Wanted: your ideas

Automotive Manufacturing & Production, July, 1997 by Ted Pollock

That's why virtually every company's long-term strategy emphasizes growth. It moves the business forward and, in the process, makes many things possible.

For the company and its shareholders, growth is the key to increased profits. For the firm's customers, it funds the research & development that result in new and improved products. For employees, it's the best guarantee of bigger and better opportunities.

Wonderful, you say. But where does growth come from? Basically, from ideas.

And where do ideas come from? From people, of course. And the most likely people are its employees - you as well as the people who report to you.

After all, who knows the business better than you? Who else sees - on a daily basis - where needs exist . . . where improvements can be made . . . where opportunities beckon?

Occasionally such ideas pop into mind, seemingly out of thin air. Learn how to coax them into existence, however, and you will not only get more of them; you will get better ones.

Here's how.

Take a good look at your company. See it for what it really is - not just another company manufacturing a product or rendering a service, but an organization geared to offer a range of products and services to the public, providing it can identify what the public needs or wants. Think! What additional products or services might your company offer its customers?

Put on your various hats. You're not just an employee. You're a citizen, a home owner, a taxpayer, a wife or husband, a parent, a consumer. You eat, dress, drive, play, shop, travel, and do many other things. In your various identities, you use a variety of products. Which have been unsatisfactory? How can they be improved . . . or replaced? Are there any needs that your company might be able to fill particularly effectively?

Take advantage of your expertise. No matter what your job, there is some aspect of the business that you know better than almost anyone. Build on that. In terms of your own department, function, territory, or responsibility how can your firm enhance its market share of some product or service? Are there any smaller businesses it might acquire that appear to "fit" into its organization?

Brainstorm with others. Two heads are frequently better than one. Therefore, on the job, at lunch, during a break, talk things over with your colleagues. What should your company be doing that it isn't? What opportunities is it overlooking? What are its unique strengths that it ought to be taking advantage of? Don't limit your brainstorming sessions to your own department. Talk to people in other areas of the business who may bring new perspectives to your own thinking. Such informal "task forces" can often produce startlingly good ideas.

Tap your own sources. We all know people outside the business who are especially resourceful. It may be your spouse, a bridge partner, a neighbor - anyone. Tell them what you're looking for and pick their brains. Ask them what they would like to see in the way of new products or services. Most people are flattered to be asked to help. And you never know when lightning will strike.

Give yourself a quota. Most of us respond positively to challenges, particularly those that are self-imposed. Tell yourself that you won't be satisfied until you dream up three, or five, or 10 ideas, and in nine cases out of 10, that's exactly how many you will create.

And those are some of the ways in which you can keep your company's bicycle moving forward.