Should we set aside time for our innovation work?

Protected capacity for innovation is worth setting aside when it brings the right people together around a defined strategic challenge, with leadership support and a route to test what emerges. Time alone is not an innovation operating model: it must combine cross-functional collaboration, permission to explore and disciplined follow-through.

Innovation needs protected capacity, not spare moments

Innovation capability depends on giving people time, attention and permission to work beyond immediate delivery pressures. Cross-functional teams need a defined setting in which they can share knowledge, surface ideas and consider strategic choices that may not emerge through routine operational meetings. Scheduled workshops can create that capacity by focusing a group on one task without distractions, while dedicated collaboration spaces can support cross-team work. The purpose is not to remove commercial discipline or data from decision-making. It is to create enough organisational slack for teams to generate possibilities before immediately filtering them through feasibility, precedent or quarterly targets. Leadership support matters because leaders set expectations, reward collaboration and signal that experimentation is part of the work rather than an optional extra.

Sources: Imagination: the missing metric in your business strategy, Forget the lone genius, creativity is a team sport, Creativity needs investment, not just permission

Make experimentation accountable for learning and action

Protected innovation time produces value when a team leaves with questions, hypotheses and tests, rather than only a longer list of ideas. Start with a single strategic question, bring together people close to the business and make room for honest disagreement about possible futures. A workshop should not treat feasibility concerns as irrelevant, but should delay premature judgement long enough for unfamiliar options to be developed. The practical discipline is rapid prototyping: test assumptions quickly, learn from what fails and refine the proposition. This approach, described as intelligent failing, is not a licence for recklessness. It gives teams a way to take informed risks while retaining a basis for an eventual commercial decision. Trust and psychological safety are essential, since openness about concerns and uncertainty can reveal that the original question needs reframing.

Sources: What’s next? The answer is already in the room, Carbon dating: the power of trust and relationships in driving business strategy, Ready to reinvent? Challenge accepted.

Innovation time works best when it changes the strategic conversation

We believe organisations should reserve time for innovation when that time is designed to move a real business decision forward, not to create a temporary escape from delivery. A provider should be able to convene relevant functions, frame a focused strategic challenge, make constructive disagreement possible and turn emerging ideas into questions worth testing. We have used collaborative workshops to help teams draw on their own experience and knowledge, supported by research that helps identify and choose a strategic route. In work with Wates, more than 20 people came together to rethink brand purpose, with leadership present to support broader thinking. Our B2B Reinvention process also helped stakeholders at Level explore possibilities, reframe their central question and develop competing offers for the next stage of the business.

Sources: Ready to reinvent? Challenge accepted., Creativity needs investment, not just permission, Carbon dating: the power of trust and relationships in driving business strategy

Stats

Nearly 60% of respondents in a 2025 survey were freezing or cutting innovation spending, while approximately 60% said stopping innovation investment would significantly underperform market expectations.

McKinsey & Company

One study found that optimal cross-functional team combinations increased innovation success to 29.5% in UK manufacturing plants, although some combinations reduced innovative output by 11.3% in German plants.

research authors

FAQs

How much protected time should cross-functional teams receive for innovation?

The useful amount of protected time is enough to address one defined strategic challenge without distraction and to agree the next questions or tests. A half-day or full-day workshop can create focused capacity, but lasting value also requires leadership support, follow-up and permission to continue exploring beyond the session. Treat innovation time as a deliberate part of resource allocation, not an unstructured break from normal work.

How should we structure a cross-functional innovation workshop?

Structure a cross-functional innovation workshop around one strategic question agreed before the session, then move from possibilities to hypotheses and tests. Include people with direct knowledge of the business, create conditions for candid discussion and avoid shutting down early ideas solely on feasibility grounds. Finish by assigning the questions, assumptions and experiments needed for an informed decision.

Does innovation work require ignoring data and feasibility?

Innovation work should complement data, customer evidence and financial analysis rather than replace them. Creative exploration is most useful before teams narrow choices, because historical data alone may not reveal a response to a changing future. Research and analysis can then help teams identify and choose the strategic route with the strongest chance of success.

How can leaders make experimentation safe without weakening control?

Leaders can make experimentation safer by defining the strategic question, supporting informed risk-taking and requiring teams to test assumptions quickly. Intelligent failing keeps experimentation accountable because teams learn from unsuccessful tests and iterate towards stronger options. Leaders also need to reward collaboration and make it acceptable for people to raise concerns, uncertainty and alternative views.

How do I structure a cross-functional innovation workshop?

A focused workshop should turn a shared strategic challenge into testable next actions, not merely generate ideas.

  1. Define one strategic question

    Agree the single strategic question before the workshop begins. Frame the question tightly enough to guide discussion, while leaving room for the team to challenge assumptions and reframe the issue if necessary.

  2. Bring together relevant perspectives

    Invite people who are close to the business and bring different functional knowledge to the challenge. Protect the session from routine distractions and create conditions in which participants can share ideas, hopes and concerns without immediate judgement.

  3. Convert ideas into tests

    Develop the strongest possibilities into further questions, hypotheses and tests. Assign clear next actions so that the workshop leads to informed decisions and learning, rather than leaving promising ideas in the room.

Glossary

Intelligent failing
A disciplined experimentation practice in which teams test assumptions quickly, learn from what does not work and iterate towards a stronger proposition, rather than treating failure as either unacceptable or an end in itself.

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