Last Updated on 18 June 2009

This post is no longer up-to-date as the Think Smart site no longer exists. But the questions are still relevant

You’re thinking Intelligence Quotient… I’m talkin’ Innovation Quotient. Innovation Network LogoJoyce Wycoff at Innovation Network has had a simple on-line guide, which allows you to measure how innovative your company is.

You’d answer ten questions, with answer ranging from “never” to “always.” You would then be presented with a score and practical advice.

Here are the questions she posed…

  1. Does at least 25% of your revenue come from products and services developed in the past 5 years?
  2. Do you consistently outperform your competition in things like customer service, quality, time to market, ROI, and profitability?
  3. Do you routinely solicit, listen to, and act on suggestions from people from every level and function of your organization?
  4. Do you encourage and stimulate interaction between departments and promote cross-functional projects?
  5. Have all of your improvement processes (TQM, reengineering, excellence, etc.) been as effective as you hoped?
  6. Do you regularly train people at all levels and in every function how to think and work together more effectively?
  7. Do people in your organization regularly have time available to think through situations, look at the big picture, bounce ideas off of peers, and experiment with possibilities?
  8. Is information freely and readily available to everyone in your organization rather than on a need-to-know-basis?
  9. Does your organization regularly review and update its assumptions, mission and goals and encourage everyone in the organization to do so also?
  10. Is ownership, rewards and risks, distributed widely through your organization through stock ownership plans or profit sharing plans?

If your company thinks it’s more innovative than it actually is – a common situation, by the way – this might be just the tool to show your boss… or your boss’s boss… Take the first steps to helping your organization be more innovative.