Many Great Ideas? – How to Set the Right Priorities

Many Great Ideas? – How to Set the Right Priorities.

Books, podcasts, seminars, workshops—there are many sources of inspiration that give us great ideas. Yet many of these ideas end up in a drawer and never make it into implementation.

The challenge is to properly prioritize the most promising ideas. I just experienced this myself after a workshop where I received a flood of ideas.

Which of them is the best idea?

The term “best” can be tricky here, because our perception is often distorted—and with the wrong prioritization you lose valuable time and money. There are certainly ideas we instantly “fall in love with,” but sometimes for the wrong reasons.

Filter your ideas

Our perception is often biased toward novel, clever, and innovative ideas. Ideas that flatter the ego or promise great external impact also tend to rank highly. To eliminate these distortions and successfully prioritize initiatives, I recommend a filtering process I call ZKP:

• Time required for implementation: How quickly can the initiative be executed?
• Complexity of implementation: How easy is it to execute?
• Profitability of the initiative: How profitable will it be?

Now evaluate each idea according to these three criteria on a scale from 1 to 10. To illustrate, here are a few examples for you.

Double the revenue – high effort

You have an idea that could double your revenue and triple your profitability. However, your assessment shows that both the time required and the implementation complexity are enormous. In other words: it’s a great idea, but probably not the first one you want to tackle.

Social media – quick to do, little profit

You learn a new hack for using social media. Your evaluation shows that both the time required and the complexity are low, but the idea will yield hardly any profit. Despite the quick implementation, this idea brings comparatively little value. It should therefore not be prioritized.

Customer loyalty program – moderate effort, moderate returns

You plan to introduce a new customer loyalty program. The assessment results in a moderate time requirement and medium implementation complexity. The expected returns are also moderate. This idea could be a good option for strengthening existing customer relationships, but it does not necessarily deserve top priority.

Automating a process – low effort, high efficiency gains

You discover a new way to automate an internal process that is currently done manually. The evaluation shows a low time requirement and low complexity. Although direct profitability may not be immediately visible, the efficiency gains lead to significant cost savings and better use of resources. This idea could therefore receive high priority.

The “golden nugget”

Looking at another idea, you find that the time required is manageable and the complexity is low. In addition, the first successes are likely to appear quickly. Because of its positive rating on all three criteria, this is the initiative you should tackle first.

Evaluating your ideas using the three ZKP criteria helps you make your prioritization more objective. Especially after completing a workshop, seminar, or conference, your energy and enthusiasm are usually high and your “idea bank” is full—now it’s up to you to prioritize those ideas wisely.

Do you currently have lots of great ideas? I’d love to hear them and prioritize them together. Feel free to book an appointment with me.