Watch what happens when you ask for volunteers to lead an innovation project.  Some individuals will wish that they were invisible while others will jump out of their seats with the enthusiasm of a first grader being offered an extra recess.  What is it that motivates people to respond in such different ways?

That is the question that NineSigma set out to answer in our partnership with Caliper.  We had often observed that a client would succeed when they had a motivated innovation champion, but they would then struggle in duplicating that success organization-wide.  After working with hundreds of clients over the past ten years, we could describe the characteristics of an innovation champion, but we did not have the organizational development expertise to answer our clients’ question “how do we create a team of people who have a passion for innovation?”

Caliper, a human resources consulting firm with 50 years of experience advising over 25,000 companies in team building, and employee and organizational development, was a perfect partner.  We found that Caliper shares many of NineSigma’s core values, like a respect for scientific methodology and an insatiable curiosity.  By combining Caliper’s expertise in human resources and personality assessment with NineSigma’s expertise in innovation, we collaborated to create the world’s first Collaborative Innovation Profile.

Caliper’s rigorous methodology started with a validation study, which included a customized innovation job analysis and development of a competency model for innovation leaders and project managers.  Caliper incorporated interview and assessment results from a sample group of Innovation professionals and implementers.  Caliper’s research team then analyzed the data to determine which traits are most associated with success within the competency model.  The result is a specialized tool that helps management and innovation professionals select and develop successful innovation teams.

Of course, the NineSigma team was eager to learn the results of our Collaborative Innovation team assessment.  No surprise to us, the results confirmed that we are a highly innovative and collaborative group.  Our partnership with Caliper is a shining example of how an open innovation company can grow through open innovation.