Industrial Companies: Look to Your Employees for Fresh Ideas

Innovation and its inspirations aren't really as mysterious as they seem. The really great performance-enhancing ideas don't come from the research lab or the executive suite. They come from the people who daily fight the company's battle - those who serve the customers. Successful corporations that have developed a culture and reputation for innovative ideas have found ways to harness the creative energies and insights of employees across all functions and ranks. These companies have cultivated "innovation communities - work groups that tackle projects and problems in place of the traditional strategy to engage a team of expensive consultants. These groups provide the opportunity to give new shape and purpose to knowledge already possessed by those employees.

Companies establishing successful innovation communities share seven key characteristics and strategies:

1. Creating the space to innovate. They designate time and organize effective meetings and communication mechanisms.
2. Getting a broad variety of viewpoints. They deliberately cross horizontal boundaries to get input from all management (and non-management) levels, and they cross vertical boundaries to break down information "silos" and allow knowledge to spread among even unrelated departments.
3. Creating conversation between senior management and participants. They require senior management to pay attention to what participants are saying.
4. Pulling, not pushing, participants to join. They recognize that they can't force anyone to share the knowledge they have.
5. Keeping development costs low by tapping unused talent. Participants usually continue to perform their regular roles even while working on the innovation project.
6. Recognizing collateral benefits that sometimes equal or exceed the innovations themselves. Developing a "learning-organization" culture yields benefits that improve morale and company image.
7. Recognizing that measurement is key. A company can sustain an innovation community only if it can produce demonstrable value. Successful companies keep track of how many innovative ideas make it from the communities' drawing boards to actual implementation—and measure the results.

Successful businesses - the superstars you read about in magazine - are invariably recognized as innovative organizations. One thing in common is that they tap into the collective brain power of entire business - from the "C" suite to the shop floor. We've caught glimpses of this principle inside top-performing industrial companies, too. When you walk through the front door of such companies, there is a calm efficiency that is downright palpable. Everyone seems to know his or her job, and they're discharging their duties with poise and confidence. Underlying many of these operations you'll find dozens - perhaps hundreds - of little ideas and innovations that have made the business run smoother. And a good deal of the ideas came from the employees - not the owner or the president. The business leaders were smart enough to recognize that the people who actually do these jobs know a great deal about the problems and challenges they face every day. The leaders have encouraged, recognized, and rewarded innovation from their employees, and it pays off in improved operations, higher morale, and a culture that consciously looks for ways to learn and improve.

Meetings - Some Tips on How to Make Them Worthwhile

Coworkers gathering to discuss
project progress or business strategy

Even in the sometimes diffuse work spaces of modern organizations, where much of our contact with coworkers might be via email, chats, messages, or specialized apps, there are still significant times when collaborators must congregate as a unit. There are some things that cannot be effectively accomplished without simultaneous attendance of the involved parties. The rate of information exchange that can be accomplished verbally far outpaces anybody's keyboard speed. We are need meetings, so let's step up and make them work.

Meetings, whether in person or virtual, can be highly efficient catalysts of productivity and creativity. If managed poorly, there are numerous very descriptive terms employed by attendees to describe the experience.

Compiled here is an admittedly long list of items that might help meeting attendees and mangers to sharpen their performance and contribute to a productive session that breeds enthusiasm and results. Some will appear obvious, but it never hurts to run yourself through a refresher and bring the important points back into focus.

1. Publish and follow a meeting agenda. This is the easiest way to a productive start.
2. Start on time. Can be tough at first – but if you stick to the start time, people will be more likely to show up on time.
3. Give periodic summaries. Ask group members to summarize. This ensures everyone understands the discussion points.
4. Assign tasks to participants. Good managers do this. This builds consensus too.
5. Insist that vague statements be clarified. Dissidents and attention grabbers do this. Don't let them.
6. Test all generalizations. “Everyone knows...” is not a valid approach. Watch for this in emotionally charged meetings. 
7. Ask probing questions. Use open-ended questions, not ones that can be answered “yes” or “no”.
8. Protect and defend minority opinions. Many good ideas come from individuals or small subgroups. Encourage them. 
9. Keep outside issues outside. Schedule another meeting to handle those issues; don't stray from agenda.
10. Know when to fold 'em. Once an issue is resolved, don't revisit it. Keep a list of issues that just hang on. Will they ever be resolved?
11. Always debrief. Acknowledge what went right. This is important for morale.
12. Combat negative behaviors. Don't let any group member derail the meeting.
13. Curtail dominance. Learn to identify the individual that over-participates, effectively shutting others out. Have a private chat with that person. Perhaps a code or signal between the manager and dominator so the latter knows when to put on the brakes.
14. Avoid tunnel vision. Emphasize alternatives if polarization is happening. Ask the group for new ideas.
15. Minimize silence. Strong contributors who suddenly become silent can be a warning sign. Ask the group for input, observations and thoughts.
16. Watch for subgroups or cliques. Try to bring those who are unaligned or undecided into the group rather than having an instigator recruit them to their position.
17. Seek out hidden agendas of individuals whose goal may be to increase personal power or decrease the authority of the meeting leader. Have this handy: “Is this what we are meeting about today?”
18. Monitor agreement. It could be the “yes men and women” agreeing too quickly, which isn't helpful.
19. Find the right style. Facilitator rather than controller? Need to learn the “dance” that works with the group.

    

    The same rules apply to meetings held in board rooms, cubicles, or parking lots

20. Encourage participation by everyone. All contributions have value and may lead to a preferable solution.
21. Clarify points. Helping someone to clarify their points improves everyone's understanding of the issue.
22. Restate the issue. Particularly useful when meeting is not going well. Helps to refocus and defuse an emotional moment.
23. Act as mediator. When the group is stuck, introduce a new idea, revisit an old one, or put off to the next meeting.
24. Facilitate the meeting. The best facilitator has a general interest in other people, the group, and the goals of the organization.
25. Express support. Even when you disagree, still support the person's right to an opinion.
26. Invite participation. A withholding of  a "no" is not a “yes.” Non-participation is a very manipulative technique. Don't let this happen.
27. Check for consensus. Confirm where everyone stands on an issue to determine when the group is approaching a resolution, or if more discussion of information is needed.
28. Appeal to higher goals. Don't let the minor power plays, hidden agendas, personality issues get in the way. A wise and powerful group leader does this well.

By using this checklist for running an effective meeting, organizations and groups can make meeting times more useful and efficient. Effective meeting management is skill acquired through consideration, practice, and candid reflection on past performance.

Follow, comment, contact me with your questions. I can be contacted directly at CMS4i by putting @TomO in the message section. At CMS4i, we are here to help you make things work, so contact us anytime.