The Innovation Process for Leaders

Doing more, faster, better with less has become the default setting in modern commerce. Demands keep rising while budgets, time, and headcount keep tightening—so leaders can’t rely on “a genius boss” to produce endless great ideas on command.

**The practical answer is to run innovation like a repeatable system, not a one-off brainstorm.** When you use a shared process, you get better ideas from the whole organisation—especially the people closest to customers—then you choose wisely and execute with discipline.

How do leaders define “success” before trying to innovate?

**You can’t innovate well if the target is fuzzy, because teams will sprint hard in different directions.** Start by visualising what “success” actually looks like: your objective, your “should be” case, and the measurable outcomes that prove you got there (customer impact, cost, time, quality, risk, revenue). When leaders skip this step, the project becomes a debate club—lots of opinions, very little progress. When leaders do it properly, innovation becomes easier because everyone is aiming at the same bullseye, and you can tell quickly whether an idea helps or distracts.

Do now: Write one clear “should be” statement plus three success measures (metric + deadline + owner).

What’s the fastest way to gather the right facts without killing creativity?

**Facts are fuel for creativity, so collect evidence before you collect opinions.** Do a focused fact-finding sweep using the “who, what, when, where, why, how” questions, and defer judgement while you gather inputs. This is where many organisations discover their data is weak, inconsistent, or simply wrong—so they fix measurement first, then solve the problem. Practical sources include customer complaints, churn reasons, sales cycle delays, defect rates, handoff friction, approval bottlenecks, and time wasted on rework. You’re not trying to prove anyone wrong; you’re trying to see reality clearly enough to design a better future.

Do now: Capture 10 hard facts (numbers or patterns) and 10 “voice of customer” quotes before any ideation session.

How do you frame the real problem so you don’t solve the wrong thing?

**The way you state the problem determines the quality of solutions you’ll get.** If you frame it poorly, you’ll generate busy ideas that don’t move the needle. If you frame it well, your team naturally produces sharper, more useful options. A simple test: ask five people what the main problem is—if you get eight opinions, your framing isn’t ready yet. Leaders need to investigate what’s really holding performance back or where resources are leaking, then express it in a way that invites creative input without bias. “Sprinting hard and fast in the wrong direction” feels productive, but it’s still failure—just louder.

Do now: Rewrite your challenge in three ways—customer outcome, process bottleneck, and resource waste—then pick the cleanest version.

How do you run ideation so loud voices don’t crush the best ideas?

**To get better ideas, you must ban judgement and generate in silence first.** This is the stage where you chase volume, not quality—because you’re widening the option set before narrowing it. The trap is instant evaluation: quick thinkers get bored, start talking, and the deeper thinkers stop contributing. Silence protects the quieter brains and reduces status bias, which matters in any hierarchy—especially when juniors defer to seniors or everyone defers to rank. Also, don’t ignore your best sources: the newest hires and the people closest to the customer “coal face” often see problems and opportunities leaders can’t see from the top.

Do now: Run 10 minutes of silent brainwriting (10 ideas per person), then cluster ideas by theme—still no critique.

How do leaders choose the best ideas without politics or seniority deciding?

**Selection needs “judicial thinking,” or the most assertive people will dominate what gets chosen.** Once you move into solution finding, judgement is allowed—but it must be structured. Otherwise the bolshie, confident few will steer the decision, juniors will defer, and the group will settle into an “easy consensus” that mirrors status rather than value. Use a simple scoring method that makes trade-offs explicit: impact, effort, speed, risk, customer value, or strategic fit. This doesn’t kill creativity—it protects it, because strong ideas don’t die just because the wrong person said them, and weak ideas don’t survive just because a senior person likes them.

Do now: Score your top 10 ideas against 4 criteria and rank them; if hierarchy distorts debate, make scoring anonymous.

How do you turn a good idea into real results (not a slide deck)?

**Innovation only counts when it’s accepted, implemented, followed up, and evaluated.** After you pick an idea, you still need buy-in: acceptance finding is where you sell the concept for time, money, and people—competing against other priorities. Then implementation turns intent into a plan: who does what, by when, with what budget and resources, and what each person is accountable for. Follow-up prevents nasty surprises (the team is “zigging” when you thought they were “zagging”), without micromanaging. Finally, evaluation locks in learning: did it work, was it worth it, and what do we apply next time so the organisation gets smarter with every cycle.

Do now: Assign one owner, set a 30-day milestone, and review progress weekly until the success metric is met (or the idea is killed on evidence).

Quick next steps for leaders

• Pick one urgent business pain point and run Visualisation + Fact Finding in the next 60 minutes.
• Run silent brainwriting before any discussion to protect deeper thinkers.
• Use a simple scorecard to choose ideas fairly and fast.
• Pilot one idea within 30 days, then evaluate and repeat the cycle.

FAQs

Brainstorming or brainwriting—which works better?

**Brainwriting usually wins because it reduces groupthink and status bias.** Silent idea generation produces more diverse options, especially in hierarchical teams.

How long should the nine-step innovation cycle take?

You can do the thinking steps in a half-day and the execution steps over 30–90 days. The tighter your scope and metrics, the faster you can test and learn.

What if leadership won’t fund the idea?

Treat acceptance like a sales process and offer a smaller pilot. If you can’t win resources, shrink the test until it’s cheap, fast, and measurable.

What’s the biggest reason innovation efforts fail?

Teams skip clarity and jump straight to ideas, then argue and stall. Clear targets, solid facts, and fair selection remove most friction.

How do you keep innovation from becoming a once-a-year workshop?

Make the process the habit: repeat it until it becomes organisational DNA. A consistent system gets faster and stronger every cycle.

Conclusion

**Most companies don’t lack ideas—they lack a shared method for producing, choosing, and executing ideas.** When you repeat one common innovation process, it becomes efficient and effective, and good habits get consecrated into the organisation’s DNA. Run the cycle often, keep it fair, and keep it measurable—then innovation becomes normal business, not a special event.

Author credentials

Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie “One Carnegie Award” (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban “Hito o Ugokasu” Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダā).

Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan’s Top Business Interviews, which are widely followed by executives seeking success strategies in Japan.