Imagine it Forward: Create a Growth Board for Vetting

Ideas
with Beth Comstock, Former Vice Chair, GE, and Author, Imagine It Forward

In truly innovative companies, experimentation and growth are everybody’s

business. From the C-suite to the mailroom, the culture of these organizations is
designed to foster autonomy, creativity, and a sense of ownership in every
employee. But a great way to harness these collective efforts is to form a
dedicated “growth board”—a kind of venture capital incubator within the company
whose purpose is to identify new ideas, weigh them against organizational
priorities, and bring different departments together to test them. And like VCs,
growth boards often have budgetary control, deciding which ideas are worth
funding and developing further.

• Foster a culture of reinvention. Everyone should feel that they’re part of

making change.
• Think of your growth board as an in-house venture capital team. Give the
board a portion of your budget—be it money, time, or access to talent.
• When leading a growth board, bring together people from different teams
on a regular basis. Evaluate new ideas against the strategy of the
company. Ask yourselves: Should we fund this idea to the next stage?
Have we tested and measured the idea? Should we be doing it in a bigger
way?
• Decide if and when an idea should move from seed stage, to launch
stage, to growth stage.
• Recognize that some people are good at seeding ideas, while other
people are good at executing them. Allow employees to fill the role that
suits them best.

From the “seed stage,” to the “launch stage”, to the “growth stage”, growth
boards are often also in charge of assigning talent to their projects. And people
are often naturally inclined toward one stage or another—preferring to generate
ideas, for example, or, to oversee long-term projects. In this sense, a growth
board is a way of getting the most out of your diverse talent pool while keeping
your workforce challenged and motivated.
Prepare
Before you watch the video
The most innovative organizations in the world give each employee the
autonomy and the means to experiment. Why?

Practice
After you watch the video
If everyone in a company is experimenting and innovating, what is the role of the
growth board?
Think of your current company—how would you begin assembling a growth
board? Why this approach?

In addition to using a workforce’s full range of talents, what benefits might there
be to the three-stage model of idea development?