Introduction

What are the best ways to make sure that projects and new ideas move forward smoothly and smartly? This collection of articles from MIT Sloan Management Review examines the ways to tap employees for their best ideas, encourage them to share their concerns, and use strategy loops to incorporate new information and translate it into effective action.

From “Developing Innovative Solutions Through Internal Crowdsourcing”:

• Internal crowdsourcing of a company’s own employees allows employees to interact dynamically with coworkers to channel ideas and expertise.
• Because many large companies have pockets of expertise scattered across different locations, harnessing the organization’s cognitive diversity can open up new sources of innovation.
• While internal crowds are typically not as diverse as external crowds, the solutions employees propose may be more readily implemented and can have a rapid impact in the marketplace.
• This article is based on a four-year study of how multiple companies used internal crowds that included frontline employees to find new solutions to business challenges

From “An Easy Way to Encourage Employees to Follow Company Rules”:

• A study suggests that a surprisingly simple technique can improve the degree to which employees comply with organizational rules.
• The secret? Creating more variety in the order in which employees perform tasks — even without changing the tasks.
• Changing the order of tasks induces people to switch from a more “automatic pilot” cognitive-processing mode to one involving more deliberate thinking. The two modes are sometimes called Type 1 (automatic) and Type 2 (deliberative) cognitive processes.

From “When Strategy Walks Out the Door”:

• Strategy increasingly emerges from the front lines, where employees interact with technologies and customers.
• Employees whose ideas about strategy aren’t listened to may quit — and take their ideas with them. To avoid that, companies could create mechanisms that allow employees to explore new directions and then give them the power to pursue new projects.
• Video game developer Valve Corp. has a practice called the “rule of three.” If three Valve employees think that a particular initiative, project, or strategy is worthwhile, then they are empowered to pursue it. The need for the project originator to recruit at least two others onto a project helps take advantage of the “wisdom of crowds.”

From “How to Find Answers Within Your Company”:

• Internal knowledge markets — forums within organizations that match knowledge seekers with knowledge sources —can facilitate information-sharing within large organizations.
• An internal knowledge market typically takes the form of an IT-supported platform whose value grows as more users join.
• Many of these markets work through price mechanisms, with employees rewarded with points or virtual currencies that can be redeemed for cash and prizes. Compensating for ideas triggers quality content.
• This article includes a chart titled “How to Design an Effective Internal Knowledge Market.”

From “How Project Leaders Can Overcome the Crisis of Silence”:

• The inability of some companies to effectively execute high-stakes cross-functional initiatives — such as major product releases, strategic information technology projects, or aggressive quality programs — costs these businesses hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
• Five crucial conversations, often overlooked or avoided, are essential to the success of any high-stakes initiative.
• Crucial Conversation No. 1 is “Are We Planning Around Facts?” Research shows that it is important to have that conversation because some 85% of project leaders surveyed reported that they had experienced instances of “fact-free planning” where they had come under pressure from stakeholders to determine deadlines, scope, deliverables, and budgets with little or no regard for the hard facts of what would actually be required to carry out the project successfully.

From “Closing the Gap Between Strategy and Execution”:

• In an ideal world, managers could formulate a long-term strategy, methodically implement it, and sustain the resulting competitive advantage. Reality, however, is rarely so neat and tidy.
• In fast-paced industries, companies should think of strategy as an iterative loop with four steps: making sense of a situation, making choices, making things happen, and making revisions.
• One of the most dangerous pitfalls is when a team prematurely develops a “bias for action.” In such cases, the team shortchanges the sense-making discussion and jumps right into a debate about what to do and how to do it.
• The fundamental advantage of strategy loops is their ability to incorporate new information and translate it into effective action.