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The obvious reasons to innovate are good ones; cutting costs, finding new ways to land customers, introducing better products, improving distribution, embracing better technologies, and so forth. But there is more than that. The best reason is perhaps suggested by the comparison of businesses to horses. Like the horse, the business can easily get into a rut. Monotony and routine are its ennemies. It grows stiff and inflexible. Unfortunately the workplace can easily rob our people and ourselves of our curiosity, or at least nake it hard to apply our creative imaginations productively and profitably. Innovating is perhaps the toughest assignment in the working world. It is sometimes associated with major engineering projects or new drug tests or other massive scientific endeavors. But in reality, innovations in what we do and how we do it are the daily lifeblood of every business. Be Inquisitive Leaders who have already made up their minds encourage their people to be closed-minded too. Leaders who are curious and interested in new ideas or questions spread creative thinking around them and stimulate innovation throughout their organizations. Inquisitiveness can take any form at all—even trying to figure out how to play a bamboo flute, as in the case of the CEO of Solectron, a company known for its innovative style. Seek Inquisitive Employees Thomas Edison is purported to have used the "soup test" in evaluating candidates for his company. He'd invited them over dinner and watch how they handled the soup course. Employees who thoughtlessly shook salt or pepper on their soup before tasting it flunked the test since they weren't curious enough to find out how it tasted first. Those who tasted the soup enquiringly, then decided whether it needed additional seasoning, were more likely to get hired Staying Afloat in the Corporate Paper Chase Norelco Consumer Products Company held one of its national sales meetings at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. Taking advantage of the mild weather, sales managers formed the 100 employees into teams and challenged them to biul seaworthy boats out of cardboard, tape, and other readily available materials. Employees who succeeded at this creative problem-solving exercise say their next year's sales goals in a new light and were more likely to take a creative approach to achieving them. A Persistent, Open-Minded Entrepreneur Reading the obituaries is a great exercise for leaders who want to pick up a few tips from the recently departed. Take Al Greenwood for example. When he died in 2001, California newspaper ran lenghty stories on him due to his success as the founder, manager, and pitch man for a popular LA-based bedspread retailer. This specialized business made him a multimillionaire and a well-known character through his many appearances in TV ads as the "Bedspread King." But how did Greenwood achieve his breakaway success? First, he was persistent. Remarkably persistent. In fact, his career didn't really get moving until he was in his 70s. Second, he was open-minded enough to try the idea of the Bedspread King ads out when a consultant suggested it, even though he thought it was stupid. Greenwood's idea had been to dress up for the ads as a cowboy, but he was sufficiently open to suggestion to give the "King" idea a try even though it wasn't his and he didn't think much of it. The rest is entrepreneurial history. It is also a good lesson for those of us still around to read the obit pages: business leaders who are sufficiently persistent and open-minded are far more likely to achieve breakthrough success than those who aren't. Suggestion System Instead of just a box or other traditional "catch-all" system for collecting ideas, why not get specific and ask for the knids of suggestions you know you need? For instance you could solicit ideas in categories like Saving Money, Retaining Customers, Conserving Energy, Reducing Inventory, Reducing Delays, Improving Quality, Attracting New Customers, Making Work More Enjoyable and so on. If you ask for specific types of ideas you are more likely to get them. It's like inviting people to a party: invite ideas by name and they are more likely to come. Idea of the Month You could divide the year into 12 categories of new ideas, and solicit suggestions each month in a different category. Then you could offer a trophy or other symbolic award for the best idea of each month. Allowing Free Time for Thinking 3M is famous for allowing its people to spend up to 15% of their own time on "unofficial" projects if their own choosing. Innovations often come from these free-lance efforts. What if you don't run an R&D department at 3M? Does telling people they can spend some time each week working on their unofficial projects still make sense? It depends on whether your business is idea driven (or needs to be). If you need new ideas for improving customer service, cutting costs, speeding turnaround time, solving problems, or attracting customers, then you need to give people the freedom to