Each year on Candlemas, our kitchen fills with the familiar scent of pancake batter. It is a small family tradition that reminds me how every household works with the same basic ingredients yet ends up with its own unique result. Some add sparkling water, others a touch of vanilla or beer, and each pan has its own personality. A shared base with a personal twist creates a completely different outcome.

This yearly ritual always brings me back to innovation work.

Every organisation uses similar ingredients.
The magic is in the way you mix them.

Innovation systems follow the same pattern. Every organisation starts from similar building blocks, yet the success of an innovation system depends entirely on how well it fits your culture and the way your teams collaborate.

This becomes even clearer when teams begin working with ISO 56002, the widely used framework for innovation management. It gives dependable structure, shared language, and clarity. On paper, it looks universal. In practice, it never is.

A standard gives structure.
Your culture gives flavour.

A well designed framework cannot know your kitchen, and that is exactly where many innovation systems fail to rise.

Why Innovation Systems Need Tailoring

An effective innovation system behaves like a family recipe. You start from the shared base, but you only get great results when you adapt it to your organisation.

Copy pasted innovation systems rarely rise.
Tailored ones do.

Organisations that outperform in innovation are not the ones with the perfect textbook model. They are the ones that shape the model to fit their identity, their collaboration habits, and their ambitions.

What ISO 56002 Provides and What It Cannot Know About Your Organisation

ISO 56002 is incredibly helpful. It clarifies strategy, processes, governance, and roles. It eliminates unnecessary complexity.

Yet it does not know:

• the unwritten rules that shape daily decisions
• which teams blend naturally and which need support
• how internal and external partners behave under pressure
• where informal influence boosts or blocks innovation
• which ambitions deserve priority in your context

This is why frameworks that look correct on paper often do not deliver in reality.

The best innovation system fits your kitchen,
not someone else’s blueprint.

Three Actions to Improve Your Innovation System This Month

1. Identify the non negotiable elements of your innovation process

Leadership commitment, transparency, partner alignment, and shared objectives are your flour and eggs. When these elements are stable, the rest of your innovation system becomes easier to refine.

Your innovation process is only as strong as the people mixing it.

2. Name the signature flavour of your innovation culture

Maybe your strength is co creation. Maybe you excel in rapid experimentation. Maybe you gain energy from ecosystem collaboration. Whatever it is, make this flavour twist intentional so your innovation system supports your natural strengths.

3. Find the places where your innovation flow gets stuck

Every organisation knows where the batter sticks. It might be unclear roles, slow decisions, or friction with partners. Name these sticking points and adjust your approach before the batter burns and opportunities are lost.

If the batter sticks, the pancake burns.
Innovation behaves the same way.

How Collaborative Innovation Strengthens Your System

Strong innovation systems grow through collaboration, not structure alone. This is the essence of Win Winnovation: shaping a system that works in your reality and activating partners in a way that multiplies outcomes.

Successful innovation is
not about the perfect framework,
but the right fit.

When your innovation system reflects the way your people work, the results compound. Teams gain speed, partners gain clarity, decisions gain momentum, and outcomes become more predictable and more valuable.

Closing Reflection

If your innovation system were a pancake recipe, which parts already carry your signature and which parts still feel borrowed?

Candlemas is a small reminder that traditions, once adapted, can shape great results. Innovation follows the same principle. Consistent structure mixed with your own flavour creates a system that truly rises.

Small refinements in your innovation recipe can lead to big results.