Sometimes, as a consultant, your client does not follow your advice. When setting up and launching a high-performing idea system, many leaders want to work on their organization’s culture first, before launching their idea system. They want to lead with the culture – that is, make the idea process voluntary and encouraged, and not part of the required work – in the hopes that when the culture “takes”, the » Read More
Peter Drucker once told us about an interesting investment rule that the financier J.P. Morgan had developed more than a century ago. Morgan had observed an interesting pattern in his client companies. Those having excessive pay differences between levels in their hierarchies did not perform as well. Consequently, he would not invest in a company if pay differences from level to level were more than thirty » Read More
Not long ago, the owner of a medium sized software development firm asked me a very good question. “How does a high performance idea system work in a project environment where every project is different?” We discussed that in a project-based company like his there were lots of processes that could be improved, but his question made a good point. A project environment does have unique challenges for a high » Read More
Perhaps the biggest fear expressed by employees when they hear that their company is planning a high-performing idea system, is that it will cause them or their colleagues to be laid off. Their fear is not unreasonable – we see it realized all the time. For me, the most shocking instance remains the first time it happened to me. I was asked to help a local company of about 600 people that was in serious trouble. A » Read More
In an earlier blog I wrote about how even a $5 reward can create problems with employee ideas. This does not mean that front-line ideas shouldn’t be celebrated and people’s contributions recognized. One of my favorite examples that shows some of the benefits of good celebrations come from Normand (Gene) Dunlap and Mike Terry of the Operations Excellence group at Raytheon IIS in Indianapolis, Indiana. When Gene » Read More