{"id":14644,"date":"2020-12-23T06:07:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T12:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?p=14644"},"modified":"2021-01-04T11:17:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T17:17:00","slug":"5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things 2020 Taught Us About Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/innovation-2020-in-review-cropped-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"5 things 2020 taught us about innovation | Planview\" class=\"wp-image-14849\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/innovation-2020-in-review-cropped-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/innovation-2020-in-review-cropped-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/innovation-2020-in-review-cropped-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/innovation-2020-in-review-cropped-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/innovation-2020-in-review-cropped-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The end of any&nbsp;year \u2013 but&nbsp;especially&nbsp;the end of&nbsp;the&nbsp;most&nbsp;bizarre&nbsp;12 months&nbsp;of&nbsp;our present human&nbsp;experience&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;brings&nbsp;a period of reflection and learning.&nbsp;And if there was&nbsp;a&nbsp;teachable moment&nbsp;for businesses&nbsp;in 2020, the overarching lesson&nbsp;(if not the most obvious one)&nbsp;is that&nbsp;unprecedented change&nbsp;requires&nbsp;an&nbsp;unprecedented&nbsp;response of agility and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, we&#8217;ll unpack the ways in which companies responded to such a turbulent year. You\u2019ll learn five takeaways that you can use to shape your innovation programs and company strategy for 2021 and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_80 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/#1_Build_resilience_through_crowdsourcing\" >1. Build&nbsp;resilience&nbsp;through&nbsp;crowdsourcing&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/#2_Respond_to_change_with_the_right_work\" >2. Respond to change&nbsp;with the right work&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/#3_Identify_evolving_customer_needs\" >3. Identify&nbsp;evolving&nbsp;customer needs&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/#4_Adapt_products_services_and_solutions_to_meet_customer_needs\" >4. Adapt products, services, and solutions to&nbsp;meet&nbsp;customer&nbsp;needs&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/#5_Rethink_existing_strategies_portfolios_and_resource_allocation\" >5. Rethink existing strategies, portfolios, and resource allocation&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/#With_change_comes_opportunity\" >With change comes opportunity&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Build_resilience_through_crowdsourcing\"><\/span>1. Build&nbsp;resilience&nbsp;through&nbsp;crowdsourcing&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As the economies across the globe <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2020\/06\/22\/the-great-pause-was-an-economic-revolution%E2%80%A8\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">began to reopen<\/a> after COVID-19 lockdowns, it was abundantly clear that innovation has never been more important than it was in 2020 \u2014 and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/crowdsourcing-ideas-from-a-virtual-workforce\/\" target=\"_blank\">crowdsourcing has never been a more valuable tool<\/a> for making the right work happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Planview, we&nbsp;actively&nbsp;supported&nbsp;many customers&nbsp;as they&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.planview.com\/products-solutions\/solutions\/im-innovation-management\/\" target=\"_blank\">turned&nbsp;to crowdsourcing<\/a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;navigate&nbsp;the&nbsp;leap to working virtually&nbsp;as&nbsp;stay-at-home orders rolled out.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;themes&nbsp;for&nbsp;their&nbsp;crowdsourcing challenges&nbsp;revolved around&nbsp;urgent&nbsp;issues&nbsp;like&nbsp;shifts in&nbsp;the&nbsp;work environment&nbsp;and&nbsp;changes in the supply chain, but also touched on the human factor, such as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/diversity-and-innovation-5-tips-for-crowdsourcing-tough-topics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">how to&nbsp;support people and organizations<\/a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;their&nbsp;communities.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Through&nbsp;crowdsourcing,&nbsp;companies were able to&nbsp;respond with&nbsp;agility and&nbsp;leverage&nbsp;the collective intelligence of their&nbsp;crowd&nbsp;to&nbsp;adapt to the new reality.