In their search for innovative solutions, businesses actively seek a variety of unique ideas. However, they often end up with quite similar suggestions, whether from their own team or external contributors. Why does this happen?
New research from INSEAD suggests that businesses influence the ideas they receive by giving hints about their preferences. When they act on certain ideas, they unintentionally encourage contributors to submit ideas that match those preferences.
For example, consider a farming company that asked website users for ideas on new features. After getting many suggestions, the company decided to implement an idea related to monitoring the inventory of spray products. This choice not only revealed the company’s preferences but also influenced future contributions, leading to a flood of similar ideas.
Limiting the future
Many businesses and leaders may not realize that their past choices can limit the variety of proposals they get. They start by wanting a wide range of ideas but end up with very similar ones.
The researchers examined 1.44 million ideas submitted by 1.07 million contributors to understand how organizations unknowingly influence the ideas they receive. These companies, as part of the study, asked visitors to their websites for suggestions on how to improve, and then they picked which ideas to put into action.
What they discovered was that when organizations consistently chose similar ideas, it created a trend. Contributors began adjusting their ideas to match the company’s preferences and suggested similar things. Those who thought their ideas wouldn’t be chosen stopped suggesting altogether. While this made the ideas more relevant, it reduced the overall variety of suggestions over time.
The overall impact was affected by how people were connected in the network. When new contributors didn’t know about past choices or when established contributors left, the pool of ideas was more diverse. However, when contributors were closely connected, they tended to follow previous choices more closely, resulting in fewer diverse ideas and more uniformity.
A common theme
This phenomenon can also occur within companies and teams. Imagine a CEO asks all employees for suggestions on new software features. Employees enthusiastically share ideas like AI-powered automation, enhanced security features, and simplified user interfaces. The CEO decides to prioritize the simplified user interface concept. Over time, employees start tailoring their suggestions toward user interface improvements, as they interpret this preference as a signal from the company.
If this aligns with the organization’s goals, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to crowdsource ideas that match its preferences. When contributors align their ideas with the company’s objectives, these suggestions are more likely to meet the organization’s needs.
However, focusing on a specific set of ideas also means the company might miss out on fresh and innovative ones. This is because contributors might start thinking in a similar way to what the organization has already done, unintentionally limiting their creativity.
In rapidly evolving industries like technology, narrowing the search for ideas may not lead to innovative breakthroughs. Similarly, in fields like pharmaceuticals, where finding the best solution is crucial, a focused search may be less efficient. However, when time is limited or there’s pressure to make quick decisions, concentrating efforts on a specific set of solutions might work better than broadening the search.
Altering perceptions
Moreover, if an organization or person consistently leans towards a particular type of idea, it can be challenging to alter that perception. Once they’ve established this preference for a narrow range of ideas, it becomes exceedingly difficult to broaden their perspective again.
Even within a team, if a manager consistently (and perhaps unintentionally) favors a specific solution, team members will pick up on this preference and refrain from proposing creative or unconventional ideas, assuming that they won’t be embraced.
To create an environment where innovation can flourish, leaders should actively communicate their openness to a variety of ideas. This could mean encouraging input from team members who may not possess the typical qualifications or experience for a particular project during brainstorming sessions. It could be as straightforward as actively promoting the submission of diverse ideas. This sends a clear message that they value different viewpoints and that everyone’s input matters. This approach naturally expands the pool of ideas.
In the end, if individuals disregard or respond negatively to differing opinions, they run the risk of not receiving unconventional ideas in the future and missing out on the next major breakthrough.
