How to Align Your Innovation Initiatives With Your CEO

Innovation drives success, but innovation initiatives succeed only when they align with the company’s goals, vision and culture. And that vision starts at the top. Aligning your innovation initiatives with your CEO’s vision for the company’s future is the key to forging new paths to a successful future, and that begins with confronting–and overcoming–the challenges of integrating innovation into existing company culture and ensuring that it engages all employees in service of a larger vision.
More than half of CEOs in a recent surveysaid that although they recognize the need to innovate, they struggle to align innovation strategies with the company’s overarching business strategies. And the same survey, 65 percent of companies investing a significant amount of revenue into innovation also said that aligning innovation initiatives with company goals presented a major challenge. But those challenges can be met with a clear articulation of the purpose of an innovation and the steps that everyone can take to implement it in a meaningful way.

Innovation: A State of Mind?

Whether it involves technology, new business approaches, or smaller alterations to a company’s existing products and procedures, innovation is the prime driver of success in a rapidly evolving, global marketplace for products and services of all kinds. But efforts to innovate in ways large and small often fail. Innovators must face obstacles including an entrenched company culture that resists disruption and change, limitations in resources, and lack of cooperation among different factions within the company.
Business strategists point out that innovation is less a process than it is a state of mind–a willingness to look toward the future, embrace novel approaches and apply knowledge in fresh ways to achieve goals both large and small. A culture of innovation that welcomes new ideas and strategies provides the context for developing innovation initiatives that work for the benefit not only of the company itself, but also for the people who work there–and this culture encourages every employee to become an active participant in any initiatives that can utilize their skills.

But building a culture of innovation can create tension between a company’s need to innovate and the challenges of implementing innovation initiatives that make a significant contribution to the company’s overarching vision. Identifying and addressing those challenges is the first step toward successfully aligning your innovation initiative with the CEO’s vision for the company’s future.

Overcoming Obstacles to Innovation

Innovation flourishes in an environment of strategic alignment – a structure in which the actions of everyone in the company work together to achieve the company’s overarching vision. In this way, everyone, from CEOs and senior leadership to the newest and most minor employee, is engaged in a single cooperative effort to support the company’s success. In this way, employees become both empowered and accountable for their contribution to these larger goals, and everyone understands the purpose and value of their work.

Innovation initiatives struggle without this kind of alignment with company goals and willingness to embrace new ways to achieve them. Issues that contribute to the failure of innovation initiatives include:

A lack of clarity around the initiative. The rush to innovate can create “innovation for innovation’s sake” – initiatives created in response to outside pressures, such as a competitor’s new strategy or the emergence of a new technology. But if an initiative can’t be clearly articulated and shown to be in alignment with the company’s vision, it’s likely to fail. Under those circumstances, it becomes difficult to bring all relevant staffers on board with the initiative and to gather the resources needed to carry it out. Likewise, company leadership will be reluctant to support an initiative that doesn’t offer clear benefits for the company’s bottom line and future ambitions.
A fragmented and competitive company culture. In a recent survey on challenges facing innovation in the workplace, more than two thirds of respondents said that “turf wars,” office politics and a lack of alignment with the company’s goals were the biggest barriers to successful innovation. Competition for limited resources, jockeying for authority and interdepartmental power struggles can indicate a lack of strategic alignment with company goals and a failure to embrace the goals of the proposed initiative. When various factions within the company either don’t understand the point of an initiative or actively oppose it, the proposed innovation is likely to fail.

Aversion to risk. Although business strategists across all industries emphasize that risk taking is a key to success, many companies resist innovation for a variety of reasons related to risk aversion. Innovation creates disruption in ways both small and large, and forces companies to reassess current strategies and learn new ways of working. That can cause major shifts in expectations, responsibilities and company structures. Innovation can also be expensive, calling for existing resources to be used in new ways, or for more investments in money, staff and equipment – a risk the company may be unwilling to take.

A fear of failure. Innovation can happen incrementally, with small and almost unnoticed steps, or it can come as a sudden transformation that brings radical change. But companies may resist innovation because of the potential for failure. A culture of innovation needs to be willing to embrace failure as a part of the creative process that leads to new outcomes. A successful innovation initiative will include strategies for encouraging and vetting new ideas and trying new strategies with the understanding that not all will be successful. Accepting the risk of failure also encourages employees to innovate on their own in service to the company’s larger goals.

A lack of incentives. Successful innovation initiatives that engage all parties in the pursuit of a goal also have clearly established metrics for measuring achievement, and incentives, either financial or otherwise, to achieve those milestones. Without a clear measurement of success, or recognition for their achievements, employees become less invested in the initiative and feel less accountable for its success. With strategies in place to reward key drivers of success and milestones reached, employees can see the result of their efforts and feel engaged in the ultimate outcome of the initiative.

A reluctance to collaborate. In workplaces plagued by interoffice politicking and “turf wars,” collaboration and cooperation in service to innovation can be difficult if not impossible. Likewise, when companies choose not to collaborate with external experts or outside entities, they limit opportunities for insights and alliances that could open new paths to success. Successful initiatives are the result of teamwork both within and outside the organization, with all parties committed to the process of putting the initiative into place.

A lack of “top-down” commitment to company goals. Strategic alignment that supports innovation succeeds when leadership has a clear grasp on the company’s defining goals, values and vision, and takes the necessary steps to ensure that those values are reflected in all areas of the company. In that way, innovators are able to get the support they need to implement new initiatives and complete them, even if that process is a long one.

Strategic Alignment: a Framework for Successful Innovation

Strategic alignment of all operations with a company’s values and vision creates an environment for successful innovation initiatives, and the company CEO is the custodian of that vision, and the individual who sets the tone for the entire organization. To align your initiative with your CEO, it’s important to evaluate the initiative’s place within the context of the company’s culture and create a framework that supports its success.

Does the initiative align completely with the company vision? Consider all aspects of the initiative in light of the company’s declared objectives. “Random innovation” that gives the illusion of advancement without reflecting company values can be difficult to implement, because it doesn’t offer the potential for unifying all relevant parties around a specific goal. Likewise, if the initiative doesn’t offer solutions to actual problems facing the organization, it can be difficult to establish meaningful metrics for success.

Does the initiative have clear and measurable objectives? With clearly defined objectives that strategically align with company goals, it becomes easier to demonstrate the value of the initiative to the company and to measure its progress. That provides all parties with a framework for the initiative and a way to evaluate and reward their work throughout the process. Measuring the initiative’s objectives in light of the CEO’s vision for the company can ensure that it’s in alignment with those larger goals.

Does the initiative make the best use of available resources? A successful innovation initiative takes into account the time, money and staff needed to complete the project, and allots them with an eye to the stated goal. But it’s also essential to make expectations clear and acknowledge the potential for unanticipated obstacles.
Is there a clearly defined time frame for completion and for key milestones along the way? Successful initiatives establish a clear timeline for all stages of the proposed project and break this timeline into manageable steps. That helps to show the relevance of the initiative to larger company goals, and keeps employees motivated to work toward those goals. A projected time frame needs to be flexible enough to allow for the unexpected, but it serves as a guideline for evaluating progress and planning next steps.

Does the initiative promote unity within the organization? As we’ve noted, a toxic workplace rife with interoffice rivalries and a lack of attachment to the company’s larger vision typically can’t support successful innovation. But a well-planned initiative that promotes cooperation, communication and a commitment to the outcome can bring workers together around a shared goal and reward their efforts. Giving staff opportunities to collaborate, take risks, and work toward a desired outcome can also help to create a new culture of innovation.