Getting Your Team To Operate at The Top of Their Skillset
The Success of the Back Pocket Idea
As I look back on my career and roles in corporate America in large organizations, one of the things I am most proud of is that despite working in large, complex, bureaucratic organizations, I still found small ways to make an impact.
I can point to specific examples of things I did that moved the needle and made an impact even if I was in some cases 1 of 100,000 or 80,000 employees, and in some case, I can know that things still exist as a result of small contributions that I made.
But looking back on that time in large global organizations,One of my most impactful contributions came from something I started calling the “Back Pocket Idea”
What is a Back Pocket Idea?
The concept of the Back Pocket Idea (BPI) was pretty simple: What’s an idea for a project, program or initiative for my team/business unit that I was excited about but wasn’t currently doing that could deliver outsized impact?
The idea behind this started for what I thought were silly reasons. At the time, I was a 23-year-old analyst working in a 100,000-person organization, just trying to figure out how I was going to make an impact and stand out in my work.
Knowing that if I just did what everyone else did, it would probably lead to being seen as a hard-working but incredibly average worker, I started thinking more and more about different ideas for projects, programs, and processes for how we could make improvements that I would be excited to bring to life.
I started carving out time each quarter to think about this and started writing them down.
These ideas ranged from launching new initiatives, taking on new capabilities, spinning up new projects, or simplifying an internal process, all that A) would be things I would be excited to work on and B) would lead to some sort of business impact.
The goal behind this was if I ever got into one of those conversations with a leader of the business in an elevator and they were to ask me my thoughts on how we could improve the business that I could have an idea that I could pitch with a clear point of view. (Note: this ended up happening, multiple times)
In my time at the firm, I brought many of these ideas to life. These ranged from launching new programs for our clients, creating onboarding and mentoring programs for new hires and promoted consultants, removing processes, and launching new capabilities on our team. The experience coming up with BPIs taught something important - Great ideas can come from anywhere, even if you’re a 23 year old analyst.
Eventually, when I left consulting and went into industry, I took this with me and found even more opportunities to make an impact.
This was a helpful exercise because it made me think critically and develop a point of view on how my team could be successful.
It forced me to think about how we were serving our customers today and how we could improve upon that in a new and different way.
Additionally, it also made me need to vet these ideas by going out and talking with other peers and stakeholders. This process, helped me significantly, as it helped me shape and refine my idea. If a great idea is living in your head, it might not actually be a great idea.
But, in many cases, it also served as a way to get support and buy-in around launching this idea. When I would talk to peers and stakeholders, they would tell me why it was/wasn’t a good idea, and what I needed to do to refine it. In many cases, it also caught their attention, and often times, they would offer support or resources to help me bring this idea to life. In many ways, it taught me how to pre-seed and pre-wire ideas, and that BPI was a great process for building consensus and influence around something you wanted to work on.
When I started leading teams of my own, I used to incorporate the BPI as part of our quarterly planning and yearly planning process. The purpose of this was to try to get ideas from the team about what they thought would really make an impact in our business.
But more than that, I was trying to get my team to lean into their creativity and ideas, and to show them that their ideas and perspectives mattered and could shape the direction of our team and business unit.
But more than that, I think it encouraged my team to pick their heads up from their work, and spend time living into their critical thinking, analysis and customer empathy skills to generate new ideas.
Since then, I’ve shared the BPI concept with many leaders and organizations and have seen some really unique and valuable ways to implement the BPI including:
Incorporating into the yearly planning and strategy process
Using to spur ideation and thinking about projects to prioritize or de-prioritize
As part of offsites and sales kick offs for the year
During executive leadership team meetings, as a way to co-create around ideas that could transform the business
In a dynamic, complex, and fast-changing world of work, organizations that generate novel ideas to solve problems to meet market and customer needs are best positioned to succeed.
The beauty of this is that your next great idea can come from anywhere inside your organization, from the boardroom to the front line, but only when you create the space and enable your people to generate it.
In a world of work that is increasingly reliant on technology, leaders and employees who lean into the things that make them exceptionally human (e.g., critical thinking, analysis, creativity) are best positioned to deliver value and impact. The Back Pocket Idea checks and aligns against all of those boxes and is something you can implement on your team to generate new ideas, solve problems, and operate at the top of your skillset.
If you’re looking for some help for your learning and development, leadership development, I’d love to work with you: Here is how I might be able to assist:
Leadership & Learning Programs: Formal training and leadership development in your company, such as new manager or new leader training, or skill-based programs.
Consulting & Advisory Services - Do you have a leadership development or onboarding program that needs a refresh or audit? Let’s chat about how we can improve your program.
1:1 Executive Coaching - Are you looking for an executive coach for 1:1 leadership support? Let’s chat about how we can work together
Feel free to contact me directly for more details!
Have a great week!
Al