Can we have a Grand Goal for all Communication?

Consider the following two instances.

1. He didn't sleep quite well. Why? He made a very brief yet absolutely unnecessary angry remark some time before going to bed.
2. The organization made an official statement, in the form of a press release. But it had no impact; it interested neither ordinary citizens nor the media.

What's common here? Both of these point to people acting without a deep awareness and appreciation of the goals of communication. Yes, as in most projects in life, communication too should start with the why.

Let's hence explore this question.

Can we have a Grand Goal for all the Communication we do in our lives?

I ask this because I believe that if we are able to identify such a goal, it would necessarily be inspiring. It would guide all our communication projects and would enable us to be better and better at communication. In both our personal and professional lives.

The Grand Goal of All Communication

My reflection has given me the following answer:

Yes, to become one, stay one and be one. Can this be a grand aspirational goal for all our communication?

I think yes. We communicate to increase the degree of oneness in our thought, words, values, beliefs, perceptions and action. To increase shared understanding, experience, aspirations and dreams. 

What's New

Well, the objective of this post is not to say that one of the goals of communication is to increase degree of oneness. It is rather to propose that this could be a common overarching goal for all the communication we do in our lives. A goal which could form the foundation, origin and guidepost for the specific goals of each situation.

For professional communicators

Especially for communication professionals, this poses the following questions: 

Identification of communication needs: 

Do we look at lack of oneness as a communication opportunity?

Formulation of communication goals:

Do we consciously seek to increase oneness through our communication?

Design and delivery of communication experiences:

What design principles and delivery mechanisms need to be adopted to increase oneness in the communication experience?

Evaluation of communication:

Do we evaluate our communication for the degree to which it contributes to the oneness among the stakeholders involved?

Communication is Holy

This also highlights to me the deeply spiritual nature of all communication. Of the task, responsibility, practice and mission of communication.

TO BE ONE! 

And that is also why communication, and this post too, is incomplete - never complete, ever a journey.

Ideas are Infinite, just like You!

Well, so I have a confession to make. I have been, for quite some time now, passionate about the immense power of ideas. I believe ideas are indeed the currency of the 21st century knowledge economy. Today's challenges and opportunities place a premium - perhaps like never before in human history - on our ability to continually generate worthy ideas and implement them. For the good of our organizations, societies and lives. 

An almost direct implication of this is the heightened need to establish a vibrant democracy of ideas - an environment where ideas are not sought out from the select or privileged few, but from (almost) everyone! Well, various stakeholders should be given not just the opportunity to contribute ideas, but to also give shape to their implementation. 

Are our organizations and societies capable of doing this? I find that the answer is largely NO, at present. They need to set in place new organizational processes, structures and moreover cultures and mindsets, in order to be able to engineer the shift. Not easy, not impossible as well.

Exactly around two years ago, I thought of proposing a system that can enable the Government of India to do this. A system that would enable the Government to become a virtual Idea Factory.  I had thought deeply about the design of the system and was very excited about it. 

In fact, I had already proposed citizen engagement platforms such as regulations.gov, petititions.whitehouse.gov to the leadership of my organization, in May 2014 itself; but my ideas were not received favourably enough.

So, I had the idea conceptualized, but I had not yet learnt how to develop an online portal end-to-end. Hence, I got in touch with one of my entrepreneur friends, who had started a pain-sharing portal called sharingdard.com (seems to have been shut down or shifted now), in the hope that she and her team could collaborate with me, in developing this idea sharing portal. I was hoping that once it is done, we could present it to the Prime Minister of India. :) 

But then, this happened, MyGov was launched, by the PM himself. 

Well, it was a happy sad moment for me - to be honest, more sad than happy. I took to Facebook and vented my grief, in the form of a question, asking: do I need to be happy or sad, or both?

I now realize that the first answer - given by my friend Aniket Chati - is perhaps the best one, the best attitude to have, the best way to respond: "Nothing. you would get another idea very soon". Not just as the best way to console yourself.

