The best ideas may be hidden within your enterprise. A strategic grassroots campaign pairs up people and processes for success:
- Focus your program around a specific problem or opportunity
- Make the process short, and communicate the results
- Remind others that innovation is critical to overall success
In the late 1970s while boring a tunnel through Mount Tanigawa for a new bullet train route, the East Japan Railway Company – one of the largest rail operators in the world – struck water, stalling construction. Engineers scrambled to draw up plans to drain the water. But construction crews were drinking it, marveling at its flavor.
A maintenance worker suggested that the company bottle and market it as a premium mineral water. Deft managers agreed. Bottled under the brand name Oshimizu, the mountain drainage problem grew into a multi-million dollar beverage business with mineral water vending machines at rail platforms and a home delivery service.
Ideas generated by employees – often a neglected resource – can be powerful market forces.
“What company couldn’t benefit from the ideas of its brightest people?” asks Jean Lehmann, Americas Regional Innovation Lead at HP and an HP Fellow. “I look at ideas as fuel for innovation. If you don’t innovate, you’re going to fail in the marketplace.”
Rapid market changes and policy shifts driven by the current economic slowdown mean processes that stimulate continuous innovation are crucial to survival. Prominent technology writer Michael S. Malone suggests the blistering rate of change means companies are racing toward a structural crisis as their organizational models are dangerously out of synch with markets, employees, and society as a whole.
Thus, grassroots idea-generation strategies—those that not only tap employees but also customers, partners, and academia—can mean the difference between adaptation and annihilation, Lehmann says. But often such innovation strategies are mired in good intentions that block success and sustainability. These three traps drive away the innovators from within:
- Vague “tell us” campaigns. These days, the suggestion box doesn’t make the cut, unless you really needed to get some depth on the parking situation or the dishes left in the break room. Instead, develop short, focused campaigns (about two weeks long) around specific problems or opportunities. This refines the generation process so you don’t expend resources sifting through ideas that don’t have immediate relevance. Couple these with broad campaigns to expose organizational blind spots and hidden opportunities.
- Time-sensitive ideas caught in red tape. Too many steps and too many people evaluating each suggestion result in a delay that seems unresponsive. It’s important that ideas move through the process swiftly, so that enthusiasm doesn’t wane and ideas don’t lose viability.
- Lack of follow-through. Establish appropriate systems to shepherd ideas. Recognize that those who generate the greatest ideas aren’t always the best candidates to implement them or to evaluate returns on investment. Ensure that idea contributors are apprised of progress at each step in the process.
Idea generation programs can be supplemented with brainstorming sessions. Guard against large and ineffective sessions by employing skilled facilitators and “stretchers”: leaders from industries and disciplines outside of an organization’s standard framework. Stretchers cross-pollinate discussions and disrupt patterned thinking processes to generate ideas outside the norm.
Organizational leadership must continuously communicate the need for such programs to keep employees engaged. Simultaneously maintain executive engagement by tracking business impact.
For all of their potential benefits, grassroots idea-generation strategies can be risky, Lehmann says. The economic situation means workforces are overtaxed. If such programs are perceived as an additional burden, internal resistance can stall them. Leaders must emphasize that innovation should be a routine part of the business day and that idea campaigns are essential to a successful organization. And finally, structure these programs to pursue incremental breakthroughs, not just grand slams.
“People get locked into thinking of ideas at the higher end of the innovation continuum: the next big thing; the next game-changing business model or technology,” Lehmann concludes. “In reality, incremental innovation is more probable and should be equally celebrated.” After all, not everyone has a Mount Tanigawa.