Basic Innovation Messaging to Operational Employees
Keep it Straight Forward and Clear
Live Up to Your End & Keep Communicating
After doing a recent short video (“Innovation Minute”) on basic innovation training for operational employees, I was asked a number of questions. Leaders asked: Where to start? The next was, how much detail should we provide? And then there was the question of what, exactly, to communicate about innovation.
It depends. It depends on your goals as an organization, and on how your innovation program is structured. It also depends on your leadership style, and the current state of your innovation culture.
What does not depend is if you should. If you’re a leader and you’re not communicating clearly about innovation, you’re not going to achieve innovative results.
Your message to people who run the business starts with the following basics. This is a starter set — and would need to be modified for your organization.
Template for Innovation Messaging Content to Employees
- Innovation is part of everyone’s job. Yes, you’re busy focusing on your job description, AND, we need to innovate to survive, so, innovation is part of your job.
- How you contribute depends on what you do, AND, we expect everyone to contribute. Innovation often does not need to take a great deal of time. Note: If you have a Google-like policy of a percentage of time, or want to start that, state it.
- If you have an idea — to solve a problem — submit it, and it will be cataloged with your name and the date, and it will be considered. This evaluation takes time, be patient. Note: this will require an idea database to store the ideas. This could be an Idea Management System, or, it could be done with email and a spreadsheet.
- Not all ideas submitted will be acted upon, in fact, most won’t. We still want the ideas. When an idea matches our criteria, (and what is your criteria?) it will be made into a project. Some projects will make it through a pipeline, many will not. Projects are how innovation happens, and successfully implemented ideas work to help us make money, save money, improve safety, and/or sustainability. If we ask for your help with the project we expect you to make best efforts to assist. Note: Visibility to the database of ideas is an organizational choice.
- An idea is not a complaint, it’s a solution to some problem. If you have a complaint, create a solution to fix the underlying problem and then submit it. We may send an idea back for you to elaborate and revise. Note: provide an idea concept form that is problem/solution oriented which helps guide creators.
- Ideas can be very small improvements, those are great. If you can “just do it” — please do. But let us know so we can track it. We want Big ideas as well, but realize they have a lower probability of being made into projects, and, simply take longer.
- You will be evaluated. Your contribution to innovation in terms of ideas, and assistance with projects, will be part of your eval. Because measuring is how we improve. Note: you’ll have to decide how to acknowledge contributions.
- Quantity AND quality of ideas submitted are considered. Ideas that have a measaurable impact are the best. Note: Provide guidance on areas that are ripe for improvement, and where you are looking for an impact. Better yet, ask a focused challenge question.
- Sometimes we will ask for ideas for a specific challenge and we expect you to think and then submit ideas. You’re our resource group and we need your thinking. Note: “Idea Campaigns” are great IF you provide a focused challenge question for employees to answer. AND, please don’t have idea campaigns every day; manage frequency to avoid burn out. AND, actively facilitate idea campaigns even if they are totally virtual.
- We all should be thinking about how to improve. If we’re all thinking about how to improve, and keep positive, and do projects, it’s going to make a difference for us both short and long term.
- Expect to see communication blurbs about how we’re doing with innovation on a quarterly basis. We’ll let you know what happens to ideas. Note: or monthly, or weekly, or ad hoc.
- If you have a question, or an idea you want to explore with someone, please do. Discussions about innovation projects and ideas are always welcome. When you figure something out, please submit it.
Consider Brown Bag Innovation Training
The above message template should be amplified with stories, examples, and more specifics related to your innovation effort. These anecdotes should be from inside the company, and outside. How do you deliver this? You can do it yourself, or, you can bring in someone to assist, like GFi. GFi created Brown Bag Innovation Training. in order to help organizations communicate the how and why of innovation, tailored to different levels of employee groups.