Many folks liken the process of innovation to a baseball diamond:
First base – Vision
Second base – Strategy
Third base – Ranking priorities
Home – Alignment of resources: people, places, services.
We need the relevant people who share a common understanding of the vision and the strategy, accept the validity of that direction, and have a passionate commitment to make it work. We also need senior executive leadership support, a comprehensive, adaptable communication plan, a contract for buy-in to goals & direction, a creative focus on the few highest priority initiatives, as well as a governance process for investment (priorities), aligned pay-for-performance metrics, group leadership development, values-based goals, milestones & metrics.