To set up a feedback and idea management system, it is essential to find the right tool. And the right tool is a ideation platform adapted to your corporate culture, capable of capturing ideas or good practices, and monitoring their development and dissemination in your organization.
An excellent article expert George Krasadakis explains that it is best for an organization to use a market ideation platformIndeed, developing an “in-house” solution will be more expensive, time-consuming and risky than using a SaaS tool. Be careful that, like Beeshake, your tool is able to adapt to your specific needs 😉
In addition, an ideation platform must of course allow for manage the feedback of ideas. But above all, it must absolutely encourage and facilitate this flow of ideas, in a collaborative manner. A good ideation platform is always in action, ready to welcome new ideas, and providing updates on those already proposed. For administrators, it is a platform that allows manage ideas easily, and to communicate about them just as simply.
Here are the 10 essential criteria selected in George Krasadakis' article for choosing the right ideation platform.
1. An always-accessible ideation platform
This may seem obvious, but a good ideation platform must always be available to its users. Indeed, often, employees are invited to participate in innovation challenges, calls for ideas on specific themes, or some hackathon. It is the participatory innovation provoked.
But it is also necessary to provide a space for continuous ideation, to develop thecontinuous improvement. Because your employees can have an idea outside of any event! You must therefore encourage them to propose ideas all year round.
READ ALSO: Before launching a participatory innovation program: everything you need to know
2. Access to a library of ideas
Your ideation platform must make ideas accessible to everyone. Categorized by theme, ideas must be easy to find and discover by your entire community of collaborators. Because ideas are alive! They are ready to be discovered by the right team, in the right context and at the right time. This is why all collaborators must be able to consult them, enrich them, and ask to join them!
NB. Beeshake's "Ask to join project team" feature can help you if you want to encourage your collaborators to participate in the proposed ideas.
3. An ideation platform that is adaptable, like you!
Expert George Krasadakis says it very clearly: rules that are too strict, with too many validation instances and deadlines can kill innovation!
Make sure to set a framework, but remain flexible, adaptable and efficient. Indeed, you do not know in advance what will be proposed by your collaborators. Your system must therefore be able to adapt over time.
4. Transparency above all
Be transparent about your deviceparticipatory innovation. Explain in advance what the main principles of the approach are. Here are some principles on which you can communicate:
- The objectives of the approach
- What is expected of employees
- How you will help employees to stimulate ideation
- How does your idea selection process break down?
- Who participates in the jury for selecting ideas?
- What you plan for unsuccessful ideas
5. To be or not to be… anonymous?
There are several schools of thought on the subject of anonymity. At Beeshake, we are in favor of ideas proposed "with an open face," but anonymity still has its advantages.
The Benefits of Anonymity on Your Ideation Platform
Anonymity allows ideas to be tested, regardless of affinities with its bearer(s). Indeed, collaborators will be able to support the idea, enrich it or provide constructive criticism, without taking into account their possible affinities (or oppositions) with the people who proposed it. The idea can only benefit from it.
Lifting anonymity: other advantages
If employees propose ideas on their behalf, you can more easily work on the feeling of pride and recognition. Indeed, they will be identified by everyone as committed employees, and a force for proposals on innovation topics.
6. Collaboration features
Collaboration is an essential component of a culture of innovation efficient. Your ideation platform must therefore promote collaboration, and offer features allowing each user to share their opinions, knowledge and monitoring.
In short, at the heart of ideation is thecollective intelligence ! This type of tool will promote the circulation of skills for the benefit of the creation of collective value.
7. Enrichment of project teams
An idea must be able to be proposed by a collaborator, or by a team of collaborators. But the project team is not fixed! Indeed, in the same way that an idea is alive, a team is alive!
It is therefore possible that an idea proposed on your ideation platform is of particular interest to certain collaborators. They will be able to simply vote for it, or even ask to join the project team! From then on, the author of the project will receive a membership request. He will then be able to go and see the profiles of the candidates, explore their skills, and select those he wants. Of course, he will also be able to directly invite people to his project team whose profile seems interesting to him.
8. Sending effective notifications
At Beeshake, we identify 2 types of participatory innovation actors:
- The innovation actors: these are the employees who participate by proposing ideas
- Innovation ambassadors: these are all the people who do not necessarily propose ideas, but who still participate in the process by enriching the ideas of others, commenting on them, supporting them, asking questions or sharing their experiences.
It is essential to communicate effectively with these two audiences.
Notifications intended for innovation stakeholders will concern the monitoring of their project, new comments concerning them, or even requests from other users to join their project team.
As for the notifications sent to innovation ambassadors, they will be much broader. Indeed, they can receive notifications as soon as a new project is published, as soon as a comment is made to one of their suggestions, or to inform them of news on a project they follow.
In addition to automatic notifications, we strongly encourage you to regularly send internal newsletters summarizing the latest news on participatory innovation in your organization.
9. Access to statistics directly on your ideation platform
An ideation platform with a good idea management system must absolutely offer a statistical dashboard. The tool administrators will be able to discover statistics on participation, engagement, preferences in terms of themes of ideas proposed, etc. In short, they will be able to really manage the level of activity and engagement in participatory innovation.
10. Your ideation platform is a space for sharing and promotion
As we said earlier, a good ideation platform is a collective intelligence platform. Indeed, it must be an open space, where everyone can contribute.
To go further, what if you turned to a gamified platform?
Because gamification allows you to go further in the recognition of actors and ambassadors of innovation. You can thus distribute a table of “innovation influencers” regularly.
Looking for the perfect ideation platform for your team? Schedule a meeting to explore options that will boost creativity and innovation in your organization.