The US Army: A Surprising Center of Innovation

It’s easy to think of innovation as happening only in a trendy Silicon Valley or Brooklyn startup, where kids ride bicycles to work and appear to be thinking about stuff that may become real ten years from now.

In fact, meaningful innovation can happen in every type of organization, large or small, trendy or traditional.

The US Army takes pride in its great traditions—but it also takes pride in its ability to adapt and change to current conditions. Here are a few of the internal innovations the Army has adopted to help build a culture of mutual respect where the mission is the only priority:

• The Army Ideas for Innovation (AI2) program is a venue for Army soldiers, civilians, and contractors to share innovative ideas and creative solutions that positively affect the Army through cost savings, increased productivity, and process improvement. As the Army says, “The Army has always been an innovative organization, owing past successes in large part to the indomitable spirit of American soldiers who continuously find new solutions to solve pressing tactical problems. AI2 is a collaborative web-based innovative program that simplifies the process of bringing innovative ideas to the attention of Army senior leadership.”
• The Asymmetric Warfare Adaptive Leader Program (AWALP) is rooted in the belief that adaptive thinking and leadership traits are the Army’s answer to engaging an adaptive enemy while operating within an ambiguous environment. Designed to enhance adaptability in leaders and promote innovative solutions in training, it does this through strategies that demonstrate how to think more flexibly and consider techniques on how to get others to question the status quo.
• The Army Innovation Strategy (AIS) 2017-2021 supports the Army’s innovation to gain competitive advantage today and into the future by embracing an enduring culture of innovation and entrepreneurship that drives solutions to win in a changing world. (Doesn’t that sound like a civilian business plan?) The program will “enable the Army to obtain capabilities ahead of competitors and adversaries, address the use of disruptive, asymmetric tools that decrease the value of U.S. conventional weapons and equipment, and streamline processes and systems within the institutional Army.”
• Launched in 2008, ArmyStrongStories.com is the first official soldier blog, inviting soldiers and affiliated civilians to share their unfiltered perspectives on military life. The content is uncensored to preserve credibility, which is key to engaging prospective recruits in conversations. It’s an amazingly open and transparent forum, giving ordinary soldiers the opportunity to communicate their authentic experiences in uniform from far-flung places around the world, including combat zones.

With over one million uniformed personnel, the US Army is one of America’s biggest employers. If they can innovate, then every organization should be able to!