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>They&nbsp;sourced, selected, and implemented ideas to:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Ensure business continuity in an uncertain environment;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Create new best practices for working in a 100% virtualized workplace;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Adapt to new safety requirements to protect workers in the plants, the field, or throughout the supply chain;&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/li><li>Identify&nbsp;ways to help others in need due to changes in health&nbsp;or&nbsp;employment.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;doing&nbsp;so,&nbsp;these businesses allowed&nbsp;their&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planview.com\/products-solutions\/products\/spigit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">employees to have a voice<\/a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;innovating&nbsp;how best to work today \u2013 some of which&nbsp;will&nbsp;carry over into the future workplace.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/info.planview.com\/crowdsourcing-challenges-7-best-practices-_ebook_im_en_reg.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/v.a-planview-ebook-crowdsourcing-challenges_800x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14409\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/v.a-planview-ebook-crowdsourcing-challenges_800x200.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/v.a-planview-ebook-crowdsourcing-challenges_800x200-300x75.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/v.a-planview-ebook-crowdsourcing-challenges_800x200-768x192.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/v.a-planview-ebook-crowdsourcing-challenges_800x200-750x188.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Respond_to_change_with_the_right_work\"><\/span>2. Respond to change&nbsp;with the right work&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As we&nbsp;analyzed&nbsp;how our&nbsp;customers and the world-at-large responded to the pandemic, we&nbsp;saw&nbsp;\u2013 as&nbsp;many have&nbsp;seen&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;patterns&nbsp;emerging&nbsp;from the chaos&nbsp;that&nbsp;have&nbsp;defined&nbsp;resiliency in this&nbsp;tumultuous&nbsp;era&nbsp;of business.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And from those patterns,&nbsp;we have&nbsp;seen&nbsp;people&nbsp;prove that&nbsp;a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shrm.org\/hr-today\/news\/hr-news\/pages\/study-productivity-shift-remote-work-covid-coronavirus.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">remote workforce&nbsp;can be&nbsp;a productive workforce<\/a>,&nbsp;despite the&nbsp;challenges&nbsp;presented by&nbsp;working&nbsp;virtually&nbsp;in a global pandemic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>But&nbsp;getting&nbsp;work&nbsp;done&nbsp;is&nbsp;only part of the solution.&nbsp;To&nbsp;be a company that thrives&nbsp;in response to change,&nbsp;people&nbsp;must&nbsp;be working on the right work.&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>While the&nbsp;definition of&nbsp;\u201cright work\u201d varies from company to company,&nbsp;the concept is the same across industries:&nbsp;Successful companies&nbsp;consistently&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/%3Ciframe%20class%3D%22vidyard_iframe%22%20src%3D%22\/\/play.vidyard.com\/WE4v4F6yLtGeGA95Zfn9Ur.html?%22%20width=640%20height=360%20scrolling=%22no%22%20frameborder=%220%22%20allowtransparency=%22true%22%20allowfullscreen%3E%3C\/iframe%3E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">connect strategy&nbsp;with execution<\/a>&nbsp;so&nbsp;employees are working on what matters most to the business and their customers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Identify_evolving_customer_needs\"><\/span>3. Identify&nbsp;evolving&nbsp;customer needs&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Customer attitudes and behaviors often shift&nbsp;relatively slowly. Through market research and analytics, companies&nbsp;typically&nbsp;look for&nbsp;slight changes&nbsp;that can create either new opportunities to explore, or potential pitfalls to side-step.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the global pandemic created massive attitudinal and behavioral shifts in a matter of weeks, if not days, due to shelter-in-place orders and a strong concern over transacting the&nbsp;virus&nbsp;via interpersonal contact.&nbsp;These shifts created&nbsp;a change in our commercial environments as well: how goods are marketed, how purchases are made, how products and services are delivered,&nbsp;and more.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>When companies are faced with such seismic&nbsp;change, they&nbsp;need to understand what the \u201cnew normal\u201d means from their&nbsp;customer\u2019s point of view.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>An effective way for companies to&nbsp;uncover the unmet&nbsp;needs of their customers is&nbsp;to&nbsp;run&nbsp;crowdsourcing challenges&nbsp;aligned to&nbsp;understanding their customers. Here are a few examples&nbsp;from the past year:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Crowd&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Question<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Employees&nbsp;<\/em><\/td><td>What&nbsp;new consumer attitudes, behaviors, or expectations have&nbsp;appeared&nbsp;to which we must adapt&nbsp;in our post-pandemic world?