Connecting the corporate innovation and growth strategy to the overall strategy should be at the top of the priority list for any innovation team establishing or reestablishing their initiative. Organizations may or may not have an approach or a framework to connect the innovation strategy with the corporate strategy. If not, they should. One common framework is to think about the corporate strategy as ‘strategy’ and the corporte innovation strategy as the supporting ‘tactic’ that enables fulfillment.

One of the best and most experienced organizations in the world at this practice is the US military. There are clear operating standards and policies that delineate between these two distinctions. 

Corporate innovation teams should also utilize practices or processes in their operating duties. There are numerous ways to approach this and hundreds of methodologies and frameworks to choose from that are quite effective. A few examples include design thinking, business model canvas, corporate lean startup, idea management, and many, many more. You can also invent your own. Assigning performance metrics and outcomes to these practices (the tactics) can help support the broader organizational goals and objectives (the corporate strategy). 

When assessing corporate innovation performance it’s also important to distinguish between activity and outcomes. We have noticed many corporate innovation teams substitute activity for performance which has leads to flawed methodologies resulting in disastrous outcomes. Don’t do this.