Baxter Health Care in Australia are about to launch a program which has as its theme — The Dumb Things We Do.
The aim of the program is to highlight then stop the many dumb things that we all do in an organisation.
It is not aimed at any person, group or function but to simply reduce the number of dumb actions or activities.
It could be for example, printing off a 60 page report when sending a person a digital file might be more than enough.
I love the idea behind this program.
It puts an end to the many frustrating and annoying activities that can make our working like so unproductive.
What’s more it can help everyone to make more progress which according to Teresa Amabile’s research drives even greater internal motivation.
The program is simple, practical and makes innovation and continuous improvement type initiatives more tangible and real.
I also love the language.
Dumb things says it all.
These are the activities that might have been useful in the past but now are just plain dumb.
It captures our imagination.
The dumb things we do program will be talked about.
I urge you to try it in your organisation.
In your team.
And yourself.
What are the dumb things you are doing?
Stop them today.
This may just be the smartest innovation program ever!