The So Fast� team at
Quill Corporation:
from left, Margaret Mayer,
Diane Ostrowski and
Stephanie Loup present
the companys solution
to the second
Quillionaire Challenge.
Innovation reality-TV style
by Stephen Shapiro Innovation it�s the buzzword of the moment, One such company is Quill Corporation, a
and for good reason. In todays highly volatiledivision of Staples, the office products
business environment, the need for compa- retailer with extensive operations in North
Instilling a culture of continuous nies to reinvent themselves repeatedly and America, Germany and the United Kingdom.
rapidly is the only way to ensure long-term Based near Chicago, Quill is a wholly owned
innovation in a traditional company survival. Although many organisations recog-subsidiary that employs 2,000 people and
need not take years. If the exercise nise this fact, few can define what innovationsells office supplies to small and mid-sized
means to them, let alone create a pervasive,companies via catalogue, phone, and
is fun, employees enjoy it. At Quill
innovative culture of their own. internet.
Corporation the solution was to The accepted notion is that sparking a cul- Moving at the pace Quill set for itself was
ture of innovation would require hard work going to require some serious creative
create a reality TV show and a long time to produce results. I have thinking. As Quill President Larry Morse said:
found that sometimes the opposite is true. You don't wake up one day and turn on the
Motivated organisations that know where innovation switch. But in its eager quest,
they are going can move from bureaucracy to Quill leaped from Level 1 (see box) to Level 5
creativity with remarkable speed. in a little more than six months, and Levels 6
through 8 are in the plans for this year.
What helped speed the process? One ele-
There are no silver bullets or one-size-fits-ment was to make change as painless as
all solutions, but over the years I have possible by injecting a sense of fun into the
found that there are eight levels that process. Innovation specialists have long
organisations move through on their way tounderstood that play is a prime source of cre-
creating a truly innovative culture: ativity. The internal competition we devised
brought play into the workplace a space
1. Ad Hoc normally not known for fun in a practical
2. Innovation Core Team way that solved real business problems. We
3. Centre of Excellence borrowed a few techniques straight from
4. Community of Practice Hollywood.
5. Innovation Management Software Quill Vice President of Strategy Kyle
6. Growth Engines Anderson was a strong supporter of the
7. Imbedded Innovation project. This light-hearted approach piqued
8. Organic Innovation employee interest and heightened awareness
throughout the organisation, he said.
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EBF issue 21, spring 2005Sounding Board
Susan Baird, Innovation Strategic ProjectsLevel 3
Co-ordinator, notes that several practical The centre of excellence
ideas from the effort have been imple- the quillionaire
mented, and innovation is starting to look likeFaced with the challenge of moving ahead their solutions. After a month, they pre-
an attractive activity. Attitudes are shiftingas quickly as possible, we decided to try sented to a panel of judges comprising
from sceptics to believers. Some employees something unusual. We brought in the con- three vice-presidents and myself. The
are even starting to do their own brain- cept of reality television. Considering the judges� role was to encourage participants
storming sessions. The transformation has popularity with the general public, a compe-while still challenging their solutions. We
been amazing to watch and for me the most tition based on The Apprentice (a US realityavoided demotivating people but we did
rewarding experience of being part of the television show with Donald Trump) or Pop push them hard to think creatively and look
team. This is the story of Quills develop- Idol seemed the best choice. And so we at problems from many different angles.
ment. launched The Quillionaire in which three The judging sessions were professionally
teams competed against each other videotaped. This footage, together with
Level 1 monthly to solve real-life business chal- video from the brainstorming sessions, was
Ad hoc where the story begins lenges. Because Quills tagline is So Fast, Soedited to create an entertaining reality
The company had been focused on daily busi- Simple, the teams were named So Fast, So show that was viewed on TV monitors
ness pressures for so long that little time wasSimple and So Quill. throughout Quill and on the companys
ever allocated for reflective thinking or inno-We needed a mix of people from across intranet. In the final episode of Quillionaire,
vation. Indeed, innovation was not well the organisation and we quickly identified the employees voted for the winning solu-
understood, let alone practiced within the 24 eight per team. Some were selected for tion.
