The LEAP Framework — 4 actionable steps to real innovation

Innovation. It’s the lifeblood of business success, yet most companies innovate about as effectively as a sloth on sedatives.

They talk big, but when it comes to actual change?

Crickets chirp in empty boardrooms.

The LEAP framework cuts through this stagnation like a hot knife through butter. It’s a no-nonsense approach that transforms innovation from a vague concept into a concrete, repeatable process.

LEAP stands for Locate, Evaluate, Action Plan, and Progress?—?four straightforward steps that any organization can implement to kickstart their innovation engine.

Locate: Unearthing hidden?gems

The first step in the LEAP process focuses on identifying hidden opportunities within your organization.

Here’s how it works:

1. 1. Assemble a team of five people from different departments. Include a mix of roles like a marketing expert, an engineering pro, and the detail-oriented accountant.
2. 2. Set an ambitious goal: 25 potential opportunities in 5 weeks. This is your team’s North Star.
3. 3. Promote a judgment-free zone. At this stage, every idea gets a seat at the table, no matter how wild it might seem.

Your team should leave no stone unturned:

• - Customer complaints is a treasure chest of insights.
• - Internal processes that cause headaches are ripe for improvement.
• - That weird strategy your competitor is testing? It might be genius in disguise.

The key is to focus on tangible problems or improvements that could significantly impact your business.

You’re not aiming to solve world peace?—?you’re looking for real, actionable opportunities.

Evaluate: Separating the diamonds from the?dirt

With your list of 25 potential breakthroughs in hand, it’s time to get ruthless. The Evaluate phase is where you distinguish between “This could revolutionize our business” and “What were we thinking?”

The secret? Keep it simple.

You have one week to assess each opportunity against four criteria, each rated on a scale of 1–4. This simplicity prevents analysis paralysis and forces quick, decisive evaluations.

Your criteria might look like this:

1. 1. Impact: How much will this move the needle?
2. 2. Feasibility: Can we realistically pull this off?
3. 3. Alignment: Does this fit our overall strategy?
4. 4. Urgency: How pressing is this opportunity?

By week’s end, you should have identified one primary opportunity that has everyone excited, plus a prioritized list of backups for when Plan A inevitably hits a snag.

Action Plan: Charting the?course

You’ve picked your winner. Now it’s time to figure out how to bring it to life. Welcome to the Action Plan phase.

Over three weeks, map out your strategy in four phases:

1. 1. Birth: Create a prototype that communicates your idea. This isn’t about perfection?—?it’s about making your concept tangible.
2. 2. Crawl: Test your idea in the real world. If it fails, better now than later.
3. 3. Walk: Refine based on your learnings. Iterate until your idea shines.
4. 4. Run: Go all in with full-scale implementation.

Your plan should provide clear direction while maintaining enough flexibility to adapt when reality throws curveballs (and it will).

Progress: Turning ideas into?reality

This is where ideas transform into action. In the Progress phase, you’ll create a “Communication Prototype”?—?a concrete representation of your idea’s value.

This could be:

• - A video showcasing your product in action
• - A tangible mock-up for people to interact with
• - A simple demonstration proving your concept

The goal is to create something that excites stakeholders and loosens purse strings for further development. Remember, seeing is believing, and a well-crafted prototype speaks louder than any PowerPoint presentation.

The LEAP Supercycle: Innovation on overdrive

Here’s where LEAP transforms from a cool framework into an innovation powerhouse. The magic happens when you run multiple LEAP cycles concurrently. Initiate a new cycle every three months, and soon you’ll have a constant stream of innovations at various stages of development.

It might look like this:

• - Q1: Launch Cycle 1
• - Q2: Begin Cycle 2, Cycle 1 enters Evaluate phase
• - Q3: Start Cycle 3, Cycle 2 moves to Evaluate, Cycle 1 progresses to Action Plan
• - Q4: Kick off Cycle 4, Cycle 3 enters Evaluate, Cycle 2 moves to Action Plan, Cycle 1 reaches Progress

Suddenly, your company evolves from merely talking about innovation to consistently producing new ideas and improvements.

The bottom?line

The LEAP framework won’t magically transform your company into a Silicon Valley unicorn overnight. What it will do is provide a structured, repeatable process for driving innovation across your organization.

In today’s rapid-fire business environment, standing still is equivalent to moving backward. The LEAP framework equips you with the tools to keep pushing forward, one innovation at a time.

So why wait?

It’s time to embrace LEAP. Your next breakthrough innovation is just four steps away. Who knows? This time next year, you might be the one setting the pace for others to follow.