In Pursuit of “Actionable” Ideas

Collaborative innovation is dependent on engagement, but tangible results are important too, and ultimately, organizations are pursuing actionable ideas. In this article, innovation architect Doug Collins discusses what makes an idea actionable and how practitioners can improve their odds of discovering them. According to Collins, an actionable idea needs to have sponsorship, trialability and observability, and measurability. The sponsor is crucial because someone has to act upon the idea for it to be actionable, while trialability and observability are essential for people to be able to easily test and observe the idea's potential benefits. Meanwhile, measurability through the right metrics and framework helps to assess returns in a proper context. To discover actionable ideas, organizations need to align practice intent with business goals, convene vested communities and assess ideas during the front end phase by identifying the desired outcomes.