How can you assess your company's innovation capabilities?

The framework I have used to assess innovation capability is the one developed by Magnus Penker and Innovation 360 Group. This framework looks at the following elements Ambition 1. Looks at innovation goal (profits or growth) 2. Radical or incremental innovation strategy 3. Type of innovation strategy a. Technology driven b. Future need driven c. Market trend driven 4. Type of innovation a. Product innovation b. Business model c. Management system d. Process e. Organization structure f. Service g. Production Ability 1. Leadership style 2. Innovation personas 3. Capabilities 4. Process 5. Culture In assessing the innovation capability of an organization we seek to identify if the ambition is aligned with abilities

Innovation 360's framework, developed my Magnus Penker is by far the most comprehensive I have seen. It is developed on the back of the last 100 years of peer-reviewed science in innovation management, so it takes a holistic perspective on what is needed in an organization to innovate both incrementally and radically and the subsquent strategies, capabilities and culture you need to achieve it.

Innovation must first be understood as the "Pursuit of Excellence" and not a discreet project. Capabilities is a dual word combining the Capacity to Transform and the Ability (Skills) to Perform. The ask therefore is to have an accurate understanding of the Desired State (Aspirational) and Status Quo. Bridging this gap between Potential and Performance is the journey of the Pursuit of Excellence. We are now on the Cusp of a New Era that is driven by Digital Technology. Five dimensions that lead to an accurate assessment of capabilities are Strategic Enterprise Operations (SEO), Leadership, Culture, Resilience and Digital Strategy. A Digital Maturity Compass (DMC) is the need of the hour to eliminate metastasis on the growth path.

The holistic framework which sees into aspiration and ability and then allows you to map out the 3 Horizons and see what strategy, leadership style, capabilities, metrics are suited is from Innovation360 and Magnus Penker

In my experience, among the multiple frameworks for innovation available today, the Innovation360 framework is a comprehensive approach to innovation management that provides a structured and holistic way to assess, measure, and improve an organization’s innovation capabilities. The framework is based on a 360-degree assessment of an organization’s capabilities and encourages structured innovation by delineating three distinct innovation horizons, each serving a unique purpose.

Back to that ISO reference... Finding out more about the 56000 family is easy - via ISO itself, your national standards body or your local friendly browser, search engine, AI agent. Look to 56000 + 56002 for context. For assessments, there's 1 reference for us; ISO/TR56004:2019. Dive in to look at intent, contents,how to use it. The 1st note is that Innovation Management HAS a Global reference point. We can all build on it. Innovation360 did and does more, by working to shape the ISO document, ensuring consistency between Innovation360 tools and the ISOs and by continuously developing data, methods and tools for organisations to assess their capabilities.

I have used InnoSurvey an AI powered assessment tool built on Innovation360 framework. Over 10000 companies have used the survey and it forms a rich benchmark InnoSurvey is a 360 degree assessment tool; it seeks input from executive management, employees and customers on the organisation's innovation capabilities. The assessment includes 92 questions that evaluate the ambition and direction (the understanding of different stakeholders about the goals, approach, strategy and type of innovation) and the abilities. The output provides multiple insights; a. Strength and weakness of capabilities b. Alignment among stakeholders c. Correlation of ambition with capabilities; are they aligned?

As far as I am aware, the most robust innovation assessment tool is InnoSurvey from Innovation360. It measures Aspiration (why the company is innovating, What it innovates) and contrasts it against the Ability (leadership, culture and capability for innovation). All measures are 360-degree views with management, empployees and externals providing their perspective. This can be benchmarked against their global database in every industry and over 10,000 companies. It is a very deep and comprehensive assessment tool that also provides AI-powered recommendations on top capabilities to develop based on the unique company's strategy.

The only 360 assessment tool with global benchmarking is InnoSurvey?. The methodology uses qualitative and quantitative analysis (grounded theory) to bring about well-researched recommendations.

In assessing an organization's innovation capability, it's essential to understand and correlate two key elements: aspiration and ability. Aspiration refers to the organization's innovation intent, while ability encompasses the organizational structure and capabilities that support these aspirations. Effective innovation management hinges on ensuring that the ability is correlated to aligned aspirations. A crucial step in this assessment is conducting a comprehensive 360-degree analysis across various stakeholders, including employees and managers. This approach provides a holistic view of the alignment between aspirations and abilities, identifying areas where the innovation strategy and execution may need enhancement.

InnoSurvey assessment that I have used enables me to benchmark a companies innovation capabilities against the best innovators in the world or industry best practices or country best practices. The database has innovation capability data from over 10000 companies based in 100+ countries world wide. The data base enables benchmark without revealing client confidentiality. Advance statistical techniques are used to do correlation analysis to come up with insights at capability levels of strength, weakness, lack of alignment etc. In the presence of inputs from customer, it helps generation of Innovation quotient. Combined with a qualitative assessment done by the consultant, it enables the development of detailed action plans

The world's largest database is InnoSurvey? which makes it by far a very relevant tool to use for assessment and capability benchmarking.

