I have been involved in a few recent discussions concerning integration and productivity. The challenge is always the same. How do we better integrate our various business practices in an effort to increase our productivity and effectiveness? I say the challenge is always the same because at the end of the day everything seems to be about increased productivity – a theme I’ve covered in previous blogs. How do we take a new look at the accepted practices which very well may be holding us back from taking it to the next level?
First, I would say don’t exclude anything during the brainstorming sessions sure to be a part of your exploration. Sometimes we become so wedded to our past it makes us unable to see the way forward.
Hear from the line employees. In my day job, I remain convinced that many solutions exist in the cubicles. Figure out a way to hear these ideas.
Include people espousing new thought leadership in the area you are committed to change. With that said, don’t exclude people with experience in the company culture. It can help you avoid land mines. Simply realize their ideas may not be enough to get you across the finish line.
Incubate your new ideas in a testing environment. Like developing software, there are some ideas which require implementation (a live environment) to see their potential effectiveness or shortcomings.
Explore the concept of a phased roll-out. Some great ideas simply don’t scale. You won’t know this until you’ve seen it in enough of the work space to see what works and what simply does not.
Give new ideas a chance to get rooted and flourish.
Its funny, our conservative nature draws us to make certain decisions, but change is what we really crave as humans. In fact, change is the only constant in nature. In the end don’t be afraid to simply shake things up!