The Idea-Driven Organization

by Robinson, Alan G.; Schroeder, Dean M.

• ISBN13: 9781626561236
• ISBN10: 1626561230
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-03-31
• Publisher: PENGUIN

Summary

Too many organizations are overlooking, or even suppressing, their single most powerful source of growth and innovation. And it’s right under their noses. The frontline employees who interact directly with your customers, make your products, and provide your services have unparalleled insights into where problems exist and what improvements and new offerings would have the most impact.

In this follow-up to their bestseller Ideas Are Free, Alan G. Robinson and Dean M. Schroeder show how to align every part of an organization around generating and implementing employee ideas and offer dozens of examples of what a tremendous competitive advantage this can offer. Their advice will enable leaders to build organizations capable of implementing 20, 50, or even 100 ideas per employee per year.

Citing organizations from around the world, they explain what’s needed to put together a management team that can lead the type of organization that embraces grassroots ideas and describe the strategies, policies, and practices that enable them. They detail exactly how high-performing idea processes work and how to design one for your organization.
There’s constant pressure today to do more with less. But cutting wages and benefits and pushing people to work harder with fewer resources can go only so far. Ironically, the best solution resides with the very people who have been bearing the brunt of these measures. With Robinson and Schroeder’s advice, you can unleash a constant stream of great ideas that will strengthen every facet of your organization.

Author Biography

Alan G. Robinson is a professor at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Robinson and Schroeder have advised hundreds of organizations in more than twenty-five countries on how to improve their performance.
Dean M. Schroeder is the Herbert and Agnes Schulz Professor of Management at Valparaiso University. Robinson and Schroeder have advised hundreds of organizations in more than twenty-five countries on how to improve their performance.

Table of Contents

PREFACE:
CHAPTER 1: the Power in front-line ideas
The Clarion-Stockholm Hotel
The Impact of Front-Line Ideas: The 80/20 Principle
Creating an Idea-Driven Organization
Why Are Idea-Driven Organizations So Rare?
Realigning the Organization for Ideas
Effective Idea Processes
Getting More and Better Ideas
Idea Systems and Innovativeness
CHAPTER 2: A DIFFERENT KIND OF LEADERSHIP
Why Leaders Are Often Blind to Front-line Ideas
Fighting Back
Key Points
CHAPTER 3: ALIGNING THE ORGANIZATION TO BE IDEA-DRIVEN: STRATEGY, STRUCTURE AND GOALS
Strategy and Goal Alignment
Structuring For Ideas
Key Points
CHAPTER 4: ALIGNING THE ORGANIZATION TO BE IDEA-DRIVEN: MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Budgeting and Resourcing the Idea Process
Aligning Policies and Rules
Aligning Processes and Procedures
Aligning Evaluation and Reward Systems
Conclusion
Key Points
CHAPTER 5: HOW EFFECTIVE IDEA PROCESSES WORK
The Kaizen Teian Process
Team-Based Processes
Facilitation
Escalation
The Electronic Suggestion Box Trap
Key Points
CHAPTER 6: IMPLEMENTing A HIGH-PERFORMING IDEA SYSTEM
Step 1. Ensure The Leadership Understands That A High-Performing Idea System Is A Long-Term Initiative To Create Significant Strategic Capabilities
Step 2. Form and train the team that will design and implement the system
Step 3. Assess the organization from an idea-management perspective
Step 4. Design the idea system
Step 5. Start correcting misalignments
Step 6. Conduct a pilot test
Step 7. Assess the pilot results, make adjustments, and prepare for the launch
Step 8. Roll out the system organization-wide
Step 9. Continue to improve the system.
Key Points
CHAPTER 7: HOW TO GET MORE AND BETTER IDEAS
Problem-Finding
Creating a Problem-Sensitive Organization
Key Points
CHAPTER 8: FRONT-LINE IDEAS AND INNOVATION
Innovations Often Need Front-Line Ideas to Work
Front-line Ideas Create Capabilities That Enable Innovations
Front-line Ideas Can Transform Routine Innovations into Major Breakthroughs
Front-Line Ideas Can Open Up New Opportunities for Innovation
Setting Up an Idea System Removes Many of the Barriers to Innovation
Bringing It All Together
Conclusion
Key Points
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Authors