Generating Ideas

Employee Ideation Program Implementation—Step 1 of 3

After you’ve evaluated an idea and decided to move forward, it’s time to enter the implementation phase. Here are the key things to consider:

• Who? Is the person who evaluates an idea also the person who will implement it? Or will a new idea owner be named to implement the idea?
• When? When will you transition your responsibilities to the new idea owner?
• How? How can you ensure a smooth transition to implementation? How will the new idea owner understand the intent of the idea?

Potential problems:

• Complaints or questions instead of ideas
• Duplicate ideas
• Poorly written ideas
• Incomplete or inaccurate ideas
• Ideas that do not comply with your Terms of Use
• Low comment and vote activity

Suggestions for encouraging employees include:

• Develop basic training or FAQs to guide employees
• Use communication campaigns to reinforce good idea creation behavior
• Create categories that suggest topics of importance to employees
• Use prompting questions (i.e., what are the benefits of your idea? Who does your idea impact and how?)
• Use moderation to encourage discussion and voting on ideas
• Feature your Employee Ideation Program and some good ideas in prominent areas (i.e., intranet homepage, etc.)
• Use periodic challenges to collect ideas for a particular topic (see below for more on challenges)
• Be transparent about the process; let employees know what decisions have been made
• Communicate about implementing ideas to show employees it is worthwhile to contribute

When conducting challenges (MS Word, 42 KB, 2 pages, June 2011, download MS Word Viewer), keep the following in mind:

• Identify an executive sponsor
• Determine roles and responsibilities upfront
• Determine if there will be a “winner” and what the “prize” will be
• Structure challenge question carefully to ensure maximum participation
• Make sure the challenge question can be answered by employees
• Communicate results widely

Next Step

Now that you have ideas, it’s time to evaluate the 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