Strategies for Driving Growth – Activate the Gates

As economic pressures build, leaders are increasingly dependent on their innovation process to drive growth and close revenue and earnings gaps. So, they climb into the driver’s seat only to find there are no gauges on the instrument panel, the gas and brake pedals don’t work and the steering wheel spins like it’s not even attached to the wheels. To take control and drive growth, leaders need the first strategy in successfully getting new ideas to market: Activate the Gates.

All ideas get to market through the Value Creation Funnel^TM via a process known by many names but what will be known here as the Idea to Market™ process (or I2M™ for short). There can be lots of ideas in I2M™. Some are big, some are small, others in between. Some are on-strategy, some are not. Many are known to senior leaders but usually many more are not. All are consuming some level of valuable resources.

Activating the Gates enables leaders to drive innovation at 4 critical points:

1. Innovation Charter – Captures the innovation objectives, scope, opportunity areas, key insights and initial resource needs. The innovation charter ensures early strategic, leadership and organizational alignment prior to starting down the I2M™ pathway.
2. Innovation Development – Ensures that only innovation concepts which meet specified criteria (strategic, financial, screening, etc.) are allocated resources in the development process.
3. Commercialization Launch – A final business proposition that covers all aspects of the innovation prior to commercialization and enables leaders to make informed launch decisions.
4. Read & Release – A post- commercialization evaluation that assesses both innovation and I2M™ performance based on specified metrics, releases innovation project resources as appropriate and creates a continuous learning cycle for ongoing performance improvement.

To effectively and efficiently drive growth, senior leaders need the ability to see into their innovation process and exercise strategic control over it. Activating the gates of I2M™ enables the gauges, pedals and steering capabilities they need to drive growth in their business.