In this last blog of the series we quickly look at promoting Creativity & Innovation and Public Service Idea Management Systems.

From the five stage model of public service innovation incorporating idea generation and discovery, idea selection, idea implementation, sustaining ideas, and idea diffusion, we can see that capturing ideas, creativity and creative thinking are central to the innovation process. Thus it is no wonder that many public service innovation initiatives centred around the capturing and selection of ideas have been observed.

Knox City Council (Victoria), YourHealth.gov.au (Australian Federal government), and MindLab (Denmark) have each introduced interactive media systems to connect directly with individuals and to capture ideas and preferences in relation to service delivery. These idea management systems allow co-creation of content, encourage ideas, help the provider seize opportunities, and engage stakeholders in ways that technology may not have previously permitted.

Other projects aimed at capturing feedback, sharing ideas and encouraging innovation include Ergon Energy’s Energy Innovation and Ideas Forum. The Forum is an intranet-based forum that allows staff to submit ideas on which other staff may openly comment on the forum. The ideas are selected after a process in which idea coaches assist staff in further development of these ideas by take feedback into account and identifying managerial-level staff as sponsors. The sponsors can then assist with taking the innovative process into the idea implementation stage.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has a similar system in I-Gen. I-Gen uses a shared virtual space online which acts as a repository of public service innovation ideas. The support network for the ideas is non-hierarchical, drawn from people of all levels in the Department. Mentors for ideas can volunteer themselves and assist the ideas toward implementation after the ideas have been logged, and feedback and advice from staff has been obtained.

These public service innovation examples provide excellent guidelines for the initial stages of individual innovation. We can use a formal system for brainstorming or generating possibilities by the process of Deliberate Creative Thinking, and then select from these the best ideas for implementation. We remember to make a conscious effort to sustain the innovative practice by giving the new process or system sufficient time to take effort.

As individuals, we may be accustomed to old processes and routines. Yet, like a bureaucratic governmental organisation, we can quickly change and introduce innovation and creativity into our lives. Activating our capacity for creativity and creative thinking, and thinking beyond old boundaries and borders and demonstrating our commitment to self-improvement, we can learn to maximise our potential and achieve our goals.