Hi, I’m Naomi Burgess, and I’d like to give you a quick insight about why your company needs to encourage ideas and make sure that your team members turn hunches into them.
Today’s business world is the most diverse it’s ever been. People come in from different backgrounds with different skill sets and knowledge. Based on them, the people come up with their own ideas about how to enhance your business performance and to save on costs, amongst other things. However, in many companies, those ideas from all those members of diverse teams don’t even develop past the idea stage – they remain mere hunches.
Recognize Ideas from your team
Therefore, if you want your business to thrive in the current economy, you need to create an environment within the company where everyone can contribute. Ideas take time to develop and inspiration needs to be fostered; a small hunch can either remain just that, or turn into the greatest thing that’s ever happened to your company. And a great idea can come from anybody – from a COO to a temp. If you’re just launching your own company and have a small team, you need to make sure that you’re creating a culture that nurtures hunches and encourages ideas from the get-go. As you grow and develop, this culture needs to be supported by each team member, or by as many as possible.
Evaluate Ideas
These ideas can range from sustainable water coolers to new software programs uniquely designed for your company to vending machines with organic foods. No matter how small or big an idea is, it should be listened to and considered. All great things start with hunches that then develop into ideas, and your company shouldn’t be an exception; one big idea can change your company’s life forever and take it to a brand new market.
Brainstorming
So how do you start to foster an ideas culture? Back when we didn’t have programs helping us with running our businesses, people had suggestion boxes and ideas books. Needless to say, these things aren’t enough today. You could, for example, have weekly staff meetings where everybody can speak up. You could have them on their own, or combine them with an Intranet message board where everybody can post their ideas. I don’t advise discussing ideas during smoking breaks, but lunch breaks could work as platforms for ideas for some companies.
How you foster a culture that encourages ideas and nurtures hunches depends on you and your company, but if you want your business to succeed, I suggest that you introduce such culture the moment you launch.
