'Think Big' in The FT

Here is what the FT had to say about innovation initiatives in the UK. We were delighted to read that 'TaTa Global Beverages' stood out from the crowd. Management consultancy Just Add Water invited Philippa to head up and facilitate the UK and European idea generating programme and she was delighted to see one of her teams go on to win the Global finals in New York with the best idea for an innovation. Which is currently in development.

Here is a snippet from an article Tim Smedley wrote for The FT January 13 2011

Employee ideas thrown to the dragons

The boardroom is buzzing with a mix of excitement and nerves. A team of employees optimistically watches as the executive directors assess their prototype: a dainty black box crafted from recycled paper for a proposed postal gift scheme.
The future of their idea sits in the hand of the director of talent. “What happens to this in the post?” she asks. Without waiting for an answer, she crushes both the box and the team’s hopes.

If that sounds like a scene out of Dragons’ Den, well, it is. Just not the television version. Rather, this was at Addiction Worldwide, a London-based communications agency. The team are employees participating in a team-building and training event that has been styled on the programme.

“The blueprint is already there,” says James Lizars, finance director at the company. “You only need to start to describe it, and employees say: ‘Ah, like Dragons’ Den?’”

Similar scenes are happening in boardrooms and breakout areas across the UK. Typically, employees are asked to come up with product ideas or process innovations based on certain criteria. Once the ideas have been filtered, shortlisted teams pitch their ideas to a panel of dragons – typically, members of the executive team – who offer their views.

Asda, the supermarket chain owned by Walmart, and Boots, the UK pharmacy chain, run similar schemes, and commit to integrating the winning idea into the business.At Asda, Sarah Cullen, head of reward and recognition, believes the buzz around the TV programme is key to getting staff engaged with the process. “If we had said ‘this is the Asda ideas scheme’, people would be less likely to get involved.”

The company takes this one step further by enlisting the judging talents of Peter Jones, a real-life TV dragon. Boots also boasts Mr Jones among its dragons, as well as Karren Brady from The Apprentice and Adrian Moorhouse, the former Olympic swimmer turned management consultant.

Both of their efforts, however, pale in comparison to Tata Global Beverages’ Think BIG! scheme.

The process covers 26 locations in 10 countries, including brands such as Tetley Tea in the UK, 8 O’Clock Coffee in the US and Tata tea and coffee in India.

The competition first ran in 2010 with regional finals in London, New Jersey and Bangalore. Participants were voted on at each event by an X Factor-style panel of judges and audience made up of employees, while others watched and voted on their laptops. The regional winners were whisked off to the finals at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Tata was coy about revealing the winning idea, citing commercial sensitivity – a sign of how seriously such competitions are taken – but the runners-up included a pitch for a protein tea, presented by a team dressed in sumo suits.





Think Big! Really did generate a buzz around the world and Tata Global Beverages are already looking forward to Think Big 2011.

And so are we!