Leading Companies Online Magazine Archives
Employee Ownership Annual Conference to Feature Author Dean Schroeder
By Emily Meyertholen, Beyster Institute Staff
In addition to over 50 breakout sessions, great networking opportunities and the chance to get one-on-one advice from experts, this year’s Employee Ownership Annual Conference in Chicago April 2-4 will feature a keynote presentation by author Dean Schroeder.
Schroeder’s critically acclaimed book, co-authored with Alan G. Robinson, “Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations,” is based on the authors’ research and consulting in more than 300 organizations in 17 countries. It describes how the best companies successfully get large numbers of ideas from their front-line employees – a phenomenon which is often seen in employee ownership environments.
“Ideas are the engine of progress,” the book stresses. “Without them, organizations stagnate and decline. Yet most organizations are far more effective at suppressing employee ideas than promoting them. Every day, millions of workers around the world see problems and opportunities their bosses flat-out miss. With little chance to do anything about them, they are forced to watch as their companies waste time and money, disappoint and lose customers, and perform far below their potential.”
Here are three examples the authors highlight:
- A worker in one of Europe's largest wireless communication companies stumbled across an error in his company's billing software that was costing some $26 million per year in lost revenues. He pointed out a simple way to fix it.
- A secretary at Grapevine Canyon Ranch realized that, when potential customers searched on the Internet for guest ranches in the southwestern United States, the major search engines were returning her company's website well down the list. She proposed a simple change that made it appear at the top.
- A prison guard at the Massachusetts Department of Correction sent in an idea to use digital cameras instead of film cameras to process new inmates. Across the department's sixteen correctional facilities, his suggestion saved $56,000 per year.
What oversights are persisting in your organization? How do you involve employees who may be aware of vital information and have great suggestions? Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn firsthand about Schroeder’s key principles for employee involvement and they relate to employee ownership.
The Employee Ownership Annual Conference is presented by the Beyster Institute and the National Center for Employee Ownership. Advance registration begins in December.
©2007 The Beyster Institute and its authors and their entities. All rights reserved.
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