Encourage your team to explore new methods of reaching their individual goals and those set by the company. Allow
them to make and learn from mistakes, and be sure to reward new and innovative ideas. Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, co-founders of HubSpot, have a somewhat radical system in place for motivating and encouraging employees to be innovative: they [may] fire them. In an article in Inc.com, Halligan regales the story of how in 2008, one of his sales representatives came to him with an idea which, according to Caputa, could “revolutionise HubSpot.” It would essentially change HubSpot’s entire business model. Halligan didn’t like the idea, but he trusted Caputa. He said, “If you want to do it so bad, start doing it nights and weekends and show us your work.”
That’s what Caputa did, and it was a huge success. So, Halligan fired him. Halligan told his sales rep, “OK, you’re fired from your day job. Your nights-and-weekends job is now your new day job. Go get ‘em.” Caputa now has his own division within HubSpot which accounts for about 20 percent of its business, and he oversees roughly 30 employees. From that point on, HubSpot implemented a three-step process for innovating new ideas. Encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of your employees. Give your employees the faith and opportunities to pursue their innovative visions. Of course, don’t invest a lot of resources into a program that could potentially fail, but do let your high-potential employees know that opportunities are available should they prove their idea to be a success.
Contact Marcus for more leader and talent management solutions.
Related Posts From Marcus
