GOAL SETTING GUIDE for employee idea

programs

EMPLOYEE IDEA PROGRAMS ARE GREAT. They bring out new ideas and efficiencies and trigger better employee engagement.

EMPLOYEE IDEA PROGRAMS ARE GREAT. They bring out new ideas and efficiencies and trigger better employee engagement.

But to get there you’ll need to tie your program to key organizational goals and targets.

YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAD OUT INTO UNCHARTED TERRITORY.You need some navigational waypoints to guide you to your destination.

WHY IS THIS?Open-ended employee suggestion boxes and idea programs don't produce great results.So it's important to ask the right question.And asking the right question means having the right goal.

BUT WHERE DO YOU FIND YOUR WAYPOINTS?Look to your organization’s North Star – its major objectives and key priorities.

LOOK INTO• Annual reports

LOOK INTO• Annual reports

• Balanced scorecards

LOOK INTO• Annual reports

• Balanced scorecards

• Quarterly business reviews

KEY FACTORS TO LOOK FORPick an objective that:• is already being measured

KEY FACTORS TO LOOK FORPick an objective that:• is already being measured• is on the radar for those who will

implement the ideas

KEY FACTORS TO LOOK FORPick an objective that:• is already being measured• is on the radar for those who will

implement the ideas• has a management cadence around it

SOME EXAMPLES OF OBJECTIVES MIGHT BE• Making the organization a great

place to work• Improving customer satisfaction• Growing revenue

GREAT. NOW YOU KNOW WHICH DIRECTION YOU’RE HEADED.Q: What do you do with this information?

A: Tie it to your idea program.This means asking your employees the right question to get the answers that feed into those big-picture objectives.

YOU’RE WELL ON YOUR WAY! You now need a rubric to frame your idea program. A good example here is:

“How might we so that ?”

YOU’RE WELL ON YOUR WAY! You now need a rubric to frame your idea program. A good example here is:

“How might we so that ?”

Say one of your strategic objectives is increasing Net Promoter Score (a measure of customer satisfaction). Your rubric could be:

“How might we enhance our customers’ experience so that we can improve our NPS?”

YOU NOW NEED TO CREATE YOUR FRAMING STATEMENT This is the message that will prompt employees to generate ideas and frame the scope of the idea conversation.

There are two parts to the framing statement:

PURPOSE AND CALL TO ACTION

THE PURPOSE is a statement that answers the question:

“Why run an employee idea program?”

THE CALL TO ACTION is an explicit question listing the kind of ideas you want.

EXAMPLEFancy Pants Department Store has the best shopping experience in the world. What are ways we can make tomorrow even better than today for our customers?

D O W N L O A D E B O O K

D O W N L O A D E B O O K

These are just some starter tips to an idea program. For more, check out our

Goal Setting Guide eBook!

D O W N L O A D E B O O K

Want to learn even more? Check out Key Elements for a Successful Employee

Idea Program!D O W N L O A D E B O O K

E B OO K

SoapBox provides easy to use software and services empowering organizations to accelerate cultural change and generate real business value from employee ideas.

Visit SoapBoxHQ.com to learn more.