Ideas management comprises of the gathering of ideas related to product development, procedure enhancements, cost reduction, customer insights and marketing initiatives to assist in the growth of a company. Best practise initiatives are often born from the insightful input of employees. As employees work in different departments, different managerial levels and in different locations, the knowledge and experience gained by a variety of such employees will offer a wide array of valuable information if shared. The knowledge, experience and creativity of these individuals, communicated through ideas that may positively influence the growth of the company, is embraced and encouraged through an ideas management system.

In essence, an ideas management system, or IMS, promotes a process through which employee ideas are filtered in order to retrieve the best ones for implementation. The goal is to use these ideas for company development outcomes.

“An Idea Management System manages, monitors and implements innovation in a structured way.” Dr Lauchlan - ideamanagementsystems.com

Putting a system in place for the management of ideas is necessary if the goal is to put these into action, and if the implementation thereof is to be successful.

It works with a software system. An ideas management system organises the steps in the process in a coherent manner. Dr Lauchlan from ideamanagementsystems.com describes the ideas management process in these six consecutive steps.

- Dr Lauchlan from ideamanagementsystems.com

The system works on two levels. Firstly, it supports employee contributions as well as idea development tasks. Secondly, it supports the administrational management and assessment of these contributions and assists in the decision making process.

Ideas are generated by company members. Before any idea can be offered, company goals should be clear and well communicated. This sets the bar, and employees are then challenged to invent procedures for reaching that bar. On the ideas management system, each employee will have the opportunity to register and thereby have a personal profile created. Ideas are captured when the employee posts their ideas. Ideas will be sectioned and be viewable by others in the company.

The idea development stage rolls out once others begin to comment on the ideas posted. Beneath each idea posted, there will be an option to comment. We might view this as an exercise in constructive criticism; highlighting pros and cons or expanding on an idea. Just like the employee is encouraged to come up with ideas, so is he or she encouraged to consider the ideas of others and give constructive feedback.

There are a variety of ways in which the system could allow for ideas to be assessed. The most sufficient method is voting, provided that all employees are tasked to cast their vote and the system ensures that each individual registrant only votes once. Biases are off course a factor that might skew the voting system. It is the individual’s responsibility to monitor and revoke his or her own biases. Feedback should not be taken personally. Ideas management is not a contest. It is for the development of everyone.

Through the filtering process of voting, the best ideas will surface. These will then be assessed by management. It will be weighed against predetermined criteria, like feasibility, practicality, etc. The “qualifying ideas” will be implemented through the enthused participation of employees under the guidance of management. The ideas management process would now have run full circle.

Outcomes would then be carefully monitored to determine the success of the idea over a period of time. Strategies or procedures will be altered according to positive as well as negative outcomes. If highly successful, further development of the strategy or procedure would be considered.

Ideas management should be run like an annual, bi annual or quarterly project, where enough time should be allocated to the participation and implementation of development initiatives. In this period, “enhancement” is a subject on the minds of all company members. Solutions to problems are actively being sought and creativity is spurred through the challenge. Inviting employees to the prospect of company development through an ideas management system is to grow a corporate culture of innovation.

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