I was mentoring a client today when he told me a radical technique he used for taking his business to the next level.
Maybe you should try it in your company. The technique is pretty simple, but the results are fast and profound.
He just went to his staff and asked them to do the following 2 things:
- Each come up with 50 ways to improve the company’s customer service.
- Then each come up with 50 more ways to improve their operations.
Wow, that’s a pretty outrageous request .
And I love it for several reasons.
Firstly, he didn’t ask for 1 or 2 ways to improve things, he asked for ONE HUNDRED. Each!
Now as long as they put the effort in, what are the chances that he wouldn’t have been flooded with amazing suggestions?
If he had, say, 5 staff he would have got 500 HUNDRED WAYS to improve his business – surely at least 50 would have been good ones.
The second reason I like this technique is that when you have to come up with 100 ideas, you are forced to think more laterally and deeply. You can’t just brainstorm a few obvious suggestions, you’ve got to really push your mind to come up with that many. Therefore the chances of generating a breakthrough idea are much higher.
And the final reason I love this method is that he got his team really involved – he didn’t just tell them how the company was going to change – he asked them to fully commit to changing it themselves. It’s their ideas that he will use, not just the ideas of the owner. So no doubt they will feel a lot of ownership and pride as the best of these ideas are rolled out across the company.
Yes it’s a radical request to ask your staff (or if you’re a solo entrepreneur, yourself). But if you’re serious about transforming your company this year, it’s got to be worth a try.
