This Way Out

Air Support
“Unless all employees are fully engaged and empowered to solve problems, you’ll never be able to think your way out of a financial morass,” say Cyndi Laurin and Craig Morningstar in their book The Rudolph Factor. The authors use the holiday character Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer as an analogy to share lessons The Boeing Co., one of America’s oldest aircraft manufacturers, learned about innovation – lessons that can be applied and replicated in any business.

Rudolphs, explain the authors, are the 10 percent of any organization’s people who are agents of innovation – people who can shine the light exactly where a company needs to go. Since they tend to identify causes of problems (rather than symptoms), they generate sustainable solutions more quickly and efficiently than their counterparts.

Here are a few of the book’s insights:

• Company leaders must be more participative than autocratic. Once you give up your illusion of control, more ideas will percolate from the ground up.
• Learn to recognize Rudolphs. They spend time involuntarily thinking about things they are most passionate about; acquiring the capabilities to manifest their thoughts into reality and taking action.
• Identify and meet your Rudolphs’ needs. Boeing provided theirs with an outlet to share ideas, protection from their direct manager and ill-willed peers (because Rudolphs are commonly seen as a threat), permission to take risks and share unconventional ideas, access to collaborative teams including non-Rudolphs, and the ability to execute their ideas.
• Put systems in place to encourage innovative thinking. Boeing’s Creative Edge Program, designed to make the C-17 cargo aircraft more affordable, paid employees for their cost-saving ideas. In return, employees have generated more $90 million with their ideas over the past decade and continue to impact the bottom line in significant ways. Every year, hundreds of employees contribute their innovative ideas and are awarded from $50 to $250 per employee plus 1 to 2 percent of the first year’s net savings. “The prospect of earning some extra money tends to sharpen and refine the creative process, which results in better conceived, more workable ideas,” Morningstar says.