Innovation Audit for the Public Sector

Leadership

1. Managers routinely get out of their office to talk to staff – a process often termed MBWA for ‘management by walking around’.

2. Staff often talk about the level of positive, “can do” support for new ideas

3. Managers always find ways to resource good people to progress good ideas

4. Our organisation publicly celebrates the learning and effort that goes into innovations even when they fail

5. Responsibility, authority and resources for projects is passed to staff – the manager’s input is to be a buffer with the organisation, a good sounding board, an enthusiast, and to check on progress.

6. Managers reflect back to staff how their qualities will lead to positive change

Resources

7. The people who are most knowledgeable about the task or challenge make most of the resource allocation decisions.

8. Our organisation has an internal seed venture capital fund, discretionary fund or other process that can be used to resource staff to progress innovative ideas.

Innovation Experience

9. At least 20% of staff have had a significant impact on developing or adopting an innovation (new to the world, country, sector or organisation) in the last two years.

10. Our organisation has achieved more innovations than other similar organisations in the last two years.

11. Our staff say they are usually learning new things in our organisation

Creativity and Idea Generation

12. Our staff can usually suggest many ways to solve problems

13. We prefer to employ people who expand our range of experiences and perspectives.

14. We carefully separate the process of generating ideas and being creative from making decisions and judgements.

Goals, Measures and Strategy

15. Our organisation has a clear strategic vision that staff know and share

16. Most staff have fewer than six measures that they use to assess the performance of the organisation and their role in it.

17. Strategic measures are shared often with all staff to assess progress towards the strategic vision.

18. The strategic measures very closely reflect the true purpose of the organisation.

19. We are more interested in achieving outcomes than outputs

New Project Development

20. We have many staff who are fully committed to making their projects happen.

21. We have a clear process for developing new ideas.

22. Once a project has been decided on, it develops rapidly.

23. We are good at pulling together all of the skills and influencers from both within and without our organisation to develop projects.

24. Staff who are driving innovative projects or processes usually get the full support of senior managers at critical stages in the project.

Staff Management

25. Our staff turnover rate is less than the industry norm.

26. Most HR matters are handled at the operational level.

27. Our staff are motivated by the vision of the organisation.

28. Most staff meet daily in an informal space such as a tearoom.

29. There are rich personal networks that cross department boundaries within our organisation

30. There are formal 2-way communication pathways for management to inform staff and staff to inform management at least once a month.

31. There is sufficient slack time for people to take time to think and explore ideas.

32. Our managers are good at showing their appreciation to staff for their efforts, small triumphs and major accomplishments.

Bureaucracy

33. Decisions are made without undue delay.

34. Front line staff often make decisions that in small ways influence the strategic direction of the organisation.

35. The organisation’s formal controls and measures are only for those things that significantly affect the organisation achieving its vision.

36. Staff departments (such as HR, legal, PR, administrative services, advisory, finance, information systems and audit) act as assistants to, not overseers of, line departments (who are responsible for achieving the major goals of the organisation).

37. Current or recent practitioners mainly develop our policy.

38. We assure accountability mainly through close working relationships with management and staff, rather than relying on paper based measures.

Ethics and Values

39. People trust the decisions made by our organisation because of our reputation for integrity.

40. Staff are guided by the values of the organisation in their daily work.

Organisation Culture

41. Our organisation’s culture is a major advantage in attracting and retaining good staff.

42. Our organisation’s culture encourages all staff to constantly seek and test better ways of doing things.

43. It is easy to challenge the way things are normally done in our organisation

44. We treat our colleagues with respect, admiration and cooperation.

45. People laugh and smile a lot in our organisation.

46. There is almost no backbiting in our organisation.

47. We have very few rules that require compliance.

48. It is more important to make an impact as opportunities arise than to be consistent.

49. Our staff focus is on the users of our services rather than internally.

Challenging Environment

50. We face a challenging environment that demands innovative solutions.

Innovation Through Business