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Thomas Edison's
career spanned an extraordinary 62 years
(1869 - 1931). During these six
decades, Edison established more than
150 companies, received 1,093 U.S. patents,
and 1,293 international patents. This
prodigious outpouring of knowledge required
Edison to communicate frequently - and
efficiently - with thousands of his
employees.
How did he do it? Here
are three techniques drawn from Edison's
Five Competencies
of Innovation™ which
you can readily apply to your organization
today.
#1 - Create Vehicles
for Shared Team Communication
Edison
was able to seamlessly transfer brain
power to his teams by creating brief,
focused team interactions each day. He
did this by insisting that each team
of experimenters keep detailed notebooks
logging their experiments.
To
maximize productivity, Edison walked
through his West Orange, NJ laboratory
twice daily to read the logs, and determine
if any teams were "stuck." If
a team was bogged down, Edison quickly
assessed the challenge by reading the
team log, then suggesting a solution
directly in the notebook itself - and
sometimes in person as well. This approach
kept each innovation team moving forward
rapidly and efficiently.
What
you can do: Create
wiki's or internal blogs for individual
innovation teams. Because today's
teams are often geographically
dispersed and span multiple time
zones, having a central communication
repository for key information
speeds efficient information exchange.
Morgan Stanley and Wachovia both
use this technique to keep teams
in multiple time zones up to speed.
#2 - Reorganize
Physical Space to Foster "Casual" Communications
Both Edison's two-story Menlo
Park, NJ laboratory and his much larger
three-story laboratory at West Orange,
NJ were designed to encourage casual
information exchanges. Whether Edison
consciously realized it or not, his
decision to place machinery and equipment
needed for experimentation along the
walls required employees to zig-zag
across the floor to complete their
work. This encouraged what today is
called "spontaneous intersections," or "dyadic
exchange." These terms refer
to the casual connections that occur
spontaneously between two or more people
as they meet in the workplace. Studies
now show this form of communication
is one of the most powerful means of
exchanging data leading to new innovation
insights.
What
you can do: Several years ago, WMS Gaming --
a leader in the highly competitive
world of slot machine games for casinos
-- reorganized the layout of its
work area to bring game designers,
programmers, and graphics personnel
into one physical space. Rather than
seating them by "departments," they
took a page from Edison's fourth
Competency of Innovation -- Master-Mind
Collaboration -- and reorganized
dozens of cubicles, bringing these
key functions together in one large
common area. The results? More hot-selling
games developed faster, and with
more employee passion.
#3 - Brevity Wins
Rather
than burden his managers with lengthy
memos or speeches, Edison preferred
short, pithy communications. He applied
brevity to his telegraph messages as
well as his written letters, memos,
and even verbal exchanges.
One famous
example: Edison selected a schoolteacher
from Maplewood, NJ - a Mr. James Ricalton
- to assist him in finding the bamboo
species that would yield the longest-burning
filament fiber, and ensure he had a
robust supply of it. Edison spoke just
3 sentences in querying Mr. Ricalton
about his interest in taking on the
project:
Edison: "I
want a man to ransack all the tropical
jungles of the East to find a better
fiber for my lamp; I expect it to
be found in the palm or bamboo family.
How would you like that job?"
Ricalton: "That
would suit me."
Edison: "Can
you go tomorrow?"
Ricalton secured
a leave of absence from his teaching
position the very next day, and Edison
proceeded to give Ricalton a visual
example of the bamboo fiber he was
to find, along with written instructions
on how to test it. All told, Edison
spent only a few hours with Ricalton
before sending him off on a very expensive,
months-long international journey.
Gutsy, but a shining example of creating
action and engagement in an innovation
initiative with few words.
Edison brought
clarity to complex issues using vivid
yet economical terms. By supplementing
some of his communications with personal
training sessions or other "hands
on" experiences, he deeply rooted
information in the mind of his employees.
He thus positioned innovation as a "live" experience
for his employees - not just words
on paper.
What
you can do: Employ brevity in all your communications,
and pay this off with occasional,
focused "how-to" demonstrations
or other visual or kinesthetic experiences
to engage your colleagues and employees
in your message. You'll win
more attention to your cause, and
generate more enthusiasm for your
innovation projects.
Select one of
these three proven communication
techniques for spurring innovation
in your organization, and start communicating
like an innovator!
In
the next issue: Designing a Flat Organization, Edison
Style
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