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What Is the Innovation Process, and Where Ideas Stall
The innovation process is the agreed path an idea takes from a problem worth solving to a change people use. Few organizations lack ideas. What they lack is a known next step for each idea, and a person who decides it.
Authors: Shannon Phillips & Tristan Ham
This guide explains the five steps most innovation process models share, how Unbounded Thinking’s stages and steps fit around them, where ideas stall between steps, and what an organization of 20 to 500 people can run with the people it already has.
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01
What It Is
The Definition of the Innovation Process
Every innovation process model describes the same journey in different words: from idea to implementation, and on to a change that lasts.
The innovation process is the agreed path an idea takes from a problem worth solving to a change people use, with a decision at the end of each step.
It Starts With a Problem
A solution only has value if it solves a problem. When an idea arrives on its own, the first job is to find the problem it is meant to solve.
It Ends With Adoption
Unbounded Thinking draws the line between invention and innovation at adoption. A new product or practice becomes an innovation when people use it in their daily work.
Each Step Ends With a Decision
Go on, change course or stop. A step without a decision is where an idea waits, and an idea that waits long enough is forgotten.
Unbounded Thinking defines innovation as a way to systematically harness collective intelligence to navigate change. The innovation process is how that happens, one idea at a time.
02
The Five Steps
Innovation Process Steps
Models differ in their number of steps, from three to eight, but most describe the same path. The international guidance standard ISO 56002 names it as five innovation processes. Each one below ends with the decision that closes it:
1
Identify Opportunities
Find a problem or a need worth solving, inside the organization or for its customers.
The decision: whether it is worth the effort now.
2
Create Concepts
Develop several ways to solve it, not one.
The decision: which few deserve a test.
3
Validate Concepts
Test the strongest concepts with the people they affect, at a small scale.
The decision: whether it works, and for whom.
4
Develop Solutions
Build what passed the test to the standard daily use requires.
The decision: whether it is ready to roll out.
5
Deploy Solutions
Put the solution into daily work and help people adopt it.
The decision: whether people use it, and what it has changed.
The steps are rarely a straight line. A test can send a team back to the problem, and a deployment often shows the next opportunity. Design thinking, Lean Startup and stage-and-gate models each cover part of this path; the HCIM page compares them. Our ISO 56001 guide shows where the process sits in the standard.
03
How Unbounded Thinking Organizes It
Stages for the Organization, Steps for Each Idea
Most guides describe only the steps one idea takes. An idea moves only as fast as the organization around it, so Human-Centered Innovation Management (HCIM) works at two levels.
The organization moves through four stages: Assess, Strategize, Train and Execute. It learns where it stands, chooses where to innovate and teaches its people a shared way of working before ideas are run at scale.
Inside the Execute stage, each idea follows four steps: Qualify, Clarify, Ideate and Explore. Each step ends with a decision, so no idea is left waiting between steps.
Qualify: decide whether the idea is worth pursuing, set the measure of success and check readiness.
Clarify: find the underlying problem behind the symptom.
Ideate: generate a wide range of possible solutions.
Explore: test, refine and plan for adoption.
The four steps begin where ideas begin in most organizations: with someone’s idea, not a defined opportunity. Qualify sets the measure of value first, and Clarify then finds the problem behind the idea, so the team solves the cause and not the symptom. Teams learn to run the four steps in the two-day innovation certification course.
Assess
Strategize
Train
Execute
Qualify
Clarify
Ideate
Explore
04
Where Ideas Stall
Where Ideas Get Lost Between Steps
An idea is rarely turned down outright. More often, it waits.
Ideas are seldom lost inside a step. They are lost between two steps, where no one owns the next decision.
No Answer
The person who raised the idea hears nothing back. After a few silences, people stop raising ideas.
No Capacity
The idea is approved, but no one’s time is freed to work on it, so it competes with the day job and loses.
No Owner for Adoption
The test works, but no one owns the change in daily work. Unbounded Thinking calls this the Innovation Gap: the space between an idea that works and a change that people use.
Left alone, these gaps fill the list with what Unbounded Thinking calls a Zombie Pipeline: projects listed as active that have not moved in six months. What Is Innovation Readiness describes the symptoms, and Why Good Ideas Are Not Implemented names six gaps in detail.
05
With the People You Have
How to Keep Ideas Moving With the People You Have
An organization of 20 to 500 people rarely has an innovation department. The process runs beside the day job, so it has to be light. Five habits make the difference.
Ideas go into a box or an inbox and are reviewed when someone has time.
Each idea is judged by who raised it, on criteria no one wrote down.
Approval comes with good wishes but no owner and no time.
The first test is a large pilot.
Projects stay on the list until they fade.
Answer Every Idea
A reply with a decision and a reason, within an agreed time. How to Respond to Employee Ideas shows how.
Agree the Criteria First
The same criteria for every idea, known before ideas arrive.
Free the Time
Approval names one owner and the hours released for the work.
Test Small
Unbounded Thinking’s 2 Hour, $20 Test shows whether an idea works before a large commitment. Why Pilot Projects Do Not Scale explains it.
Decide to Stop
Stopping an idea at a decision point frees people for the next one. Innovation Portfolio Management sets out when.
