What’s the ‘secret’ to the most successful and innovative companies on the planet (think Hewlett Packard, 3M, Procter & Gamble, Toyota – those kinda businesses)?
Answer: Experimentation. Or more accurately, they have a culture of what Tim Cook (founder of Intuit) calls ‘frugal experimentation’.
Cook spent four years researching successful companies and identified ‘frugal experimentation’ as a common thread.
‘Frugal experimentation’ is not just some type of glorified suggestion scheme that’s subject to hierarchical decision over what gets oxygen.
Employees are given freedom and time to conceive ideas and the ability to collaborate on the development of the idea within a framework designed to validate them, without a heavy-handed involvement from ‘management’.
A key part of the framework is the testing function – the person proposing the idea must find a way to test it with customers at a low cost in a very short time frame.
‘Frugal experimentation’ – allowing ANYONE in the company to give their idea a go -generated 30 + ideas that increased revenue for Intuit.
If you’re restricting ‘innovative thinking’ just to people with a specific job title or a corner office, then you might be missing a huge opportunity.
Will you be giving ‘frugal experimentation’ a try?