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Idea Management Process

Build out your innovation strategy phases, and learn how to capture the flow of great ideas with our idea management process.

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Idea Management Process

for all business strategies
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More-inclusive operating models, such as open innovation, design thinking, and co-creation with partners, customers, and suppliers, are now all embraced ahead of traditional R&D, and by a wide margin.

PWC – Innovation Benchmark Report

Why an Idea Management Process is critical for every business

According to Gallup’s ‘State of the Global Workplace’ report, 85% of employees are not fully engaged in the workplace. The economic consequence of this could be as high as $7 trillion in lost productivity.

As well as direct monetary consequences, there are also indirect consequences too. Disengaged employees don’t talk positively about their brand, impacting new sales and making the company less attractive to new talent. Attrition rates will also rise.

So how do you fully engage employees?

The Gallup report goes on to describe engaged employees as “people who work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive the innovation management strategy and process framework and move the organisation forward”.

The concept of crowd-sourcing for new ideas is certainly nothing new. However, applying innovation management into the business

strategy, and embedding it into the existing digital workplace, is slowly becoming a recognised industry standard. As a result, companies can leverage the collective intelligence of their employees through the tools they already use.

With the global innovation management market expected to grow to $1.5 Billion by the end of 2022, and 66% of organisations believe they will not survive without an innovation strategy framework, companies are now recognising employees (and in many cases partners) as a critical way to channel new ideas.

Idea Management Software is the next generation of software. It not only captures ideas but also manages the entire end-to-end ideation process flow. With the help of artificial intelligence, it accelerates the decision-making process for leadership teams.

So, if you want to increase employee engagement, improve brand loyalty, and attract the best talent, developing a long term idea generation process is a must.

Why an Idea Management Process is critical for every business

According to Gallup’s ‘State of the Global Workplace’ report, 85% of employees are not fully engaged in the workplace. The economic consequence of this could be as high as $7 trillion in lost productivity.

As well as direct monetary consequences, there are also indirect consequences too. Disengaged employees don’t talk positively about their brand, impacting new sales and making the company less attractive to new talent. Attrition rates will also rise.

So how do you fully engage employees?

The Gallup report goes on to describe engaged employees as “people who work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive the innovation strategy framework and move the organisation forward”.

The concept of crowd-sourcing for new ideas is certainly nothing new. However, applying innovation management into the business strategy, and embedding it into the existing digital workplace, is slowly becoming a recognised industry standard. This allows companies to leverage the collective intelligence of their employees to share ideas through the tools they already know and use.

With the global innovation management market expected to grow to $1.5 Billion by the end of 2022, and 66% of organisations believe they will not survive without an innovation strategy framework, companies are now recognising employees (and in many cases partners) as a critical way to channel new ideas.

Idea Management Software is the next generation of software that not only captures ideas but also manages the entire end-to-end idea management process. With the help of artificial intelligence, it accelerates the decision-making process for leadership teams.

So, if you want to increase employee engagement, improve brand loyalty, and attract the best talent, developing a long term innovation strategy framework is a must.

Statistical pie chart showing 85% people not engaged at work

employees not engaged or actively disengaged at work

Source: Gallup

bar chart showing 2 blue bars representing the growth of the innovation market by 2022.

projected growth of innovation management market

Statistical pie chart showing 66% of orgs confirming they will not survive without an innovation strategy framework.

organisations will not survive without an innovation process

Our Idea Management Process Flow

The 6 Ideation Phases

Whether implementing a continuous improvement initiative or developing an innovation strategy framework into the company business strategy, three things are required for success:

  1. People to contribute
  2. Software to capture ideas
  3. Process to facilitate the development

Selecting idea management software that fully integrates into the existing digital workplace, like Microsoft 365, gives instant company-wide access to the collective intelligence of employees. This is where Wide Ideas has a significant advantage.

However, all innovation management solutions that capture ideas need to have a systematic Idea Management Process flow. This facilitates the development of ideas and turns them into solutions. But above all the Idea Management Process flow needs to be transparent, inclusive and driven from the top. This helps to generate a company-wide culture of innovation.

Working with many great and inspirational customers over the years, we have developed our own idea management process flow based on feedback. As a result, it fits into any innovation strategy framework and consists of 6 individual ideation phases (often called innovation phases).

These ideation phases facilitate the process from business challenges to solutions:

  1. ASK – Open a channel for input
  2. SHARE – Engage people to contribute ideas
  3. RANK – Evaluate ideas providing feedback
  4. SELECT – Identify ideas to move forward with
  5. PLAN – Outline the process to deliver
  6. DO – Execute and deliver solution
Six stages in a circle representing the 6 idea management process stages for any innovation strategy framework.

01

Ask

Open a channel for input

Whether it is improving product offerings, services or internal processes to boost efficiency, the first of the ideation phases in the process is to create a channel for input.

The most successful companies enhance their capability to co-op with customers, employees and sometimes both by using smart digital tools. This allows for the collective intelligence of a connected network of people to work seamlessly together.

There are two different approaches when asking for input:

  • Focused – creating a series of business challenges to generate ideas and discussions
  • Unfocused – creating an open channel for suggestions on any topic

Both approaches work well. However, creating a series of business challenges helps employees understand the business priorities of management and is more likely to increase employee engagement.

To continue reading please register and download our FREE eBook
Idea Management Process by Wide Ideas eBook mock-up to support any innovation strategy framework.

Inside the FREE eBook

Details the 6 ideation phases of the Idea Management Process flow and how to apply them to all business strategies, including – opening a channel for input, engaging employees to contribute, evaluating and selecting ideas, outlining the plan to deliver and executing it.

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