None of these needs software to start. A shared list, a fixed time for decisions and a named owner for each idea are enough.
06
Related Terms
The Innovation Process and the Words Around It
Several terms describe parts of the same system. Each answers a different question.
Term
The question it answers
Read more
Innovation process
How one idea moves from a problem to a change people use
this guide
Innovation portfolio
Which ideas and projects receive people and money, and which stop
Innovation management system
How strategy, people, process and measures are governed together
Process innovation
How existing work can be done better: one kind of result the process produces
07
The Human Side
People Run the Innovation Process
A process diagram shows boxes and arrows. In practice every step depends on people: who raises the idea, who challenges it, who tests it and who changes how they work.
People Raise Ideas When the Answer Is Predictable
They speak up when they know what happens next and that a wrong idea carries no penalty. What Is Psychological Safety explains why.
Different Steps Suit Different Minds
Some people are strongest at spotting problems, others at generating options, testing or delivery. A team of similar thinkers tends to rush the steps it finds least natural. Innovation Culture covers how to build mixed teams.
The People Affected Help Shape the Test
A change is adopted faster when the people who will use it helped test it.
Leaders Own Decisions, Not Ideas
A leader’s part in the process is to decide on time and to free the capacity each decision needs.
Many Minds See More Than a Few
The process lets an organization draw on what all its people know, not only on those who speak first or loudest.
08
AI and the Process
Where AI Fits in the Innovation Process
AI can speed up every step. It cannot own a decision, and it cannot make people adopt a change.
Finding Problems
AI can sort feedback, service tickets and reports to show patterns. People decide which problem matters to the organization.
Generating Options
AI can widen the range of possible solutions in minutes. People judge which ones fit the strategy, the budget and the way the organization works.
Testing and Adopting
AI can draft a test plan or a first version quickly. People own the result and lead the change in daily work.
The faster AI makes each step, the more the decisions between steps depend on people.
09
Measures
How to Tell Whether Your Innovation Process Works
Four measures show whether ideas are moving. Each one points to a decision leaders can make.
The full set of measures, and how to report them, is in Innovation KPIs and Metrics.
01
Decision Rate
The share of ideas that received a yes, a no or a “not yet” within the agreed time.
02
Time to Decision
The median number of days from an idea being raised to an answer, shown for each step.
03
Stalled Ideas
Ideas and projects with no movement for 90 days. Each one needs a decision to continue or stop.
04
Changes in Use
Implemented ideas that people are still using three months after launch.
10
Next Steps
Where to Start
Four ways to put an innovation process to work:
Free Innovation Readiness Snapshot
Five minutes, free: a first reading of how ready your organization is to move ideas.
Innovation Certification
Two days in which a team learns the four steps and applies them to its own ideas.
11
Questions About the Innovation Process
What is the innovation process?
The innovation process is the agreed path an idea takes from a problem worth solving to a change people use. Most models describe five steps: identify opportunities, create concepts, validate concepts, develop solutions and deploy solutions. Each step ends with a decision to go on, change course or stop.
What are the 5 stages of the innovation process?
ISO 56002, the international guidance standard for innovation management, names five innovation processes: identify opportunities, create concepts, validate concepts, develop solutions and deploy solutions. Other five-stage models use different words for the same path.
What are the 4 steps of the innovation process?
Four-step models describe the same path in fewer, larger steps. In Human-Centered Innovation Management, each idea follows four steps: Qualify, Clarify, Ideate and Explore. Each step ends with a decision, so no idea is left waiting between steps.
What does the innovation process begin with?
It begins with a problem worth solving. In practice, ideas often arrive first, so a good process turns each idea back into the problem it is meant to solve before work starts.
What is an innovation process model?
A model is a fixed description of the steps and the decisions between them. Design thinking, Lean Startup and stage-and-gate models are common examples, and each covers part of the path. The HCIM page compares them.
What is the difference between the innovation process and process innovation?
The innovation process is the path any new idea takes. Process innovation is one kind of result: a better way of doing existing work. A third term, the innovation-decision process, describes how people come to adopt something new.
Why do ideas stall in the innovation process?
Most ideas stall between steps, not inside one. No one answers the person who raised the idea, no time is freed for approved work, or no one owns the change after a successful test.
Who should own the innovation process?
A senior leader owns the process and the decisions in it. Each idea has its own owner, named when it is approved. In a smaller organization, one person can coordinate the process part time.
How long does the innovation process take?
It depends on the idea. A first test can be as small as Unbounded Thinking’s 2 Hour, $20 Test; a new service can take months. What matters more is how long each idea waits for a decision, which a good process keeps short.
About the author
Shannon Phillips
Co-Founder and Innovation Strategist
Designs structured innovation systems for enterprise organizations and helps leadership teams set priorities that reflect how the organization operates.
About the author
Tristan Ham
Co-Founder and Lead Facilitator
Leads the delivery of innovation programs for enterprise and public sector teams and helps groups align on priorities and reach decisions.
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Next Step
See Where Your Ideas Stall
Take the free Snapshot for a first reading of how ready your organization is to move ideas, or talk to us about an innovation process that runs with the people you have.