How to Steer Innovation with Objectivity, When Everyone has an Opinion
Innovation teams often find themselves in the trenches of competing opinions. The innovation opportunity has been defined, and key stakeholders have shared their insights as to what will drive upside or trigger failure. Resolving those issues is the tricky part because everyone has an opinion. Senior leaders, department heads, people with years of experience, those with loud voices, and those with the biggest paycheck in the room push their priorities because it is what matters most to them. Supply chain managers care about logistics. Tech teams worry about implementation feasibility or security. Marketers want to know the customer personas, the size of the market, the price. And sometimes, your boss’s perspective can overshadow the discussion.
The uncomfortable reality? Doing what is right for the project often requires you to disregard what powerful people are telling you. Making real progress on innovation requires learning about what is most uncertain, but building your political capital requires being responsive to those who carry the most clout. These pressures are usually at odds.
Dare you speak these words? All too often, the answer is no. Innovation teams fall into the trap of focusing their attention first on what seems to be immediately important. In reality, not all concerns are created equal during the “messy middle” of the innovation process. The real challenge (and primary goal) is sorting through these issues and identifying where to focus first — and getting everyone on board with your decision.
The Danger of Subjectivity
It’s tempting to rely on influential stakeholders when making decisions. But this leads to subjectivity, not objectivity. When decisions are based on personal opinions or department-specific interests, the innovation process becomes bogged down in biases and assumptions.
The result? Teams chase shiny objects, dig into irrelevant issues, and focus on familiar things. While they might think completing tasks and checking boxes shows progress, what’s more likely is that very little has been done to resolve uncertainty on the most critical issues that will allow the project to proceed. This is especially true when people are overly attached to their own ideas or territorial concerns. The key question is: how do you cut through this noise and focus on what really matters?
The Power of Objectivity
To ignore the opinions of your key stakeholders, you have to bring objectivity to the table. An objective approach involves systematically assessing the opportunity’s potential and risk with a quantitative analysis. In other words, you’ve got to build a business case — but you don’t need perfect answers.
By using a range of inputs (high, low, and best current estimate) in the right model, you can understand where within the business case the biggest uncertainties lie. You can then map the unresolved issues to the part of the business case they influence. With this simple approach, you’ve quantified the risk associated with the issue and created an objective lens through which to prioritize work and allocate resources. You can now shift away from making decisions based on opinions towards decisions based on data (even if imperfect) to identify the most uncertain areas on which to focus.
Once you have an objective perspective on what builds confidence in the business case, you’d be surprised how many powerful stakeholders will agree. Once they see that you are focusing on the difficult questions, they realize that their concerns are more appropriately addressed once the project has been derisked.
Align Stakeholders Around What Matters
An objective, data-driven approach creates alignment among stakeholders. Rather than getting bogged down in opinions or competing agendas, you can focus on the critical issues that will resolve the most uncertainty in the business case — something on which everyone can agree. This leads to a clear and shared understanding of what will move the needle for the project and what can be put on the back burner.
Stakeholder alignment is crucial because innovation is inherently risky and uncertain. Without a unified focus, different stakeholders push conflicting priorities based on their personal perspective, functional bias, or history with the status quo. This leads to inefficiencies, wasted resources, and a fragmented approach to problem-solving. When everyone is on the same page about what truly matters, such as resolving key uncertainties or focusing on the most impactful learning, it helps streamline decision-making and fosters collaboration.
A cohesive team can act faster, prioritize smarter, and pivot when necessary. By quantifying risk and prioritizing learning, you shift the conversation from subjective opinions to a collective agreement on what needs to be learned. This clarity builds trust, ensures that all parties are invested in the same goals, and ultimately strengthens the innovation process, making it more effective and agile.
Turn Down the Volume on Influential Voices
The early stages of innovation are messy, uncertain, and filled with competing priorities. But the key to moving forward is learning, not making perfect predictions. By focusing on objective assessments, prioritizing the right uncertainties, and aligning your team around the things that truly matter, you move past the distractions of individual biases and get closer to realizing the true potential of the opportunity.
So, next time you’re in a meeting, don’t let the most influential voices sway you. Figure out what’s uncertain and what needs to be tested, then bring an objective point of view to the table that everyone can buy in to. Only then will you be able to drive the innovation process forward — and maybe even surprise your stakeholders with results they didn’t see coming.
Doug Williams is Associate Director of Innovation at SmartOrg, Inc.
Image Source: sora.chatgpt.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.