Why suggestion boxes are wrong
Last night just when I was arriving at the hotel, I flipped on the TV while unpacking and happened to catch the end of the Undercover Boss. I’ve written about this show before, and how it is directionally correct but wrong in execution.
This episode included one of the owners of the Chicago Cubs. In his sit down with the team, he mentioned that they needed to be closer to the people. His idea was to install a suggestion box. Ugh. Suggestion boxes are always the wrong answer. Why?
Anonymity…that’s it.
I’ve always loved this New Yorker cartoon about suggestion boxes (I didn’t include it in the blog since I didn’t buy a license for its use). But suggestion boxes, while designed to bring management and employees together, actually separate them.
Employees can dump suggestions into the box without owning them. Anonymity can maintain a lack of ownership. We can suggestion the impossible, the improbably, and we don’t have to help with execution because we have passed the buck.
Management can ignore suggestion without owning their evaluation. Because management of a “box” is a collective instead of an individual, it is easy to hide behind the collective. The story of “management response” is much more anonymous than “my response”
The alternative – have a discussion. Why can’t a manager talk one-on-one with their employees to discuss what problems they are having, and what ideas they have? Why can’t they do that everyday?
Of course who needs to actually have a discussion when you have this nice box on the wall to do your job for you.
I won’t even waste my time watching this show, because the basic lie of the boss pretending to be a coworker violates the principles of trust and transparency. The experience is likely to be enlightening, but how persistent is the boss’s frequency of visiting the gemba. It’s easy to argue that a visit from the boss is intimidating, but people get over it when it happens often. They really get over it when the boss gives them three to five days of his time taking part in a kaizen (as long as he or she delivers on a change caused by the system beyond the team’s usual control). Even in a large corporation, the boss can visit, make an engaged tour of the workplace and get those ideas that usually languish in the suggestion box.
For a true story about suggestion programs in the 1950s, my granddad tried to share an improvement idea with Chrysler – http://leanreflect.blogspot.com/2006/05/ideas-are-free-but-easily-prevented_15.html (If Jamie will forgive me for linking to my blog).
Sad to say, many suggestion systems work exactly the same way 50 years later.
I won’t even waste my time watching this show, because the basic lie of the boss pretending to be a coworker violates the principles of trust and transparency. The experience is likely to be enlightening, but how persistent is the boss’s frequency of visiting the gemba. It’s easy to argue that a visit from the boss is intimidating, but people get over it when it happens often. They really get over it when the boss gives them three to five days of his time taking part in a kaizen (as long as he or she delivers on a change caused by the system beyond the team’s usual control). Even in a large corporation, the boss can visit, make an engaged tour of the workplace and get those ideas that usually languish in the suggestion box.
For a true story about suggestion programs in the 1950s, my granddad tried to share an improvement idea with Chrysler – http://leanreflect.blogspot.com/2006/05/ideas-are-free-but-easily-prevented_15.html (If Jamie will forgive me for linking to my blog).
Sad to say, many suggestion systems work exactly the same way 50 years later.
I won’t even waste my time watching this show, because the basic lie of the boss pretending to be a coworker violates the principles of trust and transparency. The experience is likely to be enlightening, but how persistent is the boss’s frequency of visiting the gemba. It’s easy to argue that a visit from the boss is intimidating, but people get over it when it happens often. They really get over it when the boss gives them three to five days of his time taking part in a kaizen (as long as he or she delivers on a change caused by the system beyond the team’s usual control). Even in a large corporation, the boss can visit, make an engaged tour of the workplace and get those ideas that usually languish in the suggestion box.
For a true story about suggestion programs in the 1950s, my granddad tried to share an improvement idea with Chrysler – http://leanreflect.blogspot.com/2006/05/ideas-are-free-but-easily-prevented_15.html (If Jamie will forgive me for linking to my blog).
Sad to say, many suggestion systems work exactly the same way 50 years later.
I’ve seen so many dysfunctions with suggestion boxes… even when the process “works” it is “batchy” – a monthly or quarterly review by managers that’s squarely NOT a discussion.
I’ve been a huge fan of the visual idea board method outlined in David Mann’s “Creating a Lean Culture” book (and I discussed it in my book). I’ve seen that method work really well in hospital settings, in conjunction with a daily team huddle, so kaizen and suggestions becomes a normal daily activity, not something that relies on the box.
One hospital, in a story I tell often, had a locked suggestion box for which they couldn’t find the key!!! That’s clearly an example of a failed system!
I’ve seen so many dysfunctions with suggestion boxes… even when the process “works” it is “batchy” – a monthly or quarterly review by managers that’s squarely NOT a discussion.
