1.

Engage stakeholders early and often

The first step is to bring the right voices to the table from the very beginning. When setting out to revamp the approach to innovation, I recommend starting by gathering your leadership team for regular meetings. These discussions reveal that each area of the organization has its own approach, priorities, and challenges. Engaging stakeholders early ensures that your innovation strategy reflects the realities of your entire organization. This inclusivity fosters buy-in, surfaces practical insights, and sets the stage for a culture of collaboration.

2.

Create a strategy that combines creativity and structure

Innovation thrives when you pair creative thought with strategic intent. A well-crafted strategy provides clarity and direction. Further, using that strategy to determine where to invest in innovation ensures that efforts align with the needs of the patients and your organization’s goals and long-term vision. Most importantly, it transforms innovation from a series of chance encounters into a repeatable, scalable process.

It can be helpful to manage innovation across your organization as a single portfolio. In my experience, this has included consolidating the tracking, funding, and support for translational research, innovation, and test development. This approach ensures you elevate new ideas within a broader strategic plan while also eliminating confusion about how and where to access resources for innovation efforts.

3.

Identify and secure dedicated resources

An innovation strategy cannot succeed without the right resources. I’ve discovered this often requires treating innovation as a separate investment instead of something that happens alongside daily operations. When innovation and production share the same pool of resources, it often results in “starving innovation to feed production.”

By securing dedicated funding and support for innovation, you enable your teams to pursue high-impact projects without sacrificing operational excellence.

4.

Communicate and manage change with intention

Even positive change can be unsettling. That’s why clear, consistent communication is essential. As leaders, we must articulate not only what is changing, but why. Teams need to understand how new priorities are set, how their work fits into the bigger picture, and what success looks like. When I’ve led efforts to establish or refresh an innovation strategy, it has been a priority to communicate openly about our new approach, the rationale behind it, and the benefits. This transparency reduces uncertainty, builds trust, and helps staff adapt to new ways of working. It also fosters a sense of shared purpose, which is critical for sustaining momentum.