Too fuzzy. Too myopic.
Mastering the art of acceleration means knowing how (and when) to change the speed and direction of the innovation process.
Borrowing from the world of physics, acceleration is the name we give to any process where the velocity changes. Since velocity means speed with a direction, leaders can accelerate innovation in one of three ways: by speeding up, by slowing down, or by changing direction. (Inspired by Khan Academy, n.d.)
Here are eight strategies to purposefully change the direction of the innovation process to align with organizational needs and purpose:
To ‘tighten up’ the innovation process (if deemed too fuzzy, diffused, or diversified):
Craft overarching, human-centered innovation quest, purpose, or North Star for leaders and teams to rally around
Create innovation principles, guidelines, toolkits, performance indicators, and other guardrails
Refocus innovation portfolios, reprioritize innovation projects, and reallocate resources in a purpose-led way
Kill ideas and terminate projects that no longer fit or align with new learnings, new opportunities, new goals, new needs, etc.
To ‘loosen’ the innovation process (if deemed too myopic, rigid, or one-sided):
Identify portfolio gaps based on long-term consumer trends, emerging technology, and industry disruptions
Challenge assumptions, reframe problems, and revise hypotheses through research, experimentation, and prototyping
Promote crowdsourcing, collaborative play, co-creation, continuous feedback, etc.
Encourage self-organization, self-direction, intrapreneurship, and internal coopetition
