<aside> 📌 **There are 100 ways to define innovation… and what seems like common sense in one organization might be outrageous in another.

These seven steps will help you make your initiative relevant to your key stakeholders and the larger community.**

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1. Mapping Key Stakeholders

It looks like a good old-fashioned brainstorm session followed by some desktop research. During the exercise, the team should consider and assess who this initiative is going to directly and **indirectly impact.

• Who is the team reporting to and ultimately accountable to?
• Who are the potential clients of the innovation effort (e.g. business units)?
• Who are the potential partners of the innovation effort (e.g. investors, government agencies, etc.)?

The outcome is a long list of individuals and organizations that make up a snapshot of the ecosystem the team will be operating in organized in stakeholder categories.

<aside> 🛠 Example of key stakeholders:

• your CEO
• your customers
• your partners
• ...

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2. Getting to Know Stakeholders

The team should interview representatives from each stakeholder group to create an understanding of i) the general context that the team is going to be operating in and ii) the needs and motivations of each stakeholder group.

The output is a set of personas that visually summarize and present each stakeholder group.

• What are the jobs they need to get done? How are they getting them done now?
• What are their challenges, needs, and aspirations? How do they define value?