At CreateFuture's recent panel event, ‘To innovate or not to innovate?’, we jumped straight into a surprisingly relatable metaphor: puppies. More specifically, when to lovingly - but decisively - let them go. Of course, we're not talking about real puppies, but innovation ideas - those beloved yet unviable concepts that innovators nurture, cherish, and sometimes even become emotionally attached to, despite clear evidence they're not quite right for the world.

The term itself is one that our guest for the evening, Glyn Baker, Head of Partnerships and Engagement for NatWest Group, had used before to describe this dilemma. "Your ideas stare at you with those puppy eyes and, as innovators, we love them," he said playfully, prompting knowing nods from the audience. "But sometimes you've got to let them go."

The hardest part of innovation? Letting go

Over the years, Glyn has abandoned more 'puppies' than he's kept - partly because effective innovation requires focus. He explained that his team follows a structured "funnel" approach: bringing in a broad range of ideas and rigorously filtering them to prioritise those with the highest potential impact. This process, he noted, requires making difficult calls early and often: "We take hard and robust decisions through process and great innovation frameworks, and that's what works."

This disciplined approach to innovation aligns with the thinking in Michael Schrage’s The Innovator’s Hypothesis, which argues that the best innovations don’t come from grand R&D investments but from small, scalable experiments that reveal what works - and what doesn’t. By testing and refining ideas in a controlled, iterative manner, businesses can avoid the trap of over-investing in concepts that may never deliver meaningful impact.

Nathan Fulwood, Strategy Director at CreateFuture, highlighted the importance of involving diverse voices early in the innovation process. "One of the most satisfying aspects of the job is when we bring in people who aren’t normally part of the design process," he said. People outside traditional design teams often assume change is impossible, he added, but when they’re part of the process, they gain new skills, confidence, and a sense of ownership over the solution - ensuring innovation is something they actively shape, not just something imposed on them.

Sometimes, you have to be 'stubborn'

The importance of structured experimentation is reinforced by recent data. The State of Innovation 2024 report from Innovate UK found that businesses that actively innovated in the past year saw sales growth three times higher (7%) than those that did not (2%) - highlighting how companies that embrace agile, iterative learning gain a clear competitive advantage.

Just as businesses need to convince customers to buy into their products, innovation teams must sell their ideas internally to ensure they take root. And that’s not always easy - resistance, bureaucracy, and competing priorities can all slow things down. Glyn described this as "basic sales" - his team doesn't just generate ideas, they actively embed them across the business.

"If you're slow, the world's changing around you. You missed it. Sorry, too late," Glyn remarked, reinforcing the urgency of embedding innovation effectively. He stressed that innovation teams must be persistent, questioning assumptions and pushing past resistance to make real change happen. "Sometimes, you have to be bloody stubborn," he added, explaining that without constant challenge, innovation risks getting stuck in the status quo.

Innovating without breaking trust

Innovation isn't just about boosting sales or streamlining internal processes - it’s also about responsibility. For NatWest Group, that means balancing progress with the trust customers place in the bank. With a balance sheet of over £400 million (loans to customers) and 19 million customers, even minor changes can have significant consequences. "If we change a pixel in the app, we get feedback," Glyn pointed out, emphasising how sensitive customers are to modifications in digital banking.

This need for caution extends beyond customer experience - it's fundamental to how NatWest Group approaches innovation as a financial institution. Rather than looking for high-risk or off-the-wall experiments, Glyn explained that the bank prioritises stability, security, and tangible customer benefits.

Much of NatWest Group’s innovation happens quietly, behind the scenes. "I'm proud of the fact that you don't see much of it, because that's half the point," Glyn said, pointing to advancements in fraud detection and operational efficiency - critical areas where innovation strengthens security and streamlines services while maintaining customer trust.

AI is powerful - but it's not always the answer

Just as NatWest Group takes a disciplined approach to broader innovation, it applies the same level of scrutiny to artificial intelligence. Glyn often reflects on a quote from Dr Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park: ‘You scientists were so obsessed with whether you could do this, you never stopped to think whether you should.’ For Glyn, it serves as a reminder that just because innovation is possible, that doesn’t always mean it’s the right choice - a philosophy that guides NatWest Group’s measured approach to AI and beyond.

That doesn’t mean AI isn’t valuable - far from it. "We've had AI in the bank for 20 years," Glyn noted, explaining how NatWest Group has long used AI for fraud detection, risk assessment, and automation. The key, he emphasised, is applying it where it makes a meaningful difference, rather than chasing trends.

At CreateFuture, we recently partnered with the bank's innovation team to explore how AI can play a key role in strengthening customer engagement. Through a Design Thinking workshop, we helped NatWest Group build AI-generated personas that allowed teams to have interactive 'chats' with their ideal customers - giving them fresh perspectives on customer needs and behaviours.

Keeping humans in the loop

Responding to the question of whether there is a 'right or wrong' way to innovate, Nathan explained that while AI is increasingly embedded in innovation processes - particularly for desk research, spotting patterns, and streamlining tasks - it has its limitations. He noted that while AI is great at identifying obvious solutions, it often overlooks the unexpected insights that emerge from human discussion.

"Some of the most interesting ideas," he said, "come from sitting in a room with the salespeople, bouncing ideas off each other." AI, he added, works best when it takes care of the heavy lifting, freeing up humans to focus on creativity and strategic thinking.

Like raising puppies - or, for that matter, resurrecting dinosaurs - innovation takes patience, discipline, and the ability to know when to step back. Just as Jurassic Park teaches us that not every experiment should make it past the prototype phase, the best innovators understand that sometimes, restraint is the key to long-term success. But when done right, it leads to solutions that are not just exciting - but meaningful and lasting too.

Looking to take this conversation further? Watch our video interview with Glyn, which explores his views on innovation in more depth. Captured at our recent ‘To innovate or not to innovate?’ event at London’s Great Scotland Yard Hotel.