Framework for a high-impact innovative culture
Image by Galina Nelyubova
In today's economy, innovation is the indisputable driver of growth. In response, companies have spent billions investing not only in R&D and technologies but also adopting innovation processes—Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Agile, and Disciplined Entrepreneurship. Yet, most of these business initiatives fail to produce measurable and meaningful results. They descend into "innovation theater," a series of motions that consume resources without yielding impact.
Oftentimes the core issue remains that well designed "process" and well intended organizational construct still need the right culture and behavior of teams to realize the desired outcomes. You cannot run a Design Sprint in a culture of fear. You cannot pivot a product in a culture that punishes failure. You cannot find breakthrough ideas in a culture of siloed responsibilities.
There’s also a misconception that startup companies would be naturally good at innovation. This notion is intuitive to a certain extent until the startups need to solve the challenges of staying focused and disciplined in a resource constrained environment to execute well and land on the innovative ideas they were founded on. While the issues of driving successful innovation are often times different for startups vis a vis established companies, we believe they can benefit from the same set of guiding principles of building innovative muscles and culture for the most valuable asset of any company - their people and teams.
This paper introduces the GLIFT Framework, a five-pillar model for building the foundational conditions of innovative teams. GLIFT is not a replacement for existing innovation processes; it is the essential "soil" that enables those "seeds" to grow. It provides a practical blueprint for leaders to build a resilient, curious, and psychologically safe environment where innovation becomes a repeatable outcome, not a random accident. Teams of all sizes can benefit from this pragmatic approach based on years of tried and true experience of leading teams in big tech and startup companies alike.
This framework is built on five interconnected pillars:
G - Goals & Rules of Engagement
L - Learning Organization
I - Ideas Win
F - Fail with Insights
T - Thesis-Guided Innovation
See the whitepaper for more details, real life examples, and pragmatic tips to get you started building the innovative DNA in your own organization.