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Break the rules to innovate your company

A leading speaker on innovation has said that businesses need to break their own rules to improve their performance.

According to Innovation Tools, Paul Sloane, of Destination Innovation, claimed that new entrants into any business sector often break business taboos to challenge the fundamental assumptions of their industry.

When some airlines introduced electronic tickets and bypassed travel agents it forced the major flight companies to stand up and take notice – could you do this for your business?

You can try using Sloan’s Break the Rules workshop to highlight the unnecessary restrictions  that you impose on your business and to develop new ideas. Divide your work place into small teams of around three or four, or if you are a big firm 8 to ten people. Ask them to think as many rules as they can which apply to your organization. These rules can be obvious or unwritten and you should get around 100 rules. Give them 30 minutes to complete this. Once each of the groups has compiled a long list challenge them by asking if the rule can be broken to benefit the business? 

For example, if you were trying to improve productivity in a telemarketing department the rules would appear as: 

1.      Use the telephone to make contact.

2.      Make calls between 9am and 12 and 2 and 5pm.

3.      Always be polite and professional.

4.      Stick to the carefully planned script so as to deliver the right message.

5.      Reward agents for any sales leads that they uncover.

6.      If appointments for sales are made follow the call with an information pack and confirmation letter.

 So if you break these rules certain new ideas maybe uncovered. 

1.      Contact clients using a variety of methods, other than using the phone.

2.      Approach clients at all times of the day with different sales people working at different times.

3.      Be rude, over familiar, and unprofessional.

4.      Throw away the script and let agents sell using their own lexicon.

5.      Remove financial incentives for clients but maybe change their pay.

6.      No longer send confirmation letters for appointments.  

Sloane’s rule-breaking technique is a great ideas generator.  

Breaking every rule may not work in favour of your business but Sloan believes that between 40 and 50% of rules can be broken for your benefit.

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