The Body of Knowledge gets early career Innovation Managers up to speed

In Sweden, the Innovationsledarna (the Association for Innovation Management Professionals) has developed a voluntary certification for Innovation Managers based on a ‘Body of Knowledge’. It tests the competency of individuals through their familiarity with theoretical concepts and models, understanding of tools, methods and terminology, and the strength of their practical experience at applying these concepts within the field.

In their book chapter ‘Developing Innovation Leadership – The Relevance of Qualification and Certification of Innovation Management Professionals’, Mats Magnusson and Magnus Karlsson of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and their colleague Ingrid Kihlander of RISE, the Research Institutes of Sweden, review the experiences of some of the early participants in the certification and their motivations for pursuing professional status.

We summarise some of the findings here.

What is Innovation Leadership?

For innovation to become part of the organisational culture, innovation leadership may need to go beyond the concept of the heroic individual leader and focus on developing capabilities and fruitful conditions for experimentation within the organisation.

Innovation leadership can therefore be described as a set of competencies:

• leading with courage, seizing opportunities, and being strategic
• good at managing risk, agility in changing environments
• being curious, fostering both explorative and exploitative capabilities within an organisation
• creating trust and culture for communication
• being persuasive, inspiring and motivating through action – building capabilities within the organisation

It is thought that personal certification in innovation management may contribute as a mechanism in building leadership competencies. A number of organisations are developing such certification but there has been little evaluation of their impact.

Case-study: Personal certification of innovation management – the experience of Innovationsledarna

Innovationsledarna was founded in 2013 in Sweden as a not-for-profit organisation with the aim to develop the professional role of innovation management. It has about 250 members -practitioners, academics, consultants, and other intermediaries – drawn from private, public, and non-profit organizations of different sizes and from different sectors.

Together they have developed the Innovation Management Certificate. The certification was developed in accordance with ISO/IEC 17024:2012 and aims to promote innovation leadership – to enable and inspire different actors to innovate – an essential part of management.

The personal certification is now offered by the Certification Department at Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE, responsible for application and examination processes) in collaboration with Innovationsledarna (responsible for the subject matter knowledge, i.e., the Body of Knowledge, and recruitment of examiners). It includes a written exam based on the Body of Knowledge, a case description based on the delegate’s own experience, and an oral examination.

The Body of Knowledge

The Body of Knowledge has been developed by Innovationsledarna and adopted by RISE as the basis of certification for innovation management professionals. It covers 12 knowledge areas and provides links to carefully curated reference materials such as papers, book chapters, articles and videos.

It has been developed with the following guidelines:

• Grounded in the experience and practice of innovation management professionals
• Founded on practice
• Succinct – 500 pages or equivalent

The curriculum covers the responsibilities and tasks defined by the job description for Innovation Management Professionals and the different clauses of ISO 56002:2019 Innovation Management System:

1. Professionalization
2. Fundamentals
3. Frameworks
4. Context of the organization
5. Culture and collaboration
6. Leadership, strategy and policy
7. Planning, organizational structures and portfolios
8. Resources
9. Support, tools and methods
10. Processes
11. Evaluation and improvement
12. Perspectives

Benefits of voluntary certification 

Mats Magnusson and his colleagues interviewed the first tranche of candidates for the Innovation Management Certificate to assess their motivations and achievements.

The research questions were:

1. What are the motivations and drivers for candidates embarking on the certification?
2. What are the results and effects gained by both the individuals and their organisations through professional certification?

The study revealed that, although voluntary and not yet internationally recognised, the process of certification had a number of clear benefits:

• Knowledge and skill development – certification tests a body of knowledge and contributes to personal and professional development. It provides an indication of competency and future job performance and can codify the role of innovation management within the organisation.
• Endorsement of professionalism and status – provides objective indication of career and status for potential recruiters.
• Builds self-worth – makes the delegate feel good by validating their achievements.

The respondents were all experienced innovation managers and they expressed their curiosity, willingness to learn more and their desire to benchmark against industry standards. They also wanted to improve communication of the scope of the role within their organisations and to connect their experiences with others in different organisations.

A particular driver was the desire to ‘legitimise’ this area of expertise and practice.

In conclusion

In summary, there was a perception that a completed personal certification as an ‘innovation management professional’ strengthened self-esteem through confirmation or enhanced knowledge. It also increased visibility within their own organisation as well as externally, which opened greater opportunities for influence.

Furthermore, the advantages of a common language when talking about innovation were highlighted, which could be beneficial both internally but also linked to the global terminology, fostering greater understanding and opportunities for collaboration.

Read the full book

This review is of a chapter in the book: Innovation Leadership in Practice: How Leaders Turn Ideas into Value in a Changing World, Karina R. Jensen, NEOMA Business School, France; Stephanie Kaudela-Baum Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland, and Rob Sheffield, Bluegreen Learning, UK