LPK Roadblocks Innovation SingleCards Nov2018 PDF

LPK’s Roadblocks is
a tool to help you and

your team anticipate
project pitfalls and
overcome organizational
barriers on your path
to innovation fortune
and glory.
After 30+ years, and hundreds of

projects in a dozen categories, LPK
has curated the most frequent
roadblocks to innovation.
Roadblocks isn’t a how-to guide—
it’s a tool inspiring teams to rapidly
identify, discuss and solve their
leading causes of innovation failure.
Use this deck to gain new
perspective, inspire your team,
overcome indecision and
accelerate to outcomes.
Roadblocks Intro
Contents
50
Roadblock Cards
10
Conversation Cards
7
Voting Cards
3
Wild Cards
Roadblocks Intro
Instructions
1. DEAL
Shuffle the Roadblock cards and deal
7 cards facedown to each player. Make
a draw pile with the remaining cards.
2. CHOOSE & PLAY

Players review their cards and choose
the ONE card they believe represents
their biggest roadblock. That card is
then played face down in a center pile.
3. REVIEW & VOTE

Once all players have played, the
cards are turned over. The players
review the cards and place their voting
card on the card they believe is the
biggest roadblock.
Players are permitted to vote for their own card.
4. DISCUSS & SOLVE

Each player is dealt a question card
to prompt conversation. The goal is to
discuss the roadblock, identify its root
cause and determine solutions. Once
conversation has reached a natural
conclusion, the round is complete.
All cards are collected and the next
round begins.
Roadblocks Intro
Ways To Play
There are a number of ways to play
Roadblocks. Here are a few suggestions.
BEGINNING, MIDDLE & END

Play 3 rounds, with each focused on
a different portion of your innovation
process: the beginning, middle and end.
CHOOSE & PLAY

Begin by placing all Organizational
Roadblock cards face up. Each player
votes for what they believe is the
biggest roadblock to success. Repeat
this process for Project Roadblocks
and Idea Roadblocks.
Roadblocks Intro
No Innovation
Vision, Process
Your organization lacks a

common vision for innovation
and the essential processes and
methods for how to manage
innovation from idea to market.
Organization Roadblock
Short-Term
Priorities Win
Your long-term innovation

efforts lose valuable resources
and attention when short-term
priorities flare up.
Over-Reliance
on Quant
Your organization is overly

dependent on quant-driven
validation tools that provide
inaccurate projections
of in-market success.
Org-Wide
Risk Aversion
The financial, legal and HR

hurdles put in place to mitigate
risk end up prematurely
dismissing promising ideas.
Lip-Service
Leadership
Leadership does not visibly

support innovation. By failing to
“walk the talk,” employees doubt
leadership’s commitment
to innovation.
Fear of
Personal Failure
Despite your leaders espousing

the value of “failing fast,” many
people in your organization
resist being personally
associated with failures.
Organization
Lacks Urgency
Your organization and

leaders are not motivated
or incentivized to make the
changes and investments
needed for innovation
to succeed.
Premature
Business Plans
The organization insists on

overly detailed business plans
for unproven ideas, which does
little more than provide false
confidence and shift thinking
to execution prematurely.
Innovation
Skeptics
Whether overtly, or covertly,

members of your core business
doubt the value of innovation at
your organization.
Silos Create
Distrust
Your project requires teams to

work together like never before.
There is a lack of trust and
communication between
individuals, teams and leaders.
No Tracking of
Innovation’s ROI
Your organization lacks

commonly agreed-upon metrics
and a system for tracking
and reporting the ROI of
innovation efforts.
Unrealistic
Revenue Hurdles
Your ideas are held to the same

revenue and margin standards as
the core business, which snuffs
out promising opportunity areas
before progress is made.
Attracting &
Retaining Talent
Your organization and teams are

unable to attract or retain the
mindsets and hard skills required
to drive ideas to market.
Misaligned
Incentives
Leaders and key players are

incentivized to keep the status
quo and minimize risk to the
detriment of innovation efforts.
Lingering Projects
Misuse Resources
Your organization lacks a process

for terminating failing projects,
which leads to misallocated,
wasted resources.
No Org-Wide
Idea Gathering
Your organization lacks a

system to gather and advance
promising ideas from across
the organization.
No Enterprise
Innovation Portfolio
Your organization lacks

