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Catalyzing Innovation:

188 strategies to powerfully bring innovation to the organization NOW!

By Jonathan Vehar

During a recent strategic planning session for a client, we began working on creating “Catalytic Mechanisms” for letting the organization know that we are serious about innovation starting NOW. A fascinating and very difficult idea generation session followed. What captivated us was how truly difficult it was to find non-bureaucratic ways to impact the organization. But wait, first let’s define a key term.

A Cataclysmic What?!?

Those of you that are familiar with the Jim Collins’ (author of the fabulous book, “Good to Great”) concept of the “catalytic mechanism” will know that it’s a high-falootin’… and appropriate term for a non-bureaucratic, toothy, game-changing solution that an organization implements that sends a powerful signal to the organization/clients that the organization is — right now! — changing the way we do business and are serious about it. Catalytic mechanisms are unusual, game-changing, sustaining, meaningful strategies that empower employees/customers to take the initiative, rather than employees waiting for management to act. They are something everyone (including clients when appropriate) does on their own, rather than waiting for it to be done to them. It’s quite a powerful concept that truly gives power to people to DO something rather than wait around for policy or management to do it TO THEM.

Free Solutions!

Given that more than one of us around the virtual offices of New & Improved are captivated by this concept, we decided to do some idea generation on our own to create Catalytic Mechanisms for Innovation. Along the way, we also generated ideas for innovation tactics that do require bureaucracy to drive them forward, and decided rather than throw those away, we’d share them all.

Accordingly, following is a list of ideas for you to build on, tweak, implement, borrow, or just shamelessly steal and take credit for. These are sorted into two overlapping groups: 1) those that allow people to act more on their own, and 2) those requiring someone in the organization to make it happen.

Join the discussion, share your own!

As always, we’d love to have you give us YOUR ideas, find out how your strategies work, and/or get your opinion about this topic. You can do that in the message board discussion. Please speak your mind so we can all learn from you!

The Challenge:

Following are ideas that answer the question, “What might be all the possible ways to kick people in the butt (in any organization) and let them know we are dead serious about innovation?”

Ideas that allow people to act more independently:

1. Enable people to move forward on their ideas without having to go through complex levels of a bureaucracy and mind-numbing approvals. Create available time, money, and/or resources so that people can “play” with new ideas.

2. Let people know that if they propose a great idea and it is rejected, they are expected to resubmit the idea as many times and in as many ways as necessary until people see the genius of it.

3. Have a place in the organization where people can get together for free lunches once a week and kick around ideas. Have a recorder there to capture output of the lunch.

4. Give people a budget (time and money) that they are to spend on their own training… any subject they want (even unrelated topics) so that they can think about things differently and bring it back to the organization. Only obligation is to return with three business ideas from each training program.

5. Each meeting must have a mechanism for introverts to contribute. For example, during no discussion or interaction is verbal communication the ONLY method allowed. Use brainwriting, paired conversations, note cards to gather input.

6. Workers are allowed/expected to challenge all recommendations based on their intuition or feelings without giving any “research rationale” to support it. This automatically creates a situation where a group discussion regarding their intuitive sense of the project is launched.

7. No project or meeting is allowed to start without a detailed Agenda with each item being detailed for: purpose, process, outcome, and timing. Any meeting that starts without an agenda costs the meeting leader $20 from his/her own pocket to the first person who points it out… even if it’s someone from outside the team.

8. All ideas/suggestions must be proposed by first stating the problem to be solved or opportunity to be taken advantage of. Each time this happens, employees get a free toaster. Or if they don’t mention the problem to be solved, they are put in a toaster. :-) (Okay, pick your favorite carrot or stick.)

9. Any idea must be submitted with three other ideas designed to address the same challenge. Each time this happens, employees get a credit for lunch in the cafeteria.

10. All clients must be brought into the project at the end of the ideation stage prior to the solution being written up/proposed. By bringing in clients way early in the development phase, rework is reduced and buy-in is created.

11. All ideas proposed to management will be responded to within 2 business days (when management is in the office) otherwise the idea is automatically accepted.

12. Employees get together monthly to generate a list of team/division wishes and goals. On a monthly basis, prior to pizza and beer, the team generates a list of 100 “It would be great if…” Interested employees can then champion things they want to move forward, and they are given a budget on the spot to make it happen.

13. At the beginning of each project, employees are expected to take the client out for a very long lunch to truly understand their perspectives and needs. A budget is provided for this.

14. Any gator-brain reactions result in a $1 charge to go into a general fund that will pay for a Cajun Gator Feast Party at the end of the year featuring grilled alligator.

15. Any project that is inactive for 30 days or more is automatically cancelled.

16. Employees can suggest the elimination of any project at any time. The burden of convincing people to not cancel it falls upon the project sponsor (and time/money invested to date is not an acceptable rationale).

17. Any project that cannot be explained in 50 words or less and/or with a picture may not be moved forward until it is complete.

18. All projects must eliminate at least one other system/process before it can be implemented. The addition of complexity is to be punished and the elimination of it is to be rewarded.

19. Before any project is begun, it must be reviewed and compared to all other completed projects to see if it can be folded into that one, or if there is any easy build that is possible.

20. Any failed project or notable mistake is to be celebrated with an end of day party in which the mistake is discussed along with key learnings and an exploration of possible uses for the mistake.

21. Any new solution that doesn’t have one passionate champion and one passionate opponent to is not a completed solution. Solutions must generate passionate debate and joyful acceptance.

22. All projects will have an additional budget of resources (time/money) that may ONLY be used towards creating surprise and delight among the customers (e.g. illustrations, animations, jokes, elegant designs, etc.).

23. Create a space somewhere in the organization where people can go and quietly think, plan, and dream about projects, where there are no interruptions and cell phones can’t be used. This space must look different from the rest of the organization and may not use any of the following colors: grey, putty, ochre, beige, soothing lilac, mellow yellow, robins’ egg blue, or dentist office green.

24. All project teams must represent diversity of gender, age, experience, level, and background.

25. Allow employees to select their preferred workspace from a selection of formats so that they have the workspace that most feels ideal to them.

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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