Idea Meritocracy: The Way to Collective Decision-Making

In a nutshell, idea meritocracy is a system where ideas are evaluated based on merit. It’s a recent concept that focuses on inspiring continuous innovation in a working system. It ensures that idea generation isn’t a one-time thing but rather an ongoing process. 

As an idea management process, continuous innovation is something we resonate with. We understand the importance of constantly evolving and staying ahead. 

So, let's explore the concept of idea meritocracy and how it can be applied in a company. 

Idea Meritocracy: Definition

An idea meritocracy is an environment where the best ideas win, regardless of where they come from. This approach emphasizes that the best ideas don’t necessarily come from the top but are determined by their quality. 

The definition of this concept comes from Ray Dalio, the author of the book “Principles: Life & Work” and the Founder and Co-Chief Investment Office of Bridgewater Associates (ranked as the fifth most important private company in the United States by Fortune Magazine). 

In this LinkedIn post, he describes an idea meritocracy as “a system that brings together smart, independent thinkers and has them productively disagree to come up with the best possible collective thinking and resolve their disagreements in a believability-weighted way.”

Idea meritocracy is about creating great ideas collectively, instead of just one person dictating ideas to others. 

The idea meritocracy approach doesn't care who came up with the best idea or who was proven right. It cares about the idea itself, setting aside individual egos and acknowledging that good ideas can originate from anywhere, not just from the top.

According to Dalio, the key to being right is for smart people to disagree with others intelligently. He was known for his radical honesty, which didn’t appeal to people. 

When he realized that people perceived him as an intellectual bully for openly criticizing people’s ideas and way of thinking, he clarified his approach in a book. The book outlines how to apply an idea meritocracy effectively without ruining relationships.

Also read: Goodbye Suggestion Boxes, Hello Digitalization & AI

What a Company with Idea Meritocracy Looks Like

According to Dalio, idea meritocracy was a big reason behind Bridgewater's incredible success. In an idea meritocracy, a company creates an environment where "radical truthfulness" and "radical transparency" are encouraged and where people are receptive to them. 

Radical truthfulness means being brutally honest without filtering, especially when it comes to problems or weaknesses. Radical transparency means making sure almost everything is visible to almost everyone, which helps to reduce sneaky office politics and secretiveness. 

Building a company with idea meritocracy is about creating a culture where employees can freely share their thoughts and ideas without fear of criticism. 

While idea meritocracy seems like an abstract concept, it can be systematized. In his book, Dalio defined three must-haves a company needs to implement to create an idea meritocracy: 

• Everyone must put their honest thoughts on the table for everyone to see.
• All must partake in thoughtful disagreements where there are reasonable back-and-forths in which people evolve their thinking and come up with better decisions than they would individually.
• If disagreements remain, have agreed-upon protocols that get people past them in idea-meritocratic ways.

Aside from Bridgewater under Dalio’s leadership, other examples of companies that adopted an idea meritocracy are Google, Intuit, and Pixar Animation Studios.

How To Build An Idea Meritocracy Culture in Your Company

Understanding idea meritocracy is one thing, but implementing it into your company culture effectively is another. 

Doing it requires redefining many beliefs firmly integrated into your employees’ mindset. And that not only requires time and effort, but also having specific processes and a set of rules to follow. 

Also read: The 10 Best Crowdsourcing Tools on The Market

Build a culture of equal open collaboration

An idea meritocracy assumes that good ideas rarely come from one person alone. It doesn’t care where the idea comes from - what matters is that it’s born. It believes that the best ideas come from collaborative thinking. 

That’s why idea meritocracy encourages collaboration over competition, teams over individuals, and a healthy debate over telling others what to do. It encourages learning over believing that one person holds the ultimate knowledge. 

Also read: How Idea Crowdsourcing Really Works

Promote psychological safety

Organizations with Idea Meritocracies understand that the best ideas come from teams where people feel safe to share. 

They know that an idea meritocracy is all about creating an environment that encourages transparency, open-mindedness, and speaking up, no matter the position or the organizational hierarchy. They value listening and believe in the power of collective intelligence. 

By paying close attention to how eager employees, especially new ones, are to share their ideas, you’ll be able to create a psychologically safe environment for them to do so. 

Also read: Take Your Ideation Sessions to the Next Level

Redefine what being smart means

In a world dominated by smart machines, everyone has access to knowledge. Humans will never possess more knowledge than AI. You can enlist the help of AI to generate ideas but only you will know which ones will really work.

That’s why being smart isn’t about having knowledge anymore. It’s about the ability to constantly learn and question established ways of thinking. It’s also about the ability to think outside the box.

Idea meritocracy requires people to detach from their egos and accept this new definition of being smart. For idea meritocracy to work, people must challenge their beliefs. 

The NewSmart approach assumes that one isn’t defined by their knowledge but rather by their ability to learn, think, listen, and collaborate. It states that how we see the world isn’t necessarily a reflection of reality, but rather our subjective perception based on our experiences and beliefs. 

This means we must be willing to question our beliefs and detach from our egos. By doing this, we can keep gathering better data and constantly update our view of the world. Only this way can we come up with innovative ideas that go beyond our limitations. 

Also read: Keys for Enabling Blue Sky Thinking in Your Business

Manage idea meritocracy transparently

Integrating idea meritocracy into your company culture requires a clear framework. To make idea meritocracy work at a larger scale, you need a system that makes collecting, tracking, and evaluating ideas easy to manage. Without one, it’ll quickly become chaotic. 

You can either schedule time for brainstorming sessions or use an ideal management tool to create a transparent system that makes people feel safe and excited to share their ideas and collaborate on them.

Also read: Idea Validation: How To Test Your Business and Product Ideas