• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Chart Your Course International

We help businesses transform themselves into exceptional places to work that attract, retain and motivate people to their full potential.

“Creating Great Places to Work”

Call 770-860-9464

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Gregory P. Smith
    • What We Do
    • Photo Gallery
    • Press Center
    • Client List
    • Testimonials | Speaking
    • Client Testimonials | Training
  • Keynotes
    • Watch Videos
    • Topics
    • Client Testimonials
    • For Meeting Planners
    • Request Speaking Engagement
  • Solutions
    • Take a 5-Minute Organizational Health Check
    • Consulting Projects
    • Suggestion Campaign (BIC)
    • Employee Retention
    • Executive Retreats
    • Team Building Workshops
  • Training
    • Custom Training
    • Online Training
    • Leadership Courses
    • DISC Workshops
    • Customer Service Programs
    • Healthcare Customer Service
  • Assessments
    • Why We Are the Best
    • FREE DISC Report
    • Sample DISC Assessments
    • DISC Reports
    • Sales
    • Emotional Intelligence Report
    • Organizational Surveys
  • Certification
    • DISC Certification Virtual – Live
    • DISC Master Certification
    • One-on-One Web Certification
    • Self-Study DISC Certification
    • Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
    • Certified DISC Trainers
    • Live Driving Forces Program
    • Driving Forces Self-Study
    • Client Testimonials
    • Members Only
  • Resources
    • Free DISC Report
    • Navigator Newsletter
    • Evaluate Your Business – Free Health Check
    • Articles
    • Free DISC E-Book
    • Teambuilding Exercises
  • Shop
  • BLOG
  • Login
  • Contact

August 8, 2012 by Greg

Navigator Newsletter #167

PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE LEAD NAVIGATOR

Thanks to all of you who sent me congratulations on my up and coming grandparenthood. Here is an even bigger surprise — my daughter is going to have triplets. OMG!

EMPLOYEE SUGGESTION PROGRAMS

Businesses need to look for ways to cut costs and improve performance. Capturing ideas and suggestions from employees should be a top priority.

Getting employees engaged not only yields valuable ideas and suggestions but also engages and improves employee motivation, creating a more productive and satisfying work environment. Yet, many ignore the untapped resource of their employees who know their jobs better than any so-called expert.

Marsha Myers of Lee Hecht Harrison said, “Managers usually overlook the company’s most valuable asset and source of information — their employees. As the economy slows, creative organizations can find new ways to drive revenue and reduce costs by seeking employee suggestions.”

Fact 1: Just 41 percent of employees think their senior management supports new ideas and new ways of doing things.

Fact 2: Only 44 percent of employees think their organization’s employee suggestion program is effective.

Study after study show most employee suggestion programs fail to work as intended. Many organizations still use suggestion boxes. But for many people, a suggestion box is an extinct dinosaur of the past. Why?

Employees have learned most suggestions just sit in the box and go unanswered. Consider the following situation. A company president sent an e-mail to all his employees asking them to send him their ideas.

Employees responded and sent in dozens of ideas and suggestions. The president was impressed but overwhelmed. Because there was no infrastructure in place to evaluate and implement the ideas, most of the suggestions withered and died along with the attitudes and trust of his employees.

During the past 30 years, I have worked with hundreds of organizations in designing employee suggestion and engagement programs. Years ago, I was responsible for creating an employee suggestion program for an organization of 72,000 people. As a board member of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, I had the opportunity to examine and evaluate how leading organizations use their Employee Suggestion Systems (ESS) to produce results. I trained managers at Yamaha and learned how they drive continuous improvement with their Kaizen process. My experiences have taught me what works and what does not.

Here are two programs to consider.

Good Idea Boards

Atlanta’s Buckhead Ritz-Carlton Hotel collects ideas and suggestions by asking employees to write them on an “easy wipe” board in their respective departments. Instead of passing untested ideas up the chain of command, the employee who originates an idea has responsibility for its implementation. They follow a three-step work process: “Study it, pilot it and adopt it.”

Each department has a quality coach to help individuals with their ideas and suggestions. Once an idea is piloted and found worthwhile, it is adopted. Each department forwards the best idea to the division and then on to the Quality Office for special recognition each month.

Continuous Improvement Process (CIP)

Wainwright Industries Inc. designed its suggestion program and began capturing 300 ideas a week from its workforce. In the early 1990’s they implemented over 8,400 improvement ideas. The associates — not management — manage this powerful process. It works because associates at Wainwright have authority to make any improvements, without getting approval, up to $1,000 in cost. If their idea exceeds this amount, they fill out a form for approval. The names of individuals who submitted ideas are randomly drawn for a cash award each month. The company conducts quarterly drawings for a $300 gift certificate, and it comes with a catered luncheon for everyone who submitted a CIP during that quarter.

Click on the link below to learn about three unique employee suggestion campaigns to consider.

https://www.chartcourse.com/bright-ideas-employee-suggestion-program.html

SURVEYS & FACTOIDS

Low Morale

Twenty-three percent of 2,924 hiring managers and HR professionals rate their organization’s current employee morale level as low.

Source: Careerbuilder.com, Chicago

Hiring Ahead?

Twenty-one percent of 333 hiring managers say they plan to increase hiring at their organizations in 2010, compared to 3 percent last year.

Source: Towers Watson ~ Stamford, Conn.

Moving On

When 904 workers in North America were recently asked: “Do you plan to pursue new job opportunities as the economy improves in 2010?” they responded:

Yes, I intend to leave – 60%
Maybe, so I’m networking – 21%
No, I intend to stay – 13%
Not likely, but I’ve updated my resume – 6%

Source: Right Management, Philadelphia
As reported in the Human Resource Executive magazine

Filed Under: The Navigator Newsletter

Primary Sidebar

Search This Site

DISC Certification & Training

View Training Calender

Have Questions? 800-821-2487 or 770-860-9464

Preview Management Training Courses | Free Previews

Free Online Course Preview

Team Building Exercises

img

Complete 100% Money Back Guarantee

Our Newest and Latest Version!

icebreakersrotary

Best Icebreakers and Teambuilding Exercises Digital E-Book Pdf

Automatic Download of the E-book within seconds after you click on the “Buy Now” button on our store.. You can read it on your computer in PDF format if you like, or print it out on your printer. No shipping charges.

More information 

Icebreakers and Teambuilding ExercisesIcebreakers & Team Building Exercises – E-Book Version

  • Co-Operation
  • Crash in Piranha Valley
  • Golf Ball in the Bag
  • Space Mission to the Moon
  • Torpedo Weapons Loading Exercise
  • Scavenger Hunt
  • Terrorist Toxic Explosive Situation

 

More information

Bright Ideas Facilitator Kit

Order the Kit
Bright Ideas Employee Suggestion Campaign

Footer

IMPORTANT LINKS

  • Free Newsletter
  • Free Resources
  • DISC Certification Training
  • Executive Retreat Facilitators
  • Store
  • Blog
  • Management Training Programs
  • Privacy

RECENT POSTS

  • Getting Your Oil Changed the Ritz-Carlton Way March 21, 2023
  • How To Retain Employees in an Unstable Job Market December 15, 2022
  • 3 Tips for Training Leaders to Work With Remote Teams October 25, 2022
  • Why Hiring is Irrelevant if You Can’t Solve Retention August 24, 2022

LOCATION

Chart Your Course International
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

(770) 860-9464
CONTACT US

Free ebook

Online Training Courses

SPECIAL SAVINGS! GET 50% OFF ALL COURSES (770) 860-9464

©2002-2023 Chart Your Course International Inc