Old habits die hard—but the last two years have woken up organizations from the comfort of routine. The lesson Responding to change is a practice of the past. Today, anticipatory strategies that harness stakeholder creativity are key in planning for scenarios not in our control. 

Having said this, creating alternate futures for the organization’s benefit doesn’t occur by happenstance. We identified this need for change last year when we introduced the Manifesto for Future-Fit Organizations, a modern-day revision of the four values and twelves principles of the 20-year-old Agile Manifesto. Future-Fit doesn’t negate Agile, but rather builds on it. As a quick recap, here are the new, elevated values:

1. Collaborative culture of relationships and inclusion over individuals and interactions
2. Innovative systems behind continued learning over working software
3. Discovering opportunities together over customer collaboration
4. Creating alternate futures through anticipation over responding to change

This year’s study builds from the Future-Fit Manifesto and adds granularity to it by internalizing the dynamics of today’s world. Fundamentally, our 2022 State of Corporate Innovation Survey demonstrates that, to become Future-Fit, one needs to invest in an innovation capability across all dimensions of the business, tap into new societal forces, and leverage emerging technologies.

Specifically, our survey shows that organizations with an enterprise-wide approach to innovation are 6x more satisfied with their Horizon 2 (Adjacent) and Horizon 3 (Transformative) results than those with an unstructured approach. They invest in innovation systems to scale-up processes and make success repeatable.

They also invest in innovation professionals to help guide these processes and coach others. This leads them to successfully implement ideas 3x more often than those without a structured innovation approach.

And, critically, investing in an innovation capability empowers the enterprise to create impactful solutions. Those that do are 5x more ready to tap into the opportunities of the 2030 Agenda sustainability goals. The top 3 focus areas are (1) Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, (2) Climate Action, and (3) Good Health and Well-Being.

They are also 4x more prepared to leverage 4IR technologies to deliver on these opportunities, with the top priorities being: Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and Augmented/Virtual Reality.

Lastly, they understand that such efforts can’t be tackled alone, and are therefore engaging an ecosystem of contributors much more than those without a structured approach to innovation. They also leverage innovation metrics that look beyond the bottom-line, and recognize the importance of leadership’s ability to set a common vision across the organization to sustain innovation at scale.