http://www.cio.com/article/125700/Five_Steps_to_Managing_Innovation Five Steps to Managing Innovation New
ideas require more than inspiration: they require a lot of advance planning to lay the groundwork. Here are five tips to get going. By Diann Daniel 1.
Develop clear
directions on how to
submit ideas and who they should be submitted to. 2.
Create a
transparent means of ranking the ideas. Those who submit suggestions should see what other ideas are
being submitted, and critiques should be based on sophisticated checklists to
objectively evaluate merit. 3.
Explain to
people why their ideas were not accepted. Why exactly did the idea not work? How might the person or team
approach the problem next time for better results? It’s especially important
at this point to nurture motivation and to prevent discouragement. 4.
Make sure all
members feel they are important to the innovation process. Innovation is not the capability of a
select few. Everyone—whether in a flashy or hardworking way—can contribute to
the innovative process. Appreciate and openly praise
those who contribute behind the scenes as well as those who typically get the
attention. Innovation can come from all levels of an organization (at IBM,
it even comes from the interns). 5.
Tie financial
rewards to the acceptance and implementation of ideas. Koulopoulos says one of his clients, a very large
healthcare organization, awards profit-sharing to a successful idea’s owner
and business unit. |