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| Home - Industry Article - May 05 Issue |
Don’t Pass the Buck, Build an Innovation Culture
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Know the value of ideas and how to protect them. Ensure employees know the legal 'rights" around ideas so that they do not accidentally accept ideas from outside the firm with unsure legal provenance, and share ideas appropriately inside the firm to protect trade secrets and to ensure proper patent protection if appropriate.
Managing Expectations. Most ideas will not be adopted by an organization, and few that are adopted will be implemented. Therefore it is vital to set people's expectations so employees do not get frustrated and disenchanted with the program. This can be managed through good internal marketing, a good selection of business-focused topics, and a thoughtful reward and recognition approach.
Companies that use these building blocks to successfully create an innovation culture consistently reap the ROI rewards. For example, after creating a formal process to manage innovation, chemical manufacturer WR Grace engaged thousands of employees in developing and sharing new ideas. The company has run more than 34 different ideation campaigns that collected 2,685 ideas yielding 76 new products and 67 business process improvements that cut costs.
WR Grace employees participating in an event titled "Customers Do the Darndest Things" reported on unexpected uses customers were using their products. As a result, the company found new ways to market existing products that boosted revenues by as much as $3 million. Another initiative on cost reduction yielded an idea on how to better manage magazine subscriptions across the company that saved an immediate $200,000.
Georgia Pacific tapped into the expertise of its 16,000 North American employees to help identify new product ideas and ways to improve efficiency. The paper goods manufacturer saw impressive results once it successfully created a process for innovation.
When Georgia Pacific ran an ideation event to find ways to streamline the cost of producing its multi million dollar line of paper towels, a mill worker had an idea to simplify the way cardboard cores were manufactured, shaving a remarkable 4% off annual production costs.
In another ideation event, the company asked a group of 100 employees from numerous sites and job functions to come up with new product ideas for its wipes market. Employees created 260 ideas, of which 19 were deemed worthy of development and were included in the company's annual strategic plan. The company posed the same challenge to an outside marketing group at a cost of roughly $250,000 in 12 weeks the firm submitted just five ideas, all of which were identical to ones created by its own employees.
Employees are an organizations’ greatest asset—businesses that engage them and provide them with a process to harness their ideas are true innovators that will thrive in today’s global marketplace. Those that don’t are simply passing the buck.
Mark Turrell is CEO of Imaginatik, an enterprise Idea Management software, research and consulting services company. He has been involved in helping more than 200 businesses create idea management programs and corporate innovation processes that enable the discovery of significant sources of additional revenue, tangible cost savings, process improvements and an increased product pipeline. He can be reached for article feedback at: mturrell@imaginatik.com
 
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