Businesses have only the advantage of two things: employees and their innovation. They are also the ones who think of creative ways to accomplish things. If you are not pushed to innovate your idea, it will stagnate. If your team isn’t finding and embracing innovative ideas, you’ll be more likely to carry on doing things the same way the way you’ve done it for decades. This is an end to slimming down.
Businesses like Google, Apple, Zappos, and Cisco spend a lot of their time and effort in two aspects: being sure that their employees are engaged and enthusiastic about the work they do and creating an environment that encourages creativity. In the context of lean, this is part of the principle of respect for people. People should feel respected and be able to develop innovative ways to do things. How do they achieve this? First, they are attentive to the needs of employees and let them know how they appreciate their work. Managers visit the workplace and talk to employees about their lives and their interests, likes, dislikes, and motivations.
In addition, they create a culture in which innovation is encouraged and there’s no negative ideas. They aren’t afraid to embrace innovative ideas. They accept all possibilities and debate the possibilities. They don’t fear failing. They provide a space where individuals can gather informally as well as informally to exchange ideas and opinions on the way business is conducted and ways to improve it. Employees are taught to shut down their inner critic, while supervisors are instructed to use “yes” and “thank you” instead of “no, but” or “we tried that before and it didn’t work.” To make it clear, “Yes, and . . .” isn’t a sign of agreeing with all. “Yes, and . . .” It creates healthy dialogue and more meaningful discussions.
For instance, An engineering company attempted to think of ideas to increase enjoyment and involvement at work. The group exercise was a success the ideas of everyone were replied to by “yes however . . .” to increase consciousness about the limitations of old ways of thinking. The group then changed the game to “yes and no” …” response. Positive suggestions built upon one another until the group was able to come up with a strategy to encourage innovation within the workplace by meeting for 20 minutes every week in order to “play.” For those 20 minutes, employees were able to engage in whatever they want to do so in the sense that it was not their normal work (e.g. they could solve a larger problem or develop a novel method of performing something).
When they were construction workers were taught to come up with every possible way they could not make a thing be successful, effectively stifling their imagination and creativity. Through the 20-minute rule, they were able to develop entirely new ways to look at things. What if you took the problem further and asked “How can we foster more of a lean culture at work?”
Framework for Innovation
What is the culture at your workplace? Are you willing to experiment with new concepts and creativity? Are you a believer in the lean values and cultural values? It is crucial to think differently in being successful in this volatile economic environment. Early designs of flying machines utilized wings that moved because they resembled the flight of a bird. However, this was not until after the model changed with fixed-wing aircraft that flying with a human pilot was made feasible. Artificial hearts replicate the real heart, with chambers and flow of blood that triggers an emitted heartbeat. However, the new technology in the field is a heart-like artificial device with an uncomplicated pump that continuously moves blood throughout the body. There isn’t a heartbeat.
These paradigm shifts lead to simple and efficient solution, however it required an individual to take a look at the ways things were done and ask, “what if …”
Businesses are beginning to recognize the importance of the importance of innovation and how it is related to their lean approach. What if they began hiring MFAs (masters in fine art) in lieu of MBAs? Do these individuals with a creative mind provide companies with an edge in competition?
What do you know about your field? What are your employees’ skills? How can you harness their strengths in a professional setting to generate new streams of revenue? You don’t have to think about the way you’ve always conducted business. Consider the value you and your team members provide and consider if this can be applied to other areas like the pull and lean process. Start a discussion with your group and come up with a plan. It’s impossible to predict which direction it could take.
A few people aren’t averse to embracing the idea of creativity and innovation because they believe there aren’t any limits, rules, or processes that are involved. However, there are a number of excellent methodologies available that can serve as a framework for fostering innovation. One of them was developed by Stanford’s Institute of Design. This five-step procedure is fantastic in terms of design and problem solving. Try it next time you face problems that you just can’t solve.
- Empathize with the end-users: Ask them many questions to determine their requirements and the criteria to determine the best solution. Imagine yourself in their in their shoes. What is the ideal result?
- Define the issue clearly: Einstein said if he had only one hour to resolve the problem, he’d take 55 minutes to define the issue. If you can clearly define the problem, then the solution becomes obvious. NASA was asked, “How do we get a pen to write in space?” They invested lots of money to come up with a pen for space that could write with zero gravity. The Russians have a different approach to the issue. They demanded: “How can we write in space?” The answer was easy use pencils.
- Ideas: Brainstorm and come up with the most diverse solutions feasible.
- Prototype: Build some of these solutions.
- Test: See whether the test is successful. If not, try again to create a second prototype or go more to thinking about. A Note on Adaptability