organisation. Quill had prospered as a busi-their creativity but most were picked for It is expected to generate millions of dol-
ness in the past but now faced a marketplacetheir interest in innovation. We taught themlars in new revenue each year. Without
of extreme commoditisation. Innovation had the basics and they would learn the rest getting into specifics, the plan is to launch a
suddenly become a must. over time. To determine the teams, we gave new product line that is not office-supply
Culturally, instilling innovation was goingthem an innovation personality test to related, nor has it been traditionally sold to
to be a challenge. A shift in thinking and atti-determine their natural style. Based on thesmall businesses, but is something Quills
tudes was needed to advance from a results, we mixed styles (creatives, planners,customers could use on a frequent basis.
functional process-driven to a cross-func- analysers, relationship people and so on) toThe winning team are now advisers of the
tional orientation aimed at achieving help ensure some creative tension during group implementing the idea.
outcomes. In effect, it meant a shift from athe competition. Before each challenge, we conducted
production mentality to one of investment in Things started tentatively, then gathered some basic creativity training. One tech-
the future. momentum. As Jim Layer, one of the nique we used was to consider how
Quillionaire contestants, said, Slowly, someone else, especially someone famous,
Level 2 everyone started stepping out of their work might develop a new idea for Quill. During
Innovation core team persona and growing more communicative, the exercise, a team member was given a
laying the foundation sharing their insights and inquisitiveness. television psychologist (Dr Phil) as her filter.
Quill President Morse became the primary And when we broke into our challenge After thinking about it for a moment, she
advocate. His first move was to create a smallteam, the communication and creativity answered, The psychologist solves prob-
core team of people responsible for shep- came pouring out. Everyone was involved lems. So maybe Quill should be in the
herding the innovation effort; an innovationand energised. The whole process has been problem-solving business rather than just
veneer sitting on top of the organisation. such a positive one that my team mates and selling paper and pencils? We could offer a
Given the size of Quill, this core group wasI look forward to our meetings. They have business solutions portal on our website
quite small. Strategy VP Anderson took on become the best part of our day. and call it Ask Dr. Quill, a service that helps
the additional role of Chief Innovation Officer.The meetings have been raucous and small businesses solve various problems in
And Susan Baird, formerly the president�s exciting. The team threw out hundreds of the areas of Quills expertise.
assistant, took a full-time role and joined asideas while one member frantically cap- The only real issue we faced during the
an adviser. tured them on flipcharts. Ideas ranged from competition was one of time constraints.
This core team was responsible for gener- the obvious to the ridiculous, from the prac-Supervisors were told to expect the team
ating awareness of innovation, building the tical to the unfeasible, from continuous members to dedicate about four hours a
necessary infrastructure, creating the improvement to radical innovation. And week to the competition. Some teams met
training materials and plans, and developingwhen the dust settled the teams converged for lunch daily, others worked evenings or
a process for managing the innovation on the solutions that would balance cre- found time during the workday. The key was
pipeline. These activities were largely co-ordi-ativity, feasibility, value, and sustainability.to tell them what was expected (the out-
nation and administration rather than Not only were the competitions fun, they come) rather than how they should do it
content. Once we agreed on the plans and had the added bonus of generating real (the process). So all we gave them were the
standards, our next step was to launch the solutions. The first challenge was to find thechallenges, the evaluation criteria (how they
Centre of Excellence. And this is where the next big idea for Quill. The three teams would be judged) and the deadlines. They
fun began. went off with video cameras and worked on did the rest their own way.
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EBF issue 21, spring 2005Level 4 Level 5 Level 6
The innovation community Innovation management software Growth Engines
spreading the word engaging the entire organisation This is used for discontinuous growth, or
Moving from a small central group to a more At this point we had engaged 1 per cent of new products/services that require a dif-
pervasive level of innovation required the the company in the Centre of Excellence ferent culture. The objective here is to
creation of an Innovation Community. At and 5 per cent of the company in the create a portfolio of businesses via spin-off
this stage we selected 75 people from Innovation Community. The next step was to units. These growth engines may canni-
across the company. This group provided engage the entire organisation. Quill balise the core business, but in the long run
insights into the specific needs of their wanted to do monthly challenges like we they will help the business as a whole.
