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Ideas Management: New Ideas and Improvement

Definition, Explanation

Tips, Checklist

Definition, Explanation

As a part of innovation management, ideas management deals with effectively using the creativity and inventiveness of all staff members, including executives, for using a company effectively. In practice, established methods are the employee suggestion system and the continuous improvement (CIP). The pursued goals of a company are:

• Foster innovation
• Reduce costs
• Encourage the staff to think actively and participate
• Grow and develop talents and competencies

Since the technology works, institutions use software tools to document ideas and to systematically exploit them. This is where former centralized systems are replaced or endorsed by decentralized systems. Modern approaches of idea data bases, intranet platforms or the auction scheme (companies „buy“ ideas „offered“ by staff members) as well as the wiki scheme (staff members work on one idea, also redactionally) are increasingly used in companies. Ideas management thereby was included in collective agreements. The responsible organizational structure can be centralized or decentralized. On the part of the company management, it is important

• to convey idea management and ist importance to the staff
• to involve the works council and have their support
• to create necessary structure and provide it with money and staff
• to educate executives and employees regarding creativity, problem solving and coaching

Tips, Checklist

• Write down your ideas. Create a distinct site for that: An ideas page in your planner, ideas folders, or a digital ideas file
• From time to time, sort your ideas, re-vise and develop them
• Tell your ideas, that is hand in an improvement suggestion or present it within a CIP presentation
• Your ideas should take into account the following:
  • Where does the problem occur?
  • How does it come about, what causes it?
  • What are framework conditions to consider while trying to create a solution?
  • What are consequences of the problem?
  • Can the problem be divided into sub-problems? What are they?
  • Have there been any prior attempts to solve the problem? Which are they?
  • What would be a solution, of the whole or of a sub-problem?
  • What are the consequences of the solution (expenses, quality, time, personnel)?

Last update: 12/27/2009