Why suggestion boxes in the workplace

People should be given the opportunity to voice their suggestions and explain it in detail so they can really talk it through with their peers who it will ultimately impact. Many organisations claim they want to empower their people, yet here we are, in an age where the suggestion box is still hiding golden ideas. The core reason for any suggestion box being implemented is often because leaders want to get their team to generate new ideas about the company culture, and suggest ways in which it could be improved.

Good intentions are at the heart of the suggestion box, but it delivers poorly in terms of valuable feedback for everyone involved. Each company has to have a unique approach to this because each business is different, and the people within it are also different.

However, to help you get started on improving your employee suggestions, here are a few ways in which you can try to nurture more input from your team. With a great suggestion process in place you can harbour a high level of trust and engagement in your company culture, and create a business that is far more resilient to change.

If you need further support on how to improve the engagement of your team, contact me about my company culture training , or download my eBook, How to Build a Company Culture You Really Want.

Get instant updates on my latest culture insights, as well as exclusive invitations to webinars and events no spam here, pinky promise. Your Employees Hate Suggestion Boxes. A Pit of Negativity. Empower Rather Than Hide. Is Your Culture Stifling Ideas? Alternatives to the Doomed Suggestion Box. Rather than use a hidden suggestion box or a Google Sheet, make it visual. Create an ideas board, where people can pin their proposal. Create a weekly ideas session, where anyone in the team can come along to share an idea or a problem- seeking a solution.

This can greatly help teams who are stuck on an idea, but are not sure where to go with it next. By opening up the conversation with the wider company, more collaboration and creativity can be used to come-up with the solution. Set a monthly lunch for the company where ideas are pitched to the wider company. Create guidelines for handling suggestions. Write the suggestion form.

Set up the box. Announce and promote the box. Implement and say thank you. Some reasons for implementing a suggestion box include: Increasing employee engagement Improving employee satisfaction statistics or online reviews Best practices of other companies 2. Determine the following: How often suggestions will be reviewed Who will review and approve suggestions Steps for implementing approved suggestions 4. For example, you can give employees the option of indicating: Different departments or areas of the business If comments are feedback or suggestions Their information department, job role This can help with sorting comments and suggestions later.

To protect their privacy, put a lock on the box. Virtual: Ask your IT specialist to ensure protocols for anonymous feedback. Have a few people test the suggestion box and give feedback before going live.

Announce to employees. Encourage employees to make suggestions with incentives for winning suggestions, such as small cash prizes or gift cards, Most importantly, ensure you give credit when great ideas have improved a process or saved the company money.

Key tips for an effective suggestion box Here are some high-level tips to make your suggestion box effective and successful: Ensure privacy for anonymous comments. Tailor your suggestion form to make sorting feedback easier. When you promote, give tips to make feedback constructive. Incentivize by awarding prizes for winning ideas.

Suggestion box FAQs A suggestion box is great for learning how your employees feel about your company, inviting new ideas and making employees feel heard. Here are some commonly asked questions about suggestion boxes: Where should a suggestion box be located? Should a suggestion box be locked? Is it better to use a physical or virtual suggestion box?

How often should a suggestion box be emptied? Where should a suggestion box be located? No way to share improvements The best way to spread continuous improvement in an organization is to broadcast improvements. Announcing the impact and recognizing the person who made the improvement encourages others to get involved, and sharing new best practices expands the reach of each idea.

With a suggestion box, leaders have to take the time to notify all of the right people about new improvements. You have an idea for a way that would improve your work and the work of everyone else performing your job function. Do you a Stop working, write it on a slip of paper, run across the department, and drop it in a box, or b Implement it in your own work If no one is submitting ideas into your suggestion box, your system is failing.

Continuous improvement software helps you collect the improvement ideas from your staff like a suggest box does, but provides a variety of features that fix all of the problems inherent in suggestion boxes. The impact of such software is the identification of more ideas, engagement of more employees, and implementation of more improvements. With continuous improvement software, you can accomplish everything you failed to achieve with your suggestion box.

Learn more about continuous improvement software here. Topics: Suggestion Systems.