Workers of the World, Innovate

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Employee Participation

Measuring collective intelligence can be a struggle at companies whose employees won't participate or whose midlevel managers consider the efforts a waste of time. "You will have managers who don't really see it and you have to find a way of overcoming that and forcing it to occur anyway," says Martin at Pitney Bowes, where each business is required to post a challenge.

To keep employees coming back, AT&T senior executives offer financial incentives, including a drawing to win $500, Asher said at the conference. The company also doles out virtual currency that can be used to bet on which ideas are most likely to succeed. Participation in The Innovation Pipeline surged to 17,862 in October 2009 from 4,082 in July of that year.

Another hurdle lies in keeping staffers from betting on the success of ideas—say, giving everyone a raise—that, while appealing to the rank and file, are unlikely to win management backing. At AT&T, employees lose virtual currency when they bet on ideas that don't prevail.

Martin also recommends being up-front and responding to every idea, including telling employees which ideas simply won't work. "They'd sooner hear that than nothing," he says.

Long-Term Innovation

Even ideas that result in incremental changes can make a bigger difference in the long run, says John Hagel III, co-author of The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion. People recognized as problem-solvers in one area can join with colleagues in other businesses or regions to tackle larger issues, he says. "Then, over time, you see teams coming together, people from very different parts of the world," says Hagel, also the co-chairman for the Deloitte Center for the Edge. "There's where you start to see the real innovation."

At Pitney Bowes, managers issued a challenge to employees in the international software business, which prompted a conversation with colleagues in another division and ultimately led to three contracts worth 300,000 euros ($383,940). "It's people connecting and sometimes there are unintended consequences," Martin says.

Pitney Bowes welcomes ideas that can result in changes large or small. To entice employees to aim high, it created a competition called Innovation Idol, modeled on the talent-search TV show American Idol. The effort culminated in an event where backers of the six best promising ideas made onstage presentations to senior management. Martin, clad in a mask of Simon Cowell, the harshest judge on the TV show, was so impressed with the pitches that he chose to fund two of them on the spot.

King is a writer for Bloomberg Businessweek in San Francisco.

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