Ever wonder why some organizations seem to always come up with clever ideas for achieving their mission? Do you find yourself wishing you had one of those “creative types” on your staff so your nonprofit could find ways to work smarter not harder? Would you be surprised to know that encouraging this type of innovation in your group merely takes discipline?

Discipline and innovation seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. We think of discipline as very structured and clearly defined, while innovation seems very fluid and unpredictable. Many think it takes a special kind of person to innovate—someone who mysteriously thinks of creative ways of doing our work differently.

What does it take to innovate?

Successful innovators say their ideas usually come when they move out of their normal daily environment and are doing something other than their regular routine. Inspiration comes when they are walking on the beach or in the woods, or when working with other volunteers on a project, or coaching their youngster’s soccer team. They connect seemingly unrelated events to systems or projects at work. It’s not mysterious—it’s just how the human brain works.

Stuart Jenkins, SVP of Innovation at Deckers, says innovation takes passion, courage, and persistence. “You don’t have to be an expert to innovate. Have confidence that with what you know and what you’re interested in, you can innovate; you can drive powerful positive change no matter where you are.”

Jenkins further counsels, “When you’re innovating, do not expect the crowd to stand up and applaud. You have to be humble enough to keep moving forward and confident enough not to care what people think.” Jenkins warns that conforming to other people’s ways of thinking inhibits innovation.

And the time is now. Our communities need nonprofits to innovate more than ever before. Management guru, Peter Drucker, says, “In the years ahead, America’s nonprofits will become even more important. As government retrenches, Americans will look increasingly to the nonprofits to tackle the problems of a fast-changing society. These challenges will demand innovation—in services, and in nonprofit management.”

Innovate for the present not the future.

Drucker said the keys to successful innovation are simplicity and focus. Innovations that work are breathtakingly simple and focus on one specific need. They always start small. This keeps the risk and resource requirement modest. Don’t try to be clever or perfect. There will always be time for adjustments. This idea is similar to Jim Collins’ principle of shooting bullets (trial balloons) then calibrated cannon balls as described in his book, Great by Choice.

Another key factor, said Drucker, is to not try to innovate for the future, but innovate for the present. The innovation may have long term impact, but if you can’t get it adopted now there won’t be any future.

Drucker recommended that innovators define risks and seek to minimize them. Innovations are successful to the extent that they systematically analyze the sources of opportunity, pinpoint the opportunity, and then exploit it, whether an opportunity has small and definable risk, or larger but still definable risk. Successful innovators are conservative; they are not risk-focused, but rather are opportunity-focused.

Create a culture of discipline

And what can a nonprofit do to encourage innovation among its staff and stakeholders? Drucker says the answer is discipline. He revealed that organizations interested in innovation must create a culture that encourages it. Leaders must educate their staff about how innovation works, encourage everyone to innovate, and reward behavior that leads to transformational ideas. Leaders of innovative organizations routinely communicate the value of creative thinking and exploring alternative ways of work. They reward employees who engage in calculated risk-taking, regardless of the result. This can be unnerving but important in creating a work environment where people feel comfortable taking risks. This type of culture leads to innovative outcomes that drive organizational growth and performance.

Drucker assured us that innovation is hard work, requiring knowledge, ingenuity, and creativity. Only those with diligence, perseverance and commitment succeed. Successful innovators build on their own strengths to find innovations that are a good fit with the organizational culture and business strategy.

Innovation depends on nonprofits today.

Bill Shore, founder and chief executive of Share Our Strength, believes that “nonprofits need to allocate a portion of their own budgets to innovate, even with all of the risk that entails, and to share what they learn. Investment in innovations that may not pay off until the long term are never easy, but they are the hallmark of adaptation and growth necessary for success.”

This approach to business can be challenging for nonprofits because their limited financial and human resources are always looming over their daily work. So, leaders who want to stimulate innovation are intentional and deliberate about carving out a space for innovation. Nonprofits wanting to drive high performance will set their risk-averse nature aside to intentionally create a culture of disciplined innovation.