Last week I described way to use an innovation wiki to juice creativity and garner ideas from all parts of the company. In the comments Jennifer Brown said, “…[is a] platform across the entire enterprise wherein the innovation “conversation” occurs – not just team by team/vertical by vertical, but across verticals that typically don’t talk to each other (hence leading to silos) or collaborate. …harness the power of the workforce, break the silo’d thinking of functional structures, and revolutionize business models.”
I agree, but done with a small innovative twist an innovation wiki will break down not only departmental silos, but also the insidious horizontal silos that are based on position and education.
Personally, I loathe horizontal silos and consider them second only to politics on the corporate stupidity index.
More times than I can count I’ve seen the ideas of an engineer 1 or 2 discounted or ignored by the 3s and senior engineers—of course, that’s better than stealing them, although that happens, too.
The attitude seems to be one of ‘your brain is incapable of any creative thinking until you are at least at my pay grade’, which is idiotic.
People’s brains work differently; some see what is, others see possible improvements and a few see around corners, but that sight has little to do with position. Steve Jobs saw around the corner of the personal computer market before there was a personal computer market and certainly before he had any credibility what so ever.
Nor is it always about training and education. 20 odd years ago I redesigned two street intersection where I lived in San Francisco, but I didn’t suggest the solutions to the traffic engineers—I knew they wouldn’t listen because I have no training. Instead, I sneaked both ideas in through someone I know who was ‘accepted’ and both are still in effect today.
Silos are built of egos, which is why, vertical or horizontal, they’re so difficult to break down.
The best solution is for the CEO to build a culture that values everybody’s ideas equally, but technology offers a leg up on this.
When building your innovation wiki assign a random ID to each suggestion—sort of like match.com. They must be completely random so that level, grade and even department are totally obscured. Each idea has a different ID, so that when a person’s idea is used the next one is still anonymous; limit access of the actual name to a few top executives.
That anonymity truly levels the playing field and means that each idea is considered strictly on its merits, not on the merits of the person who thought of it. It also encourages people to way outside-the-box thinking and to post ideas without worrying about appearing silly, pushy or arrogant for offering ideas outside of their personal expertise.
Just be sure that the contributors of ideas that are used, whether all, in part or as a springboard to something else, receive plenty of public acknowledgement, kudos and anything else you’re in a position to do.
don’t hesitate to tell a client they’re wrong when you know they are;
don’t just focus on what you’re doing for customers now, but what you’ll do for them in the future; and
culture sells.
They’re all wrapped up in a story about Intel’s new advertising plan and Venables Bell & Partners, the agency that’s doing it.
Lesson 1: In a nutshell, Intel’s concept of the branding effort was “we’re so important to your everyday life. Imagine a world without Intel. Your lights would go out. The world would stop revolving.” That’s arrogance.
Lesson 2: In a second nutshell, “Venables Bell said, ‘You got that wrong.’” Telling an account the size of Intel they’re on the wrong track takes guts.
In Silicon Valley Intel is a cultural icon renowned for its technical brilliance, innovative R&D and decidedly quirky culture.
Lesson 3 & 4: VB did an in-depth study of the company and hung out with its engineers; you’ll be seeing the results starting next week. The campaign’s tagline is “Sponsors of Tomorrow,” and the ads highlight achievements of Intel engineers in a humorous way.”
Share the ideas with your team; then work together and tweak them to sell your company, department or team to those for whom you perform, whether your customers are external or internal.
Raven Young writes a great blog over at Raven’s Brain; all about project management and all kinds of tangential stuff. Check it out.
Yesterday Raven reposted a list of 13 common trust-building characteristics for leaders.
Talk Straight
Demonstrate Respect
Create Transparency
Right Wrongs
Show Loyalty
Deliver Results
Get Better
Confront Reality
Clarify Expectation
Practice Accountability
Listen First
Keep Commitments
Extend Trust
I left a comment pointing out that the list applied to any person in any walk of life—these are the traits that make a person a mensch.
