Close your eyes and think about the infamous East-coast / West-coast hip hop war of the mid 1990’s.
Now, instead of Biggie and Tupac, imagine the feud is between someone wearing a sharp Politix suit and someone wandering around the office with a kale salad.
Still with us? Great. Instead of battling over hip-hop, imagine they’re beefing about innovation—what its job is and where it should sit within the organisation.
On one side, you’ve got the team that believes innovation’s job is to serve the brand team. It should help close budget and portfolio gaps or seize tactical opportunities opened by customers. Reactive, practical, and tight to the core.
On the other side? The long-term thinkers. They see innovation as a strategic tool to deliver on big-picture objectives and purpose. Building incremental new platforms, solving unmet consumer needs, and, if necessary, replacing the core entirely.
Where you sit in this debate shapes your view on where innovation belongs. Should it be under the brand team? A free agent out on its own? Part of R&D?
Well, firstly, this debate shouldn’t be had at the water cooler. The water cooler is a place where we talk about Love Is Blind. Everybody knows this, so just cut it out guys. Instead, let’s argue on the internet like all sensible people do.
Here’s our take:
1️⃣ The role of innovation needs to be clear at the strategic, organisational level.
Is it here to strengthen the core or explore beyond it? This decision sets the tone for everything: placement, resources, and measurement.
2️⃣ Alignment is crucial.
When innovation’s purpose isn’t clearly defined, it ends up in the wrong place, with the wrong metrics, the wrong budget, and—surprise—the wrong outcomes. It’s a mess from day one.
3️⃣ The timeline matters.
Short-term firefighting? Long-term transformation? You can’t decide where innovation sits without first agreeing on how soon it’s expected to deliver.
We see organisations stumbling at this first hurdle all the time. They haven’t defined what innovation is supposed to achieve, so it’s set up to fail from the beginning —wrong structure, wrong targets, wrong everything.
So let’s settle this beef. Should the innovation team sit on its own, away from the core, close to it, or with the brand team?
Our two cents: Start by investing the time and energy to determine its true job (or jobs). And then, let’s move on to the next bit.
TL;DR: Innovation fails without a clear job. Define its purpose, then structure it right.
🎤 Now, over to you: Does your organisation’s innovation structure have a clearly defined role? Or is it just winging it? Let us know in the comments.
For more on this subject:
👉 reach out to us to chat
📚 read this: https://lnkd.in/gjkwwusk
#Innovation
#OrganisationalDesign
#FutureOfWork
#StrategicThinking
#DisruptiveInnovation
#CorporateStrategy
Love this initiative, Causeway! To truly revolutionize your brand's impact, consider leveraging sequential storytelling across multiple platforms, ensuring a cohesive narrative that engages and grows with your audience.