oversight or management of
the total organizationv-wide
innovation
portfolio and pipeline.
No Early Threat
Detection System
Your organization lacks any

centralized system to identify
and take action against emerging
trends and challengers that may
threaten the core business.
No Home in the
Organization
While compelling, your idea

has no clear home in the
organization, and will likely
languish unless a home is
located or created.
Idea Roadblock
No Route
to Market
Your idea has no clear

routeto market based on the
company’s existing capabilities
and distribution.
Idea Roadblock
No Problem/
Solution Fit
Eager to build ideas, your

team overlooks identifying
and validating a clear consumer
need. In the end, you create
novel propositions that few
consumers want or need.
Idea Roadblock
No Clear
Right to Win
Your organization has no clear

competitive advantage or
obvious right to win in your
proposed opportunity area.
Idea Roadblock
Risk/Reward
Imbalance
The anticipated risk and

investment required to pursue
your proposed idea outweigh
the estimated size of prize.
Idea Roadblock
Difficult
to Scale
Your proposed idea is

compelling, but is difficult
and expensive to scale based
on existing capabilities.
Idea Roadblock
Brand
Misfit
Your proposed idea doesn’t

fit with any of the organization’s
existing brands—and leadership
is unwilling to invest in
creating a new brand.
Idea Roadblock
Dependent on
External Partners
Your proposed idea is heavily

contingent on collaborating
with an external partner, which
your organization resists.
Idea Roadblock
Too Much Cap
Ex Required
While full of potential,

your idea requires too much
capital expenditure to
develop, scale and sustain.
Idea Roadblock
Big, Desired,
but Undoable
Your leaders elect not to fund

an idea that is unable to be
commercialized by the existing
capabilities—even though it
has been proven desirable to
consumers and presents a large
commercial opportunity.
Idea Roadblock
Cannibalistic or
Margin Degressive
Your proposed idea would

possibly be cannibalistic parts
of the existing business and
will likely erode margins.
Idea Roadblock
Requires New
Execution Muscle
Your portfolio of ideas demands

execution capabilities that the
organization doesn’t possess.
You’re unable to convince
leadership to make investments.
Project Roadblock
Many Good Ideas,
No Great Ones
Your ideation process produces

dozens, even hundreds of ideas,
but fails to deliver clear-cut
winners, creating indecision.
Project Roadblock
Indecision
& Inaction
When faced with uncertainty,

teams fail to make a decision
and take action, leaving ideas
to languish in innovation
purgatory.
Project Roadblock
Slow
Decisions
Teams are not empowered

to make decisions, therefore
progress is slowed and
ultimately indecision and
inaction sets in.
Project Roadblock
Unclear
Objectives
Despite your best attempts,

you and your stakeholders fail
to clarify project objectives and
timing, which leads to a misuse
of resources and inaction.
Project Roadblock
Idea Obsessed,
Execution Allergic
You find your team becoming

fixated on generating novel
ideas without any regard for
execution. Big ideas are
entertained and discussed,
but rarely acted upon.
Project Roadblock
Inconclusive
Testing
Your idea testing is inadequate,

inefficient and inconclusive.
Your team is left questioning
whether to pivot or persevere.
Project Roadblock
Prototyping for
Polish, Not Learning
Your team builds polished

“vanity” prototypes for the
sake of impressing leaders
rather than testing and
(in)validating assumptions.
Project Roadblock
Poor
Prioritization
The lack of a proven method

for prioritizing ideas with
confidence leaves your team
spreading their resources thin
and/or doubting their selections.
Project Roadblock
Too Little
Opportunity
Your team is generating

desirable and feasible ideas,
but in opportunity areas that
the core business would deem
small and not worth the effort.
Project Roadblock
One-Size-Fits-
None Approach
The organization mistakenly

treats core innovation and
transformational innovation
efforts with the same approach,
metrics, teams and expectations.
Project Roadblock
Inactionable
Insights
Your exploratory research

results in stale insights that
fail to make new connections
or inspire fresh ideas.
Project Roadblock
Overlooked
Assets
Your team fails to uncover or

have access to underutilized
assets (e.g., distribution, IP
partnerships), which could serve
as key enablers for big ideas.
Project Roadblock
Rigid
Process
The inflexible, linear process

