How do the best teams in the world deliver faster, higher quality solutions and Innovation?

 Innovation is the holy grail of modern business. It’s what separates thriving companies from those that get left behind. And if you work in product, design, or innovation within a large enterprise, you already know how much pressure there is to deliver results—fast.

The challenge isn’t just having great ideas. It’s navigating the complexity of getting those ideas off the ground, securing buy-in, aligning teams, and making progress quickly.

That’s where most teams get stuck. They aren’t missing ideas. They’re missing a way to execute them efficiently.

Every day we work with teams from some of the world’s best brands. They are recognised as some of the best of the best and there is one thing they all have in common. It’s not their creativity or intellect. Not their size or funding. It’s the way they work. 

They all use structured collaboration, which is THE KEY to bringing ideas, solutions, and innovation to life successfully. 

Why Teams in Large Enterprises Struggle to Innovate

The biggest blocker? The way teams collaborate.

Most teams default to unstructured collaboration—a mix of meetings, open discussions, and endless back-and-forth emails that don’t lead anywhere. It’s slow, frustrating, and ineffective. And it’s killing your ability to innovate.

If you’ve ever felt like work takes way longer than it should, or that your team spends too much time talking and not enough time making decisions, you’re not alone.

Here are some common pain points that innovation teams experience in large enterprises:

1. Meetings That Go Nowhere

Ever left a meeting thinking:

“What did we actually achieve?”

Most corporate meetings lack clear goals, don’t involve the right people, and rarely lead to concrete action. Instead of solving problems, they create more work—another meeting, another deck, another round of approvals.

2. Slow Decision-Making and Endless Revisions

In large enterprises, getting alignment feels like running a marathon in quicksand.

•   Too many stakeholders → endless sign-offs
•   Conflicting priorities → slow approvals
•   Fear of making the wrong choice → no decisions at all

By the time an idea finally gets greenlit, the opportunity may already be gone.

3. Groupthink & Lack of Diverse Input

When teams brainstorm, the loudest voices tend to dominate.

Other team members (especially introverts) don’t get heard, and important perspectives are lost.

Worse, when the same group of people discuss the same problems in the same way, they keep generating the same ideas—instead of unlocking truly new solutions.

4. Poor Execution and No Clear Next Steps

Even when teams do align, progress often stalls because:

•   Responsibilities aren’t clearly defined.
•   There’s no structured way to prioritize work.
•   People move on to the next thing before executing properly.

It’s easy to get trapped in a cycle of talking about innovation instead of actually innovating.

5. Burnout from Inefficient Ways of Working

Innovation should be energizing. Instead, many teams feel overwhelmed because they’re constantly reacting, firefighting, and stuck in inefficient workflows.

Instead of flow, they experience frustration. Instead of momentum, they feel stuck.

The root cause? Unstructured collaboration.

The Solution: Structured Collaboration

So, how do you fix this?

The answer isn’t just having better meetings. It’s rethinking how teams work together—by using structured collaboration.

What Is Structured Collaboration?

Structured Collaboration is a set of practices that make teamwork faster, clearer, and more effective.

It removes the guesswork from how teams work together and replaces it with repeatable, high-impact methods that lead to better solutions—faster.

How Is This Different from Normal Collaboration?

Most teams default to unstructured collaboration—which is:

❌ Messy – No clear process, just free-flowing discussion.

❌ Slow – Decisions take forever because there’s no framework.

❌ Inefficient – Some voices dominate, others get ignored.

❌ Unproductive – Lots of meetings, little action.

Structured Collaboration flips the script.

✅ Clear – Everyone knows the goal and how to contribute.

✅ Fast – Work is time-boxed and decision-driven.

✅ Inclusive – Ensures diverse input without groupthink.

✅ Action-Oriented – Every session ends with next steps.

Putting Structured Collaboration into Action

So, how do you apply Structured Collaboration in your work?

We use five proven practices that help teams collaborate efficiently and innovate successfully.

1. End with a Decision

Meetings aren’t for updates—they’re for decisions.

At the end of every meeting or working session, there should be a clear outcome:

•   A decision made
•   A plan agreed upon
•   A next step assigned

This avoids the dreaded “Let’s schedule another meeting to discuss…” cycle.

✅ Try This: End every meeting with a one-sentence summary of the decision made and who’s responsible for what.

2. Time-Box Collaboration

Most discussions drag on longer than necessary.

Time-boxing means setting strict time limits for:

⏳ Brainstorming

⏳ Prioritizing

⏳ Decision-making

This keeps meetings focused and ensures progress.

✅ Try This: Assign 5-10 minutes per discussion point, then move on.

3. Visualize Discussions

Instead of long-winded debates, put things on paper (or a digital whiteboard).

✅ Use:

•   Decision matrices
•   Prioritization grids
•   Sketches & diagrams

People process visuals faster than words—this reduces confusion and speeds up alignment.

✅ Try This: Use sticky notes, Miro, or Figma to capture ideas visually.

4. Work Together Alone

Not everyone contributes well in group settings.

Some need quiet time to think before sharing ideas.

✅ Try This: Have people write down their ideas first, then share.

This avoids:

❌ Groupthink

❌ One person dominating

❌ Missing great ideas from quieter team members

5. Use Proven Innovation Frameworks

Innovation isn’t about free-for-all brainstorming—it’s about using the right structured processes.

The best teams use:

✔️ Design Sprints – Solve big problems in 5 days

✔️ Agile Methods – Break work into fast, iterative cycles

✔️ Lean Thinking – Focus only on what delivers value

Structured Collaboration acts as a glue that makes these methodologies work faster and better.

The Bottom Line: Work Smarter, Innovate Faster

If you’re struggling with slow decision-making, endless meetings, and a lack of execution—Structured Collaboration is the missing piece.

It helps teams:

✔️ Get aligned faster

✔️ Make decisions quicker

✔️ Tap into diverse perspectives

✔️ Execute ideas with confidence

The best part? You don’t have to figure this out alone.

Every tool, workshop, and sprint inside The Innovator’s Toolkit™ already has Structured Collaboration baked in.

You get access to ready-to-use templates and methods that take the guesswork out of working better with your team.

So instead of struggling to make collaboration work, you get a library of proven solutions that make working with you a joy.

🎯 Check out The Innovator’s Toolkit™ here 

🚀 Your innovation process just got an upgrade.