&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Partners<\/em>&nbsp;<\/td><td>How might we&nbsp;change&nbsp;our interactions&nbsp;with our&nbsp;supply chain&nbsp;partners&nbsp;to improve safety and\/or minimize the risk of spreading the virus?&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Customers<\/em>&nbsp;<\/td><td>How do you expect companies you do business with to adapt to the changes in our world brought on by the COVID-19 virus?&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Adapt_products_services_and_solutions_to_meet_customer_needs\"><\/span>4. Adapt products, services, and solutions to&nbsp;meet&nbsp;customer&nbsp;needs&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When companies gain&nbsp;a sense of&nbsp;how&nbsp;their&nbsp;customer needs are evolving,&nbsp;they&nbsp;can&nbsp;start to&nbsp;plan what&nbsp;they need&nbsp;to do&nbsp;next.&nbsp;They can ask themselves:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Were any major failings&nbsp;identified&nbsp;that&nbsp;we&nbsp;need to address&nbsp;so we can&nbsp;adapt&nbsp;to the new world?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Have&nbsp;our&nbsp;digital transformation efforts&nbsp;actually allowed&nbsp;us&nbsp;to&nbsp;evolve&nbsp;into a digital-first world effectively and efficiently, or do we need&nbsp;to rededicate ourselves&nbsp;to making this transition?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Is \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d ever going to be a reality for&nbsp;our&nbsp;company&nbsp;or our&nbsp;customers again?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Have customer needs shifted in such a way that their expectations have permanently changed?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A company\u2019s&nbsp;answers to&nbsp;those&nbsp;questions might lead to a sizeable pipeline of potential crowdsourcing challenges,&nbsp;such as:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Crowd<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Question<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Employees<\/em>&nbsp;<\/td><td>How might we change the way we interact with our customer to&nbsp;eliminate&nbsp;in-person contact and improve the customer experience?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Partners<\/em>&nbsp;<\/td><td>How might we&nbsp;leverage&nbsp;emerging technologies within our existing partnership agreement to create differentiated customer experiences?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Customers<\/em>&nbsp;<\/td><td>How might we improve your experience?&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/info.planview.com\/ryan-companies-_case-study_im_en_view.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"257\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/v.b-planview-ryan-company-cs-Q12020_blog-800x200-1024x257.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/v.b-planview-ryan-company-cs-Q12020_blog-800x200-1024x257.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/v.b-planview-ryan-company-cs-Q12020_blog-800x200-300x75.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/v.b-planview-ryan-company-cs-Q12020_blog-800x200-768x192.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/v.b-planview-ryan-company-cs-Q12020_blog-800x200-750x188.jpg 750w, https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/v.b-planview-ryan-company-cs-Q12020_blog-800x200.jpg 1668w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_Rethink_existing_strategies_portfolios_and_resource_allocation\"><\/span>5. Rethink existing strategies, portfolios, and resource allocation&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Traditional companies would have compiled their strategic&nbsp;objectives&nbsp;and goals&nbsp;in the&nbsp;months&nbsp;leading into 2020, with a plan to achieve them over a 1-, 2-, or even 5-year period. What would you say the chances are that those&nbsp;strategic&nbsp;plans&nbsp;still are&nbsp;relevant today?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Agile companies are being rewarded right&nbsp;now because&nbsp;they have the capability to react and quickly adjust to the changing world in which we&nbsp;all&nbsp;work.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Agile leaders within those companies would have long ago started the process of thinking through what needs to be reprioritized, deprioritized, abandoned, or added.&nbsp;But that&nbsp;does not&nbsp;mean that all companies&nbsp;cannot&nbsp;adapt to the new world by changing gears, changing direction, or even building an entirely new vehicle if the situation&nbsp;called for&nbsp;it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s&nbsp;how a crowdsourcing platform can <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/crowdsourcing-software-driving-virtual-workplace-engagement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">quickly and easily help&nbsp;companies<\/a>&nbsp;through this journey:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Crowd<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Activity<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>PMO (Portfolio Management Office)&nbsp;leaders&nbsp;<\/em><\/td><td>Run a Pairwise-only challenge during an afternoon workshop to&nbsp;quickly and efficiently reprioritize existing projects both in-process&nbsp;and in the backlog.