My house is in the middle of nowhere. We’re about 100 miles south of Atlanta and enjoy 10 acres of pine trees and adjoining rolling farm land. It’s a very relaxing atmosphere after a week’s worth of work in the city.
Like many of our neighbors, we have a few non-traditional pets, including chickens. Yeah, I know. That probably qualifies my place as a small farm and me as a true redneck. But so be it. We like our chickens. They add a certain something to the rural lifestyle we’ve come to enjoy.
After I mow the yard on the weekends, we let the chickens out of their pen for a little “free range” time. They strut around the yard and the house, digging in the flower beds and checking out anything new that has appeared since their last romp. It gives them some freedom and excitement from their normal lives and lets them stretch their wings, legs and minds with new and different things to do.
As I was sitting on the back porch with a cold beverage watching them do their thing, I got to thinking about this whole free range thing and how powerful a concept it is for any group, be it flocks of chickens, classes of children or departments of engineers. This notion of giving free time to think and wonder and innovate is crucial to the success of an organization.
Because, let’s face it, most of us spend at least eight hours a day working on those things that have to get done. Rarely do we have ample time to work on those things we think ought to get done. We spend so much time working in the business that we ignore our need to work on the business. And it’s time spent working on the business that drives the organization forward and helps it to create new and exciting processes, products, services and revenue streams.
Free range innovation is rooted in the concept that everyone in the organization is capable of having a good idea that can have a real impact on the business. It’s crowdsourcing turned inward. There are a number of companies who use this method to drive innovation from the inside out to uncover new and different ideas from the very people closest to the operations of the company: employees.
Just look at Dell’s amazing Ideastorm concept to see how they allow employees to generate ideas then allow the whole group to vote on whether to promote or demote the idea based on its merits. The best ideas rise to the top and, most importantly, are implemented. Starbucks has a similar program in place for their employees. And Crowdcast has recently released a game-oriented approach and forecasting dashboard to employee crowdsourced innovation.
The idea of letting employees generate innovations for the business isn’t a new one. But new technologies and ways to improve the process of collecting, voting on and implementing these ideas have changed how these programs work. It’s infinitely easier now to get your employees involved in working on the business and driving innovation at every level of the organization. And who better to tell you how to make improvements to your business than the people who work in it every single day?
As for the chickens, they dutifully return to their pen to roost once dusk starts to settle in. Then it’s back to the daily grind of the established pecking order and delivering eggs like they’re supposed to do. But they remain optimistic knowing that in a few short days they’ll get the chance to free range around the yard again, uncovering new and different things. If I could just get them to innovate rather than just scratch the ground I’d be on to something. Though I’m not sure the world is ready for poultry-based idea sourcing.

