Training | eLearning Programs | Process | Managing and Selecting the Right Ideas

Managing and Selecting the Right Ideas

This program shows you how to build an effective system to capture ideas from a variety of sources. Learn the best way to assign idea managers and run productive sessions for evaluating and selecting ideas to pursue. Ultimately, you'll understand how to create and manage a balanced innovation portfolio that will move the best ideas ahead.

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What?

This program includes three courses and five tools. 

Why?

You'll be able to:

  • Create a structured and logical idea selection/evaluation process
  • Screen and score ideas based on company objectives and goals
  • Lead, plan, and implement an idea-submission program

Who?

  • Organizational Leaders & High Performers

Included Courses

IN231: Establishing Idea Submission Channels

Learn how to establish idea submission channels and to communicate their value to gain maximum participation.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers
Format:
eLearning
Tags:
Idea Evaluation, Idea Management Software, Idea Submission, Process

IN232: Selecting the Right Ideas

Become skilled in the art of idea selection and understand the criteria that make the process objective and on-strategy.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers
Format:
eLearning
Tags:
Idea Scorecards, Idea Screeners, Process

IN235: Running an Idea Evaluation Session

Gain tips and tricks for facilitating an idea-evaluation meeting to ensure that ideas are evaluated objectively.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers
Format:
eLearning
Tags:
Idea Evaluation, Process

Included Research & Tools

Advanced Guides

Advanced Guide: How to Evaluate Ideas

This 25-page tool includes an Excel worksheet, idea screener, and scorecard that will help you consistently judge ideas based on your critical business needs, instead of on gut or instinct. You’ll be able to easily identify unnecessary projects and half work on them. This will clear the way for focusing on your best ideas and aligning everyone in your organization aligned on the most important question of all: "What makes a good idea?"

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers
Tags:
Idea Management, Managing Innovation, Planning, Process
Cheat Sheets

Cheat Sheet: Running an Idea Evaluation Session

Whether you’re running a one-off evaluation session, or holding several as a part of an ongoing innovation program, this cheat sheet offers tips and techniques to make idea-evaluation as productive as possible.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers
Tags:
Idea Evaluation, Leadership, Process, Selecting Ideas
Program-Building Tools

Program-Building Tool: Getting to One

Help stakeholders understand that ideas must be evaluated objectively—not based on gut or instinct. This tool is an ideal guide for pushing groups to choose one idea over another.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers
Tags:
Idea Evaluation, Ideas
Program-Building Tools

Program-Building Tool: Portfolio Balancing

If your organization's innovation efforts have been haphazard or there’s been little strategic thinking about your collection of innovation projects, it's time to evaluate your innovation portfolio. This eight-page tool guides you in communicating to your stakeholders the importance of balancing breakthrough ideas with quick wins.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers
Tags:
Idea Evaluation, Idea Management, Process
Program-Building Tools

Program-Building Tool: Submit-Screen-Score

Shape your process for evaluating and accepting ideas. This eight-page exercise helps you quickly become more familiar with the tools for submitting and evaluating ideas, and what it takes to put such a process in place.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers
Tags:
Idea Evaluation, Idea Submission, Process

Client Quotes

  • “futurethink made my leadership team think in new ways and helped us develop winning business ideas right in the room. My team now embraces innovation rather than fearing it.”
    Mary Fennoglio, Managing Director, Citigroup Corporate Investment Bank Citigroup
  • “Innovation is deliberate, if done well. There is a science and process to it. futurethink has done their homework to provide a wealth of practical knowledge to their customers.”
    Senior Vice President of Innovation, Wells Fargo Wells Fargo
  • “futurethink made the topic of innovation, which means different things to different people, real, meaningful, and actionable.”
    Steven Rubinow, Chief Information Officer, NYSE Euronext NYSE Euronext Logo
  • “The futurethink team did an outstanding job in designing and facilitating an innovation event for our senior leaders, many of who regarded this as the best innovation workshop that they had ever been a part of. I would recommend futurethink to any organization that is looking for clear and actionable pathways to Innovation.”
    Wayne Pethrick, Director, Marketing and Consumer Insights, Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes
  • “futurethink is the innovation expert. They fine-tune their training to our clients' needs. I'm constantly looking for new opportunities to engage them in our work.”
    Brian Weberg, Director, National Conference of State Legislatures
  • “futurethink's research and 'how-to' tools have been essential to building our innovation program.”
    Cindy Morgan, Innovation Manager, New England Federal Credit Union New England Federal Credit Union
  • “We need to look beyond our organization's walls to innovate.”
    Mehmoon Khan, Global Leader, Innovation Process Development, Unilever Unilever
  • “futurethink is always thinking ahead about learning and 'innovate' it before we ask! Their programs have been a huge success with our teams.”
    Director of Learning & Development, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Sonovian Pharmaceuticals
  • “Any innovative company must develop processes for understanding and responding to consumer needs in a very focused way. Otherwise, they're just inventors, they're not necessarily innovators.”
    Tony Tomazic, Director of Consumer Innovations, Humana Humana
  • “The futurethink workshop not only provided an incredible jolt of energy to our collective innovation efforts and established the common understanding of innovation concepts, but it was also a wonderful team-building event. I don’t think it could have been organized and conducted any better.”
    Michael Ripa, Manager, FRI Infomatics
  • “Working with futurethink was a very rewarding experience for our team. They brought a great combination of provocative outside ideas, market perspective and a program design that challenged us to think of our own business in more innovative ways.”
    Jim Daly, Vice President of Human Resources, Standard & Poor's Standard & Poor's
  • “futurethink's sessions included excellent examples and energizing exercises that brought innovation to life. They got us to look at our business with new eyes.”
    Joan P. Lawrence-Ross, Chief Learning Officer, AXA
  • “If you don't make innovation a strategic part of your business plan and you don't drive that into the culture, I don't think you'll have a strong innovation pipeline.”
    Mark Hausfeld, Innovation Manager, Global Business Services, Procter & Gamble Procter & Gamble
  • “futurethink is enabling us to build critical innovation skills and share best practices across our global organization.”
    Jeff Honious, Vice President of Innovation, Reed Elsevier Reed Elsevier
  • “futurethink's proven methodology, research, and tools help ensure we're always ready to meet the evolving public service challenges of tomorrow.”
    Sandy Stosz, Rear Admiral, United States Coast Guard United States Coast Guard
  • “If you don't innovate, be creative and look to the future and the possibilities of what will evolve over time, you will cease to be relevant.”
    Randy Voss, Senior Manager, Global Strategy & Business Development, Whirlpool Whirlpool