Novum has been around for 3 years. In these 3 years, we have managed to develop into a successful innovation lab within the Dutch government, in which we now tell ministries how best to innovate within the government. There is a strong sense of team within our lab. And that while in practice we often work solo or in duos on our experiments. One of the success factors of this team spirit is the pursuit of results that contribute to our shared mission:

We initiate in cooperation with others valuable changes that make impact, because we believe that livelihoods should be taken for granted.

You can add up the number of collaborations of the past period, but that of course says little to us. Nothing really, except a number. So we have set parameters for 'collaboration with others'. On the basis of the process, communication and results of a completed project, we ask partners to appreciate the cooperation. Because the assessment of these concepts is intangible and it soon becomes a matter of feeling, we apply the likert scale.

For most questions, the partner can indicate on a scale from 0 to 10 which grade he or she gives that part of the collaboration. What score, for example, will the project lead time have? A feeling expressed in a number. Because this number does not state the underlying reason, we add open questions so that the respondent can explain what is going well and what can be improved.

We want to improve from this research, so we like to be vulnerable! At the end of the questionnaire, partners are given the opportunity to indicate the extent to which they recommend collaboration with Novum to others. Out of curiosity, we ask about how the partner prefers to keep in touch with Novum. We can make good use of that insight for our communication strategy.

Why now a 0 measurement?

After 3 years of innovation, it is time to find out how our partners experience working with Novum. Practice what you preach. So we designed and performed a 0 measurement. Within our team, we are honest with each other and giving feedback to each other is an absolute must. This ensures that we continue to grow and develop. We are happy to receive this from our partners. This initial measurement is aimed at measuring the first part of our mission *, namely cooperation with others. But how do you measure an abstract thing like 'cooperation with others'?

* To measure the extent to which our work contributes to the second part of our mission, the valuable changes with impact, measuring at project level is necessary. The total of the effects of the delivered products / services says something about the value of these changes. You can read more about this in us blog about measuring impact.

The Questionnaire Process

It starts with setting up an appropriate questionnaire. We assume that people are rather questionnaires tired. It is therefore important to avoid a lengthy series of questions and to formulate the questions as succinctly as possible. The trick is to reduce the number of questions to such an extent that a response can be given within 10 minutes. After agreeing the questions, we select partners who have worked with us up to 2019 on a project that has now been completed. These are partners from public authorities, SVB colleagues and also commercial parties. Be prepared that a 0-measurement involves sending the necessary reminders. We have noticed that filling out a questionnaire is rarely given top priority. In the invitation to the measurement, we mention how valuable a response from the partner is to us so that we can continue to develop as an innovation lab. Each partner receives a personal invitation and we ask to answer the questions. The CC and BCC functionality is out of the question.

What are the results?

The responses to the measurement are generally positive. Partners appreciate our clear communication, even when something is not possible. They like our willingness to pursue a common interest and love the innovative ideas. An area of attention that is mentioned several times is the actual landing and acceptance of our innovations. This remains a challenge that we would like to take up again next year. Below we share the figures that the partners give on average for their cooperation with Novum.

7.8 Cooperation with Novum
7.3 Lead time for the collaboration
7.7 Communication with Novum
7.5 The result (s)
7.6 Satisfaction with the result (s)
49 Net Promoter Score, to what extent the partner recommends a collaboration with Novum

You can use the Net Promoter Score (NPS) to measure a specific experience of customers, and in our case cooperation partners. You calculate the NPS by subtracting the percentage of customers who do not recommend your product or service (Detractors) from the percentage of customers who wholeheartedly recommend your product or service (Promoters). You translate the final percentage to an absolute value between -100 and +100.
Where +100 means that every customer, and in our case cooperation partner, is a Promoter.

• Rating of 0 ™ 6 (Detractors)
• Rating of 7 ™ 8 (Passives)
• Rating of 9 ™ 10 (Promoters)

These are the results of the first 0 measurement. After each collaboration, we ask our partners to share their opinion about the collaboration. This way we can collect all new insights every year, improve our working methods and learn from them.

What are the other figures?

51 partners have been invited to answer a number of questions
12 partners come from commercial businesses
3 partners work for the public sector
36 partners are colleagues from the SVB with whom they collaborated

Ultimately 31 responses were received and we sent 2 reminders

Partners prefer to stay in contact with Novum by:

• Coffee dates
• Knowledge sessions
• Blog posts

We thank everyone who contributed to this initial measurement!