I’ve been a huge fan of the visual idea board method outlined in David Mann’s “Creating a Lean Culture” book (and I discussed it in my book). I’ve seen that method work really well in hospital settings, in conjunction with a daily team huddle, so kaizen and suggestions becomes a normal daily activity, not something that relies on the box.
One hospital, in a story I tell often, had a locked suggestion box for which they couldn’t find the key!!! That’s clearly an example of a failed system!
I’ve seen so many dysfunctions with suggestion boxes… even when the process “works” it is “batchy” – a monthly or quarterly review by managers that’s squarely NOT a discussion.
I’ve been a huge fan of the visual idea board method outlined in David Mann’s “Creating a Lean Culture” book (and I discussed it in my book). I’ve seen that method work really well in hospital settings, in conjunction with a daily team huddle, so kaizen and suggestions becomes a normal daily activity, not something that relies on the box.
One hospital, in a story I tell often, had a locked suggestion box for which they couldn’t find the key!!! That’s clearly an example of a failed system!
Thanks for the comments folks.
Karen, I agree, if leader’s want to engage, they must find more direct ways to do it. But the involvement shouldn’t just be symbolic. Symbolic can be a good way to start and setting the example, and many participate in kaizen events for this reason. But to make it last, the engagement must be real.
Mark, batching is a good point. That leads to delays, leads to some coming to the top if the pile and others being pushed down, and leads to over-sorting because I’m trying to figure out how to handle the batch.
I wrote about, or more accurately mocked, back suggestion systems in this older Leading Lean column:
http://www.assemblymag.com/CDA/Articles/Column/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000193066
Thanks for the comments folks.
Karen, I agree, if leader’s want to engage, they must find more direct ways to do it. But the involvement shouldn’t just be symbolic. Symbolic can be a good way to start and setting the example, and many participate in kaizen events for this reason. But to make it last, the engagement must be real.
Mark, batching is a good point. That leads to delays, leads to some coming to the top if the pile and others being pushed down, and leads to over-sorting because I’m trying to figure out how to handle the batch.
I wrote about, or more accurately mocked, back suggestion systems in this older Leading Lean column:
http://www.assemblymag.com/CDA/Articles/Column/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000193066
Thanks for the comments folks.
Karen, I agree, if leader’s want to engage, they must find more direct ways to do it. But the involvement shouldn’t just be symbolic. Symbolic can be a good way to start and setting the example, and many participate in kaizen events for this reason. But to make it last, the engagement must be real.
Mark, batching is a good point. That leads to delays, leads to some coming to the top if the pile and others being pushed down, and leads to over-sorting because I’m trying to figure out how to handle the batch.
I wrote about, or more accurately mocked, back suggestion systems in this older Leading Lean column:
http://www.assemblymag.com/CDA/Articles/Column/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000193066
In our company we use a implimented idea wall. People post their ideas and then take the initiative to actually follow through on their idea. That way suggestions are more than suggestions and employees can take ownership of their ideas.
In our company we use a implimented idea wall. People post their ideas and then take the initiative to actually follow through on their idea. That way suggestions are more than suggestions and employees can take ownership of their ideas.
In our company we use a implimented idea wall. People post their ideas and then take the initiative to actually follow through on their idea. That way suggestions are more than suggestions and employees can take ownership of their ideas.
Richard, that is an excellent approach. This keeps the ideas, and their progress, visible for everyone, which helps with both momentum and accountability.
Richard, that is an excellent approach. This keeps the ideas, and their progress, visible for everyone, which helps with both momentum and accountability.
Richard, that is an excellent approach. This keeps the ideas, and their progress, visible for everyone, which helps with both momentum and accountability.
Jamie,
I agree with you, the problem with a suggestion box is that there is no owner of the idea, and sometimes its use improperly.
If we try to implement an employee suggetion box that will evaluate the ideas and also recognizes the employees idea by naming the process or piece created after the employee’s name. The key factor will be employee recognition.
What do you think?
Jamie,
I agree with you, the problem with a suggestion box is that there is no owner of the idea, and sometimes its use improperly.
If we try to implement an employee suggetion box that will evaluate the ideas and also recognizes the employees idea by naming the process or piece created after the employee’s name. The key factor will be employee recognition.
What do you think?
Jamie,
I agree with you, the problem with a suggestion box is that there is no owner of the idea, and sometimes its use improperly.
If we try to implement an employee suggetion box that will evaluate the ideas and also recognizes the employees idea by naming the process or piece created after the employee’s name. The key factor will be employee recognition.
What do you think?