6 strategies for securing legitimacy for innovation in government

Successfully navigating the path of innovation requires not just great ideas but also the strategic cultivation of legitimacy through proactive engagement, compelling storytelling, symbolic actions, and strategic affiliations.

As organizations initiate strategic changes and innovate, they also challenge established norms, values, beliefs, rules, and definitions that in many cases have become deeply rooted within organizations and the wider society. Consequently, the legitimacy of these changes and innovations will be challenged.

The act of legitimation plays a crucial role in overcoming barriers and resistance that innovators are likely to face. Legitimation is the dynamic process through which organizations seek to acquire, maintain, or repair legitimacy. It's about strategically navigating and influencing the social perceptions that grant or withhold legitimacy. This could involve a series of actions aimed at aligning organizational practices with the expectations and norms of the social environment, but also proactive efforts to influence perceptions and reshape values, beliefs, and rules to accommodate new practices or innovations.

Legitimation strategies for innovations and strategic change

While legitimacy offers a snapshot of social judgment at a given moment, legitimation reveals the dynamic process through which this judgment is achieved, maintained and changed. It's about the strategic maneuvers and the interactions that unfold between an organization and its stakeholders. Strategies employed could include:

Engage in dialogue: Proactively engage with stakeholders to understand their perceptions and expectations, using these insights to help stakeholders make sense of your intentions and shape your organization's narrative.

Craft compelling narratives: Use the power of storytelling to illustrate how your organization's innovations and changes are not only valuable but also aligned with societal values and norms or emerging trends.

Build coalitions with key stakeholders: Identify and nurture alliances with influential stakeholders who share your vision and can help amplify your organization's legitimacy and, by doing so, make it more attractive for other key stakeholders to join the coalition.

Engage stakeholders during change: Actively involve key stakeholders in the innovation process, incorporating their input, and addressing their concerns to build broader support and backing, especially if the project faces backlash.

Show conformity through symbolic actions: By incorporating some established practices into a strategic change or innovation, an organization can signal conformity and transfer some of the existing legitimacy onto new ventures or innovations.

Form strategic affiliation: Form relations with established and legitimate organizations that are not directly involved in the strategic change or innovation. This allows you to borrow legitimacy and enhance credibility from authorities that support your cause.

Ability to communicate and agility to adapt to change

Mastering legitimation is not just about overcoming resistance; it's about transforming how innovations are perceived, making the new intended situation look more legitimate than the current situation. By deliberately shaping the narrative, engaging stakeholders, and signaling partial alignment with valued norms, organizations can navigate the complexities of change with more confidence and support. This journey involves not only the ability to communicate effectively the value and appropriateness of innovations, but also the insight and agility to adapt as new actors might enter the arena and new arguments to stigmatize the innovations arise.

Acknowledgement: The constructs in the blog are based on the research of Suddaby, Bitektine, and Haack (2017) and Suchman (1995) regarding legitimacy and legitimation.