
In November 2011, Fred Meijer died. Mr. Meijer was an innovative pioneer in the grocery business. He created "one stop shopping", where his customers could not only buy groceries but hardware supplies, garden items, clothes, etc. I have been a customer for over 30 years and I have always found Meijer stores to be clean, well stocked, and the Meijer Associates very friendly, well-trained and helpful.
Dr. Carl Frost--the great Scanlon teacher--worked with Fred Meijer. Meijer never became a long term client of Dr. Frost and Meijer stores were not "Scanlon" but Dr. Frost did have an influence on Mr. Meijer.
They met one day in Mr. Meijer's ofice. They were both discussing the Scanlon Principles and the need for every employee to know "the right job and how to do the job right." They discussed the importance of training all workers to be able to perform their jobs.
Mr. Meijer brought up the position of "bagger" a low skilled job in the grocery industry and argued that it didn't make sense to invest in training for such a job. As they were talking Mr. Meijer was called out of his office to placate an irate customer. It seems that a bagger had put a carton of eggs in the bottom of a bag and then put heavier items on top. The eggs broke and the entire contents of the bag were ruined. The customer had wasted her time shopping, Meijer had to replace all the ruined items. There was a cost to not training baggers.
Today the hot topic in the business press is innovation. Even popular magazines carry articles about the most innovative products of the year. Everyone is looking for the next iphone. However, for most organizations product innovation is not a real option. Every grocery store carries pretty much the same items as every other grocery store. They have to innovate in other areas. For Meijer it was a different core process "One stop shopping." However, it usually takes at least two innovative practices for a business to make it. One stop shopping would not have worked without innovative customer service to support it. Meijer learned not to put all his innovation eggs in one basket if he wanted to succeed. He trained his baggers.
Innovation is important but confusing. Most innovation planners forget the importance of including everyone in the challenge of innovation. Baggers have a role. All front-line workers have a role. As they serve their customers they often hear first what the customer wants and needs. Since many innovations are first brought to an organization by their customers it just makes sense to teach Associates how to listen for these cues. Also, every Associate is also a customer somewhere else. They often bring ideas to work on how to do things better. They know where there are unmet customer needs. It is much harder for a competitor to copy innovative service, than it is to copy products.
Scanlon Associates have saved millions in cost saving ideas. They have created products that have generated millions in sales and created new industries. They are able to do this because they understand the reality of their business or organization and there is a system in every Scanlon organization for encouraging the generation and capturing of ideas. A Scanlon Plan is an "Enabling Process" that supports all the other forms of innovation.
Because most workers aren't included in innovation planning or training I created for the Scanlon Network the first (and only) "Innovation Simulation" to allow everyone in an organization to learn about innovation and to enjoy innovating together in a four hour workshop. It has been used successfully in organizations like 3M to teach the basic principles of innovation. If you would like to learn more about the Simulation please contact me.
I have also written an Innovation White Paper that you can download to learn what Innovative organizations like Southwest, 3M, Herman Miller and others do to encourage innovation. You can download it by clicking here.
Questions to Ponder
1) How do you involve all Associates in Innovation?
2) How do you train for Innovation?
3) What forms of Innovation does your business practice other than product innovation?






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