But more so as an authentic reflection of our reality. Each one of us has infinite potential. So does our organizations. I feel that often, we pay only lip-service to these statements.

If we really realize that we are capable of and called to do great things, that we have infinite capacity, the loss of one opportunity, the failure to get recognition or appreciation for anything, should hardly matter.

I realize that this realization of self can also be highly liberating. It would enable us to share credit, give genuine appreciation and really build others, in a much better, easier and authentic manner.

So, let us make every effort to realize this hidden potential in us. And in our family members, friends, colleagues and everyone else we come in touch with. And let us also work towards reforming our organizations, so that they become ecosystems that lead to the growth of dense forests, comprised of trees that extend heavenward. And not remain as furnaces that do disservice to the infinite beautiful potential of the people who work in them.

Postscript: You would be amused to know that another idea which I proposed to some of my colleagues, was also launched separately by the Prime Minister around an year ago But then, hey, I am at least a little wiser now. I am infinite, just like you! And our ideas too. Let us resolve to work together, to realize our potential - and our ideas.

smile emoticon

How to Implement an Idea Management System

In an earlier post, we examined the enormous potential of an Idea Management System in powering organizational innovation. So, how do we go about implementing it? A roadmap is proposed hereby, using which you may operationalize an IMS in your organization.

Sponsorship & Active Support of Top Leadership

Experience from organizations which have sought to implement idea management systems show that the success of such idea initiatives is critically dependent on the priority accorded to it by the top leadership. The importance, benefits and need for this system would have to be communicated by the top leadership to all staff and employees on a regular basis. The intervention of the top leadership might be required also when the system faces major bottlenecks, which cannot be resolved at a different level.

The Chief Innovation Officer (CIO)

It is proposed that a Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) (or equivalent) may be appointed to systematically and strategically manage the organization’s innovation projects. The CIO may be entrusted with the core responsibilities of:

• Facilitating idea generation
• Providing support to managers in evaluating and selecting ideas for implementation
• Supporting promising ideas and best practices
• Helping managers and employees explore further potential of implemented or proposed ideas
• Monitor the idea process and help fix anomalies, to ensure the smooth functioning of the organization’s idea initiatives

The CIO need not necessarily be a full-time job; (s)he may hold other responsibilities as well. The CIO may be allowed to recruit a team to assist him in this role.

Tools & Processes

A judicious combination of tools and processes would have to be employed in order to ensure that idea management is effective and yields desired results. Keeping this in mind, the following tools and associated processes are proposed:

