Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Coffee Machine Camaraderie


BMW did it really well. They identified the informal groups (friends) within the company and next everyone in those groups was working on real ideas for the next model of BMW.
This is a bloody good idea and a great way to break free from underperforming committees, sub committees & steering committees!
Companies can do a lot by identifying different ‘friend groups’ in the organization and then hand them a task or project. These tasks could be other than what all of them are anyway working on individually.
The logic is simple – these people meet often at and off work. They talk to each other about many things including work. They understand each other and most importantly like each other’s company.
There cannot be a better way of leveraging this bond than giving them tasks that they can work on together. It is a great way of stoking entrepreneurship, job rotation without any real rotation, helping people get a break from their formal teams or disciplines or departments and most importantly would lead to better results from the same set of people.
We can do this in any company, in any industry and at anytime!
Advertising anyone?

No comments: