01
Organisational context
The Ministry of Defence is one of the largest departments in UK government. Its strategic direction asked for innovation to become a repeatable skill across the organisation rather than the property of a few specialist units. Personnel at every rank needed a common method for diagnosing problems, generating options and testing them at pace.
02
Capability challenge
Scale was the problem. Hierarchy and process slowed the movement of ideas between strategic leadership and operational teams, and previous training had produced awareness without a consistent way of applying it. The department needed a capability model that could reach hundreds of people a year, work for operational and headquarters staff alike, and produce evidence that the methods were being used.
03
Roles involved
- Innovation Ambassadors and champions in units and headquarters
- Innovation Practitioners leading challenge work
- Internal facilitators running sessions within their own units
- Sponsors in innovation and capability functions
04
Pathway or intervention designed
Innovation Network designed and delivers a progressive pathway: a free Introduction to Innovation session, the two-day Innovation Processes programme and the five-day Innovation Practitioner programme, available onsite and online and funded through UK Defence Innovation and the Defence Academy. Supplementary programmes are accessible through Standard Learning Credits and unit-commissioned delivery, and an alumni community supports continued practice. Every cohort works on challenges from their own units, and certification is earned through workplace application rather than attendance.
05
Live challenge addressed
Cohorts bring operational and headquarters challenges into the room: planning cycles, equipment and support processes, information flow between teams and the adoption of new ways of working. Teams frame the challenge, prototype a response and design an experiment to run back in their unit.
06
Evidence and work products
- Framed challenge statements from unit teams
- Stakeholder and user maps
- Assumption maps and prioritised concepts
- Prototypes and experiment plans
- Post-course experiment results and reflections
- Capstone projects assessed for certification
07
Decisions and outcomes
The pathway has become an established route for personnel across defence to develop and evidence innovation capability, with cohorts running through the Defence Academy and directly within units. Participant feedback has been consistently strong, with several describing the programme as the most useful course of their service career.
08
Capability retained internally
Certified practitioners and internal facilitators now run sessions within their own units, and an alumni community sustains practice between cohorts. The department can commission programmes for whole units and route people to the right stage of the pathway.
09
Next stage
Extending specialist Deliver modules and the Master Facilitator programme to increase the number of internal facilitators, and connecting unit-level challenge work to portfolio governance.