• Idea Factory: A simple web-based portal may be developed for documenting, sharing and developing ideas. The portal would be internal to the organization. The idea factory would enable users to perform the following functions:
  • Report an improvement opportunity and solicit ideas to utilize that opportunity
  • Submit ideas
  • Search for and view submitted ideas
  • Comment on and contribute to development of submitted ideas
  • Share lessons learned
  • View latest and overall summary of ideas and generate reports (this shall be of use particularly for top management)
• Idea Sheet: To start with, we may experiment with a very primitive form of the above – a simple Excel sheet of ideas. Even after the system gets established, this may be used in conjunction with the web portal.
• Idea Reporters: Not everyone would be comfortable or sufficiently equipped to use the web portal. Keeping this in mind, some staff members may be designated as ‘Idea Reporters’. Someone with an idea may contact this person and ask him to enter the idea into the idea factory.
• Idea Boards: Boards may be put up at convenient, accessible locations in different parts of the office, so that anyone may post their idea on the board. These too shall be entered by the Idea Reporters into the database (so that the database is the complete repository of all submitted ideas).
• Idea Meetings: Regular and frequent meetings may be held by the head of each team/unit. Every member of the team may be asked to come to the meeting with at least one idea for organizational improvement. The meeting may be used to collect these ideas, document them systematically and decide on further course of action.
• Idea of the Week/Month: These may be decided by the Chief Innovation Officer and publicized across the organization, as a means of providing encouragement and recognition to the employees for their ideas.
• Idea Fairs: These may be organized once or twice a year, to showcase the ideas implemented by the organization, to other stakeholders and at the same time provide recognition to employees.
• Idea Contests: These may be employed when the organization has to tackle a project or problem which is either novel or challenges organizational resources or has defied a solution for long.
• Idea Reports: The CIO’s team would be able to generate idea reports, which give a summary of organizational ideas. This would contain metrics such as implemented ideas, status of other ideas, ideas submitted by each team, ideas generated by each manager, etc. This can help the CIO to take appropriate corrective measures.
• Idea Autonomy: It is clarified that this system does not seek to upset the autonomy enjoyed by individual managers and teams. Though anyone in the organization would have the freedom to submit an idea for the team’s consideration, what it is to be done with that idea would remain the prerogative of the team entrusted with implementing it. However, it would be wise to furnish an explanation of why an idea is not being taken forward. This would help sustain the enthusiasm of idea suggesters and bolster collaborative mentality.
• Idea-friendly culture: Organizational culture is of paramount importance in ensuring the success of this system. Hence, the management at all levels needs to make it abundantly clear that ideas are not only welcome, but actively encouraged. Further, all employees who come forward with ideas need to be treated with due respect and dignity, so that even if an idea happens to get killed, the employee motivation is not.

It may be clarified here that all employees and staff may be encouraged to come up with ideas relating to any aspect of the organization. In other words, they should not be restricted to contributing ideas for their team or unit alone. Managed well, this can improve inter-departmental understanding, team spirit and have a salutary effect on organizational culture and performance.

Ideas can be of two types: an opportunity for improvement and a solution which can help improve something. Both are to be welcomed and encouraged.

Further, the dominant focus would have to be on small ideas. Experience bears it out that focusing on a large number of small ideas is the key to improving organizational performance. 

Hope this helps you, in accelerating innovation in your organization. In making it a high-performing and exceptional organization.

(Published originally on LinkedIn)

References:

1. Ideas are Free – Alan Robinson, Dean M. Schroeder 
2. The Idea Driven Organization - Alan Robinson, Dean M. Schroeder 
3. How to Manage Innovation as a Process
4. An Overview of Idea Management Systems 
5. Why Innovation matters 
6. http://innovation.govspace.gov.au/
7. http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations/idealab
8. http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations/IdeaFactory/

How an Idea Management System can make your organization more innovative

The Innovation Mandate

To innovate is a fundamental and universal organizational imperative; for continuous improvement, learning and rapid adaptation; in an external environment that is changing at lightning speed; in an age of ever-increasing uncertainty.

The Innovation Challenge & Opportunity

Innovators – organizations and individuals - face multiple challenges. An idea management system can convert these challenges into opportunities. An indicative list of such challenges and corresponding opportunities follows:

Challenge	Opportunity
Scarce Resources: All organizations and managers are called upon to continuously do more with less. This is perhaps particularly true for the public sector, as reflected in the catchphrase and philosophy, “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”, of the Government of India.	Our People: For most if not all Government organizations, their most invaluable resource is their people. However, their potential lies largely untapped, hidden and under-utilized. An idea management system is an opportunity to develop our people and empower them to contribute for organizational improvement and innovation.
Islands of Wisdom: The structures and systems we have devised to ensure order and efficiency have also erected boundaries within and among departments. These boundaries encourage working within silos, and make it difficult for the organization to harness its innovation potential adequately. Thus, an idea with organization-wide applicability remains confined to an island; and an idea which can spawn many other ideas fails to give birth to them.	Organization-wide Collaboration: An idea management system offers to make collaboration and team-work the norm, rather than the exception. Organization-wide sharing of an idea enables not only enables its wide adoption and full exploration, generating potentially numerous other ideas for organizational improvement; but also builds camaraderie and mutual respect, improving organizational culture and performance.
Lack of Employee Motivation: A quintessential problem, this is sometimes more entrenched in Government departments. This cripples organizational innovation, which demands that everyone – not just the management – puts on a thinking hat and is able and willing to go the extra mile in contributing to the organization.	Employees as Innovation Partners: By asking employees to be thinkers and innovators, an idea management system enriches and enlarges their job. It is a tool to enhance employees’ self-worth, bring about greater job engagement, organizational commitment and superior performance. Moreover, being intimately familiar with the work they do, employees have been found to come up with some of the most innovative and impactful ideas.

