Team Innovation is not as hard as you might think.  All you need is 15 minutes–and a healthy ego.

Trying to be innovative feels nearly impossible for alot of people.  Most of us don’t have a natural ability to be creative all the time.

Our employees don’t either. Have you noticed that when you gather your team in a room and say, “What innovative ideas do you have?” that you may get one or two people speak up if you are lucky?  Well now there is a new game that works alot better called– “Say Goodbye to Stupid Rules.”

Playing “Say Goodbye to Stupid Rules” is not only easy but your employees will have a blast. Team Innovation will suddenly become effortless!

Here’s how it works:

1. Gather a group of employees.

Break them down into two-or three-person teams.  If possible, pair up people from different teams.

2. Give the small groups 8 minutes to answer one question:

“If you could change all the stupid rules that get in the way of better serving our customers or just doing your job, what would they be and how would you do it?”

3. Then sit back.

I hope your skin is particularly thick that day, because many of the stupid rules employees will want to dump are your stupid rules.

“At the 8 minute mark the teams will be begging you for more time not because they’re coming up with nothing but because 8 minutes isn’t nearly enough time to write everything down. So don’t stop them.  You may never ever see employees get this engaged during team meetings. Giving them more time shows how serious you are about the exercise, which is important for building your team’s trust in you and in the possibility that things will actually change.”

4. Ask everyone to write their favorite stupid rule on a sticky note that you will be passing out.

Then have each person place his or her rule on a posterboard pad with a grid that has two axes: Y is ease of implementation, and X is degree of impact.

Your grid will then have four quadrants: Hard to implement with low impact, hard to implement with high impact, easy to implement with low impact, and easy to implement with high impact.

Some people will automatically assume eliminating their favorite stupid rule has tremendous impact even if it doesn’t. That’s understandable.

5. Talk about the results.

Some of the same rules will show up many times. Some will be rules only one person will follow. Some won’t be formal rules, but will fall into the, “But that’s how we’ve always done things around here,” category.

And some won’t be rules at all:  Reports that hardly anyone reads, multiple sign-offs for purchases or approvals or meetings just for the sake of meeting.

6. Let the group pick a few easy to implement/high impact rules–and dump those rules on the spot.

Show them that you’re willing to listen. Prove you’re willing to change..

Remember, there are some rules that you can’t kill on the spot. A few rules might require first changes in process or workflow.  Let them know that you will be working on these areas.

Make the necessary changes; anything you do that streamlines a process and frees up employees to do real work is time well spent. Then let everyone know when those rules are dumped. This way you reinforce how seriously you take their input and how important it is to make positive changes.

7. Then keep listening.

When employees know you take their input seriously, you won’t need to try to get more team innovation by holding brainstorming sessions to solicit ideas. As long as you’re listening and acting on what you hear, your employees will bring great ideas to you.

I would love to know how your “Say Goodbye to Stupid Rules” session goes!