Managing idea flows for decision making By RAE DAWN BRUSCH
Companies operate by decision making it is a fundamental part of modern management. In psychology, it is described as the rational process which entails gathering information and assessing that results in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several alternative possibilities. The conclusion, known as the solution is considered to be ideal or at least reasonable. The solution may or may not prompt action. Every level of management makes decisions to achieve objectives or goals. They are vital in ensuring sustainability in both organizational and managerial activities and functions. The process of decision making is both continuous and indispensable it ensures optimum growth and drivability in terms of services and or products offered. But in order to ensure these decisions are deliberate and thoughtful, there must be a system to manage the idea flows. A process that involves organizing information and defining alternatives since great decisions aren’t pulled from thin air nor do they erupt solely from the thought of a single person. They are developed from learning from others through their experiences and thoughts. Therefore success is directly linked to social examination and the similarity and dissimilarity of ideas and sources. This is where idea management comes in.
What is Idea management? Idea management is considered as the capability to seize responses or perceptions to find solutions for existing issue and create opportunities. According to writers T. Hansen and Julian Birkinshaw from the June 2007 Harvard Business Review, “Idea management is facilitating the flow from idea generation to idea conversation in the innovation value chain.” Which is a framework for evaluating innovation performance.
Why is Idea Management Important? Idea Management is a vital component of the innovation process it uses a combination of creativity to better business outcomes. With the growing amount business ideas and strategies, it’s difficult for anyone to decide which decision is the one that would benefit the company. It is time-consuming in a business world of increasingly scarce time with little time to address inappropriate ideas. Every organization wants better ideas but capturing hem in a manageable way is tough. An idea management system will assist in capturing, categorizing and prioritizing and will create an effective way by which companies can go about targeting and putting them into effect. This is called ideation.
Here are steps to take when practising ideation:
Idea Genesis – Gather and generate ideas to collaborate and address a particular challenge statement. Idea Evaluation, Selection & Merging – Encourage people to openly share their ideas and experiences and discuss further implementation. Merge duplicate ideas to reduce the size of your list the main idea you merge the others to will become the “master” idea. Idea Feedback, Recognition & Prioritize – Get feedback from others, respond to them quickly and recognize the great ones that will develop and benefit the company. Prioritize these ideas to ensure the team’s focus will be on those for development. Idea Implementation – Resources need to be allocated to the winning idea so it can be executed as part of the innovation strategy. Take Action. Idea Bank – Keep good ideas for future use.