The Need to Manage Innovation

A systematic process is required to convert such challenges into opportunities, as above. Evidence from hundreds of diverse organizations shows that innovation does not happen on its own; innovation has to be managed actively. Further, as innovation researcher Tim Kastelle says, innovation is the process of idea management.

Thus, ideas are the key ingredient in the innovation process, but without a mechanism for managing them, it is difficult to prioritize innovation efforts and to channel innovation activity into the areas it is needed most. An idea management system can be of immense help in this regard.

The benefits of a systematic well-run idea management system would far outrun the ones initially envisaged. The impact it can have on the organization can be nothing short of revolutionary, in an incremental fashion though. It is a tool for organizational transformation which thus marries the incrementalism of Government systems with the high aspirations leadership and citizens have for the end-goals of public service delivery.

What is an Idea Management System?

An idea management system (IMS) is a systematic, formal mechanism for soliciting, generating, developing, evaluating, selecting, implementing, spreading and learning from large numbers of ideas from anyone and everyone in the organization.

How an IMS assists in the Innovation Process

The below table identifies how an IMS can assist at each stage of the innovation process.

Innovation Phase	How an IMS assists
Idea generation – finding, adapting or creating the ideas	An IMS can encourage employees to put forward ideas. An IMS can help in the process of refining and iterating those ideas by allowing others to share their perspectives and inputs.
Idea selection – picking which ideas to use	By letting others be aware of suggested approaches, ideas can be tested early through sharing of experiences, limitations and impacting factors, and possible improvements to the idea.
Idea implementation – putting the ideas into practice	An IMS can assist implementation if it records lessons learnt, identifies options that have and have not worked, and codifies what made the implementation successful.
Sustaining ideas – keeping the ideas going	An IMS can assist the embedding of ideas by outlining the need for an idea and providing a reminder of the problems faced before it came about.
Idea diffusion – spreading the ideas and the insights about them	By recording the ideas and the resulting action other areas facing a similar or parallel issue may be better able to see potential solutions.

(Excerpted from the Public Sector Innovation Toolkit, of the Government of Australia)

How an IMS is Different

An idea management system possesses the following advantages, which traditional systems lack:

• An IMS is open to ideas from everyone in the organization, irrespective of their rank or division
• Transparency and sharing of ideas becomes a force-multiplier
• An IMS can allow even anonymous posting of improvement ideas, thus potentially reducing some of the inhibitions which prevent people to come forward with their ideas
• A well-designed IMS serves as a database of problems, solutions, implementation approaches and lessons learnt; this is a huge asset for the organization which can spur further growth and innovation.

We shall explore success stories, and the implementation roadmap in a later post. 

Does your organization have an Idea Management System? What is your experience with an IMS? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Thank you. 

A shorter version of this article was published earlier: Let Ideas Flow

(this article itself was published originally on LinkedIn)

References:

1. Ideas are Free – Alan Robinson, Dean M. Schroeder 
2. The Idea Driven Organization - Alan Robinson, Dean M. Schroeder 
3. How to Manage Innovation as a Process
4. An Overview of Idea Management Systems 
5. Why Innovation matters 
6. http://innovation.govspace.gov.au/
7. http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations/idealab
8. http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations/IdeaFactory/