Beyond Engagement: How to Turn Your Company into an Idea Factory

The most effective employee ownership companies are the ones that generate and use the most good ideas from the most people about the most different things that can make the company better. That is the core concept of the new book by NCEO founder Corey Rosen, Beyond Engagement: How to Turn Your Company into an Idea Factory.

The book provides step-by-step descriptions of how successful ESOP companies have created their idea generation processes. The key lessons from the book are:

• Communicating how the plan works matters, but what really creates singular performance in employee ownership companies is the generation of more ideas from more people.
• Identifying problems is at least as important as identifying solutions.
• Idea generation rarely comes through an open door. Idea generation happens because you structure it, not because you permit or even encourage it.
• Good ideas require good information. Teach and share overall financials but also share job-level key metrics.
• Create an ideas generation process by starting with an ideas team.
• Identify the barriers to idea generation; identify solutions from employee feedback and what you can learn from other leading employee ownership companies.
• Make sure management buys in and shows it in concrete ways.

Perhaps the most important lesson is the third one. Getting ideas requires more than just allowing them. It requires a specific structure. A good way to start this is with an ideas team. The team can be created in various ways. In many companies, employees will be asked to volunteer for the team; in others, management will select them. A good approach is to combine the two. In other cases, an existing ESOP communications committee will make the selection. If you have a large company and/or multiple facilities, you might have an ideas team for each location or function, and that team would select one person to be on an overall ideas team.

The ideas team is charged with coming up with ideas on how to get ideas. There are lots of great resources on this. The book Ideas Are Free by Dean Schroeder and Alan Robinson is a classic essential; the new book by Steve Baker and Rich Armstrong from the Great Game of Business, Get in the Game, is a great step-by-step roadmap of how ESOP-owned SRC Holding has created what is probably the most effective employee involvement program ever. Beyond Engagement has lots of idea as well. NCEO conferences always have multiple panels on how to generate more employee ideas.

Rules for Ideas Teams

In creating a structure for idea generation, follow some key rules:

• Ambiguity as to what employees can decide, where they can have only input but not make decisions, and where they have no role other than to be informed, can create cynicism and withdrawal. Map these decisions out carefully and explain why you are doing it that way.
• Start with what will work for you and build on success. Starting with a very ambitious plan too quickly carries a greater risk that it will fail. Try a few things first that seem like low-hanging fruit to build confidence. As structures are put in place, create a way to evaluate how they are working. Do employees participate? How many new ideas are getting generated and what has been their impact? Try using surveys or focus groups for more feedback. Don’t be reluctant to scrap what you have done.
• Incentives for ideas will work for some companies and not for others, but they always need a specific structure that leads employees to develop ideas. Poorly structured incentives may get people to focus too much on one issue or another at the expense of overall performance.
• Ideas that go beyond simple quick wins should be charted with indicators for such issues as who is responsible, progress, goals, metrics, and status. Employee teams should review progress on a regular basis and make adjustments.
• You can have employee involvement even in dispersed workforces. Web-based tracking systems and meeting apps can make this easier.
• Train people through financial exercises, presentations, and conversations to give employees a way to evaluate how the ideas are working and how they relate to overall company performance.

The MSA Ideas Process

As an example, consider what ESOP-owned MSA Professional Services does. A six-person Idea Engine Committee from three locations makes up the ideas team. Team members had previously gone through some Lean training together. The team manages an MSA Idea Engine process that involves employee huddles, an idea board, ideas email, and a vetting process for the ideas. All employees participate in one or more teams based on their functions.

Huddles by each team in the company are held every month, and at every third huddle (quarterly) there is a goal of generating three ideas per employee. The team then has an idea vetting discussion and then votes for the winner, with each employee getting three votes. The whole process takes 20-30 minutes or less.

The form used to track ideas asks first to identify the problem. Too often companies only look for solutions, but identifying the problem is the most important step. The identifier may not know the solution, but the team often will. The team leader maintains an idea board of work in progress, and teams can take action to move agreed-on ideas forward.

This all takes time, but getting lots of good ideas is what makes the best ESOP companies so successful. If you are not doing this, your ESOP is not doing as well as it can.