The Digital Maturity Compass (DMC) tool by Giggr Technologies provides an accurate understanding of not only the Status Quo but also the gaps at any given point in time dynamically against the desired state. There are 42 dimensions against the five heads of Strategic Enterprise Operations (SEO), Leadership, Culture, Resilience and Digital Strategy. Each Dimension has Attributes to signify Innocence (0), Awareness(1), Understanding (2), Definition (3), Competence (4) and Excellence (5) that is inherently benchmarked. The scores generated from Individual can then be aggregated across teams, functions, processes, enterprise and ecosystem. To get an accurate understanding of the hotspots of Strengths and Weaknesses helping targeted renewal.

InnoSurvey allows benchmarking the company's innovation capabilities versus industry peers. It is an excellent way to assess if the company is among industry innovators or has gaps to address to catch up with competitors.

I'm pleased to see widespread interest in InnoSurvey. Benchmarking in innovation is a complex numbers game, relying on data from numerous organizations and their personnel. However, it's vital to understand benchmarking's limitations due to its relative nature across organizations. At Innovation360, we've discovered the significant value of correlating ability and aspiration in our analyses. This method focuses on aligning an organization's capabilities with its strategic goals, providing more targeted insights than traditional benchmarking, which often compares every element indiscriminately. This approach offers a nuanced perspective in assessing and enhancing innovation strategies.

A systematic approach to the innovation capability development plan requires assessing and identifying strengths, weaknesses, and untapped potential and developing a strategy to address gaps. The InnoSurvey can be repeated annually to check the progress, and the innovation playbook can help to identify actions and metrics to make ti happen.

To build a full-scale implementable innovation management system requires capabilities being built and measured on a regular basis to close gaps and find new areas to work. Having an Innovation Playbook that allows the organization to set up tactical and operational metrics and measure capabilities (using InnoSurvey?) makes it very data-driven and allows organization to check the InnovationIQ? score every year to drive impact and performance.

Building a team (an Innovation Management Team) that can help in developing the plan and ensuring its progression can be very helpful making innovation a consistent and ongoing process rather than a one-off. Finding champions and empowering them should be one of the first steps in the development plan.

I've worked with the Innnovation360 Groups tools since 2016 and find the framework the most comprehensive based on peer reviewed research and practice, and also the most insightful in terms of assessing an organization. There are numerous detailed lens that not only state the aspiration of the organization but also the ability. An experienced user can identify issues in an organization beyond scoring on a limited number of questions. The assessment can be conducted digitally for a dep't, a BU, or divisions of a large corporate/Gov't entity yet is granular enough to understand the gaps between management & employees or to a select group of externals. It is fully aligned to ISO56004 with a separate view re Innovation Management in ISO56002.

At Innovation360, we've developed the widely used Innovation-IQ as a measure of an organization's innovation maturity. This tool assesses both the level of innovation and the alignment of innovation strategies within the organization, combining these elements into a single score that ranges from one to one hundred. Innovation-IQ provides a sophisticated assessment, going beyond traditional benchmarks which typically refer to different levels separately. By integrating the degree of innovation with its alignment to the organization's goals, Innovation-IQ offers a comprehensive view of innovation maturity, making it a valuable tool for organizations looking to enhance their innovation capabilities.

Building innovation capability is one thing, but having it aligned by using correlation data to organization's aspiring strategy is very powerful. This is what InnoSurvey? from Innovation360 allows one to do.

Many assessment frameworks worryingly ignore worker wellbeing and safety, reflecting outdated, mechanistic models. True innovation assessments should prioritize overall wellbeing, sleep quality, and psychological safety, recognizing these as key drivers of sustainable innovation. Amidst mental health and engagement crises, valuing team health and agency is crucial. We must shift from seeing employees as mere units to appreciating their holistic contributions, embracing a 'people first, work second' mindset for genuine, lasting innovation.

As well as the dimensions already mentioned in the article, InnoSurvey? looks at much more, and in much more detail, such as the types of innovation a company currently performs. This is crucial, as in my experience, to achieve company growth targets, innovation can not be uni-dimensional, and needs to involve multiple areas of innovation, especially when considering the different innovation horizons - business model, management, products, services, production, processes, organizational.

Fab framework, except I can't find many traces of the most important stakeholder: the end customer. Innovation rely on internal competencies, but it is defined by external outputs. How many products have you successfully taken to market, to the delight of your customers? Do they collaborate with you in order to design their next lovemark of a product? Do they associate your brand to innovation - a different way of delivering high quality at the right time? In my experience many companies invest time and resources endlessly comparing themselves against peers (remember high school?). What they should be doing instead is asking their customers, who have a vested interest in getting new and improved products and services.