Ideas: The Stepping Stones to your Success!

Last month I wrote about the pitfalls surrounding a traditional suggestion program where ideas go to die. This month I would like to discuss the benefits of having a simple, focused and powerful system for generating, capturing and implementing ideas where ideas become the stepping stones to your success! 

An organized system enables you to effectively manage and execute your ideas and results in less confusion and complexity. It also increases connectivity and ownership as it allows your employees to channel their energy towards ideas that require action instead of them falling flat. The system becomes a visual platform to prioritize ideas and for employees to see the ideas they are going to pursue in a way that helps us and others relate to them.  Without structure ideas fail to build upon one another.  An organized system also has a built in feedback loop.  This is a key missing element in the suggestion box type of program.

Most companies are better at blocking and snuffing out ideas rather than promoting them. Streamlining operations or being cost effective is no longer enough in today’s competitive environment. Leadership is being continuously asked to do more with less, which is a big for reason flagging profits and increased competition. Leadership is then stuck with too few resources in terms of time, money and people and is operating in survival mode. They then do not allocate the proper resources to the idea system for it to be successful. When constantly putting out fires, the challenge then becomes following through on ideas. To follow through on ideas successfully, you need those things that leadership is short of – time, money and people to evaluate and implement ideas.You also need time to properly train and direct management and employees.

Promoting new ideas can turn your organization into a top performing idea generating company that may result in entirely new business opportunities, innovative product lines, services and processes. Promoting new ideas increases cash flow as ideas may improve old products, services and processes or revitalize markets. Promoting ideas creates a learning organization as everyone is trained to see problems as opportunities and are empowered to develop solutions to complex business problems. Implementing ideas effectively requires an incremental process which requires idea exploration, information gathering and research, experimentation and testing, as well as feedback. Your idea system becomes an immense learning and development tool - every idea incorporates inquiry and learning which drives your organization forward.  Ideas become the stepping stones to your success.

Idea Share Tip of the Month!

An ineffective idea system will demoralize employees and result in fewer ideas than no idea system at all.

Sign up for the Idea Share Tip of the Week! at Frame of Mind Consulting

Hartford CT/ Springfield Area:  Page will be speaking on November 18th on the topic of:  Talent and Imagination:  Map Out the Social Power in Your Organization.  For more details and to register, please visit http://bit.ly/1OJlGdt 

Frame of Mind Consulting understands the unique DNA of your organization, which is necessary to turn any organization into one capable of leveraging the full idea potential of its employees. Would you like to drive connectivity and ownership throughout your company?  Contact Page at (860) 559-7942 to set up your complimentary consultation during which you will receive some invaluable tips that you can apply to your business right away.