The Innovation Maturity Model (IMM) is a framework used to assess an organization’s capability to innovate across different levels, from ideation to implementation. It focuses on fostering a culture of innovation, especially within startups and scaleups. The IMM defines five levels of innovation maturity: Initial, Repeatable, Defined, Managed, and Optimizing. Organizations use the model to evaluate their current innovation capabilities, identify gaps, and develop plans to reach higher levels of maturity.
The Core Tenets of IMM
- Innovation should be an integral part of an organization’s culture and strategy.
- Cross-functional collaboration and open communication enable impactful innovations.
- Innovation capabilities progress through defined maturity levels.
- Assessing current maturity highlights areas for improvement.
- Leveraging strengths and addressing gaps leads to greater innovation success.
Why IMM is important to business consultants
The IMM provides business consultants with a proven framework for assessing and enhancing their clients’ innovation practices. Many companies seek help driving organic growth through new products, services and processes.
By benchmarking a client’s innovation maturity, consultants can tailor recommendations to build capabilities needed for repeatable, scalable innovation. The model allows tracking improvement over time. Consultants can use the IMM to demonstrate how boosting innovation maturity leads to competitive advantage and bottom-line results.
With innovation a priority for most organizations today, mastery of the IMM enables consultants to provide strategic value on a vital business priority.
Example of IMM in Use
- A manufacturing firm used the IMM to reveal innovation was happening in silos and lacked leadership support. By appointing a VP of Innovation and launching cross-functional teams, they moved from the Initial to the Repeatable level.
- An accounting firm’s assessment showed strong ideation but weak implementation. They instituted a stage-gate process to better scale promising ideas to market. Within two years, they jumped from the Defined to the Managed level.
- A retailer struggling with stagnant growth used the IMM to identify barriers to innovation. By shifting culture through rewards, funding and training, they climbed from Repeatable to Defined maturity in under three years.
IMM Synonyms
- Innovation Capability Model: A framework for evaluating and improving an organization’s ability to innovate consistently.
- Innovation Process Maturity Framework: A methodology focused on assessing the maturity of an organization’s end-to-end innovation process.
- Innovation Management Maturity Model: A model that examines how well innovation activities are managed across strategy, process, organization, culture and technology dimensions.
- Innovation Excellence Model: A tool to gauge an organization’s proficiency and competency in innovation across people, processes and technology.
- Innovation Mastery Model: A model centred on an organization’s skill level in ideating, developing and implementing innovative products, services or processes.
IMM Antonyms
- Innovation Ad Hoc Process: An innovation approach without defined processes, metrics or governance.
- Unstructured Innovation: Innovation activities occur sporadically in isolated pockets without alignment to strategy.
- Innovation Mismanagement: Lacking the leadership, strategy, resources, culture or ecosystem to translate ideas into impact.
- Innovation Lip Service: Discussing innovation without dedicating meaningful resources, follow-through and accountability.
- Innovation Discouragement: An environment where status quo rules, risk is punished and out-of-the-box thinking is absent.
Other Closely-Related Terms
- Innovation Culture: Values, beliefs, thinking, and behaviours that encourage new ideas, experimentation, and intelligent risk-taking.
- Open Innovation: Leveraging internal and external networks and ecosystems to co-create breakthrough innovations with partners.
- Innovation Strategy: An organization’s integrated plan to achieve market leadership through consistent innovation excellence.
- Innovation Metrics: Ways to define, monitor, and measure the effectiveness of innovation activities and their impact.
- Innovation Governance: Systems, policies, and processes to align innovation to strategy and manage the innovation portfolio.
