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HOW TO GET IDEAS FROM YOUR FRONT-LINE
PEOPLE
Dr. Alan G. Robinson
Isenberg School of Management
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003
Email: agr@som.umass.edu
Tel: (413) 545-5640
University of Toledo
February 3, 2009
©Alan Robinson, 2009
1
THE PROBLEM
Front-line workers see a great many problems and
opportunities that their managers don’t.
Today, most managers either don’t realize the full
power of employee ideas or have never learned how
to tap them effectively.
To be truly excellent, lean, innovative or good at
execution, you have to be able to capture and
implement large numbers of employee ideas.
©Alan Robinson, 2009
2
THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
Black Belt
€1.5 Million
Green Belt Project
€1 Million in Savings
Idea System
€8 Million in Savings
©Alan Robinson, 2009
3
EXAMPLES OF GOOD IDEA SYSTEMS
Boardroom Inc.
104 ideas per person per year
Wainwright Industries
87 ideas per person per year
90 percent implemented
Clarion Hotels – Sweden
50 ideas per employee per year
Autoliv
123 ideas per employee per year
Milliken Corporation
115 ideas per employee per year
Toyota
100 ideas per employee per year
©Alan Robinson, 2009
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WHY IS CREATIVITY IMPORTANT?
The greatest source of competitive advantage is not
really cost or quality, but creativity.
John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge
Business editors of the Economist
©Alan Robinson, 2009
5
YOUR GOAL
Learn how to set up and run a good idea system, to
enable your employees to act all on the problems
and opportunities they see.
Goal: 12 implemented ideas per employee per
year by end of first year.
©Alan Robinson, 2009
6
HOW TO RUN A GOOD IDEA SYSTEM
©Alan Robinson, 2009
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POINT 1: GO AFTER SMALL IDEAS
• It is impossible to improve performance past a certain point
without getting the little things right.
• Small ideas are much easier to implement than big ideas:
•
•
•
•
•
Much less resistance
Easier to do
Lower risk
Better for learning
If you could choose between 1 big idea and 10 small ideas
to do the same thing, which would you choose?
• Unlike major innovations, most small ideas stay proprietary and
create sustainable competitive advantage.
©Alan Robinson, 2009
8
POINT 1: SMALL IDEAS (Continued)
• Small ideas are the best source of big ideas. If you don’t go after
small ideas, you won’t get many big ones either:

What other ideas does this one suggest?

Where else might this idea be used?

Are there any patterns in the ideas that have come in?
©Alan Robinson, 2009
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BEFORE PRESENTING POINT 2: LET’S THINK ABOUT...
What Makes Employees Step Forward With Ideas?
Team exercise. Think about:


Ideas that you yourself have stepped forward with;
Ideas that someone you know has stepped forward with.
What made you, or the people involved, step forward?
©Alan Robinson, 2009
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POINT 2: STAY AWAY FROM TRYING TO REWARD
INDIVIDUAL IDEAS
Quantity
& quality
of ideas
Money paid for
individual ideas
©Alan Robinson, 2009
11
THE MOST POPULAR REWARD SCHEME DOESN’T WORK
• Quantifying the effects of ideas is time-consuming and nonvalue-adding work. It creates unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Rewards cause employees to focus on obvious cost-saving ideas.
It is difficult or impossible to quantify the effect of most ideas.
Easily quantifiable ideas
g
• Plus many more problems...
©Alan Robinson, 2009
12
POINT 3: MAKE IDEAS PART OF EVERYONE’S JOB
• Document ideas and track them.
• Require or expect ideas from your front-line employees:
Evaluate them on the quantity and quality of their ideas.
• Teach your supervisors the value of ideas and their own four roles:
encouraging, mentoring, championing and looking for larger
implications of ideas.
Evaluate them on how well they promote ideas.
• Important principle: There is no such thing as a bad idea.
©Alan Robinson, 2009
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AT ONE LARGE COMPANY….
Ideas
Per 15
Person
©Alan Robinson, 2009
Division
14
AT ANOTHER
Ideas
Per
Person
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Department
©Alan Robinson, 2009
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MONEY & RESOURCEFULNESS OFFSET EACH OTHER
Problems and Opportunities
Raw Ideas
©Alan Robinson, 2009
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POINT 5: FOCUS YOUR PEOPLE ON THE KINDS
OF IDEAS YOU NEED
• Translate strategic goals into front-line goals that
your people can affect with their ideas, and that
give them fresh perspective on their work.
• Be process-oriented rather than results-oriented.
• Beware of heavy-handed CBA – you will
drastically limit the quantity and quality of ideas
that come in.
©Alan Robinson, 2009
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SOME THINGS TO KNOW
• How to set up and lead a good idea system
• How to get managers and employees truly involved in the
idea process
• What a good idea process looks like
• How to help your people come up with more and better
ideas
• How your idea process integrates with other improvement
methods, such as Six Sigma and Kaizen Blitzes
• How to navigate the issue of rewards
• How to focus your people on the kinds of ideas you need
© Alan G. Robinson, 2009
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HOW FAR CAN CBA SEE?
Benefits
Costs
Aspects easy
to quantify
Aspects hard
to quantify
Non-quantifiable
aspects
Unknown
aspects