Purpose

We're about the now, the real, and the impactful. So let's start with what's in front of us—an idea, a problem to solve, or a need to fulfill.

At the center of every Flywheel is a purpose: a goal-driven idea collection that challenges people to generate ideas.

Encouraging a healthy innovation culture forces you and your organization to keep a single purpose when innovating. You can keep as many Flywheels spinning as you'd like, but every one of them needs a vital purpose at its core.

If you want to engage people in innovation, it is essential to ground it in a purpose they can understand and relate to. From a strategic standpoint, it is also important to keep innovation within the company's general business goals.

Together with the Initiator, sketch out the core of why it is essential to the team, department, or your entire organization to solve a particular problem by tying it to overall strategic business goals. If you can't develop a succinct purpose, your Innovation risks failing to engage enough people or deliver measurable results, so don't skip this step.

Talk about KPIs

As part of their responsibilities in helping run innovation, you should ensure measurable and achievable goals are set at the outset. What are your goals, and how will you know we've reached them?

Talk about how to best quantify your innovation success and define your success criteria, such as engaged people, collected ideas, implemented ideas, or dollars saved.