LESSON ONE FROM OUR IDEA SYSTEM

Prof. Alan Robinson of the Isenberg Shcool of Management, UMass/Amherst

Over the past year, our college has introduced an idea system – called Great Ideas @ STCC – that has the potential to transform our organization.  

Our experience has confirmed the principle that our consultant, Alan Robinson, has emphasized that 80% of the possible improvements in our organization are dependent on front line employees because most of the work of the organization is done by them.  They carry out the individual transactions of the college for example: registering students, assisting with financial aid, serving students in the library, accepting payment for classes.  Those college employees above the front lines who are usually part of “management” deal with rolled up data – total enrollment, costs of utilities, payroll and the like.   They do not witness the transactions between students who are the customer and the employees serving them.  These managers are not aware, therefore, of the myriad opportunities for improvement in the functioning of the organization. 

Long time front line employees often know of changes within their scope of work that would save resources and improve service to students.  They have not had a means of expressing and implementing those ideas.   That is the beauty of an idea system.  It harnesses the creativity of a large number of employees, those closest to the action.

The critical lesson learned is that we managers think we can make the organization more efficient by decisions based on aggregate data.  While that is important, that misses the majority of possibilities for improvement, those at the front line of the organization.  

GREAT IDEAS AT STCC

From my own experience, colleges and universities are often late adopters to new ways.  That is because these are fundamentally conservative institutions whose job is to transmit the wisdom of previous ages.  Additionally, most higher education institutions are non-profits operating outside of the competitive economy.

All that is now changing as many higher educational institutions are under tremendous financial pressure from shrinking state and federal budgets and exploding college debt of American students.  These institutions now seek ways to control costs while maintaining service to students.

Our college has taken a page from the industrial sector by instituting an idea system - called Great Ideas at STCC - designed to mobilize employees to suggest and implement improvements in how work is done. We are using as our mentor University of Massachusetts/Amherst Professor Alan Robinson co-author of the important book Ideas are Free.  We are as far as we know the only higher education institution in the United States implementing such a system.

Robinson claims and our experience shows that 80% of all the potential savings of time and money are located at the bottom of organization.  The genius of a well-designed idea system is that the intelligence and creativity of the majority of employees are listened to and acted upon.  The organization improves and with it employee morale.   This is, to be sure, a different approach to managing an organization but one with great opportunities.

To learn how we are doing at STCC, you can visit our Great Ideas webpage at  www.stcc.edu/greatideas