Biceps, quads, abs — we all know these muscles don’t develop overnight. It involves the right plan, a lot of work, and yes, a little pain along the way. And guess what? It’s no different than building your organization’s innovation muscle.

Your team’s mindset, skills, and behaviors all make up your innovation muscle. When developed correctly, innovation muscle makes your organization stronger, better, and faster. But just like the muscles in your body, your innovation muscle has to be built up — and if you don’t use it continuously, you lose it.

The right plan

When you decide to build muscle in your body, you must establish a careful balance of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Terms like “bench press,” “deadlifts,” and “leg press” will become part of your regular vocabulary, and you’ll do research to determine the right number of reps and rest days. In other words, you’ll have a plan and the right resources in place before you begin.

The same applies to building innovation muscle. If you haven’t figured out what you’re working towards, how you’re going to get there, how you’re going to repeat and scale the process, and which resources are required to make it all work seamlessly and continuously, the muscle will never develop. Building innovation muscle can’t rely on random “Eureka!” moments. 

Beware, though, innovation just for innovation’s sake isn’t the same as innovation muscle. It might consist of a lot of action, but if it doesn’t intersect with your biggest business goals it won’t make your organization stronger. Think about what you need to accomplish and determine what kinds of innovation will get you there. Anything less is merely innovation theater that doesn’t move the needle.

A lot of work

When you’re building up muscle, the gym is your best friend. It has tools and trainers that can get you where you want to be — as long as you’re willing to put in the work day in and day out. You won’t see results overnight, but if you’re committed to the right plan, you’ll get there.

Building innovation muscle is no different. After all, the end result of transformative innovation is more revenue, a competitive advantage, and new brand recognition — and none of those things come easily. It is possible to keep those benefits rolling, as long as you operationalize innovation. Develop repeatable frameworks and processes to analyze and prioritize ideas, build them out as efficiently as possible, measure their impact, and scale success. Consider this process to be the equivalent of heading to the gym.

Yes, operationalizing innovation requires upfront work that you’ll have to commit to day in and day out. That’s how you create enough muscle to reach the pinnacle of sustained innovation. Just like the gym, you won’t see results overnight, but if you’re committed to the right plan, you’ll get there. (And when you have the right “personal trainers,” you’ll get there even faster.)

A little pain

We’ve all had that day — you finish a workout and head straight for the heating pad or aspirin bottle. Working out muscles you’re not used to using is painful! Building innovation muscle can also be painful because people are naturally resistant to change. As exciting as it may be to hear, “We’re going to become a really innovative company!” your team will likely be afraid of the new processes, teams, and projects that are established as a result. Innovation does not have to be a disruptive force, but it will become one if you don’t acknowledge the need for change management ahead of time.

Every organization has management, organizational, communication, and infrastructure nuances that you must be mindful of when you set out to create a culture of truly transformative innovation. Working through them is no different than those squats you do at the gym — uncomfortable at first, but critical to fortify your organization for the innovative road ahead.

Here at Launch by NTT DATA, we say that if it doesn’t feel uncomfortable, we’re probably not pushing ourselves. Start building your innovation muscle by downloading our ebook 10 Tough questions: Test your readiness for enterprise-level innovation. Consider it your first workout on your path towards sustained innovation that sets your organization apart.