Making Innovation Real
May 25th, 2010 by Ferrell DeckerInnovation is a common value and guiding principle amongst today’s thriving global companies. More and more we are asking employees to come up with new ways to work or to “be inventive,” or to “get outside of the box.” An innovative free-thinking, creative workforce translates into new products, getting ahead of the competition and long-term sustainability for even the smallest of organizations.
But what does it really mean for employees every day? It is such an imprecise, intangible word to begin with – do we teach innovation to employees? Inspire it? Communicate it? Capture it? How does a workforce embrace innovation and then actually “do it?” After seeing the word pop up in communication materials and in conversations over the past few years, I have compiled a few ideas:
- Define it. Don’t let the word scare employees. Innovation is a nebulous word unto itself. If expectations cannot be explained in plain terms, how can we expect anyone to act on it. Sometimes realizing innovation is just finding new ways to solve old problems or brainstorming how to improve a process. It could be asking employees to challenge the status quo. It doesn’t have to be the “next big thing” that catapults the organization in marketplace wonderland.
- Listen. Even the best ideas sometimes start out as the worst or the smallest. Ask employees to “throw a plate of spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.” Encourage everyone to submit ideas or participate in roundtable discussions – and never dismiss even the smallest ideas or seemingly insignificant thoughts. These often trigger the minds of others who build upon them.
- Train managers. Managers can cultivate or kill innovation. Teach management how to listen and encourage new problem-solving and creativity. Show them what tools are available –brainstorming sessions, appreciative inquiries or best practice sharing and ideations. And build it into their performance plans—how many new ideas are coming from their department? Make them accountable too.
- Provide opportunities. So Jill in Accounting has a great idea about how to reduce waste in the break room in the 5th floor office in St. Louis and save hard dollars. Now what does she do with it? Email her idea to the CEO? Not likely anything would happen. Provide a place to submit ideas – an “idea web page” or “innovation station” in an employee gathering area or even just a suggestion box. If ideas don’t have anywhere to go, they won’t go anywhere.
- Reward and recognize. If nothing happens when people submit great new ideas, will they keep doing it? Incentives to innovate work well as does recognition publicly by peers. Spotlight those who not only have solved new problems or generated ideas “with legs” but those who submitted one or who worked with a team to try to find a new way of doing a broken process. An innovative culture values the process of ideation, not just the winning ideas.
- Share best practices. Storytelling is a great way to share what intra-departments are doing as well as what other organizations do. Set up best practice sharing within the company or with other innovative companies. Ask employees to attend or to watch on video. Post thought leadership articles about innovative, progressive companies on the intranet or in break rooms. Reach out to the best and learn from what they’re doing to motivate employees.
- Ask employees what innovation means to them. Ownership fosters buy-in and engagement. Hold a contest or storytelling exercise called “what innovation means to me” and post entries where other the whole company can see. Sometimes the best definition and its relevance come from those who are being asked to innovate. The goal is to make it real and reduce the ambiguity of the concept.
Innovation is imperative in today’s marketplace. Companies are not just trying to edge out the competition, but also trying to reduce costs and work smarter, better, faster. Who better to figure out how to do this than the employees themselves? But we have to show them how. Asking a workforce to be innovative is one thing, showing them how is another.