Whilst migrating content to a new CMS at Boots - some little gems came out of the woodwork.
One which had previously been hidden in the Manfacturing intranet was called 'All ideas matter', a scheme for employees to submit ideas to improve processes or save money. It wasn't a complicated intranet or web based application - just a clever idea which used the intranet as a key tool.
An important part of employee engagement is the ability for employees to feed ideas and comments into the company - and the company being seen to listen. At Boots the 'All ideas matter' scheme uses the intranet to publicise the scheme and explain the process involved. Ideas received are filtered through an initial editorial panel and then potentially good ones are considered by a panel of relevant experts and managers. Good ideas are implemented, and if significant savings are made there were even financial rewards for the individual. All ideas submitted received acknowledgement and feedback.
Across the manufacturing and Head Office areas at Boots the intranet was seen to be a key tool for this - with a simple online form available for people to use to submit an idea.
If you have an ideas scheme - is it using the intranet? If you don't and would like to start one have a look at the Ideas UK web site http://www.ideasuk.com/
This is a great idea. I like the idea of using the intranet - which is traditionally a "broadcast" medium for collaboration instead. I think that the recognition program is great additional incentive to build awareness and contributions.
Do you have any results on the number of ideas that were generated, and anticipated or real cost savings that came from those ideas? This would be a great case study.
Posted by: Scott Annan | January 19, 2007 at 03:06 PM
Our customers are doing just what you say.
Yesterday a marketing director asked us to set up a Feedback2.0 space to gather innovative ideas for the fields rep for a HR coaching company.
A few weeks ago, a MIS got all the stall to tell her how they wanted the next ERP software to be...
In your post, you mentionned a product, so I feel free to mention Feedback2.0, which is a very straightforward approach to community feedback.
Posted by: stephane lee | March 30, 2007 at 10:14 AM