The Power of Questions

Studies by Imaginatik Research have found that Idea Management initiatives need to generate a sufficient volume of ideas to yield a guaranteed number of top quality concepts, the Volume-Quality Balance. Yet, volume alone is not enough to guarantee quality concepts. The degree of detail and comprehensiveness at the idea submission stage is another critical factor. Ideas that are more fully described are more likely to be understandable and actionable in the organization. Based on this concept, Imaginatik developed a model of Idea Richness as a way of assessing idea quality at the idea generation stage, as opposed to comparing the resulting actions taken on ideas.

The most successful way of increasing Idea Richness is by asking the right questions during idea submission. The objective is to improve the quality of ideas as they enter the Idea Management system, thus making it easier for the evaluators to assess the potential viability of an idea.

The research paper first addresses the fundamental issue of what constitutes an ‘idea’, providing a framework for characterizing ideas as Raw Ideas, Basic Ideas and Rounded Ideas. Rounded Ideas yield the most benefit to an organization, as they contain more information, covering issues such as business benefits and implementation risks. Rounded Ideas are supported by asking Additional Questions in the idea form, so that submitters are prompted to add the requested information up-front.

The research is supported by quantitative analysis comparing different Idea Management generation techniques. The results identify that Additional Questions in the Idea Form can increase Idea Richness by 15X over traditional Post-It Note ideas, and 65% over standard Idea forms in online applications such as Idea Central.

Studies indicate that structure of the Idea Form has a significant impact on the volume and the quality of the ideas. An Idea Form that contains too many fields, or has too many information requirements, will dissuade people from making a submission, reducing the volume of submissions dramatically. Simplistic forms tend to encourage either low value content, or ideas with good potential but lacking in vital details and insight. The paper therefore describes a Form Flow approach that helps innovation experts design forms that steer users through the submission process. The paper describes the steps of Catharsis, Structure, Forced Reflection, Open Reflection, and Personal Identification, and identifies critical issues that need to be considered to successfully design idea forms.

Idea Management initiatives therefore are greatly improved through thoughtful use of additional questions. Good questions make people think, and through this thinking process, people generate higher quality and potentially more valuable ideas. As a result, evaluators spend less time reviewing Raw and Basic Ideas, and more time focusing on concepts that will be moved forward to implementation. This ultimately is the end goal of all Idea Management initiatives.

To receive the full report ("The Power of Questions" - PDF file, 5 pages) please contact research@imaginatik.com.

Reference: The Power of Questions - RN-0804-1