The Mama Bee, a blog about working mothers, gives a great tip on fostering creativity, happiness, and productivity in the workplace. This particular post discusses Google’s 80/20 rule as related to the workplace. This rule states that a person should spend 80% of their time on core business projects, and 20% (roughly one day a week) on “innovation” activities that reflect their personal interests.
FINALLY, an MBA class I took entitled “The Management of Change” makes sense. (It’s getting bright in here because a light bulb just turned on in my head). Point blank, this rule allows for happier and more creative employees. Imagine how much harder you would work 80% of the time when you were allowed to spend 20% of your time on things you are passionate about. From an employee perspective and in theory, this rule sounds FANTASTIC! I’m just not sure all employers would take kindly to the idea of their employees being allowed to explore personal interests on company time…. aka “goof off”??!!
Thinking of implementing an innovation policy in your workplace? Here are some thoughts according to The Mama Bee:
1. Create a formal process for project selection, monitoring, and evaluation. At Google they track innovation time and know exactly which projects are being pursued. Employees who want to take advantage of innovation time off should submit a brief proposal and timeline, and be able to articulate how they will measure success.
2. Don’t worry about failure. In some ways innovation, like so many other things, is a numbers game. You throw up 50 projects, and maybe one or two stick. Most will fail, but you can’t know which will work unless you try. Failure is a critical p[art of true innovation.
3. Start small. Successful pilot projects help to leverage support and build awareness. Encourage your employees to create scalable projects that can be launched with relatively little investment.
4. Let your staff shine. Champion good ideas by facilitating and advocating, but let your employee present directly to senior management. Managers benefit when CEOs see that they have recruited intelligent and insightful staff.
5. Manage expectations. Not every project can be seen to fruition – in fact 95% of projects generated by your innovation policy won’t go anywhere. You don’t want disappointed, disillusioned employees, so manage their expectations.
More links on to 80/20 rule:
http://smartstorming-blog.com/googles-8020-formula-it-can-work-for-you/
http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/80-20principle.html
