Part III: What Makes an Idea Good?

While discussing topics for the blog recently, one of us asked the question: "What makes an idea good?". We thought we'd throw this out to a few Kindling employees and friends and see what where people take it. The responses will be posted here all week as a part of this series.

Rules are good (though it hurts me to say it).

As a designer and concept developer, I thrive on open-ended thinking and constant “what if?” scenarios. Constraints should be tested, assumptions should be challenged and no idea is a dumb idea, right?

There are countless approaches to innovation, but the most successful involve some level of process. Most start with a broad idea, question or problem and work through open-ended but very specifically focused exercises to discover key insights. These insights are then methodically tested, combined and edited to produce new solutions and/or opportunities.

A room full of creative people with an undefined process is fairly good for providing lots of ideas. I would argue that there is a place in the process for this type of event. However, a room full of creative people working through a well-planned process with a well-defined question or task is very good at providing solutions.

What is the intent of your company’s “Idea Management” program? Are you looking for ideas or are you looking for solutions?

An idea is only valuable to your organization if it can create an opportunity for results of some kind. Be it adding to your pipeline of new ideas or creating a better corporate culture, you need to be consistently conscious of the results you’re looking for and how efficiently you approach your gathering and analysis process.

Well-defined rules and processes can help keep your idea management system running on all cylinders. These guidelines can be applied at several levels to promote the most effective process for your specific application.

Focus on Solutions

The people in your organization will have ideas about everything. Though you want them to feel comfortable and trust the process, guidelines help keep the ideas and process focused on solutions. Another critical application of rules at the front end is to filter out unwanted idea submissions. When your employees grow to trust your program, they tend to feel more comfortable submitting ideas that may be more appropriate for HR or Facilities or may actually be just be inappropriate. The last thing you may want is an open conversation about HR policies (unless that’s what you’re focusing your Program around). Creating a set of rules gives you a foundation to assess and approve ideas. But perhaps even more importantly, they can give you a foundation to base decisions to decline or remove an idea without it appearing to be personal or unfair. If guidelines are established ahead of time, it helps to build increased understanding of the process and stronger trust in the system. Trust and understanding in the system = happy users. Happy users = more engagement. More engagement = better solutions.

Examples of Front End Guidelines:

• Does the idea address or create a consumer/customer need?
• Does the idea support our current corporate strategy?
• Does the idea expand our current market?
• Is the idea feasible, given market constraints/conditions?

Focus on Communication

Clear communication of an idea gives it more likelihood of moving forward, but also helps make the administrator’s job easy. Consider providing guidelines for effective idea communication. These may seem obvious, but people are busy and tend to take very little time to consider how they explain their concept.

Examples of Communication Guidelines:

• Is it Unique? – Search the system for similar ideas. Is it unique? If so, share it. If not, add your take on the idea and join in the conversation.
• Is it on Strategy? – Make sure your ideas meet the guidelines for a successful idea.
• Is it Ready? – Write a rough draft of your idea to make sure your thinking and communication is clear. Share it with friends, get feedback (on clarity, NOT THE IDEA!) and revise before submitting.

The Last Word…

Having said all this, I have to redeem my designer soul by strongly suggesting you provide an opportunity for people to share off the wall, fun ideas. “Fun” is as critical as “trust” to building an engaging program. Work to create these opportunities, build them into the texture of your program and shout the successes from the rooftops!