Where the proverbial rubber meets the road….implementation. Not for the faint of heart. This ties directly to leadership team and culture.

You need to adapt or create processes (“Oh No!” you say, “Processes, structure – they are oxymoronic with innovation!”) to systemize policies, procedures, goals, funding, and the entire ‘innovation process.’ Many companies use, a Stage-Gate process (do some stuff, make a decision to go forward, do more stuff, make another decision….).

Then you need to identify the right metrics to gauge your success along the way. The important thing with metrics is that, unlike the rest of your business, the trend is usually more important than the absolute – any absolute numbers are bound to be wrong. So, you need to re-learn the Scientific Method (from the old High School days) and experiment, prototype, experiment, prototype, experiment….you get the picture.