{"id":2116,"date":"2016-01-05T18:39:45","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T23:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=2116"},"modified":"2015-12-07T18:45:30","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T23:45:30","slug":"how-to-drive-innovation-by-creating-a-lions-den","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/how-to-drive-innovation-by-creating-a-lions-den\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Drive Innovation by Creating a Lion\u2019s Den"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lion\"If you are looking for an engaging and fun way to spark innovation among employees you will like this idea that I call \u201cLion\u2019s Den.\u201d\u00a0 This interesting employee event is loosely built on the concept of the television shows, \u201cShark\u2019s Tank\u201d and \u201cDragon\u2019s Den,\u201d in which, hopeful entrepreneurs are given an opportunity to pitch their business idea to prospective investors with the hope of getting them to help fund their business.\u00a0 Similarly, the premise of \u201cLion\u2019s Den\u201d is to encourage employees to pitch their innovative new ideas and concepts for the business to the leadership team with the hope that the leadership will recognize the value of their ideas and implement them.\u00a0 The payback they will receive, if they successfully \u201csell\u201d their innovation to the powers that be, is reward and recognition from the organization with the hope that this will lead to improved professional progress and status.<\/p>\n

I have facilitated Lion\u2019s Den, with great success, in my consulting practice.\u00a0 I apply it as a session to spark innovation among all employees, regardless of their role or position within an organization. \u00a0My premise is that everyone, in all departments: accounting, sales, marketing, manufacturing, engineering, human resources, operations, distribution, and so on; have great ideas.\u00a0 Given the right forum for exposure, these ideas can take shape and receive leadership support to move forward and eventually develop into new or improved products, services, processes, structures that will benefit the organization.<\/p>\n

Getting through the Lion\u2019s Den<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Lion\u2019s Den sets the scene for all employees to start thinking about innovation and working on ideas that will have an impact on them, the organization and\/or the customer.\u00a0 This can include: new processes, new services, new products, new markets, new efficiencies and so on.<\/p>\n

The symbolic meaning of lions, as one might imagine, primarily deals with strength.\u00a0 \u201cLions\u201d symbolize bravery, leadership, being a champion, conqueror, fighter, hero and warrior.\u00a0 I believe all of these are characteristics of an innovator.\u00a0 A \u201clion\u2019s den\u201d is potentially a trap that potentially can lead to an unpleasant situation in which a person or group of people criticizes you or your ideas.\u00a0 But just like the biblical story of Daniel, who was cast into a lion\u2019s den by the king, the outcome of Daniel\u2019s survival and ultimate deliverance, was that he was raised to higher office by his royal master.\u00a0 So the outcome of getting through the \u201clion\u2019s den\u201d for employees who manage it, has a similar possibility.<\/p>\n

A Real Life Example of How The Lion\u2019s Den Works<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This global organization has over 1,000 employees spread across several locations in North America.\u00a0 The Lion\u2019s Den meeting we organized was held off site and we started in one location in North America.\u00a0 Since it was impossible to have everyone in all locations attend, we decided to hold the first Lion\u2019s Den session as 3-day off-site for 144 employees.\u00a0 The employees were to be divided into 24 teams of 6 employees per team.<\/p>\n

We created guidelines to help select the candidates for this first Lion\u2019s Den and forwarded them to all the employees.\u00a0 The guidelines were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Do you have any ideas that will solve a major problem, customer issue or process challenge?<\/li>\n
  2. Do you have ideas for new and\/or improved products or services?<\/li>\n
  3. Have you been with the organization for at least 2 years?<\/li>\n
  4. How comfortable are you with the idea of working in a diverse team of individuals?<\/li>\n
  5. How willing are you to spend 3 days away from your daily work?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These were certainly broad guidelines.\u00a0 But our intent was to demonstrate that everyone could participate and we were looking to see who would come forward and submit a nomination to participate.\u00a0 As it turned out, we received 400 submissions.\u00a0 We sorted them by department and position and then arranged them to have a diverse group of people.\u00a0 We finally selected 144 names of nominees from various departments and positions.\u00a0 This was only the first Lion\u2019s Den, so those who were not being included in the initial session were still eligible to attend a future session.<\/p>\n

    Day 1 \u2013 Understand and Start the Innovation Process<\/strong><\/p>\n

    All the employees were seated in the conference room, waiting to hear what this is all about.\u00a0 The CEO addressed the group first.\u00a0 He set the stage for innovative thinking.\u00a0 He emphasized that no barriers should be placed on the innovations.\u00a0 Time, money, resources and other perceived barriers are just challenges that we must overcome.\u00a0 The cost-benefit of each innovation is what will prevail.\u00a0 He encouraged risk taking.\u00a0 He stressed the need for collaboration in all teams.<\/p>\n

    I spent the rest of the morning with them.\u00a0 We started with the agenda for the 3 days.\u00a0 Day 1 is broken into a morning and an afternoon session.\u00a0\u00a0 The morning was spent on learning the innovation process.\u00a0 Everyone had templates to help them apply each one of the innovation process stages.<\/p>\n

    The employees were told that their ideas must solve a current problem and have a clear value proposition.\u00a0 All ideas must fit with the organization\u2019s key strategic imperatives as well as its values and principles.\u00a0 \u00a0They must all recognize that everyone can be involved in innovation because it is more than just about products.\u00a0 It is also about services, structures, processes and so on.<\/p>\n

    To get innovative ideas going, questions were posed to the employees such as: \u00a0“What is impossible to do in our business, in your job and\/or in your department today, but if it can be done, will fundamentally change what our business does, what you can do and so on?” \u00a0That is where innovation will begin.<\/p>\n

    Then we broke the group into 24 teams of 6 individuals each.\u00a0 Each team included a mix of departments and positions.\u00a0 This would ensure a good mix of technical and creative individuals on each team.\u00a0 Each team was asked to pick their innovation team leader.<\/p>\n

    Once created, each team set their own ground rules for working together.\u00a0 Then they spent the afternoon generating ideas and applying the innovation process to their ideas.<\/p>\n

    Day 2 \u2013 Creating the Innovations<\/strong><\/p>\n

    All of the innovation teams continued to work on their innovations.\u00a0 They followed the innovation process and continued to explore their innovations.\u00a0 I circled all of the rooms, providing guidance as necessary.\u00a0 The levels of engagement were amazing.\u00a0 Many of them worked through lunch, dinner and the evening.\u00a0 They took breaks, went for walks and applied a variety of brainstorming techniques they had learned.<\/p>\n

    \"lion_workshop\"Some teams requested changes in their team members because they required some technical expertise to test their innovations.\u00a0 Changes in team members created new dynamics and proved beneficial.<\/p>\n

    By the end of the day their business cases were ready to present to the Lion\u2019s Den.<\/p>\n

    Day 3 \u2013Presentations to the Lion\u2019s Den<\/strong><\/p>\n

    All the employees in their innovation teams were now ready to make their presentations to the Lions in the Lion\u2019s Den.\u00a0 This lions included myself and selected members of the senior leadership team.\u00a0 Each innovation team was given a maximum of 10 minutes to present their innovation business case, give demonstrations, etc.\u00a0 They were told that there would be a hard stop at 10 minutes. \u00a0Some teams needed more time but this wasn\u2019t permitted in the Lion\u2019s Den rules.<\/p>\n

    The Lions asked questions to the innovation teams to ensure they understood the following details:<\/p>\n