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Catalyzing Innovation:

Ideas that allow people to act more independently

By Jonathan Vehar

(continued from page 2)

51. embers of an Organizational Development group work two days a week in the offices of their client in order to better learn the client’s challenges and to become a better integrated part of the team while facilitating informal learning.

52. Change the incentive system so that people are rewarded for team and company wide innovation instead of just on personal goals.

53. Pool of money for ideas: people suggest ideas and it’s very easy to get funds to pursue it — a one-page request form. If no answer is provided within 72 hours, an automatic reward of $500 is made. If the idea is readily endorsed by the administration, more money is available.

54. Institute a(n) (creative-problem solving) internal consulting group and have them prove their value at the end of the year to keep their jobs (based on ROI, contribution to bottom line, quality improvements, new products, etc).

55. Employees are redefined based on the value their product gives… pharmaceutical salespeople become “healers”… Auto salesforce become “Transportation Enablers,” consultants become “success creators,”… kitchen appliance assembly line workers become “nutrition assistors.” Each group is told that 1 year from this date, the group will be evaluated on a project implemented that delights customers because you gave them (health) (6sigma transportation) (significant success) (nutrition).

56. Start an innovation group that is chartered by the organization to fund innovative project ideas with a small budget and resources to pilot ideas — this group would be free of the bureaucratic corporate structure (in that it wasn’t counted against someone’s head count) and would have access to all the business talent — incentives would be created to encourage employees to participate on these teams.

57. Allow employees to use company supplies to create something new (e.g. If you need a few test-tubes and beakers — just take them. If you need to use the machine shop, go ahead after hours. If you’d like to test a new idea, have consumer research do a quick web-based test).

58. Everyone can review / critique / build off of ideas captured in the company.

59. Share success stories of innovation in writing and receive an incentive (e.g. free lunch).

60. Any employee can ask any senior person in the organization to address a weekly/monthly “lunch and learn” program about the mistakes they learned from.

61. Any employee can jump into any conversation / solution / problem solving session anywhere in the organization uninvited.

62. The team is allowed to override the decision of the boss if the boss can’t convince them it’s the right solution.

63. Once a month go and check out another organization for a day, then share via memo three key learnings or applications.

64. Employees can walk in to manager’s offices without an appointment if the manager is not meeting with someone or on the phone.

65. Free lunches for employees who sit with strangers in an “idea-mingler” section of the cafeteria.

66. Once a month TGIF type meetings with Sr. Managers present for informal relationship building. Opening for all to ask questions, pose ideas.

67. Involve employees in rapid prototyping of own work areas and fund ideas/designs they come up with (a la Conifer/Ideo/Steelcase).

68. If your invention/idea/product is successful you get a percentage. If your invention is not successful you get 100 dollars for trying.

69. If you need materials to develop or test an idea, just take them — up to a certain limit.

70. People get a reward for the number of new ideas generated and implemented by their team each year.

71. Create “Steal an Idea Day” when you take an idea from another part of the company and improve upon it. Again, you get a piece of the action on the idea if it is implemented. Or you or your team gets a piece of the action on cost savings.

72. Set aside one afternoon each week/month and let each department post their one big hairy problem on the wall — all other employees walk through, post their suggestions, then move on to the next dept.

73. Random calls from the CEO on the telephone to any employee, who will be asked what they’ve done to innovate that week. Everyone knows the CEO will make 5 calls every week.

74. Field trips to companies that are just “like you’d like to be when yours grows up”.

75. Have employees submit 3 ideas before doing any work each day. As soon as they sit down to their computers in the morning as they’re entering their password they fire off three ideas which falls into a public viewing room — they’re ranked by all employees and the ones that float to the top are rewarded.

76. Start an idea bank — $1 gets credited to your account for every single idea you submit no matter how silly.

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© 2004 Jonathan Vehar

About the Author | More by Jonathan Vehar
Jonathan Vehar is a Senior Partner at New & Improved, an organizational development firm focused on the people skills for innovation. He has had the pleasure of contributing to the development of people for over 15 years at companies like: Disney; GE; Johnson & Johnson; Kraft; McDonalds; Pfizer; and Texas Instruments; and various business schools. Jonathan believes that the secret to innovation is deliberately searching the value in all new ideas…and plenty of good food.

03/07/07