Evaluating Ideas

Employee Ideation Program Implementation—Step 2 of 3

Once ideas have been generated, you can move to the second phase of implementation: idea evaluation. Key steps in this phase of the process are 1) selecting ideas; 2) evaluating ideas; and 3) selecting and communicating ideas.

Select Ideas

Considerations

• Will you evaluate all ideas or just some?
• If only some ideas will be evaluated, how will you determine which ones are selected – by ratings or expert selection? How will your criteria be communicated to the workforce?
• Will you establish goals for total number of ideas to be evaluated?

Best Practices

• Read and review every idea
• Establish user expectations for what ideas will be reviewed and stick to your word
• Review a sufficient amount/percentage of ideas
• Know your organization’s strategic priorities to determine what ideas to evaluate
• Balance the “wisdom of the crowd” with subject matter expertise

Evaluate Ideas

Considerations

• Who will evaluate the ideas? Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)? Ideation Team? Site users? Other?
• Will the evaluation role be a full-time or a collateral duty?
• Consider the different roles involved with the evaluation - Reviewer, approver, recommender, etc.
• How will evaluation roles be assigned and enforced?
• Will you use a centralized or decentralized evaluation process?
  • In a centralized model, the ideation team works closely with SMEs to review ideas.
  • In a decentralized model, ideas may be chosen directly by SMEs to implement without formal review. Or use a hybrid of the two models.
• What type of evaluation criteria or model will be used? Will it be qualitative or quantitative? How will you ensure an appropriate review occurs?

Best Practices

• Know your organization’s culture to determine what evaluation approach will work best
• Use existing processes within your organization if available 
• Assign evaluators to specific categories of ideas
• Don’t be afraid to evolve from one model to another as the program matures
• Instill accountability and measurability into the process
• Use different evaluation techniques for limited scope programs vs. organization-wide initiatives
• Use criteria as a guideline and modify as necessary
• Don’t fall into a “paperwork” overload trap

Selecting and Communicating Ideas

Considerations

• How will you fund ideas? Will you use a centralized pool of funds or will program offices be required to fund their own initiatives?
• Who needs to decide whether an idea can be implemented? Will you have a formal cross-functional group review ideas together or can offices decide on their own to implement an idea?
• Does anyone need to approve the decision? 
• How will you let the community know the status of ideas? If you decide not to move forward, how will you tell the community?
• How will you reward and recognize contributors who have ideas implemented and/or evaluated?

Best Practices

• Encourage ideas that save money instead of cost money
• Transparency is key: tell the workforce everything you’re doing
• Adopt long-term, resource-intensive ideas as well as quick wins
• Engage employees throughout the program lifecycle and celebrate employees with good ideas
• If you’re not going to use an idea, respond as specifically as possible why the idea can’t be implemented
• Stay consistent in how you announce new ideas and communicate with the appropriate brand and tone of your program

Next Step

Now that you have evaluated ideas and decided to move forward with them, it’s time to implement ideas.

» Review all the EIP implementation steps at a glance on the How to Manage an Employee Ideation Program page.

Content Lead: Justin Herman
Page Reviewed/Updated: June 9, 2011