Is your brand like Brighton Rock?
December 1, 2010How to move your business planning up a gear for 2011
December 6, 2010
Remember the old saying?
Two heads are better than one
Well, recently, I watched an animated summary of Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson (see video below), which gave new meaning to this saying if we think about how we innovate and create new ideas to build our relations with our customers or derive better, faster, cheaper ways of doing our business. In the video Steven talks about a number of things, including that good ideas:
- Often start off as small ‘hunches’ of how something can be better;
- Can take time to incubate; and
- Are often created through a collision between smaller ‘hunches’ so that they form something bigger than themselves.
Check out the video, it’s great and only 4mins long.
This made me think that, if this is true and I have no reason to disbelieve it, our ability to innovate and create good ideas is a function of:
- Bringing people together and helping nurture ‘hunches’ as Steven puts it.
- Everyone in an organization being potentially a source of ideas if you let them be.
This is very easy to say (or write) and much, much harder to do.
Building a business culture that collects, encourages and nurtures ‘hunches’ so that they are given the best chance of turning into great ideas takes time and commitment to group activities that involve all levels of your business, and I mean all levels…..right down to the delivery van driver or the office temp.
It is only going to take one or two breakthrough ideas and they will drive your business growth for the coming few months/years. So, it seems that your ability to create good ideas or rate of innovation is directly correlated to your culture and how you bring people together.
It’s not enough anymore to just have a suggestions box or an an ideas book.
What do you do to allow your, your team’s and your customers ‘hunches’ to collide?
Thanks to selva for the image.
10 Comments
Are you turning your hunches into great ideas? http://bit.ly/ftnP4v
RT @adrianswinscoe: Are you turning your hunches into great ideas? http://bit.ly/ftnP4v
Adrian,
I really like how the images drive the point of the narrative in the video. I wish I could do that! I like the idea of “nurturing” hunches, it naturally lends itself to the idea of “we have to put some careful thought into this.” Hmmm, how does this look at the operational level?
Who has trained the, owners, managers, or “leaders” in the art of nurturing anything?
my .02
Hi Bill,
Thanks for your comment. I’m glad that you liked the animated video. It is great and illustrates (pardon the pun!) the authors points really well. You can see more of them at http://www.youtube.com/user/theRSAorg#p/a
You are right that if this nurturing doesn’t exist at the operational level then there probably is a training and culture issue that needs to be addressed. However, I would say that it starts with having open meetings and listening from all of the leaders in the business.
How do you do it in your business?
Adrian
Adrian,
I ran a pretty top down organization for many years, however, when I expanded to multiple locations and close to 100 employees it was pretty clear that top down didn’t work anymore. I just could be the answer grape anymore, so I turned the organizational structure upside down. I put decision making capability at the “lowest” level of the company, and encouraged my management team to create an environment where they all had a voice and no idea was better than the other. The only bad idea was the one that was not stated, similar to “there is no such thing as a stupid question.” I prefer strong fundamentals and an informal environment, so people feel comfortable standing on the ledge.
My only request was that they could answer 3 questions:
1) Is it right for the customer?
2) Is it right for the company?
3) What are the consequences?
If they could show me that they gave thought to those questions, I supported them 100%, period. Nothing magic our ground breaking, but it worked for me.
How would you craft an environment to stimulate nurturing hunches?
Bill
Hi Bill,
That’s a great example of what works.
I would do and have done something to what you are suggesting. However, in terms of nurturing ideas that are broader than day to day, what I might add depending on the situation is a regular arrangement/meeting set-up where we, the team, would get together to talk about innovation, new ideas, past ideas and how we can ‘nudge’ them on. That way we are not only focusing on how we can improve the day to day but also raising our heads and looking forward to see how we can improve the whole business.
Hope that makes sense,
Adrian
I quite agree, it’s so easy to postulate, but the real trick is to decide how you’re going to put these hunches into workable action. It’s quite risky, but doing these things that fosters involvement within all levels of employees, can instill a deeper sense of loyalty and unity.
Hi Wesley,
I would agree that fostering this type of behaviour and thinking can build better relationships and loyalty with your team. However, I wouldn’t say it is risky, I would say that it is an investment that requires patience. The real risk is if you don’t do it. Wouldn’t you agree?
Adrian
RT @adrianswinscoe: Are you turning your hunches into great ideas? http://bit.ly/hujD0A
Are you turning your hunches into great ideas? http://ow.ly/3o8UI