In Times of Uncertainty, How Can You Get Your Managers to Prioritise Innovation?

Let’s be honest ...

When business gets tough, innovation is often the first thing to go. Senior managers shift into cost-cutting mode. They focus on short-term targets.

And your innovation initiative ends up postponed, underfunded… or completely ignored. You’re not imagining it. This is the #1 struggle for innovators worldwide.

In my new book Breaking Innovation Barriers , innovators from all over the world identified 15 main barriers to innovation. Do you know the biggest one?

No management support.

In a poll of 790 professionals, 52% said that lack of management support kills innovation. Not budgets. Not technology. Not feasibility. Just… no buy-in.

So, how do you change that?

Let me share 5 strategies directly from the book. They’ll help you get innovation prioritised at the top level of your organisation — even in uncertain times.

🚀 1. Understand Your Management’s Agenda

Innovation starts with empathy. Not for customers — for your leaders.

If you want buy-in, you must plant your innovation proposal in fertile ground. That means aligning it with their goals, KPIs, and personal ambitions.

👉 What does your CEO care about this quarter?

👉 What keeps your CFO up at night?

👉 What are their performance bonuses tied to?

When your innovation plan helps your management hit their targets, it gets attention.

🎯 Tip from the book: Tailor your innovation pitch to one of the 8 CEO priorities (like Gen AI, sustainability, or growth). Don’t just say “Let’s innovate” — say “Let’s start an Innovation-for-Growth program to enter two new markets in 12 months.”

⸻

💬 2. Pitch Your Innovation Story Like a Human, Not a PowerPoint

Innovation isn’t a deck. It’s a story. A human story. With purpose, urgency, and emotional truth.

In the book, I share how to craft a powerful innovation pitch. One that sticks. One that moves. Your senior managers aren’t looking for more ideas. They’re looking for reasons to believe.

➡️ What’s the change story?

➡️ Who will benefit?

➡️ What’s the risk of doing nothing?

Tell a story that opens eyes and gets buy-in. That’s how you break the “No.”

⸻

🤝 3. Cultivate Innovation Ambassadors

You can’t win this fight alone.

Find allies across your organisation — in HR, finance, ops, marketing — and build an informal innovation coalition. In Breaking Innovation Barriers, I call this building your “Innovation Community.” These ambassadors help:

• Create bottom-up support

• Cross silos

• Amplify your voice

• Push for change in boardrooms you can’t enter

Your job is to ignite their energy. Help them say, “This is ours too.”

⸻

📊 4. Prove Customer Commitment

Most managers only innovate when doing nothing becomes riskier than trying something new. So how do you shift that balance?

Show proof.

→ Customer quotes or movies

→ Pre-orders

→ Pilot results

→ Co-creation sessions

When you prove real market traction, you reduce perceived risk. It’s one of the most effective ways to win over even the most sceptical executives.

From the book: “When customers say yes, managers follow.”

⸻

🧠 5. Apply a Proven Method like FORTH

Random innovation won’t convince anyone. Structured innovation will. Use a proven process like the FORTH Innovation Method — a step-by-step approach I developed to double innovation effectiveness. It’s used on six continents and in 13 languages.

FORTH stands for: Full Steam Ahead, Observe & Learn, Raise Ideas, Test Ideas, Homecoming (pitch your concepts). FORTH delivers real, tested business cases in just 15 weeks after the kickoff. Managers and steering committees love it because it gives results they can understand — not dreams on slides.

⸻

✋ Final Thought: Innovation is 'Not a Hobby'. It’s a Strategic Choice.

If you want your leadership to choose innovation, you must make it make sense. For them. Now.

🎯 Understand their world.

🎯 Show business value.

🎯 Use structure.

🎯 Prove traction.

🎯 Tell your story.

If you’re struggling with this, you’re not alone.

That’s why I wrote Breaking Innovation Barriers – 15 Strategies to Win Management Buy-In for Change. It’s your practical guide for consultants and innovators to getting top managers to finally say YES. Join our LinkedIn group!

⸻

📘 Get your copy now at Amazon — see the link in the comments.

📅 Want to get certified to lead the proven FORTH Innovation Method ? Join the certified Facilitator Training in Italy – June 2026. DM me for early access.

Wishing you lots of success winning top management buy-in!

Gijs

#Innovation #Leadership #ChangeManagement #BusinessStrategy #DesignThinking #InnovationLeadership #BreakingInnovationBarriers #FORTHInnovationMethod #InnovationTips #ManagementBuyIn #newbooks