A simple 'litmus test' for assessing innovation capabilities. Why? Because most executives now recognise the competitive importance of innovation, or turning ideas into income. However few can measure where they stand in the innovation stakes or if they are heading in the right direction.

1. Is your organisation Innovative? Or Inept?
How to spot the difference
By Ross Harling
I work in the field of sustainable innovation and
amongst today’s Business and IT executives, an
increasingly frequent question is: “How do we
become more innovative?”
The challenge arises because, in this fast moving
and fiercely competitive world, the ability to bring
new products or services to market is now seen as
a key prosperity and reputation driver for both
companies and nations. It is also evident that the
truly world-class innovators rarely outsource or
license new ideas from 3rd parties; instead they
deploy in-house mechanisms to attract and inspire
the talents and inventiveness of their own people.
Answering this short question about innovation can often result in prolonged studies and
benchmarking exercises, for example: The EU Innovation Scoreboard gathers and
evaluates individual country data across more than 24 statistical criteria to assess the
innovation ranking of nations; disappointingly, the UK now rates at average or below in
most of them.
However most commercial companies, as well as many public service organizations,
don’t have the resources or timescales available for such exhaustive analysis. There is a
clearly need for a simple ‘litmus test’ to spot the difference between organisations with
different ‘innovative’ capabilities and the ‘inept’.
During my career, I have both worked for, and personally created award-winning
innovative businesses, as well as consulting and analyzing problems for many leading
international corporations. When developing tools for diagnosing business problems, I
often find that just a few carefully aimed questions, to both senior executives as well as
the wider workforce, can identify the internal state of play with surprising accuracy, and in
a fraction of the time and cost of a conventional ‘consulting study’.
To be of practical value, such business diagnosis tools need to be easy to use,
deployable at low cost and deliver fast robust results. I developed this new diagnostic
matrix for The Innovative Workforce to identify an organizations’ position within one of the
four key quadrants of innovation:
• the sector where the need for innovation is neither recognized nor welcome
• that where the leaders inhabit a world of wishful thinking
• organizations where innovation occurs spasmodically and mainly by accident
and finally, those who have determined to become a ‘Master of Innovation’ in their field,
just as Apple, Google, 3M and P&G are in theirs.
Whilst scored separately from the matrix, this diagnostic also includes statements which
will identify the most compelling factor to how firmly innovation is rooted in your
organisation’s DNA- the existence of a pro-innovation culture.
It takes just a few minutes to see how well you agree or disagree with the following 10
statements. Then, from the column headings, add up and mark the total scores of
statements 1-3 on the x-axis and statements 4-6 on the y axis of the matrix.

2. The Innovative Workforce Diagnostic Questionnaire
1
Disagree
Strongly
2
Disagree
Slightly
3
Neutral
4
Agree
Slightly
5
Agree
Strongly
1. All of our leadership are fully committed to innovation
2. We have comprehensible goals for innovation across the enterprise
3. Our strategic plan incorporates the investment needed for innovation
4. We actively encourage people to identify insights & develop ideas
5.. We use collaborative technologies to share & interpret information
6. We have clear procedures for converting new ideas into offerings
7. We actively support & encourage cross-functional innovation teams
8.. We accept that failures happen, and are not a cause for blame
9.. We celebrate innovations that succeed, & learn from ones that don’t
10. We have already produced new and worthwhile customer offerings.
Total your score for Statements 1-3 and plot your score on the X axis. Statements 2-6 provide your score on
the Y axis. Where your X and Y scores intersect is the quadrant in which your organization probably fits.
Finally, your total score for statements 7-10 help to assess whether your organisation’s
culture is pro or anti innovation. A score of 16-20 indicates that, like the Grand Masters of
Innovation, you are working in a ‘pro-innovation’ culture that can continuously turn ideas
into income over prolonged periods. Conversely, a score of 4-8 would indicate your
organisational culture is predominantly anti-innovation.
Obviously, your own individual scores might be confirmed or contradicted those of your
colleagues. The true state of play regarding your organization can be better assessed by
asking others to score their agreement or disagreement with your own rankings. Further
valuable insights can be gained when, for example, we use our web survey version to
correlate and compare the scores from employees at different levels or in different
departments of the organization.
It would be good to know your own x, y and cultural scores, and to hear any comments
and observations on the use of this ‘litmus test’. You can also contact me for further
INNOVATION
INEPT
“New is just
not our thing”
WORLD-CLASS
MASTERS OF
INNOVATION
e.g. Apple, 3m,
P&G, Google,
DISCONNECTED
DREAMERS
“Lots of talk, but
little develops”
ACCIDENTAL
INNOVATORS
“How on earth
did that happen?”

3. information on using the web-survey version of The Innovative Workforce Diagnostic
throughout your organization.
Ross Harling: ross@rossharling.com
Ross Harling is a winner of many awards in the field of Innovation, Environment and Ethical business, and is
one of The Sunday Times Green Pioneers. Through his advisory work, he inspires and coaches executive
teams in sustainable innovation. In addition to his extensive business and IT experience, Ross trained as an
Economist and was granted Patents for inventing the first environmentally friendly coating technology to be
zero-VOC certified. Based in Southern UK, Ross is currently initiating a new program for The Innovative
Workforce, which combines innovation skills with sustainable implementation.