KEYS® is an organisational survey that assesses the climate for creativity and innovation that exists in a work group, division or organisation.

The KEYS® assessment instrument:

• Measures specific management practices that impact innovation.
• Quantifies how productivity and creativity are perceived across an organisation.
• Compares an organisation's innovative climate with other organisations in the KEYS® database, providing a benchmark for improvement.
• Informs development of an action plan, based on hard data, to improve the innovative culture within and across businesses.

What does KEYS® measure?

KEYS® assesses six management practices that support the work environment:

• Organisational Encouragement: An organisational culture that encourages creativity through the fair, constructive judgment of ideas; reward and recognition for creative work; mechanisms for developing new ideas; an active flow of ideas, and a shared vision.
• Supervisory Encouragement: A supervisor who serves as a good work model, sets goals appropriately, supports the work group, values individual contributions, and shows confidence in the work group.
• Work Group Support: A diversely skilled work group in which people communicate well, are open to new ideas, constructively challenge each other's work, trust and help each other, and feel committed to the work they are doing.
• Sufficient Resources: Access to appropriate resources, including funds, materials, facilities, and information.
• Challenging Work: A sense of having to work hard on challenging tasks and important projects.
• Freedom: Deciding what work to do or how to do it; a sense of control over one's work.

In addition, KEYS® looks at two management practices that inhibit the work environment:

• Organisational Impediments: An organisational culture that impedes creativity through internal political problems, harsh criticism of new ideas, destructive internal competition, an avoidance of risk, and an overemphasis on the status quo.
• Unrealistic Workload Pressure: Extreme time pressures, unrealistic expectations for productivity, and distractions from creative work.

KEYS® also includes data on how productive and creative the work environment is:

• Productivity: An efficient, effective and productive organisation or unit.
• Creativity: Where a great deal of creativity is called for and where people believe they can actually produce creative work.