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It’s
better to be 1% better at 1,000 things than 1,000% better at one thing.
Ideas
do not need to be huge to have a big impact. It’s
the little things that make a difference and which get noticed.
There
are very few big things a business can do to make it a success. But
there are lots of little things. And that’s why experimentation and
innovation are so critical to high performance. Small ideas are often
overlooked precisely because they are small ideas and people do not think
they warrant doing anything about.
For
example, the ramp workers at United Airlines were not connecting power
cables to planes parked at the terminal gate because they could not reach
the power socket on the belly of the aircraft. To maintain cabin
air-conditioning and flight deck systems, pilots left the engines idling for
power generation. When management got together with pilots and ramp workers
to discuss the problem, the solution was simple—get taller ladders, the
ones they had were too short. This simple, low-cost solution saves United
$20 million every year!
There
is an opportunity for improvement in virtually every business process. But
in most businesses there are several problems that prevent improvement:
people who are close to the improvement opportunity have no channel to
communicate their suggestions; they don’t know how to make a suggestion;
and/or there is no formal system for getting ideas to action so that people
can see the results of their ideas.
Suggestions
for making the most of your team’s suggestions:
Take
leadership and make communication about innovation a priority
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Challenge
your people to look for improvements in everything they do every day and
talk about this at every opportunity.
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Make
sure you don’t behave like an idea killer and mandate that idea killers
are not wanted in your organization.
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Acknowledge
that by putting an idea out there a person will be vulnerable to
criticism, but this is healthy. Feeling vulnerable is a normal human
response. Ensure that people understand that the primary purpose of
encouraging new ideas is to force the organization to challenge its own
assumptions about the way it operates and to be a catalyst for improvement
through change.
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Talk
to all employees in your organization and encourage your managers
to do the same. In the halls, the restrooms, the mail room, over lunch.
Wherever. (Practice Management by Walking Around—MBWA.)
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Institute
an "open mind" policy between management and team members where
employees are actively encouraged to raise concerns and suggest ideas for
improvement.
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Purge
from your organization any form of "can’t do" talk and replace
it with "can do, will do, help-me-do" language.
-
At
every opportunity, work alongside your team and ask them why they do
things the way they do and what they might do differently to improve the
process they own. This will inspire communication and trust and who knows—you
may just come across the idea of all ideas.
Formalize
opportunities to present ideas
-
Have
a monthly meeting where employees who wish to attend are asked to bring an
idea or challenge for discussion.
-
Incorporate
a feedback or ideas-exchange session in a regular team meeting.
-
When
evaluating ideas, ask the person who does not like an idea to take 5
minutes to argue the case for it while the person who likes the idea is
required to take the negative position – you will be amazed at the
outcome.
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Create
a suggestion box or a forum on your intranet where employees can quickly
and easily jot down an idea. Provide a template for them to do that so
that there is structure in the process. Have a means to acknowledge the
idea, e.g. a digital stamp saying, “This has been read by [CEO]”–
and make sure you do read it!
-
Create
a GIG (Great Idea Group). Populate it with cross-functional
representatives from your organization. This group will scope out,
evaluate and recommend ideas to improve every aspect of the business that
is “critical-to-quality.” Make sure you have a formal and structured
system to direct these initiatives and that incorporates measurement,
analysis, improvement and subsequent monitoring. This will require an
investment in training.
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On
regular employee feedback forms make provision for an ideas section and
ensure there is a box that the employee can check that says, “I want
someone to talk to me about that.” This is a critical link in any
feedback system and gives the team member the comfort that his or her
ideas are being noticed.
Reward
ideas
-
Provide
positive feedback for all ideas. Even if it is an idea that won’t
work, be sure to say thanks to reinforce a culture of innovation and
idea sharing.
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Consider
offering time off, some financial reward or an extra benefit (i.e.
premier parking space, breakfast or movie tickets).
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Incorporate
recognition of good ideas in meetings. This could be just verbal
recognition or could be a coveted trophy that employees keep on their
desk until the next meeting.
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Build
idea generation and implementation into your team’s performance
evaluation criteria, particularly at management level.
Implement,
implement, IMPLEMENT!
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Failing
to implement ideas is the fastest way to kill innovation and your team’s
motivation. Brainstorming and problem solving are a complete waste of
time and energy if no action is taken. No one wants to spin his/her
wheels only to sink deeper in the ditch. And, as co-author of In
Search of Excellence, Bob Waterman, says: “For many managers,
strategy has meant either coming up with a brilliant idea or slamming
the competition… The companies I researched do look for a sustainable
competitive advantage… They get that from the way they organize, not
from the brilliant idea. Because they persist where others give up, they
accomplish the most difficult part of strategy… implementation, that
is, getting what is often a simple idea done and getting it done right.”
Robert
H. Waterman What
America Does Right (New York:
W.W. Norton, 1994)
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