ISO56001 and #ISO42001 provide a structured path to achieve ethical innovation. 1️⃣Align Leadership on Strategy 🧱Why It’s a Challenge: Competing priorities across leadership creates silos, making it difficult to align innovation goals with compliance and ethical considerations. 🪜Solution: Develop a unified strategy that integrates innovation and governance. ISO56001 embeds innovation as a strategic priority, while ISO42001 ensures accountability and ethical AI practices are foundational. ⚙️Action: Form a governance team to align innovation with responsible AI principles and regulatory requirements. 2️⃣Build AI Governance Framework 🧱Why It’s a Challenge: Without governance, innovation will lead to unintended outcomes like bias, regulatory violations, or reputational damage. 🪜Solution: Implement ISO42001 policies to manage AI risks, covering the AI lifecycle from design to deployment. Align governance with your business strategy, and address transparency, bias, and privacy concerns. ⚙️Action: Integrate ISO42001 governance processes into existing ISO56001 innovation frameworks. 3️⃣ Foster a Culture of Responsible Innovation 🧱Why It’s a Challenge: Innovation-focused teams often prioritize speed and creativity over compliance, leading to risks being overlooked. It’s human nature. 🪜Solution: Use ISO56001 to foster innovation capacity while embedding ethical principles from ISO42001. Incentivize responsible AI practices through training and recognition programs. ⚙️Action: Build awareness across teams about the fundamental importance of responsible AI development. 4️⃣Operationalize Risk Management 🧱Why It’s a Challenge: Rapid AI experimentation can outpace the development of controls, exposing your organization to unmitigated risks. 🪜Solution: ISO56001 prioritizes innovation portfolios, while ISO42001 asks for structured risk assessments. Together, they ensure experimentation aligns with governance. ⚙️Action: Establish sandbox environments where AI projects can be tested safely with predefined checks. 5️⃣Establish Continuous Improvement 🧱Why It’s a Challenge: Regulatory environments and AI risks evolve, requiring organizations to adapt their strategies continuously. 🪜Solution: ISO42001 emphasizes monitoring and compliance, while ISO56001 provides tools to evaluate the impact of innovation efforts. ⚙️Action: Create feedback loops to refine innovation and governance, ensuring alignment with strategic and regulatory changes. 6️⃣Communicate Transparency 🧱Why It’s a Challenge: Stakeholders demand evidence of ethical practices, but organizations often lack clarity in communicating AI risks and governance measures. 🪜Solution: Use ISO42001 to define clear reporting mechanisms and ISO56001 to engage stakeholders in the innovation process. ⚙️Action: Publish annual reports showcasing AI governance and innovation efforts.

Far too often, I see leaders and companies move on from innovation, believing it's only necessary during the startup phase. In reality, it's what keeps companies alive and thriving. As companies grow, it's easy to fall into routine and let creativity fade. But innovation must continue-even as you scale. An older HBR article I came across this morning highlights how breakthroughs in management can create lasting advantages that are hard to replicate. Companies focused only on new products or efficiency often get quickly copied. To stay ahead, businesses must become "serial management innovators," always seeking new ways to transform how they operate. This idea remains as relevant now as it was back then. The benefits of sustained innovation are undeniable: •Competitive Edge •Increased Revenue •Customer Satisfaction •Attracting Talent •Organizational Growth and Employee Retention Embrace the innovation lifecycle-adapting creativity as your organization matures. Sustaining creativity means creating an environment where people feel safe to push boundaries. Encourage your teams to think big, take risks, and use the experience of your organization. Here are three strategies that I’ve seen work firsthand: Make Experimentation a Priority: Mistakes are part of the process—they help us learn, grow, and innovate. As leaders, share your own experiences with risk-taking, talk about what you've learned, and celebrate those who take bold steps, even when things don’t go as planned. It sends a powerful message: it's okay to take risks. Promote Intrapreneurship: Many of the best ideas come from those closest to the work. Encourage your people to think like entrepreneurs. Give them ownership, the tools they need, and the freedom to explore. Whether it’s through ‘innovation sprints’ or dedicated time for passion projects, showing your team that their creativity matters sustains momentum. Address big challenges, ask tough questions, and let your people feel empowered to tackle them head-on. Break Down Silos: True innovation happens when people connect across departments. Create opportunities for cross-functional interactions-through gatherings, open forums, or spontaneous connections. Diverse perspectives lead to game-changing solutions, and breaking down silos opens the door to that kind of synergy. Innovation doesn’t happen by accident. It requires dedication, a commitment to growth, and a willingness to challenge what’s always been done. To all the leaders out there: How are you ensuring your teams remain creative and engaged? What strategies have you found that create space for bold ideas within structured environments? —-- Harvard Business Review, "The Why, What, and How of Management Innovation" #Innovation #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #Creativity #BusinessGrowth #Intrapreneurship #CrossFunctionalCollaboration #ImpactLab