We know this is easier said than done, especially for large teams spread across multiple locations. Over the years, IDEO has helped organizations around the globe develop the capacity to innovate, and that work has allowed us to gather data on the behaviors that have the greatest impact on a team’s ability to develop a successful solution.

With that in mind, four years ago, we launched a tool to help teams assess their innovation capabilities, create systems, and consistently develop and launch those solutions. The information we gathered with Creative Difference has helped us see what truly works—and fascinatingly, some of the findings seem to fly in the face of common business wisdom.

Here are four insights (of the many, many we’ve collected and studied) into the ways today’s businesses innovate—and what you can learn from what they’ve learned.

1. Quick and dirty prototyping isn’t just for software

Though many executives dismiss MVP-style prototyping as a software-only approach, we've found it's actually more effective in other industries.

In fact, rough, low-fidelity prototyping is significantly more impactful when used in industries where it's currently least applied—particularly for companies with long development cycles and long product lifecycles.

When we looked at data from Creative Difference, we found that organizations with long development cycles and long product lifecycles saw their chance of successful launches increase by 109% compared to their more nimble counterparts.

Why? And how? Let’s consider a car company: For those teams, the cost and risk of investing in poorly thought-out ideas is much, much higher. Building a high-fidelity vehicle prototype can cost millions of dollars using traditional methods. Instead, low fidelity mock-ups (in this case, using foam core and tape to create a simulated car dashboard) can uncover critical flaws that can save millions of dollars and years of effort.

2. Don’t let your team become blinded by purpose

Purpose statements are incredibly valuable. We’ve seen that organizations without a sense of purpose find it difficult to innovate: They struggle to choose which opportunities to pursue, and they have a more difficult time getting employees excited about developing those ideas. Our Creative Difference data shows that organizations with a strong purpose are 12% more likely to launch new solutions successfully.