so many big companies prefer
doesn’t allow your project team
to respond to new learnings and
adjust their approach on the fly.
Project Roadblock
Untested
Assumptions
Attempting to keep momentum,

you allow tough questions to go
unasked and unanswered.
You trust your assumptions are
valid, which only delays and
amplifies the eventual pain.
Project Roadblock
Time-Starved
Team Members
Your key players don’t have

the time to devote to innovation
initiatives, causing the team to
lose valuable momentum.
Project Roadblock
Parsing Good
Risk from Bad
Your team agrees you

must “take risks,” but you
have difficulty distinguishing
calculated, informed risk
from bad risk.
Project Roadblock
Misplaced
Startup Envy
Your team is misusing

startup mindsets and methods
for the type of challenge and
context of your business.
Project Roadblock
Overly Focused on
Innovation Theatre
You and your team find

yourselves spending time
on elaborate, unproductive
workshops that take you
away from getting the
“real” work done.
Project Roadblock
Play It Safe for
Quick Wins
Your innovation resources are

stretched thin and you’re feeling
pressure to deliver in-market wins.
Therefore, you opt for safe ideas
that are likely to succeed, but yield
only small returns.
Project Roadblock
Too Early,
Then Too Late
Your team is aware of the

emerging trends influencing
your consumers and category.
Initially, leaders believe the space
is immature. By the time they’re
convinced, it’s too late.
Project Roadblock
If you voted for the
LEADING ROADBLOCK,
what were your
reasons for doing so?
Conversation Starter
Of the cards played,
which was the most
SURPRISING?
Which of these
roadblocks are most
WELL-KNOWN?
Which are NEW?
What is the
COMMON THREAD
to all of the
roadblocks played?
Of the roadblocks
played, which are in
YOUR CONTROL?
What are the
KEY FACTORS
contributing to the
leading roadblocks?
What ACTIONS
do you feel inspired
to take in response to
these roadblocks?
What was your
FIRST REACTION
to the leading
roadblock?
What STORY of a
past project comes
to mind when
considering the
leading roadblocks?
Which of these
roadblocks is
MOST POLARIZING?
Which of these
roadblocks are
TIMELESS?
Which are
TIMELY?
Which of these
roadblocks are
LEAST UNDERSTOOD?
Which are
MOST UNDERSTOOD?
What is the
ROOT CAUSE
of the leading
roadblock?
What is the
FIRST STEP
to resolving the
leading roadblock?
Describe a
DAY IN YOUR LIFE
after the leading
roadblock is
resolved.
ROADBLOCK NAME
DESCRIPTION
Wild Card
ROADBLOCK NAME
DESCRIPTION
Wild Card
ROADBLOCK NAME
DESCRIPTION
Wild Card
Voting Card
Voting Card
Voting Card
Voting Card
Voting Card
Voting Card
Voting Card

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LPK Roadblocks Innovation SingleCards Nov2018 PDF

Uploaded by

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Available Formats

LPK’s Roadblocks is

a tool to help you and

After 30+ years, and hundreds of

2. CHOOSE & PLAY

3. REVIEW & VOTE

4. DISCUSS & SOLVE

BEGINNING, MIDDLE & END

CHOOSE & PLAY

Your organization lacks a

Your long-term innovation

Your organization is overly

The financial, legal and HR

Leadership does not visibly

Despite your leaders espousing

Your organization and

The organization insists on

Whether overtly, or covertly,

Your project requires teams to

Your organization lacks

Your ideas are held to the same

Your organization and teams are

Leaders and key players are

Your organization lacks a process

Your organization lacks a

Your organization lacks

Your organization lacks any

While compelling, your idea

Your idea has no clear

Eager to build ideas, your

Your organization has no clear

The anticipated risk and

Your proposed idea is

Your proposed idea doesn’t

Your proposed idea is heavily

While full of potential,

Your leaders elect not to fund

Your proposed idea would

Your portfolio of ideas demands

Your ideation process produces

When faced with uncertainty,

Teams are not empowered

Despite your best attempts,

You find your team becoming

Your idea testing is inadequate,

Your team builds polished

The lack of a proven method

Your team is generating

The organization mistakenly

Your exploratory research

Your team fails to uncover or

The inflexible, linear process

Attempting to keep momentum,

Your key players don’t have

Your team agrees you

Your team is misusing

You and your team find

Your innovation resources are

Your team is aware of the

Which are NEW?

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