imagine. Of course you need to make the distinction between goofing off and inventing. You don't want employees staying home all morning then claiming they were "thinking". As long as they are genuinely pursuing some idea in the course of the work, let' em go for it. The more comments and ideas from everyone. If need be, you can circulate it another time for more ideas. When you adapt Dr. Crawford's method to e-mail it becomes so quick and easy to solicit ideas and pass them along that there is no reason you can't do it any time you need a little creative input. CEO for a Day Employees at Cable & Wireless Output in Sydney, Australia, held a lottery to select an employee and name a building or floor after the winner for the year. Winners were memorialized with plaques showing their photos and names, describing their interests, and theur answer to the question, "What would you do if you were CEO for a day?" That's an interesting question, isn't it? Wonder what you'd get if you asked each of you employees to answer it. I wouldn't be surprised of you got some very good suggestions! Feedback Fuels Innovation "You need a continuing stream of feedback whenever you are really stretching. The Apollo moon flight was off-course 90% of the time... but Apollo had feedback mechanisms that allowed it to make rapid course corrections." Charles Garfield, author of Peak Performance. Engaging Minds, Not Just Hands Nirvana Candles, a successful start-up in Freedom. California. has used mordern ideas of flat organization and employees participation from the beginning. Employees are given lots of opportunities to expand their knowledge of the business and achieve job variety through cross-training and rotating assignments. They often take the initiative when it comes to upgrading equipment and improving production processes. Take the Lead by Visiting Employees to Ask for Their Ideas To gather suggetions from employees who work for the state of Texas, the Texas Incentive and Productivity Commission hit the road, visiting employees at their places of work to present information about how they can get involved and even to offer fun rewards for ideas and suggestions submitted to them. Apparently the program—called Destination Innovation—works well. The state reports saving many millions from employee suggestions so far. There is something fundamentally appealing about going to the employees to seek their advice, instead of expecting them to come to you. Ask Questions that Awaken Inquisitiveness All innovations and good new ideas start with someone being inquisitive and sticking their nose into things. The capacity to question and wonder is blunted by the hustle and bustle of the workplace, and so it falls to leaders to try to reawaken inquisitiveness. In this method, all you do is make a point of asking inquisitive questions designed to spark creative thinking in your people. This not only models the desired behavior, it also demonstrates you are open to it—thereby giving permission for your people to be inquisitive and opening the door to their natural creativity. Here are some examples of appropriate questions: What do you mean? What do you think about.....................................? I didn't know you were interested in...............................? Tell me about it. Do you have any ideas? Do you know anyone who might have some fresh ideas? Who do you think would be best for that project? Can you help me with this problem? Can you think of additional options? Can you think of any other ways to solve this problem? What do you think caused this problem? Is there a better way to do this? Why do we always do it this way? Encourage Playfulness People are more likely to come up with good ideas when they are interacting in relatively unstructured ways, and also then they are having fun. Play stimulates creativity. So seek ways to inject opportunities for casual play in the course of the workweek. For instance, some companies set up break rooms or creativity corners with art pads and markers, clay, "found" objects from nature like rocks and pine cones along with glue and boards to mount them on, drums and other simple-to-play instruments—anything that invites imaginative interaction with the material and/or those around you. I also think an office kitchen supplied with basics for baking cookies, quick breads, muffins, or other snacks can serve the same purpose, since cooking can be a very creative activity. Install a miniature golf course in the office and encourage employees to leave their cubicles and play together. Well, why not? That's what Illinois-based Lipschultz, Levin and Gray, a successful accounting firm, recently did. They installed a miniature golf course right in the middle of their office. Why? Well, nobody was talking to each other and the idea was to get people talking and cooperating more. They also wanted to introduce an element of fun. Does it work? According to the company representatives, revenues are way up and employees are more enthusiastic about their work—and about golf too.
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