100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS • 33

of simplicity, candor, and transparent learning across boundaries.
Most of Welch’s social networking took place at GE’s corporate
university at Crotonville, where he reputedly spent over 50 percent
of his time constantly coaching, and learning from others.

In practice

• Reduce bureaucracy to increase the transparency and openness
  of your organization.


• Identify key employees across the business, and organize regular
  meetings to share ideas, report problems, and devise strategy.
  Use these meetings to assess workers: who is best at innovation
  and identifying problems, and who is weakest?


• Create a robust social network within your organization that can
  be used to transmit information and implement ideas promptly.
  This may involve bringing representatives from a wide range of
  “departments” to meetings. For example, rather than holding
  separate meetings for IT employees and marketing employees,
  allow them to discuss ideas together. This will give them a
  clearer idea of the challenges faced by the company as a whole.


• Hold regular meetings of global managers, to ensure they are
  unifi ed behind the initiative and understand how it should
  be implemented. Also, encourage global managers to meet
  with members of their business unit to inform them of the
  company initiative.


• Provide incentives to managers to win their team members
  over—for example, by giving them performance-based rewards
  for their business unit’s success in implementing specifi c
  initiatives.