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From de idea to the solution: Ideas are the beginning, not the end of the innovation process

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The innovation process and/or the problem resolution process can be a complex process. We cannot be naïve to the point where we believe all our problems, or the innovation of our organizations are solved with the implementation of ideation techniques as part of routines. But to be fair, if the ideation processes are not used, the chances of an organization finding optimal solutions for problems or make use of all its creative potential to develop innovation with higher potential for success decrease incredibly.

Ideas – Why are they so important for the innovation process

Why is ideation such a good starting point?

When you look for a solution for a problem you find in your business or when you just look for new innovation opportunities to make your business grow because you understand that “business as usual” will lead your business to a dead-end road, this is the perfect opportunity to innovate.

So, what do you do? You struggle to find the perfect idea, as you are the boss after all. It’s your business, so it’s your job and you know the best… You pass the task to your managers. They are paid for this… or why not try some ideation techniques, engage everyone or all the key people from the different department and organize an ideation session?

Why is it worth?

First, you can apply structured techniques that allow you to stimulate all the selected participants to bring their most “out of the box” ideas, while you keep records of all the ideas produced. For sure you will not use them all for the current situation, but these may be great ideas for future innovations!

Second, in order to implement an ideation technique and have your people focused on the objective, you need to make a clear statement of your problem or innovation goal. This will help you, also, to a have a clear understanding of the roots of what you look for!

Third, you have several minds thinking on possible solutions. This is an incredible richness of expertise’s, competences, visions and perspectives and life experiences that will not only operate alone as they will be enhanced by the synergies created between the team.

It’s also of relevance to point that when you do this, you are engaging your team and your employees. You are making them part of the solution and/or change. You are valuing their opinions and ideas. You are reinforcing their feeling of belonging to the company!

Image source: Image by geralt from https://pixabay.com/pt/illustrations/id%c3%a9ia-plano-a%c3%a7ao-sucesso-conceito-1855598/

Where do we go now that we have new ideas?

But, once you apply an ideation technique and gather na interesting pool of new ideas, what do you do? Do you just choose the one you like the most? The simplest or the easiest one, just because it will be faster? You know better than this. You have built a business and you know all your processes need to be well analysed. You just don’t rush into to the easy way just because it’s faster. So, you also need to carefully plan your next steps and decisions after the ideation session. You have given an important step towards innovation, so keep going on.

Here are some tips on how to proceed once you have reached your ideas pool, full of interesting, crazy and unthinkable ideas:

  • With your team, analyse all the ideas produced and group them. It’s quite possible that some of the ideas produced are similar or complementary. So, group ideas that can relate to the same type of solution proposed.
  • Rank the ideas. Organize the ideas according to their potential of innovativeness, effectiveness, and execution potential.
  • Once you have selected the ideas and come up with a small group of possible solutions, gather experts from your different departments – production, marketing, sales, accounting. Each one will look at the idea and analyse it according to different dimensions of interest to your business:
    • Do we have the technology to create this? Do we need additional resources and expertise’s?
    • How much will this cost us? Is there a cost-benefit balance?
    • How can you sell this idea? Would our customers buy this? Can this new solution bring us a profitable advantage? Can we built and capitalise around this new idea?
    • And so on.
  • At this point, the selected ideas group is probably shorter, but you may still have more than idea of interest. Test it! Test it fast and test it cheap! Produce a prototype, test it with your customers, test it inside your company and with employees. If it works, perfect! If not, move on to the next possible idea. You have not spent much time and resources with it, so you still have the space to try the following idea! Keep moving until you find your perfect solutions!

Remember, make sure you keep all the produced ideas. Among them you may have the solution for your next challenge or the time to brig that “crazy” idea to life may come soon!