Nobody agrees on what innovation actually means

Ask your executive team, "What should be the role of innovation?" You'll get different answers from everyone.

Here's the reality:

• To Marketing, it's trendwatching and maybe startup scouting
• To HR, it's workshops, intrapreneurship or hackathons to foster employee engagement
• To Product, it's new features or new products
• To CEOs, it might mean new revenue streams to drive business growth
• To the COO, this could mean optimized operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Without alignment, innovation quickly becomes confusion.

Here's a question:

“What does innovation mean to you? Is this definition shared with your stakeholders?”

If your team isn't aligned on what it is, innovation is just … a distraction.