Innovation Readiness Assessment

Summary Introduction to

Innovation Readiness Assessment Program

Innovation – sustainable and profitable – is widely understood to be a key driver of future growth for virtually every business.  For many established organizations finding and executing opportunities to deliver compelling new value to their customers is proving challenging.  Not only does leadership need to identify the most attractive and strategically favorable opportunities in the absence of time and certainty, they must redirect resources and adjust cultures without disrupting their ongoing business.  It can be done, but everyone involved must know what to do and how.

 Many organizations have made commitments to innovation and some have launched specific innovation initiatives.  But, as is often true with new things, there is uncertainty and doubt as to whether the right things or enough has been done to be successful innovators.  The question “How are we doing and are we doing enough (of the right things)?” is often keeping leadership up at night.

 The Institute for Intrapreneurship has developed an Innovation Readiness Assessment to help business leaders and their organizations understand the gap between where they are today and where they want or need to be in the development of their ability to execute innovation.  Specifically, the Readiness Assessment examines: (i) The current state of the organization to mount sustainable programs of innovation, and/or; (ii) The state of innovation development initiatives already underway.  In both cases, the assessment delivers structured and actionable understandings of current states framed to accelerate the ability of leadership to make cogent adjustments if needed.  The Readiness Assessment can be applied to any size business or division of a larger entity.  The ideal candidate is a business that embraces the need to innovate, but has not yet put in place the organization, culture or resources for sustainable, profitable innovation.

 The assessment model looks concurrently at nine factors that shape the innovation frontier:

  • Business
  • Leadership
  • Structure
  • Culture
  • Human Capital
  • Finance
  • Operations
  • Growth Potential
  • Current State of Innovation 

The approach to the Innovation Readiness Assessment follows a discovery process of interviews and document review based on established questions relative to the nine factors.  Analysis of the findings is then mapped to determine strengths and weaknesses of the organization compared to a knowledge base of organizational and structural models to determine tailored recommendations specific to the current characteristics of the business.  In addition, opportunities for collaboration, both internal and external, are examined and presented for consideration to expand opportunities for growth centered innovation. 

An Assessment focused on the readiness of the organization to innovate will typically take 1 to 1 ½ calendar months.