Any of you who read me over at Leadership Turn know that I don’t believe leadership is positional or that special people are ‘leaders’; rather I think that everybody is a potential leader and those traits come to the fore when circumstances dictate.
When that happens, people take the initiative, don’t give any thought to ‘leading’ and are often surprised when the term is applied after the fact by those around them.
Why am I talking about this here at MAPping Company Success?
Because I kept looking at the list and realized that it’s a great description of a good culture—the kind in which most people would love to work.
So don’t worry about the original use, just live it, print it out for your wall, post it on your intranet, show it to candidates and encourage it daily until it’s everybody’s second nature.
I was delighted when I was sent a free copy of Barack, Inc.: Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign to review. Not just because I voted for him, but because this is a book about how to sell change, major change, to strangers and in doing so turn them into a community of supporters.
That’s what Apple did with the iPod and that’s what every CEO recognizes as being of paramount importance.
But it’s not just about managing change; it’s about creating a desire for it. It’s about creating an environment where changes are being driven by your workers, not just by you and your execs.”
That’s what Obama and his team did brilliantly and that’s why you should read the book.
Forget politics, think about the challenges your company faces. Survival isn’t enough.
The business world and consumer landscapes are changing—industries that downplay or ignore innovation to focus on survival and the status quo out of fear of upsetting their current business model are likely to be swept away by the transformation rocking the global economy.
To thrive, you need to engage your current stakeholders (investors, employees, vendors, current customers)—just as Obama did.
His success turned on three main points, he
kept his cool under all provocations,
applied social technologies, including blogs, texting, and viral videos, and
made himself synonymous with what he was selling—change.
Obama allowed nothing to be set in stone and moved swiftly when the landscape changed.
One of my favorite examples was his choice to reject funding limitations, although he had previously said he would accept them. Why?
Because he realized that the amount of money he would raise via the Net more than compensated for McCain’s bashing him for the switch.
Now substitute ‘innovation’ for money and ‘quarterly results’ for bashing and give it some hard thought.
Read the book; adopt/tweak/adjust its lessons and tools for your company’s situation and then execute, because all the theory and examples won’t help unless you have the courage to use them.
Richard’s recent posts (here and here) questioned what happens to culture and people as assets during a tanking economy.
Is culture anything more than lip service? Glib words to throw around during an expansion, but hollow and valueless otherwise?
Yes—and no
Unfortunately, too many executives still see people as an expendable resource—interchangeable and replaceable.
But not all.
The companies with strong, innovative cultures where executive action supports an environment that challenges and encourages growth will come out of this stronger and miles ahead of their lip-synching competitors.
They also know that keeping their people motivated and as happy as possible is the only option if they want to keep their customers happy.
Think Apple, Nucor, IBM and dozens of others, large, medium and small, where the execs practice what they preach.
But no matter how authentic the culture, the economy happens and companies have to deal with it—and even the best may face layoffs.
“Employees Are Our Most Important Asset” It’s almost ubiquitous in corporate culture statements, but what does it really mean?
Financially, employees simply don’t show up on the balance sheet. On the income statement, employees are definitely an expense, often well over 50% for most service-oriented companies. So, in any accounting or financial sense, employees are simply not treated as assets.
Next, asset ownership. Companies own assets .They can buy assets, sell assets, and borrow against assets. Pretty difficult to do that with employees.
Finally, assets tend to have long lives. Real estate has a long life, patents last 17 years (or more); even inventory has a shelf life up to a year.
But companies treat employees just the opposite. Companies resist unionization, which creates long-term relationships with employees. Companies prefer “at will” agreements, which allow the company to terminate employee relationships with only two weeks notice. Is that long-term thinking?
Bluntly, most American companies simply do not treat employees as long-term assets. European companies are even worse. Due to government regulations limiting a company’s ability to terminate employees; most European companies go to extreme lengths to avoid hiring full-time employees.
Rather than working to acquire these human “assets,” they actively avoid them. Sounds like employees are treated more like liabilities than assets.
