Another meeting?” → “Wow, this idea is awesome!” A 180-degree turnaround for our company

junho_log 2025년 06월 14일

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Does everyone at your company cringe when they get the "we need innovative ideas" memo?

We did, too. Quarterly "Suggest a way to improve our work" competitions, formalized idea meetings, and a predictable ending with the same direction from the top... Employees became apathetic and the best ideas were whispered in the hallways. Employees were becoming increasingly apathetic, and the really good ideas were being whispered in the hallways.

The turning point was a frank comment from one of our newest employees: "Sir, honestly, my ideas don't work anyway, so why are you making me waste my time?" At that moment, I realized that the problem wasn't the lack of ideas, it was the lack of a "system" to properly collect and utilize them!

So, I turned the whole thing upside down:

Prompt.

복사

# Guide to building a spontaneous innovation idea ecosystem

### Step A: Remove the psychological huddle

- Anonymity system: [build a secure suggestion channel].

- Immediate feedback loop: [Complete first review within 48 hours].

- Failure-immunity culture: [Recognize people for trying]

### Step B: Idea Activators.

* Micro-experimentation budget allocation (no more than 1 million won per month)

* Cross-departmental idea matching system

* Real-time sharing platform for success stories

### Step C: Sustainable innovation cycle

- Idea proponent → executor connection process

- Judgment criteria for gradual diffusion vs. full-scale application

- How to accumulate organizational learning and know-how

Considering the [current situation and cultural characteristics] of our organization, please design a system that allows employees to spontaneously pour out innovation ideas.

The first thing we implemented was the "five-minute feedback rule," where any idea is proposed and the person in charge has five minutes to respond with an "acknowledgment." Then, within a week, they have to do a simple experiment.

For example, an employee suggested, "Booking a meeting room is too complicated," and the next day we created a simple booking system with a KakaoTalk bot. It wasn't perfect, but it was important to "try." The results were amazing.

The results were amazing: within three months, we saw a 1,200% year-over-year increase in idea suggestions! More importantly, 70% of them were actually tried, and 30% were adopted into the formal process. Once people believed that "my ideas can actually be heard," they started to come up with bolder and more creative suggestions.

Now, instead of "Another ideation meeting?" we hear the excitement of "What can we do differently this time?"

I wonder if there are seeds of innovation lurking in your organization, and how will you nurture them?

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