Strategies for Empowering R&D and C&I Teams

I am constantly thinking about how to foster innovation in my product organization. Building teams that are experts at execution is the easy part—when there’s a clear problem, product orgs are great at coming up with smart solutions. But it’s impossible to optimize your way into innovation. You can’t only rely on incremental improvement to keep growing. You need to come up with new problem spaces, rather than just finding better solutions to the same old problems. So, how do we come up with those new spaces? Here are a few things I’m trying at Duolingo: 1. Innovation needs a high-energy environment, and a slow process will kill a great idea. So I always ask myself: Can we remove some of the organizational barriers here? Do managers from seven different teams really need to say yes on every project? Seeking consensus across the company—rather than just keeping everyone informed—can be a major deterrent to innovation. 2. Similarly, beware of defaulting to “following up.” If product meetings are on a weekly cadence, every time you do this, you are allocating seven days to a task that might only need two. We try to avoid this and promote a sense of urgency, which is essential for innovative ideas to turn into successes. 3. Figure out the right incentive. Most product orgs reward team members whose ideas have measurable business impact, which works in most contexts. But once you’ve found product-market fit, it is often easiest to generate impact through smaller wins. So, naturally, if your org tends to only reward impact, you have effectively incentivized constant optimization of existing features instead of innovation. In the short term things will look great, but over time your product becomes stale. I try to show my teams that we value and reward bigger ideas. If someone sticks their neck out on a new concept, we should highlight that—even if it didn’t pan out. Big swings should be celebrated, even if we didn’t win, because there are valuable learnings there. 4. Look for innovative thinkers with a history of zero-to-one feature work. There are lots of amazing product managers out there, but not many focus on new problem domains. If a PM has created something new from scratch and done it well, that’s a good sign. An even better sign: if they show excitement about and gravitate toward that kind of work. If that sounds like you—if you’re a product manager who wants to think big picture and try out big ideas in a fast-paced environment with a stellar mission—we want you on our team. We’re hiring a Director of Product Management: https://lnkd.in/dQnWqmDZ #productthoughts #innovation #productmanagement #zerotoone

The Innovation Execution Gap in Tech & Pharma: 10 Leadership Shifts to Transform Team Performance Your R&D teams are brilliant. Your processes are cutting-edge. Your training is world-class. Yet implementation lags behind innovation. Here's the reality: in high-stakes environments, execution barriers aren't about capability - they're about the system you've built as a leader. 10 hidden barriers blocking your team's execution (and how to fix them): Unclear Expectations 🎯 When people guess, they default to old habits. Be crystal clear about what success looks like. Missing Feedback Loop 📊 Without regular signals, people assume they're on track. Create weekly touchpoints. Skepticism About Methods 🤔 Show don't tell. Share early wins and real results to build confidence. Priority Chaos ⚠️ When everything is important, nothing is. Help your team protect execution time. Zero Incentives 🎯 Recognition matters. Make following through worth their while. Trust Deficit 🤝 Balance autonomy with alignment. Create safe spaces for honest dialogue. Cultural Misalignment 👥 Actions speak louder than words. Model the behavior you expect. System Friction ⚙️ Remove organizational roadblocks before expecting new behaviors. Fear of Failure 😰 Create psychological safety. Reward smart risks, not just successes. Change Exhaustion 🔄 Build momentum through small wins. Celebrate progress consistently. Remember: Training is just the starting line. Your real job as a leader? Creating an environment where execution is the natural outcome. 💭 Question for leaders: Which of these barriers resonates most with your current challenge? Share your situation, I'd love to hear your perspective. ♻️ Share this with a leader who needs this perspective ➕ Follow Shirley Braun , Ph.D., PCC for insights on leadership, scaling, and transformation that sticks.

Our team is at a crossroads. How do we inspire innovation in an era of uncertainty? Leading teams through times of change and disruption is often likened to steering a ship through stormy seas. It's about maintaining focus on the horizon, what you want to achieve as a team, while instilling and reinforcing a culture of innovation, and ownership within our crew. Through my work on the podcast, I've had the opportunity to discuss with numerous leaders about their strategies for nurturing creativity and driving forward-thinking initiatives amidst turbulent times. Key takeaways have been: 1) Build psychological safety: Creating a safe space for your team members to take risks and focus on their work can drive creativity and innovation. 2) Minimize cognitive load: Strive for the right balance of transparency. While keeping the team informed is crucial, too much information can overwhelm them. Keep their focus on customer outcomes. 3) Foster collaboration: Promote open dialogue and welcome diverse perspectives. Your team holds invaluable customer insights. 4) Make necessary resources available: Equip your team with the right tools, training, and mentorship to succeed. Commitment to creating an ecosystem that encourages transformative thinking can be the difference in these uncertain times. What strategies are you employing to foster innovation? Share your insights As we navigate these changing tides, let's remain committed to fostering environments that ignite transformative thinking. Share your strategies for inspiring innovation during uncertain times. 🛠️🌊

If your innovation pipeline only includes ideas from R&D or marketing, you’re missing half the game. Some of the best innovation I’ve seen came from the least expected places: legal, procurement, ops. Not because they were trained in creativity but because they were closest to the friction. They live in the constraints, see the inefficiencies, and crave a better way. Let’s be real: Most orgs unintentionally shut them out. Innovation gets often treated like a VIP lounge for the so-called creative types. When it should be a business function with open doors and a clear playbook. So, what actually works? → Challenge-based innovation that invites contributions based on real business needs. → A scoring system that values relevance and feasibility, not just flash. → A process that empowers any team to surface ideas and a mechanism to execute the best ones. Great ideas don’t show up neatly aligned to your org chart. And your innovation process shouldn’t either. #SystematicInnovation #CrossFunctional #InnovationLeadership