Wouldn't it be great to work in an environment that has a culture of play, without judging. What does that look like? Fluid, easily moving and changing, what you're working on doesn't have to justify itself yet, creativity is valued, fun is valued...This sort of an environment can be an idea incubator. If something doesn't pan out, you don't need to hold on to it. Let it go and start working on the next generation of the idea, or move tangentially to something new.Some organizations include this concept in their structure as a separate department charged with innovation. It's not really feasible to have all departments act in this fashion all of the time -- for example, your production department needs to make sure they are producing quality products with consistency. However, it is possible to allow a certain percentage of each department's time to be dedicated to "play" to go along with the production work they need to do. Management needs to make sure that the time is allocated, budgeted for, and that people actually spend some time working on the creative side.Ideas that get generated still need to be brought to market, or incorporated internally within the organization. At the point that the idea has shown its merit and is ready for actual implementation, apply the concepts that Michelle and I have talked about related to how you implement change:
- identify the business value
- identify the sponsor
- identify the impacted stakeholders
- assemble the change team
- plan the change deployment
- execute the change
Take a great idea that was created in a culture of play, and apply sound change implementation principles and see where you can go!