McKinsey Quarterly - Workers’ ideas are a valuable transformation resource

McKinsey Quarterly - Workers' ideas are a valuable transformation resource

AD Bhatia

When consumer companies undergo transformations, their focus is rightly on creating the infrastructure that can meet the multiple challenges that arise. Empowering a chief transformation officer and creating a transformation office are key elements of that.

 

But leaders should also take a step back and ask what—and who—these roles are meant to serve. We think the people in these roles should focus on building two kinds of capabilities across the entire team: one, getting used to the idea of sharing and accepting great ideas, whatever their source. And two, learning how to implement those ideas and change the way work gets done. Insights that come from a company's workers can change the trajectory of a product..., or solve a long-running customer problem. Support and follow-through from managers are crucial here. 

Focusing on capability building during a transformation is a great way to energize people so they feel buy-in for the transformation in the first place and maintain that enthusiasm over time. Some of the most exciting organizational changes we've witnessed are the result of individuals being newly empowered to bring their ideas to managers, who are newly open to receiving them and passing them along to their bosses. 

Imagine a shift in mindset away from "worker, do X, Y, and Z" to "let's ask frontline and more junior colleagues to help solve problems." We've seen how that new mindset can lead to differentiated and inspiring results, particularly after senior leaders realize ideas may not be bubbling up on their own. 

Our research has revealed several examples of how this works. Take this story from a beverage company: a frontline worker who had been on the same bottling line for years had become frustrated by how often the line jammed. He never did anything about it because he felt it wasn't his job. However, when the company's transformation launched, employees were encouraged to share their ideas. So, this worker suggested putting a small "kicker" on the line that would automatically free up jams. He was paired with an engineer to design the kicker together.

 

The frontline employee was also encouraged to share this idea with other lines and plants, which led to the kicker device being implemented across the network, driving significant productivity improvements. That success set the bar for other sites, which, in turn, began pushing their own new initiatives across the network. This "constant idea generation" became the new normal for the company. 

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(*) McKinsey Quarterly - Workers' ideas are a valuable transformation resource, 3rd Aug 2023