Innovation
How the company gets better over time, on purpose.
Summary
Innovation is continuous improvement plus deliberate R&D. It is how a company keeps its edge as the world changes around it — not through lucky ideas, but through a system that generates and tests ideas regularly.
Why it matters
Companies that only execute today's plan get overtaken by companies that also work on tomorrow's.
Focus areas in this category
The 5 levels in this category
- L1 Foundation
Employees have a way to submit improvement ideas and someone triages them.
- L2 Structure
A portion of capacity is protected for improvement work; it is not always first cut when things get busy.
- L3 Performance
The innovation pipeline has stages; bets are sized and reviewed.
- L4 Excellence
A meaningful share of revenue or cost reduction traces back to improvements made in-house.
- L5 Mastery
Innovation is part of the operating rhythm. The company shapes its market rather than chasing it.