[SOUND] Hello everyone. My name is Dirk Deichmann. For my research, I'm often visiting companies like Shell, DHL and Unilever and talk to many employees and managers. Again and again, I'm amazed by the amount of new ideas that people have. Employees, suppliers, and customers. They all have ideas that can help your organization. They have ideas about new products, services, and processes. So there's an enormous creative potential that a company can tap into. But how to manage all the ideas that are out there, this is what I'll be talking about today. Idea management. After watching this video you will understand what idea management is all about and how you can use it for yourself. In this first video of the week I'll discuss the basic principles of idea management. As idea management programs rely on proactive creativity. You'll learn what this type of creativity is and how it differs from other types of creativity. We'll also have a look back in time. You'll learn that idea management programs are used for more than 200 years already. But first, let's have a look at the building blocks of almost idea management program. Formally, we describe idea management as a systematic process that helps companies to manage new ideas that come from employees, customers, or suppliers. Idea management programs often have three goals. The first goal is to recognize the need for ideas. With idea management programs companies make a statement, they say we want your ideas. The second goal is to support the generation and further development of ideas. And finally a goal of an idea management program is to evaluate the ideas which people generated. So idea management programs cover several types of activities. But more importantly, almost any idea management program is based on a particular type of creativity. Proactive creativity. But what's that exactly? You might wonder. Here, you see a model of Caroline Unsworth. It describes four different types of creativity. It all depends on what's called the driver for engagement, what you see here on the horizontal axis. And the problem type, what you see here on the vertical axis. When the driver for engagement is external, then this means that people are required to be creative. It's nothing special. It's part of the job to come up with new ideas. However, when the driver for engagement is internal, then people voluntarily come up with new ideas. It's not part of their job, but still, people generate new ideas. The second dimension in the model describes whether the problem type is open or closed. When the problem type is closed, then we know that there is a problem and someone else specified this problem already. For instance, my boss might tell me that he has a problem and then he might want me to generate some ideas that tackle the problem. On the other hand, when the problem type is open, then the person discovered a problem him or herself and develop ideas how to solve that problem. Now, I will explain the four different types of creativity. The first type, expected creativity is the situation when it's part of my job to be creative. For instance, because I'm a creative director of a company and the problem that I'm addressing is open. The second type Is proactive creativity. As you can see, it describes a situation where people voluntarily submit ideas to solve problems that they discovered themselves. This is the situation where, for example, a worker is seeing a problem and, in his or her free time, works on an idea that can solve this problem. The third type of creativity is responsive creativity. This is when I'm expected or required to show creativity in my job and there's a specified problem. For example this might refer to group who are specifically formed to solve a particular problem in an organization. The fourth type, contributory creativity, happens when I voluntarily generate ideas for a clearly formulated problem. For example I might help someone who struggles with a problem. It's not my job to solve his or her problem, but I'm still trying to do so. Why is it so important to understand the different creativity types? Well with ideal management companies can especially make use of and capture creativity. So imagine, people voluntarily took action. They identified an important problem and developed a solution for that problem. They did so next to their normal job. It wasn't required for them to develop ideas to solve the problem. But where should they go with their ideas? Right. Idea management programs offer people a perfect outlet to which they can submit their ideas. And for companies it's a perfect way to capture and further develop all these ideas. They no longer remain in the drawer. That said, idea management programs are less useful to capture the other types of creativity I described. For example, when it's part of your job to develop new ideas and to be creative you don't need a system where you submit all these ideas. You can go to your boss or you can decide yourself whether the idea should be implemented. So, let's summarize. With idea management programs, companies recognize the need for ideas. Idea management programs help companies to generate and evaluate ideas from employees, customers, or suppliers. They are very useful to capture proactive creativity. Until now, I was discussing the basic principles of idea management. It's interesting to see that these principles haven't changed much over the last couple of years. At it's core it was and still is, about giving employees a channel to voice their ideas and suggestions. The roots of idea management programs actually date back more than 200 years. Idea management started off with nothing less than suggestion boxes like the one you see here. The first recorded suggestion program was implemented in 1770 by the British Navy. The first physical boxes were installed in 1872 at the steel producer Krupp in Germany and in 1880 at the William Denny and Brothers shipyard in Scotland. Employees could write down their ideas on the paper slip and submit it to the boss. The ideas that people submitted were often suggestions about how to improve working processes and to save costs. Of course in those days, hierarchy played a very important role. You had to obey to the orders of your supervisor. And the supervisor knew how things needed to be done. Thus suggesting an idea meant that you criticized your supervisor in some way. The first idea management programs and suggestion boxes were there for a remarkable management innovation. For the first time ordinary employees could suggest ways how to improve things. Ideas which made the company more innovative but also ideas which maybe made the working life of the employee a little bit more pleasant. Even today, we still see suggestion boxes hanging in some companies. But idea management programs also have evolved further. Now, it can be used for several purposes and to develop different types of ideas. In the next video, I'll discuss three different types of idea management programs. Keep watching and learn how exactly they differ, and what you need to consider when you want to use one or the other in your organization. Thanks for you attention. I hope to see you soon again. [BLANK AUDIO]
