6 Rules to Enhance Productivity and Innovation in the Workforce ...

Survival today depends on the freedom to experiment and be innovative, yet there are businesses that still believe in enforcing archaic rules that no longer work. Expecting a workforce to live up to yesterday?s rules only stifles the creativity every business needs to survive in a highly competitive environment. Companies such as Microsoft or Google did not grow rapidly without the application of the six basic rules for success.

Allow for Innovation

There are two areas of innovation every company should focus on. Incremental innovation focuses on improving existing product lines while breakthrough innovation focuses on creating new products, developing growth and market share. Both are important to the success of any business. Many businesses fail as they put too much emphasis on one innovation over the other.

Allow for Mistakes

Growth comes from learning and learning comes from taking risks. This rule applies equally to the corporate environment as it does for the life of the average family man. In the old days of the Industrial revolution, mistakes were shunned and even punished, but this did nothing to improve the working environment or inspire loyalty. Today?s management must be less restrictive. To lessen the impact of mistakes, many companies employ teams of workers whose jobs are to do one particular job well. If they failed, there is little impact on the company?s profit potential.

Encourage Chaos in Creativity

Creativity by its nature includes chaos. The idea that everything must be neat and orderly with everything in its place works well if you?re dealing with the moving parts of machinery, but not with employees focused on productivity. Ideas need to be developed, tested and refined before they can become a tangible product. If you watch how homes and office buildings are constructed, you see lumber, metal and other debris strewn over the lawn and on every floor in the building. Once the home is finished, the garbage is cleaned up and the home becomes a showcase.

Freedom Potential

Since the competition in the business world is fierce, no company can survive long unless it allows for the freedom to experiment. Many businesses allow work groups and think tanks to enjoy the freedom to be imaginative without imposing stifling rules. The old ways of thinking need to be thrown out. Every employee needs to feel comfortable in expressing and testing his desires or ideas without fear of reprisal.

A Selfless Approach

The high tower approach of yesterday can?t work today. Communication at every level is important. Management needs to hear from the employee, as does the employee from the upper management. Every corporate employee needs to learn from suppliers and customers. Biases need to be set aside for the improvement of all workers including the company as a whole.

Allow for Openness

Good leadership allows for the flow of information, ideas and encourages debate. Openness is a key to the smooth functioning of any business. Ideas should be given equal attention even though they may appear farfetched. Openness should include recognition and praise, something that many companies don?t do enough today. Many employees will work just as hard when given honest praise as they would with an increase in salary.

These rules aren?t new, but a sound financial footing can?t be realized if any of these rules are absent.

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