Ask any leader about their biggest innovation challenge and you’ll often hear the same theme over and over again: misalignment. Below are some direct quotes from leaders who have recently shared their biggest current innovation challenge with us 👇🏻
💬 “Aligning strategy across teams. Even having a coherent strategy connected to initiatives that are well understood by all.”
💬 “Handovers between the innovation team and the business.”
💬 “So much noise being created by the engine, but the spokes are not moving in unison.”
Different words, same problem: strategy and innovation aren’t talking to each other.
When the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing
Too often, strategy lives in a glossy deck while innovation lives in a lab. Strategy teams are chasing long-term growth, while innovation teams are piloting shiny new ideas that don’t ladder up to anything bigger.
The result?
- Confusion about priorities.
- Innovation theatre instead of meaningful outcomes.
- Fatigue from initiatives that stall before they scale.
Leaders told me they feel the weight of this disconnect every day. “We have so much going on that we are not focussing on velocity.”
What the best leaders do differently
One of the strongest insight from Get S#!t Done is simple but powerful: strategy and innovation must cascade together.
👉 Strategy sets the direction. Innovation is how you move toward it—even when the path is messy.
👉 Innovation should also feed insights back into strategy. Early experiments are often where the first signals of change appear. If those don’t make it into the strategy process, you’re always lagging the market.
👉 Strategy is a conversation, not a poster. Marc Miller (ex-Medibank CSO) reminded us that when strategy is only communicated once a year, it loses power. The best organisations turn it into a drumbeat that guides daily choices.
When leaders create a “steel thread” between boardroom ambition and frontline action, innovation stops being noise and starts being momentum.
Reflection questions for leaders
- Can your people explain how their work connects to strategy?
- Are you rewarding learning, or only results?
- Do your innovation efforts have a direct line of sight back to strategic goals?
- Are insights from pilots feeding upwards into the strategy process?
Ready to close the gap?
If this feels close to home, you’re not alone. Most leaders are wrestling with the same challenge: bridging the gap between strategy and innovation.
That’s exactly what we’ll tackle in our upcoming Get Sh!t Done Workshop. It’s designed for leaders who are tired of talking about innovation and want to finally connect ambition with action.
📅 Wednesday 24 September 2025
📍 Online
Seats are limited. Register now to secure your spot 👇🏻