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LearnFoundations of Innovation
Module 8•Unit 2 of 7•11 min

The Hunting Grounds

Faced with a near-limitless universe of options, a business needs focus. It begins by drawing guardrails around the set of possibilities worth exploring - a space broad enough to allow discovery, but narrow enough to concentrate effort. This focused space is called the business' Hunting Grounds. Within it, three questions guide the search.

Where to hunt

Which markets, segments, and domains are in scope?

What to hunt

Which specific opportunities and needs are we after?

What tools to hunt with

Which methods and capabilities will we use?

Broad enough, but not boundless

The hunting grounds may still be considerably broad - the goal is not to pre-decide the answer, but to rule out the vast space of options with no strategic rationale for your business. Setting good guardrails is a balance: too narrow and you miss opportunities; too broad and you scatter effort. Well-drawn hunting grounds concentrate your search where you have some right to win.

Hunting grounds are guardrails, not answers. They say "search seriously in here, not everywhere" - then let genuine discovery happen within them. The discipline is in choosing the boundaries thoughtfully, tied to who the business is and where it can realistically win.
Discuss

What are your organisation's real hunting grounds? Are they explicitly defined - where to hunt, what to hunt, with what tools - or is your search scattered and unfocused?

Try this at work this week
Write your hunting grounds as three answers: where to hunt, what to hunt, and with what tools. Sharing this one page aligns a team faster than almost any other single artefact in innovation strategy.

Sources

  1. Global Innovation Institute (GInI), Foundations of Innovation - GInI Growth Strategy Roadmap.
  2. Nagji, B. & Tuff, G., "Managing Your Innovation Portfolio", HBR, 2012.
  3. Global Innovation Institute (GInI), body of knowledge.
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The Three Value Groups