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- O r g a n i z a t i o n a l _ I n n o v a t i o n -
The Clorox Company, Research and Development
The 1998 George Land World Class Innovator Awards were presented to four organizations at February's Convergence '98 in Santa Barbara, including The Clorox Company, Research and Development department.
The Land Award, created to recognize significant innovation efforts within organizations, was named in honor of George Land, one of the pioneers in organizational innovation and author of Grow or Die and co-author of Breakpoint and Beyond. George shared some of his recent thinking about innovation and presented the awards to the winners.
This year's winners represent the range of American organizations that recognize the importance of innovation to their survival.
The Clorox Company, Research & Development
In 1995, the vice president of R&D at Clorox explained his vision of unleashing the creativity of every individual in the department. As a result, Project THINC (Tools and Habits for Inspiring and Nurturing Creativity ) was born. The project includes everyone in R&D-approximately 400 technical and non-technical employees.
A mission statement was formulated: To be the most innovative consumer products company in the categories in which we compete. Top barriers were identified and initiatives developed to address them. Twenty-eight actions were implemented to lower the barriers. A follow-up survey conducted eighteen months later demonstrated significant improvement. Everyone can see how effective the exercise they created and the stimuli they gathered is in generating ideas.
- Project THINC was launched with an off-site meeting, where three messages were conveyed:
First is a goal related to the percent of products with a proprietary advantage over those of leading competitors. Second, each department is expected to pursue at least one innovation goal in the area of consumer projects, internal processes or organizational effectiveness.
R&D now supports innovation by encouraging people to approach their work with innovation in mind. One of their most successful programs, "Food for Thought," encourages small groups of about five people to get together over lunch (subsidized by the company), to brainstorm potential solutions to specific problems. Other steps taken include signs and posters reminding people to be creative. The main lobby features a large creativity bulletin board. Music, toys, games and goodies are available at meetings. White boards in hallways and an online electronic bulletin board encourage people to post questions and ask for information from others. Managers are trained and encouraged to model the environment they are trying to build.
The company is seeing the impact of their creativity efforts on business results. At the most recent R&D meeting, they honored 37 people for achievements using creativity to move the business forward.
Polling the Winners
- Skills most critical to Land Award winners innovation efforts:
- --Clorox R&D: Skills for generating good ideas. The ability to test a lot of ideas and select the best ones. The skill to look deep. The skills to manage change.
To read more about the 1998 George Land World Class Innovation Award winners: Dell University, Dell Computer Corporation or Saunders International's Eureka! Ranch or YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.