4 common ideation challenges and how to overcome them

You made an investment in a top-notch ideation platform. You defined your challenges (or objectives) and set up ideation campaigns. You created a perfect ideation process. You formed a team of very creative people and provided them with access to the platform. All you have to do now is wait for ideas to come flowing, right? Wrong!

In all likelihood, you will encounter one or more of these very common challenges. Here’s some practical advice to help you overcome them.

Logophobia -> Anonymous idea submission

Whether it comes from low self-esteem, perfectionist tendencies or past negative experiences, logophobia (fear of speaking) is a powerful blocker. In an organization where every word is measured and judged, we tend to keep our thoughts, ideas and comments to ourselves. Needless to say, this results in a loss of all that experience and creativity that could otherwise be channeled towards achieving the organization’s objectives.

Apart from completely revamping the company culture, which is a long and difficult process by itself, there is a quick and easy fix – anonymized idea submissions. Simply allow anyone to anonymously contribute their ideas without the negative effect of being judged and ridiculed.

Social self-validation -> Community evaluations

Another extremely important motivator is a psychological phenomenon called social self-validation, where people need to feel the support of their thoughts, views and ideas by members of their community. We notice it every day in almost all aspects of our social life, not only on social networks, but also in “real life” interactions with friends, family, coworkers and others.

A solid ideation process should allow some form of social validation of captured ideas. This is usually achieved by enabling simple community evaluations of ideas in the initial stages, by using familiar and commonly accepted evaluation methods. Likes, hearts, upvotes – all of these will work really well initially. If you need to make it a bit more refined later (but much later), consider introducing dislikes, comments, stars, etc.

Lack of recognition -> Gamification

Some might say they care a bit less about likes and hearts, than an official recognition by their organization. This is also a valid point and an important consideration. Publicly recognizing people for their efforts, achievements and/or contributions results in valuable benefits to the organization. Increased motivation, enhanced engagement, improved retention – to name a few.

In the context of ideation, this means that a well-designed ideation process has to include elements of gamification. Which gamification drivers to utilize is a matter of every individual organization. Some are gamifying by fear, some by reward, some by empowerment, some by epic meaning, etc. To keep it simple again, perhaps the easiest way to start is with good old PBL (points-badges-leader boards). Assign points, define badges based on collected points, show scores on the leader board and make it all fair, transparent and – most importantly - public.?

Black-boxing -> Ownership and visibility

Black-boxing is a common approach to simplifying something by hiding inner workings of a “black box”. It has many positive aspects, such as reducing complexity, delineating accountability and improving focus. The undeniable fact is that people are not experts in everything that needs to be done to translate an idea to a solution. Some companies prefer different teams to deal with an idea in different stages, depending on the team expertise. A notable negative aspect is the loss of transparency and understanding.

Consider this: Ideas are like children. We need to develop them, we need to see them grow and mature, and in the end we need to celebrate their success. Isolating idea creators from all the subsequent steps in the ideation process (even though they might not know anything about evaluating, maturing and developing those ideas) sends a clear message that creating an idea is a purely transactional process. Once you’re done – thanks and see you next time. Instead, idea creators should be involved in the end-to-end process in some manner – as owners, as decision makers, as drivers, or at least as observers. This practically guarantees engagement the next time around. In other words: Let people live with their ideas.

A few final thoughts

1. One size doesn’t fit all. What works for one organization, might not work for another. Always use common sense and adapt as you go.
2. All of the above should be constant, continuous and real-time. One-time recognition is an accident. Continuous recognition is a culture.
3. There are no stupid ideas – just undeveloped ones. ??

Ideation doesn’t have to be difficult. By following this advice, anyone can transform their ideation process into a well-oiled machine.

If you feel overwhelmed and need some expert help to guide you with this or other aspects of innovation, here’s how to reach us: https://www.lusidea.com/schedule-a-call.