Do Idea programs really work?

Everyone agrees that the people closest to the work often have great ideas on how things can be improved and how waste can be eliminated. Traditionally, the problem has been in how to encourage these improvement ideas and get them implemented.

Simply nailing a suggestion box on the wall and creating a committee hasn't worked. In fact, most of the standard approaches to soliciting ideas from the workforce are exactly backward. At IdeasCount we've studied successful idea programs like those found at Toyota and Dana to understand what makes them work. We've incorporated what we've learned and put it together in an easy to use and inexpensive website.

How does IdeasCount differ from a "suggestion" system?

Traditional suggestion programs encourage employees to win large cash awards by finding big cost saving ideas. The result of such a focus is that employees often overlook hundreds of smaller improvements looking for that one "home run" idea.

Big ideas typically require big changes and a committee to review the impact of such changes. Even if the idea is finally accepted, there are often disputes on the amount of the rewards and who really had the idea.

Successful idea programs encourage participation over cost savings. The most successful programs help to train employees to spot the problems that they encounter each day and devise solutions that can be quickly implemented. We call these types of smaller ideas "base hits". It soon becomes apparent that the collective impact of many "base hits" far exceeds the few "home runs" of traditional systems.

Why do large cash awards lead to failure?

We've found that the complexity and pitfalls of offering cash awards to employees for implementing their ideas should be avoided. Our research shows that employees are eager to offer improvement ideas if only someone will listen and act. The problem isn't a lack of motivation or a lack of inspiration, but a feeling that their ideas are not valued and not heeded. Give your team a little encouragement and recognition, and the number and quality of their ideas will amaze you.

Can't I just use email to track employee ideas?

Our aim in developing IdeasCount was to create a simple and consistent way to both collect and evaluate ideas. We've designed into IC an easy to use idea evaluation process that allows ideas to be quickly assessed and tracked.

We know that supervisors are busy and need a quick and yet comprehensive way to solicit, evaluate, implement their team's ideas. IdeasCount also offers the kind of tracking and reports that gives management the big picture on the effectiveness of your overall idea program. Reports such as departmental participation rates, cost savings, ROI, and other measures of the effectiveness of your idea program are all a part of IdeasCount.