And in the US the concept of “employee as a liability” has certainly gained currency in the past ten years. Temporary employment, both full-time and part-time, has exploded. Outsourcing, both foreign and domestic, is simply one more way for companies to avoid acquiring employee liabilities.
While employees may be our “most important asset,” companies act as if employees are their greatest liability.
Does your organization claim that employees are its most important asset? How does it demonstrate that? Do your employees believe it? Let us know.
Amidst all the doomsayers and layoffs stands 34 year-old Tony Hsieh, CEO of billion dollar Zappos and as far from an imperial CEO as it’s possible to get. (I wrote about Zappos last spring with a link to an excellent interview.)
Hsieh sold LinkExchange, his first company, in 1999 to Microsoft for $265 million and then founded Zappos, a company known for its astronomically high quality customer experience and some of the happiest employees on Earth.
And the downturn isn’t changing that.
From the start, he chose to spend the marketing and advertising money on the customer experience, fostering repeat business and word of mouth advertising.
For his customers:
“Unconventional for an online retailer, Zappos offers free shipping both ways and a 365-day return policy. Customers can order 10 pairs of shoes, try them on, and send nine back. Or 10. Free.
Where other companies duck customers and hide their contact information…Zappos’ 800 telephone number is prominently displayed at the top of its Web page. At the Zappos call center, representatives work without scripts and are under no pressure to quickly dispatch with customers. … Shipping is promised in five to six days. But the company’s little secret is that most orders are automatically upgraded to free overnight shipping. The warehouse operates 24/7… The goal is building a lifelong relationship.”
For employees:
Hsieh says, “The number one focus and priority for the company, even though we want the brand to be about customer service, is company culture … Our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff, like great customer service, will just happen naturally.”
When asked why more companies don’t do as Zappos does, Hsieh says. “Patience. Most corporations don’t want to put in the time to build customer service and a company culture. … Chase the vision, not the money. The money will follow.”
The best cultures satisfy the intangibles that people crave.
A Hollister poll of 1000 people, employed and unemployed, in Massachusetts last summer asked them what factors contributed the most to their job satisfaction; the majority of responses in order were
Company Culture;
Opportunities for Growth;
Employee Appreciation;
Work/Life Balance;
A good Benefits Package; and
Competitive salary/pay.
Notice that pay is dead last.
As I’ve always said, “The person who joins for money will leave for more money.”
The interesting thing about this is that numbers two through four are all parts of number one, good culture. Even benefits are a function of the culture, since they reflect the company’s attitude towards its people.
Still more interesting is that the top three are totally free—they cost the company no money—rather, they are a reflection of the corporate and/or manager’s MAP. Even number four is more about management attitude than dollars and any dollars that are spent typically offer substantial ROI.
There are tons of words that you’ll hear are important in creating a good culture, but I believe that it’s a function of two basics, one a belief and the other an action resulting from it.
Belief: People are intelligent, motivated, and they genuinely want to support their company in achieving its objectives. When people know more about their job, company, industry, and how they interact, they perform their own duties better and more productively because they understand the objectives and care about the results.
Action: People are most productive when they have all the information needed to do their job efficiently. This means that all managers, from CEO down, have both the ability and willingness to produce appropriately clear communications as to where the company is going, how it’s going to get there, what’s expected of them and how it all fits together and then disburse it accurately and completely so people can do their work in a timely manner.
If you believe that
a key ingredient for success is a culture that recognizes employees as its most valuable (and least replaceable) asset and
that people are required to act with initiative and their performance is directly impacted by the quality and quantity of the information they receive
then you’ll understand that people seriously resent communication failures that cause them to perform unnecessary, incorrect or wasted work.
Technically, communications is an IBB (infrastructure building block) and we’ll be talking more about them later.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
I agree, but done with a small innovative twist an innovation wiki will break down not only departmental silos, but also the insidious horizontal silos that are based on position and education.
Raven Young writes a great blog over at 
I was delighted when I was sent a free copy of 
“Employees Are Our Most Important Asset” It’s almost ubiquitous in corporate culture statements, but what does it really mean?
The best cultures satisfy the intangibles that people crave.
