Driving innovation and growth

Whether your organisation is operating in a new or existing market, competitive advantage is always key to achieving growth. Such a competitive advantage is predicated on difference, which can sometimes be hard to attain.



Innovation is the driving force behind this difference, and as the leader of an organisation, it requires courage on your behalf to stand out from the crowd. You need to be able to look at, and do things differently to everyone else. In fact, a recent study surveying CEOs worldwide found that many perceive innovation as the single most important leadership competency.


Be that as it may, we know innovation and growth isn’t all that easy to achieve. For starters, competition is tough, budgets are tight, and creativity training doesn’t always work.


So what can you do, as the leader of your organisation? Do not worry - you’re not expected to be the primary source of innovation or creativity! But you do need to lead the innovation process, and recognise that your leadership innovation has the most impact in the organisation. How you focus your organisation is going to be the most effective way towards achieving growth.


The process starts with designing and building what I call the innovation architecture, which consists of four elements;

  1. Your own attitudes and beliefs - This involves accepting you are unlikely to have all the capabilities to run an organisation, so create space for others to fill in the gaps. Furthermore, recognise that it’s possible to influence your own future, through your personal actions and decisions.
  2. The organisational purpose and strategy - We know that clarity of purpose directs creative effort. So be clear about the organisational purpose - it’s not always about making a profit! You must be able to describe the core strategy of the organisation.
  3. The organisational design and culture - Embrace and allow diversity to flourish in your organisation. Diversity in the ‘gene pool’ of your organisation directly relates to its ability to adapt to changing conditions through creativity and innovation.
  4. The organisational practices and processes - Put in place practices and processes that legitimise ‘maverick’ behaviour - those who show they are legitimately engaged in seeking creative and innovative ways of doing things.


Before you embark on your journey towards innovation and growth, ask yourself whether you are trying to do it all yourself. Ensure you truly believe innovation is the key to growth. Be clear about the purpose of your organisation, and embrace diversity within it. Above all, be supportive of the practices in place - protect all attempts in achieving innovation and growth by providing air-cover for your people.

Subscribe to our regular articles, insights and thought leadership

Part 3: Accelerate Performance With Strategic Alignment - Develop The Appropriate Culture

By Norman Chorn • March 27, 2023
In my previous article "Accelerate Performance with Strategic Alignment - Define the logic of your strategy", we demonstrated the alignment between the market and business strategy by matching the logic of the market with the logic of the strategy. The Explore logic emphasises a market where customers seek new solutions for emerging requirements. The strategy responds by exploring new opportunities and driving for growth. The Exploit logic occurs in a more stable market where customers seek lower costs and reliability of supply. The appropriate strategy focuses on operational efficiency and building close customer relationships. Culture is key to shaping the capabilities of the business to successfully implement strategy . It drives the way that people behave, decisions are made and actions are taken. It determines, therefore, the strategy that is actually realised in the market, as opposed to that which is merely intended. We make a key distinction between the desired culture and the appropriate culture. The desired culture is what people may choose because it sounds attractive and in vogue. However, the appropriate culture is the culture that is required to successfully implement the chosen strategy. Often, these can be different. For example, people might seek to develop a culture that is ‘innovative’, ‘flexible’ and ‘empowering’, but this may not be the appropriate culture needed to successfully implement the business strategy. DEVELOP THE APPROPRIATE CULTURE FOR YOUR STRATEGY Developing the appropriate culture requires a deliberate emphasis on certain cultural attributes and making trade-offs on others. As we will see, the attributes that are traded off are usually the opposites of those that are emphasised.
2 puzzle pieces

Part 2: Accelerate Performance with Strategic Alignment - Define the Logic of your Strategy

By Norman Chorn • March 27, 2023
In Part 1 "How to Accelerate Performance with Strategic Alignment - Understand the Logic of the Market" we outlined different market conditions and defined them in terms of two overarching logics — Exploring and Exploiting . To briefly recap, an Exploring logic is one where customers are seeking new solutions for emerging needs. It’s all about change and action. An Exploiting logic occurs in a more stable market in which the issues are about lowering costs and working collaboratively with customers. It’s a market that focuses on stability and cohesion. FORCES THAT SHAPE YOUR STRATEGY Clearly, it is one of these two logics — or a combination of both — that will shape your strategy as you operate in these markets. See figure 1 below that describes how these logics will form your business strategy: