One very effective method is to hold a special recognition luncheon for everyone and then recognize personnel in front of the group. However, don't go down the road of offering cash and prizes unless the organization is prepared to deal with the disgruntled employee who believes his or her wonderful idea was worth at least as much as that of the other employee who received a much bigger prize. With cash and prizes as incentives, the system might quickly become an unmanageable monster. Periodically remind everyone that the system exists. At least once a year, everyone should be retrained on the scope and procedures of the suggestion system.
People have short memories, and there are always newfangled programs vying for our attention.
When appropriate, link your suggestion system to your corrective and preventive action system. This makes sense because problems that are worth addressing at all are worth addressing in a structured, documented manner. Linking the systems also serves to strengthen both of them because it helps personnel understand how they relate to one another. If both initiatives are implemented, organizations should find that they have a ready source of continual improvement that helps drive success over the long term. He has an MBA from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor's degree in industrial management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.