An employee idea system works with other improvement
initiatives to drive forward organizational performance. However, executives
in many of the companies that have formal employee suggestion
programs don't see the programs as critical contributors to their bottom
line. Most managers have experience with
only the suggestion box type of system, which are ineffective – and the mere
suggestion of a suggestion program carries with it that stigma which must be
overcome. The stigma is that suggestion
programs do not have any impact and are fact often poked fun at.
The reason many suggestion programs are ineffective are that
the actions many managers take are counterintuitive to what they should be doing to achieving an effective idea management system. There is a clear difference between a
suggestion program which is like a black hole where ideas go to die and an employee
idea management system which actively manages the ideas in your company.
When leaders feel they can trust their employees to make
decisions about their own ideas, the question then becomes how to design a
system that operationalizes this trust.
Most leaders assume that they can achieve this themselves by simply
layering an evaluation process on top of existing organizational layers and
practices. Let’s explore why this is a
problem by exploring some of the pitfalls of a typical suggestion program.
Pitfall Number 1: How a typical suggestion program collects
ideas:
Ideas that are collected are often limited by the ideas that employees
come up based on their own limited perspective based on their role within the
company. There is little incentive to
push the scope beyond that or to challenge the status quo. The process is limited to solutions and does
not accept problems. In addition, a
suggestion program does not focus employees in on your company’s strategic
goals. What does “we want you to give us
your ideas” even mean? I’m confused and
so are your employees.
Pitfall Number 2: How a typical suggestion program evaluates
ideas:
A typical suggestion program is slow and bureaucratic
because of how ideas are evaluated. A
manager is often assigned to monitor, evaluate and track ideas in addition to their
regular work. Ideas then get low
priority and a slow response time. In
short, implementation becomes a lot of extra work on very few people in the
company. Secondly, oftentimes ideas are
not vetted by colleagues who understand the underlying problems and consider
alternate solutions. They may have little
understanding of context of the idea and feel little urgency about the underlying
problem, especially if it doesn’t directly affect them or their
department. Lastly, the pressure and
risk of approving an idea means rejecting the idea is safer than accepting it. This creates a strong bias towards rejecting
ideas. If the evaluator approves the
idea, they accept some responsibility if it fails. By rejecting it and doing nothing – it will
not make anything worse.
Pitfall Number 3: How a typical suggestion program holds people
accountable:
A typical suggestion program does
not integrate into the DNA of your company and how your employees work on a
daily basis, so front-line employees are not empowered to take initiative. There is no feedback loop built in so there
is little accountability for management follow-through.
The reality of the situation is that without a simple and
focused idea system to actively manage your ideas, they can become a
distraction. When ideas are handled in
an ad hoc manner, it is confusing to your employees, your vendors and your
customers.
Idea Share Tip of
the Month!
Management should not become a judge of ideas. It is too easy for them to brush them under
the carpet, be too busy to evaluate them, play favoritism or take credit for
ideas brought to them.
Sign up for the Idea Share Tip of the Week! at Frame of Mind Consulting
This post clearly explains why the old suggestion programs do not and cannot work.
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