Think about survival as a business. What comes to mind? You may have thought of making a profit, having a competitive advantage, or something entirely different. But chances are, the majority of you thought of “innovation.” Why? In today’s world of work, disruption is everywhere, whether it’s coming from competition, new technology, you name it. And that disruption isn’t going away. Instead, it is pushing organizations to establish an innovation program in order to keep their heads above water.
Innovation needs to be the lifeblood of your business – it needs to be ingrained in the DNA. By establishing such a foundation, your organization can set the goals of identifying new solutions to top challenges and create a culture of engagement that will attract, retain, and develop talent.
As more and more companies are investing in these programs and making innovation a top priority, you must do the same in order to keep up with the competition. But how does your innovation program, whether or not it’s well established already, stack up against those of your peers? Keep reading to obtain the answer.
Evaluate your innovation program in five quick questions.
Planview Planview IdeaPlace is here to help you along your journey. With IdeaPlace’s Innovation Program Benchmark Tool, you can gauge where you’re at in your innovation efforts and what you can do to increase your impact right away. All it takes are five simple questions, developed out of a rigorous data analysis around what goes into building successful innovation programs:
- Do you have an innovation program, and if so, how long has it been running?
- What is/are the main business objective(s) of your innovation program?
- Do you have a way of tracking and implementing ideas?
- Who participates in your innovation program?
- How do you measure the value of your innovation program?
Once you answer all of the above, the Innovation Program Benchmark Tool will present you with your current status:
- Beginner: Just Scratching the Surface – you have tons of potential and opportunity to make more of a business impact within your innovation program.
- Intermediate: On-Par with Peers – it’s time to take your program to the next level by creating more challenges and measuring success.
- Advanced: Ahead of the Curve – there is always room for improvement, fine tuning, and further expansion.
These different statuses all come with a few helpful tips to get more out of your program, regardless of where you are in the process. For instance, you may be better able to measure value, increase frequency, or engage a broader crowd. Because at the end of the day, is it not the goal of an innovation program to capture diverse ideas by ensuring employees are engaged across multiple departments and geographies? Only then will your innovation program be able to have a real impact on the business’ bottom line.
Be sure to take the assessment yourself to evaluate your company’s innovation program and present new ideas for improvement.
Interested in learning more about innovation and gaining insight into the analysis that went into creating the Innovation Program Benchmark Tool? Download the 2018 State of Crowdsourced Innovation Report, a rigorous analysis of the world’s largest brands (representing 21 different industry verticals) that provides insight into how these brands leverage their innovation programs to solve problems and surface opportunities.
