It used to be sufficient to keep a pen and paper bedside to record “a ha” moments in the middle of the night. That was the sticky note innovation process – sticky notes being the result an “a ha” innovation moment themselves. We now understand companies don’t have time to wait for one in a million ideas to come sporadically in the middle of the night. Companies today need to develop an overall innovation culture with more effective innovation processes.

Developing an innovation culture requires consistent communication and well-defined metrics. Nearly everyone is familiar with the sticky pad and its effectiveness. How familiar are your employees, customers and shareholders with your innovation process – is everyone on board and contributing to help reach your innovation goals? How effective is your innovation process – do you track participation rate, origin of ideas, decision cycle, accuracy of financial projections, time to implementation or even simply where ideas go after submission?

Let’s face it, innovation is by nature an elusive process! But with consistent communication and well-defined metrics, you can be proactive and develop an innovation culture with effective innovation processes in any organization. Go ahead, write “communication and metrics” on that sticky note to remind yourself. Or better yet setup email submission for your Brightidea system and email it to yourself as a draft idea!