Mario DiFalco

In my experience, it's been critical to have an established innovation process, with known benchmarks at key stage gates, and regular senior mgt check-in mtgs that create a streamlined process where key stakeholders are kept abreast of project status, obstacles and opportunity areas. At the project level, teams have regular check-ins, make all key dashboards, data and research available to all, and effectively identify and address roadblocks along the way. Issues that can't be resolved are elevated to x-functional team leaders, and ultimately brought to senior mgt check-ins if resolution is unattainable. This process creates a transparent and collaborative approach that I've found to be very successful in addressing delays and obstacles.

In my experience, you do this by taking the time at the onset of the project to clearly define and gain alignment to the project's objectives and criteria for success. You can create a business canvas or dashboard that tracks progress against all key elements of your proposition (eg, core benefits, positioning, consumer target, research results, etc.) that is available to all team members throughout the project, and used to provide timely updates to senior management along the way. Having clear expectations of benchmark requirements at each stage gate is also critical, and helps to streamline the process and keep projects on time and on budget.

In my experience, aligning to objectives and KPIs at the onset of a project is critical to success, as it's a place to objectively evaluate the project throughout the process. When conflict arises, which it always will in an innovation initiative, having concrete objectives allows the team to address the issues constructively, and allows for meaningful compromise where key stakeholders can better understand the tradeoffs. Without these aligned-to objectives in place, the process can breakdown and projects can come to a halt or get killed unnecessarily.

This seems obvious, but in my experience I've seen many leaders and project managers bury some of the sticky, tough to solve issues. This NEVER results in a positive outcome, as the issue tends to grow and later jeopardizes the project from a timeline and/or financial aspect, and hurts your reputation as an inclusive and effective leader. I've coached my teams to keep ALL cross-functional team members up to speed on projects by publishing core team meeting notes, holding regular check-ins with the broader team, and making dashboards, data, research, etc. available to all for access. This builds trust and transparency, and often helps to identify and resolve issues much earlier and more cost-effectively for the organization.

At the project level, and organizationally, I've always tried to capture all concerns and challenges, and to help prioritize them with all key stakeholders. In this way, cross-functional leaders, senior management and the team concentrate on the big rocks, the things that must be tackled first. If conflict arises, it's at least on critical elements that need attention.

As an innovation leader, it's important to created and build strong cross-functional relationships and to nurture them over time. Nothing is ever perfect, and I've found it highly valuable to invest time in developing an understanding of each of your team member departments and the roles they play, as well as the potential individual and departmental challenges they may face. Having this understanding helps you navigate future conflicts, and ultimately builds your cross-functional relationships and ability to effectively lead complex initiatives for the organization.