departments, employees, customers, ven- had been doing with the Quillionaire� teams,
dors, and other stakeholders. They served but make them open to the entire organisa- Level 7
as advocates and apprentices for innova- tion. In order to do this, we needed some Imbedded Innovation
tion, bringing news from the Community to software to gather employee�s solutions to At this stage, major organisational change
everyone in the organisation. our challenges. takes place. The objective is to make
Community members dedicate two to six On the market there are a few commer- everyone innovative every day, moving
hours per month, participating in group cially available idea management� software from a process-driven functional organisa-
meetings every two months. They also iden- products but Quill was reluctant to pay the tion to an outcome-driven cross-functional
tify departmental needs and communicate relatively steep licensing fees. So we organisation. The organisation moves from
them to the Core Group and the Centre of decided to develop a simple piece of soft- innovations (ideas that have a beginning
Excellence. They deliver quarterly work- ware on our own. It was basically a bulletinand end) to innovation, which is contin-
shops/brown-bag lunches for their function. board enabling people to post solutions to uous. Business targets become the primary
They facilitate innovative ideas through various challenges. This worked well for themeasure of success rather than the number
cross-functional best practices and brain- first couple of challenges as a pilot. Now itor value of ideas. When achieving this level,
storming; capture local innovation best was time to go to the next generation of innovation is less reliant on central group.
practice, knowledge capital and case software. With the help of a small software
studies. And over time they will also be developer in California, we launched a new Level 8
given specific business performance Innovation Forum with more robust fea- Organic Innovation
improvement targets. And finally they gen- tures, including online evaluation and At this ultimate stage, innovation is no
erate their own solutions to the ongoing creativity tools. The developer and I createdlonger dependent on structures or
Quillionaire� challenges. a joint venture and will make this software processes. Innovation is not something to
As we moved innovation into the organi- available during the summer 2005. do. It is natural, like breathing.
sation, we created a pull from departments Another key feature of the Forum is the
and vice presidents who now were asking us ability to run department-specific chal- Conclusion
to conduct innovation sessions for their lenges rather than just centralised, Creating a culture of innovation does not
groups. These became another vehicle for company-wide events. Over time we hope to have to be painful. The injection of fun into
training the Centre of Excellence. In one ses-open these challenges to an audience out- the organisation helps get employees
sion we had 10 Centre of Excellence team side of Quill, to customers, vendors, and excited about generating new ideas. The key
members who developed over 200 break- even the general public. All of this fits inis a commitment from top management to
through ideas in two hours. The Centre of with our general philosophy of pushing implement the best ideas. If employees see
Excellence team members are now being innovation and decision-making down to the the prospect of their ideas being accepted,
primed to start leading their own sessions lowest levels of the organisation and gettingthey will contribute.
within their departments. closer to the market-place. An effort like this requires a manage-
�As we began to put processes in place George Rodriguez, a Centre of ment that allows people to devote the time
and create a structure for innovation, Excellence member said to me, The ability to innovation. The company 3M has a 15 per
employees began to take notice with a close of people to find innovative solutions can becent rule under which all employees can
and watchful eye. They were eager to pro- maximised by finding the correct balance spend 15 per cent of their time on innova-
vide ideas and were interested in how between engagement, urgency, and prioriti- tion activities. At Quill, we managed to make
serious we were in implementing them,� sation. Bringing the Innovation Forum to major change with an over-all investment in
says Co-ordinator Baird. Quill has publicly reinforced the importanceinnovation of less than 1 per cent. If the time
of setting time aside. One small step for is invested wisely and leveraged properly,
man but one large leap for changing com- major returns from modest investments are
pany culture.� possible.
The Future: Levels 6 through 8 Stephen Shapiro is an independent consultant and
Quill is in the middle of its innovation author of 24/7 Innovation: A blueprint for
journey. Over the next 18 months employees surviving and thriving in an age of change
will be focused on moving further up the (McGraw-Hill). He has advised dozens of global
ladder of innovation. At these higher levels,organisations from BMW WilliamsF1, Vodafone and
innovation becomes imbedded deeper into ABB to Accenture, UPS and Xerox. For more
the organisation. information, go to www.24-7Innovation.com
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EBF issue 21, spring 2005