How not to miss valuable ideas and not drown in an ocean of enthusiasm

Шаблон повідомлення зворотного звʼязку від команди

The inspiration for writing this text came from two occasions when I had the opportunity to share my personal experience and an effective tool for receiving feedback from the team. Here, I am focusing less on categories such as "complaints" and more on cases where the team generates suggestions and ideas aimed at improving the company's operations. These may include proposals for changes in business processes, the need to hire additional specialists, launching new products, or modifying the business model.

I am confident that every manager who does not ignore, and even encourages, the emergence of ideas within their team encounters a significant number of them. That would be fine if most of these proposals weren’t expressed near the coffee machine—half-formed, uncalculated, and unstructured. The initiator who communicates these ideas often believes their job is done: "I've put forward an idea, it's great—go ahead and implement it." And here, the manager faces a dilemma—should they process every idea, ignore some, or dive deeper into others? As a result, part of the team becomes frustrated: "I submitted an idea, but nothing came of it. I won’t do this again." Another part is also dissatisfied because the manager expresses interest in the idea but asks for a more detailed elaboration. "He just wants to load me with extra work, but my goal was just to suggest the idea." That's why it's critical to systematize this interaction and explain to the team the necessity of thoroughly working through each proposal and presenting it in a clear format with well-defined implementation steps. This is where the first dissonance arises: generating an idea costs nothing if you're a creative person. But implementation requires fewer creative competencies and more discipline, focus, and—most importantly—the willingness to take responsibility.

A year ago, I had the honor of taking the Global Security System course taught by Mark Voyger during my first semester at American University Kyiv. Though not directly related to business, this course provided me with deep insights into team communication and receiving proposals. As part of our interactions with Mark, we had to write position papers—a kind of essay with a highly structured format. The format intrigued me the most because, according to Mark, it is used (with some modifications) by U.S. government agencies (which sounds impressive).

I adapted this document format for business needs and outlined how each section is structured. Attached to this article is a screenshot you can use as a template to create your own.

Using such a standardized approach allows a manager to receive clear, structured, and concise proposals from their team. It’s no longer just a casual conversation by the coffee machine or in a car on a business trip. Instead, it’s a well-thought-out, analytically sound team effort. Here are a few key points I consider essential when implementing and further using this tool:

Communication

It's important to thoroughly communicate to the team why a standard is needed. Unfortunately, not everyone realizes the sheer volume of useful (and not-so-useful) information a leader receives from both internal and external sources. That’s why each team member must learn to express and describe their thoughts concisely, emphasizing key points. If the team understands this, you are on the right track. If not, repeat the communication process again and again. You’re not looking for obedience—you need cooperation.

Adhering to Standards

If a section requires 2-3 sentences, it should contain exactly 2-3 sentences—otherwise, the proposal will not be reviewed. No colored text, underlining, bold fonts, or bullet points. This simplifies your work with the document. If the total length should not exceed two A4 pages, anything beyond that is ignored.

Vertical Structure

The structure is designed so that a manager can dive into specific issues or points as deeply as they wish. If they see no need, the key details should be clear from the introduction and the Final Recommendations section. This document is not the final version—if the decision is made to proceed with an idea, much more work will be needed. However, before your team invests significant effort into refining a proposal, it’s useful to be able to say:

• "Okay, this is interesting—let’s move forward," or

• "Friends, this is not our priority."

This significantly reduces unnecessary use of your team’s resources.

Interestingly, there’s nothing revolutionary about this tool—everything seems obvious. However, I haven’t encountered it being used systematically. I have personally applied it when submitting my own proposals, and I can say that, at the very least, it has encouraged me to approach each idea more carefully.

I hope my experience will be useful to you as well!

#feedback #team #operationaleffectiveness #ideahub