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Doug Hall, head of the
Eureka! Ranch, told us
how to invent new products with the Sears Catalog.
Some of you tried it with some success, I'm sure. But for those who protest, "I
called my people together, tossed the Sears Catalog on the table and told them to
innovate. They all stared at me as if I were nuts." Doug has this advice.
"People are scared of giving an idea for fear of being judged. And the more you can
reduce that, the more you can cheer their failures and cheer their joys, the better off
you're gonna be."
"You have the people there. You just gotta let them go. You gotta change the
barriers, you gotta change the restrictions. They gotta work under slightly different
restrictions. Take
away some of your judge-and-jury and become more cheerleader. Many management people act
more as a judge and jury instead of a cheerleader for the hopes.
Treat them like a child that doesn't know any better. Let them
grow, and you'll have something better."
And if you think there's a better way to grow your business than letting your people go,
consider this:
"We've got a client right now that we're talking to who, that client, with the power
of an idea is now fully 60 percent of their profits came from an idea, versus three years
ago.
"You must must must... because the investment in a new idea is so much less expansive
than an acquisition, than building a new plant, than creating a new brand,
than building a news sales network. Ideas that can sell through your current systems is
far and away the best way to build that business."
Doug's not alone in his adamant belief in people. Best-selling author
Stephen Covey writes in the introduction to
Six Sigma for Dummies
"Studies show that the vast majority of employees possess far more talent,
more intelligence, more capability, more creativity, and more ability than
their jobs require or even allow." |
