INNOVATION: SMALL THINGS, BIG IMPACT
Nespresso and innovation
In the late 1970s Nestlé had a growing instant coffee business with the Nescafé brand. At this time a former Swiss rocket engineer, Eric Favre, joined the business in the packaging team. Inspired by his Italian wife to recreate the “perfect” Italian espresso, Favre created the first designs for Pod coffee and the associated machines. However, despite working for the world’s largest coffee company and in their Swiss head office, Eric’s internal ambitions for Nespresso were repeatedly knocked back - it was “too complicated”; “it was a threat to Nescafé”; it just didn’t fit for Néstle! Thanks to Eric Favre’s tenacity and the finding of an unlikely internal sponsor Nespresso would emerge to become one of the most profitable parts of the Nestlé empire. Innovation is evermore essential to our future, be that of product, services, procedures or just how we run our meetings. Use this colourful story to prompt every member of your team to think about where we can innovate and also what might inadvertently be getting in the way!
Approx running time: 10 – 15 minutes
Domino effect
A domino can knock a next domino one and half times it size and weight. Use this short but fun video by Physics Professor Stephen Morris, to stimulate a team discussion where small actions can create a huge knock-on effect – positive or negative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JCm5FY-dEY&vl=en
Approx running time 5 – 10m minutes
Van Halen and M&Ms
What appears to be a story about the excesses of a Rock and Roll band is actually a fabulous story about leading indicators and the benefits of thoughtful preparation when it comes to managing risk and improving safety/compliance.
Approx running time: 5 – 15 minutes
The Dutch Reach
In Holland it is habitual to open your car door with the hand farthest from the door. So, if in a right-hand drive UK car, using your left hand to pull the door handle. This simple action forces us to shift in our seat, making it much easier to spot any cyclist coming up on the inside of the car. This kit allows leaders to share this simple and effective safety tip, and to also ask their teams to reflect on other areas where potentially a very minor behaviour change (something we may easily have overlooked for years) could help to improve our safety habits.
Approx running time: 5 – 15 minutes
The Oscars and type face design
When the 2017 Best Movie Oscars was mistakenly declared for La La Land, before correctly being given to Moonlight, there was plenty of blame to go around. Was it the presenters reading the card, the PWC partners overseeing the process, the process design that had duplicate sets of winner envelopes? All had a contributing role, but when designing the original process and understanding what went wrong, was a simpler step overlooked; the typeface, font size and lay-out design of the winner card? In our efforts to enhance workplace productivity and safety, are there any places we have allowed unnecessary complexity to creep in and simpler enhancements are being missed?
Approx running time: 5 – 15 minutes
