Page 217 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

HOW DO I RESPOND TO DISPOSABILITY AND CHANGE? (GROWTH, LEARNING, AND RESILIENCE)

Out initiative and town hall meetings were designed as a
disciplined way for employees to share ideas for removing
unnecessary work and improving work processes. While
no system is flawless and mistakes and recalls may hap-

FIGURE 8.1 An Experimentation Protocol

Step 1: Idea Generation
Experimentation originates with fresh, out-of-the-box streams of ongoing ideas.
Leaders inspire new ideas by:
• • Focusing on the needs of potential users of ideas (customers). For
example, innovations in health-care delivery may come as leaders experience
receiving health care as patients.
• • Encouraging risk takers. Ideas also come from the iconoclasts in your
organization—individuals who are passionate about experimenting with new
approaches. Make space for them.
• • Forming alliances. Ideas come from loose associations that span departments
and bring people of different perspectives and training together.

Step 2: Impact
Experimentation is more than new ideas; it is about ideas with impact, so rigorously
filter ideas using the following criteria:
• • Strategic fit: Is this idea consistent with our business plan and identity?
• • Potential value: Will the financial return potential justify further resources?
• • Opportunity size: Will the value and impact be large enough to make a
difference?
• • Service: Will the innovation help us provide better service?
• • Employee passion: Will our employees have the passion and competence to
pull it off?

Step 3: Incubate
Ideas that pass the impact screen merit additional care and feeding. Learning leaders
create “incubators,” where the idea can be piloted for acceptance and technical
feasibility. Failures are almost as important as successes, since they prevent
investment in ideas that look promising only on paper. To foster experimentation, one
firm put in place the mantra “Think big, test small, fail fast, and learn always.” The
leader found that the firm did worst on “failing fast” as many ideas that would not
work endured beyond their useful life span.
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