|
Practices Preventing Idea Generation by Employees in Hierarchical
Structures1 |
-
Hijacking of ideas
by the time they make it up the corporate ladder - when that
happens, workers retaliate by keeping good ideas to themselves, thus
slowing down the organization's thinking
-
Taking away sharp edges of ideas while they pass
up through a hierarchical structure - when their ideas get honed
down to something that doesn't mean anything, people become
discouraged and state that they either don't have the time or
interest in putting forth their ideas
-
Human barriers to change –
rejecting good ideas that may change the status quo and thus
threaten personal interests of a corporate 'gatekeeper'
|
|
Though Nobody Argues...
Though everybody agrees that the best idea should win, creating a corporate
environment where the best idea – regardless of origin – does win is an art
not yet mastered by most companies and it prevents them from thinking and
moving faster than their competition.1
Case
in Point
GE
"Use the
brains of every worker," kept teaching
Jack Welch, the former legendary CEO of
General Electric (GE).
"Make sure that it is the person with the best idea who wins. Reward and
celebrate new ideas to encourage others to want contribute as well. Reward
those who live the company's values, show "guts", and, in doing so, make the
numbers."
With
Work-Out
as part of its DNA, GE has become one of the most innovative, profitable,
and admired companies on earth. At its core, Work-Out is a very
simple concept based on the premise that those closest to the work know it
best. When the ideas of those people, irrespective of their functions and
job titles, are solicited and turned immediately into action, an unstoppable
wave of creativity, energy, and productivity is unleashed throughout the
organization.
At GE, Work-Out "Town Meetings" gave the corporation access to
an unlimited resource of imagination and energy of its talented employees.

Best
Practices
Google: 10 Golden Rules
Encourage
creativity. Google
engineers can spend up to 20 percent of their time on a project of their
choice. There is, of course, an approval process and some oversight, but
basically we want to
allow creative people to be creative. One of our
not-so-secret weapons is our ideas mailing list: a companywide
suggestion box where people can post ideas ranging from parking
procedures to the next killer app. The software allows for everyone to
comment on and rate ideas, permitting the best ideas to percolate to the
top...
More

12 Effective Leadership Roles
How To Lead Creative People
By: Max DePree

|