After having talked about General Electric and Jack Welch in one of my last post, I would like now to mention some interesting thoughts from 3M, another well-known company for its innovation and entrepreneurial processes. It is quite obvious that 3M places also its innovative strengths in the center of the Corporate communication:
About 3M – Inside the Innovation
Innovation at 3M
A century of innovation
Why is Corporate Entrepreneurship important for 3M?
By the 1990s, the entrepreneurial initiative of generations of “ordinary people” in 3M created a portfolio of over 100 core technologies that had been leveraged into 60’000 products managed in 3’900 profit centers clustered under 47 product divisions.
Yet despite its size and the maturity of many its businesses, [this company] continues to grow through individual initiative that allows 3M to generate more than 30 percent of its sales from products introduced within the previous four years.
[1]
Some management rules by 3M:
In 3M, the 15 percent rule allowed anyone to spend up to one-seventh of his or her time pursuing personal “bootleg projects” that might be of potential value for the company.
In 3M a philosophy of “make a little, sell a little” reflected management’s belief that the market was usually a better judge of business potential than the management hierarchy.
Managers must retain a respect for ideas coming up from below. They have to ask, “What do you see that I am missing?”. And they have to close their eyes for a while, or leave the door open a crack when someone is absolutely insistent that their idea has value. [DeSimone]
[1]
About training and career plan:
Instead of being indoctrinated through training sessions describing how to navigate through the procedures required to obtain formal approval on a project, the new 3M employee is likely to be regaled with stories about how legendary innovators challenged the system to get their ideas funded.
At 3M and at most other high-performing companies, training and development play a major role in building the different competency profiles required by the newly defined frontline, senior-level and top management roles. But their approach is far from the traditional model built around carefully standardized training programs and a well-trodden career path of ticket-punching. Instead of trying to force employees into the one-dimensional mold of the “organization man”, these companies use a portfolio of educational activities and career experiences to leverage very different natural traits and talents.
[1]
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Bibliographical references:
[1] The Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management
Sumantra Ghoshal, Christopher A. Bartlett, 1999
