Innovation Leadership Assessment

Corporate professionals around the world are launching programs and taking actions to assess and develop their individual and organizational capabilities for creativity and innovation.  Their business goals are primarily to increase productivity, revenue and profitability,  but often they experience poor results with fostering a culture of creative thinking and innovation throughout their organization. They wonder why their people, who are inherently creative, discover their ideas never get developed or turn into innovation, despite their best efforts. 

Business psychologists explain that key reason is that there are numerous human and emotional intelligence factors within a corporate environment that must be taken into account to bring an idea to its' fruition. Innovation is as much about attitude, as it is a skill, and it can be developed. Moreover, creative thinking and innovation requires effective emotional intelligence, political savvy and the ability to influence other professionals in order to make it happen.

However, it's now possible to complete a developmental process that moves a person or group forward in their creative thinking, enhancing their innovation and new product development efforts.  Effective programs assess talent within the organization via a new tool called the Innovation Leadership Assessment,  that capitalizes on advances in behavioral psychology, statistics and Internet assessment technology.

Background
The Innovation Leadership Assessment, or “ILA”, was designed, scored and produced by Patricia Harmon just after her Ph.D. dissertation and refined through repeated corporate use over the past 10 years.  The ILA was originally designed for, and is actively helping corporate professionals today at all managerial levels, including senior corporate executives, entrepreneurs, small business owners and Executive MBA students with launching new business ventures.

The first generation of the ILA instrument was launched in 2010 by Patricia Harmon & Associates. Patricia Harmon conceived of the instrument and developed the software service before becoming the first global training partner. Version 2.0 of the product is available in both English and Spanish and the company in 2014, has announced plans to certify other consultants interested in using this tool to assess the needs of their corporate clients. 

The ILA was technically validated by PH.D. students at a leading university and features 79 carefully worded, multiple-choice questions. All self-directed answers are compared against a master database of corporate professionals that answered identical questions. The instrument generates numerical scores, categorizes results according to 15 sub scales and proactive action plans are recommended based on the data. 

It was designed for individual analysis and for departmental improvement and leading US corporate customers last year include:

• A global 20 corporation that deployed the ILA to three groups of more than 50 employees
• An Ivy league university for an executive course on entrepreneurship
• A NASDAQ traded global manufacturing company in three locations
• A global pharmaceutical company and new product development team
• And hundreds of executives around the United States 

Product Description
The scientifically-validated tool measures key human performance dimensions within five psychological domains necessary for effective performance as an entrepreneur, entrepreneur or senior corporate executive. The ILA identifies for executives their individual areas of strength, capability or development within these key behavioral and psychological dimensions necessary for effective performance.

The instrument today is available on-line in English with access via a password by a certified training partner. It takes less than eight minutes to answer the multiple choice questionnaire. The only requirement is an Internet web browser, a valid email address and you will want to devote time afterwards to discuss the results with a professional training partner, or executive coach.

Individual Benefits  
The ILA reveals to the employee, and organization, specific employee competencies, strengths and areas of creative thinking that can be applied to significantly enhance innovation.  Knowledge is created when the self-directed answers are compared against answers from a master database of corporate professionals.  The tool generates numerical scores for each scale, categorizes results, and three proactive plans are recommended based on a comparison of individual answers to all answers in the master database. Customer names are not required, all data is kept confidential and will never be resold or communicated to any outside organization.  The computer program generates statistical charts, tabulates all individual data into a 15 page PDF assessment report displaying general analysis and recommendations for the developmental areas.

Post Assessment
Although the scores within the individual report feature clear and concise narrative,  a post assessment conversation with a trained ILA executive coach often creates measurable positive benefits for the individual and organization, including:

• Establishment of SMART goals
• Development of proactive strategies
• Generation of new ideas and plans for program implementation  

Additionally, for the employee, coaching conversations alleviate any individual concerns, and provide a second order analysis and discussion regarding next steps. 

Pricing
The fee per assessment is paid to the global training partner after issuance of a corporate purchase order (or in advance through Paypal) prior to electronic transmission of a password to take the instrument.  Once the assessment is completed, the global training partner or a certified advisor from Patricia Harmon & Associates will examine the data, generate a PDF report, and reply back via email.  Post Assessment coaching conversations are available for an additional fee that varies depending upon the amount of time required by the individual or corporate manager.