"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there" - Lewis Carroll

When starting out on the journey to generate continuous innovation, the aforementioned quote is quite apropos.  Until you understand where you are and develop a strategy of where you are going, how are you ever going to know how to get there?
 
                                        

The Continuous Innovation Loop begins (and continues) with "Assessment."  This assessment examines many different dimensions of innovation and idea management.  These dimensions are currently captured within the American Institute for Innovation Excellence's Innovation Maturity Model:

• Culture
• Leadership
• People
  
• Processes
• Tools & Techniques
• Training
• Facilities
• Idea Capture
• Idea Management
• Strategic Planning
• Metrics

Additionally, we use the results of a comprehensive survey, solicited across all layers of an organization, that focus on key areas of innovation and idea management discipline:

• Culture Assessment
• Idea Management Assessment
• Innovation Process Assessment
• Innovation Strategy Assessment
• Innovation Metrics Assessment

While our survey collection and scoring system is proprietary, as it automatically aggregates and feeds the data against the Innovation Maturity Model, you can likely generate similar systems and tools using the latest best/next practice recommendations surrounding innovation.

In the end, you are looking to take a snapshot of where you are now with respect to innovation maturity.  Following that, you develop a strategy of where you wish to take your organization in the future.  What key innovation-related attributes or dimensions do you wish to improve upon in the coming months/years?  Ultimately, the difference between your current state and your desired state is your gap.  Delineate and define these gaps into a gap analysis report.  Finally, develop an action plan to address these gaps and reach your desired state of innovation maturity.

I typically recommend working backward in my action plan development:

1. What is the end result, end goal, problem we are trying to solve, etc.?
2. What are the big deliverables/milestones we need to accomplish in getting to our end state?
3. What are the individual items/tasks we need to get to each deliverable/milestone?
4. What are the details behind each item/task?:
• Who needs to work on the item
• How long will the item take to complete
• How much money (beyond resource cost) is needed to complete the item

I also like represent the Innovation Maturity process this way, as it tends to be easier to understand:

                              


Next time...more on the people-side of innovation.  Who do you need?  Who do you want?  Who do you want to avoid?