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IDEAS- Issue # 6 (Sept. 2006) Monthly newsletter dedicated to organisational innovation, creativity and change. Break Free! What would you do if you were officially told to spend 15-20% your working hours on anything you feel like pursuing? To many people and organisations, such a suggestion would look crazy, if not dangerous. But to some, that's precisely the key to growth and competitive advantage. 3M discovered the value of this practice back in 1920s when it used to be a small sandpaper company. One day, one of its research engineers named Dick Drew visited a client: an auto body repair shop in St. Paul, Minnesota. Drew had gone to test a new batch of sandpapers. As Drew entered the auto shop, he saw a group of workers standing by the side of a newly-painted car, all looking puzzled and resigned. Instead of going about his intended business, Drew approached the workers to know what was bothering them. It turned out the workers were frustrated over a botched paint job. In those days, to produce a two-colour car, auto workers had to first paint a part of the car and then mask it with a butcher paper before applying the second colour on the remaining part. The butcher paper was held in place with adhesive tapes. There was no problem with the procedure except that when the tape was peeled off, it also peeled away some of the paint with it. Drew returned to his laboratory, but decided to work on something that no one had asked him to pursue: A new kind of tape! He began investigating different materials and manufacturing processes to create a kind of tape that would not peel off the paint. When 3M's then president William McKnight noticed Drew spending huge amounts of time on the tape problem, he advised him to avoid this distraction and instead focus on his main responsibility: improving sandpapers. Drew not only ignored his advice, but he also went on to divert some of the research funds from his "official" work on abrasives to his "own" research on tape. McKnight, however, was also not completely blind to what was happening. He knew Drew was not following his orders, but for some reason, he decided not to force the issue further. And that turned out to be a pivotal decision in the history of 3M. After two years of experimentation with different papers and adhesives formulas, Drew was able to come up with a successful new product: masking tape. The rest is history. Drew's innovation gave birth to 3M's adhesive tape business, which produces hundreds of specialised products for medical, electrical, home and industrial applications. His innovation has been a source of revenues for 3M for several decades now. To his credit, McKnight didn't let the episode end there. Based on this experience, he went on to develop management practices that became the foundation of 3M's culture of relentless innovation. Today, 3M follows the famous 15% rule: It allows its technical employees to use 15 percent of their time pursuing their own ideas--without regard to assigned tasks. "15 percent rule is unique to 3M. Most of the inventions that 3M depends upon today came out of that kind of individual initiative. You don't make a difference by just following orders," says Bill Coyne, retired Senior Vice President, Research and Development, 3M. >>IDEA: Basically, there are three levels of freedom at work:
- Level 0: People are given a goal and also told how they
should reach there. This is zero freedom. In most organisations, people operate 100% of the time at level 0 and level 1 freedom. What 3M is doing is simply infusing in its corporate culture level 2 freedom for 15 percent of the time. Google, I believe, allows such freedom 20% of the time. Innovation is about taking paths on which no one has walked before and reaching destinations that no one knew existed. If that's innovation, allowing people to be left on their own--without a destination and without a path--will not appear to be a crazy idea. Perhaps, it's crazy not to let people break free for some time. Atul Mathur FORWARD IT: Would you like to share what you've just read with any of your friends/colleagues? Click below to send a link to your friend.To SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter, send a blank e-mail to:subscribe IDEAS ***Copyright 2006 Atul Mathur*** |
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