Stealth Innovation & ROWE

I learned a new term tonight, the title of this post, “Stealth Innovation”. I almost laughed out loud I loved it so much. I was reading this article by Michelle Conlin of business week about Best Buy (BBY) “Smashing the clock”. It’s a must read.

Best Buy is dropping the normal 40 hour week for corporate, and soon to be retail, employees. Want to answer email while hunting? Work for Best Buy. How about getting “paid” for following the Dave Matthews Band around? Sign me up!

Here’s a great summary quote of what Best Buy is doing:

“The nation’s leading electronics retailer has embarked on a radical–if risky–experiment to transform a culture once known for killer hours and herd-riding bosses. The endeavor, called ROWE, for “results-only work environment,” seeks to demolish decades-old business dogma that equates physical presence with productivity. The goal at Best Buy is to judge performance on output instead of hours.”

This is also where “stealth innovation” comes in. For fear of having the idea squashed, many managers experimented with the technique, before having it come from the top down. Pretty soon, others from outside the departments that started it want in. And after awhile, there became such a following that it was a natural migration for the company.

I love the term stealth innovation because a lot of initiatives at CU’s, at least our CU, start off very stealthy and at the grassroots level. Sometimes you need to get the rubber band pulled way back and the energy built up before you get the official OK to let the slingshot fly.