&nbsp;Given the new&nbsp;normal, how might we change the way we interact with our customer to&nbsp;eliminate&nbsp;in-person contact and improve the customer experience?&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Corporate leaders&nbsp;<\/em><\/td><td>Run an Executive Alignment session with&nbsp;a&nbsp;live crowdsourcing challenge to understand what&nbsp;new problems&nbsp;(if they were to be solved) or opportunities (if they were to be pursued) would yield the best outcomes for the&nbsp;company.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Innovation and\/or work delivery teams&nbsp;<\/em><\/td><td>Build concepts, prototypes,&nbsp;POCs (Proof of Concept), and commercialized applications\/products\/services from the actionable ideas sourced from the crowds in the innovation challenges referenced above.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"With_change_comes_opportunity\"><\/span>With change comes opportunity&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With a collective exhale,\u00a0the world\u00a0will\u00a0soon\u00a0say\u00a0farewell to 2020.\u00a0While\u00a0the\u00a0emblematic\u00a0flip of the calendar\u00a0does not\u00a0erase the last year, the new year offers a chance for re-imagination. We can choose not only how we respond to change but also how we can listen to and reach our employees, partners, and customers better.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s&nbsp;time to turn our attention to innovation that can help&nbsp;spring our organizations&nbsp;forward&nbsp;by understanding where the new opportunities lie,&nbsp;finding&nbsp;new ways of delivering value in this new world, and making room for that new work by reprioritizing projects and aligning resources with what matters today.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information on running a successful crowdsourcing challenge, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/info.planview.com\/crowdsourcing-challenges-7-best-practices-_ebook_im_en_reg.html\" target=\"_blank\">download the worksheet<\/a> &#8220;Why Crowdsourcing Challenges Succeed: 7 Best Practices Every Company Should Know.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The end of any&nbsp;year \u2013 but&nbsp;especially&nbsp;the end of&nbsp;the&nbsp;most&nbsp;bizarre&nbsp;12 months&nbsp;of&nbsp;our present human&nbsp;experience&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;brings&nbsp;a period of reflection and learning.&nbsp;And if there was&nbsp;a&nbsp;teachable moment&nbsp;for businesses&nbsp;in 2020, the overarching lesson&nbsp;(if not the most obvious one)&nbsp;is that&nbsp;unprecedented change&nbsp;requires&nbsp;an&nbsp;unprecedented&nbsp;response of agility and innovation. In this article, we&#8217;ll unpack the ways in which companies responded to such a turbulent year. You\u2019ll learn five&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,477],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-innovation-management","category-vision-trends"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 Things 2020 Taught Us About Innovation - Planview Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn the key takeaways for company leaders as we outline what the world learned by responding to the COVID-19 pandemic with agility and innovation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Things 2020 Taught Us About Innovation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn the key takeaways for company leaders as we outline what the world learned by responding to the COVID-19 pandemic with agility and innovation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planview Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-23T12:07:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-04T17:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/innovation-2020-in-review-cropped-1024x576.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Doug Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@dougwilliamsmhd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Doug Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Doug Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/62b6c485176bb60dd7271ff86e011a92\"},\"headline\":\"5 Things 2020 Taught Us About Innovation\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-23T12:07:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-04T17:17:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/\"},\"wordCount\":1585,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/innovation-2020-in-review-cropped-1024x576.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Innovation Management\",\"Vision and Trends\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/5-things-2020-taught-us-about-innovation\/\",\"name\":\"5 Things 2020 Taught Us About Innovation - 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