Attendees solved problems with exercise in creativity
Can print industry companies really perform like Google and Apple? John Storm, CEO of BrainStorm Network in Norman, Okla., thinks they can. At an education session designed for company owners, the self-described “RainMaker” simplified the innovation process through several worksheets and a few mental workouts.
The first rule? Innovation is not like brainstorming; it means a continuing commitment to creative thinking and fostering a workplace where ideas come to the surface, or at least top management.
Storm conducted an experiment with industry executives, asking them to list three ideas to foster innovations at their companies. Participants exchanged their lists and developed more ideas, and exchanged a final time to spark creativity from their peers’ suggestions. Storm collected the anonymous lists and compiled them into a list of PSDA’s best suggestions. It turns out that, given no limits on time, personnel or money, most companies would have more “free” time to innovate and meet to discuss ideas; they would publicly reward those ideas; solicit input from vendors, customers, spouses and consultants; and focus on more education and training.
Audience ideas ranged from common-sensible (“155. Be calm,” “170. Maintain an open-door listening policy”) to humorous (“419. I’ve always found booze helps the creative process”) and puzzling (“487. Use orange or lime scents”). Many members would read business books as a team, although there was no agreement on titles. Here are eleven more tips to help you get started:
Top 11 Ways to Foster Innovation
at Your Company:
1. Start an e-mail suggestion inbox.
2. Involve as many employees as possible in the hiring and training process, giving them more responsibility for ensuring a new hire’s success.
3. Get your customers involved in your innovation, and reward them for their ideas.
4. Get support people in front of clients more often.
5. Bring people from unrelated departments into department meetings.
6. Integrate CRM with back-end systems.
7. Visit a local non-competing business to share best practices.
8. Record all of the ideas from inboxes, mailboxes, discussions, retreats and passing conversations in a database. Periodically revisit the information and record progress.
9. Allow for superstars in departments other than sales.
10. Start every day with one idea from staff for an improvement on marketing.
11. Take a road trip with a group, and make each person throw out one new idea and pursue it before coming back home.