HINT BOX

This technique aims to develop the company cognitive potential which is too often overlooked. It is about encouraging employees to suggest ideas to improve their company and rewarding them for their suggestions.

“The “Hint Box” was first introduced into Scotland in 1880 by a shipowner whose name was William Denny; in the United States it was adopted by Bausch and Lomb Optical Co.in 1899. The United States Navy established this system without reservation in 1918; however, it became well-known only during the Second World War. The Army Hint System helped civilian workers to suggest 20,069 new ideas which allowed to save 43,793,000 dollars in 18 months. The Navy adopted such system in its 48 largest ground bases. In one of them over 900 suggestions were received and examined within 15 days.
The “hint box” is becoming more and more popular in industrial organizations. Eastman Kodak had to pay over 28,000 dollars in one year for adopting some suggestions. 9,711 suggestions in all were adopted, i.e. 1,100 more than the previous year. In the same year four people working in a Kodak factory suggested each over fifty ideas. General Electric Co.gives its employees an average of 50,000 dollars per month for their suggestions. In the past, several companies paid some 5,000 dollars for an idea...
The hint box system turned out to be very successful for General Motors. In only one year, 256,499 ideas were suggested and 68,378 were adopted. The winners received 3,260,000 dollars in all at that time.
At A.C. Spark Plug Division, Al Simberg organized some courses of creative problem solving for about 600 employees. He carried out much research to investigate the effects of creative training on the hint box system. So, employees were divided into two groups...the one group suggested a large number of accepted ideas, whereas the other generated a very short list. Both groups followed a ten-class course about creative thinking. In the following year, the first group members increased their suggestions by 40%, while the second group members increased their suggestions by 47%...
To keep national economy centred on an increased working production, you need to let new ideas flow. This is why John A.Barkmeier, who worked for Marshall Field, announced to 800 corporation managers: “Each company employee needs to think creatively from the bottom upwards.” This is the reason why hint box systems are so popular nowadays.” (Osborn, 1992)

In his book “Serious Creativity Using the Power Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas”, De Bono suggests to turn to “little barrages” of specific hints.

Example 1

“For example, you could stress safety at work through posters and signs for a couple of weeks. After stopping campaigning for a while, you could launch a hint plan to “cut costs”, followed by some campaigns for “energy saving”, “waste reduction”, “process improvement” and so on and so forth. Campaigns need to short and focused. Hints on a given theme must be presented within a fixed term.” (De Bono, 1998)

Nowadays, the Hint Box System is an integral part of the Japanese culture. In Japan this technique is particularly successful because hints are usually examined and evaluated at their original level. On the contrary, in Western countries hints flow into the system and are then evaluated at a higher collection level. The evaluator, who has to manage a large number of hints, tends to select the most interesting ones. This system helps to prevent people from presenting “silly” hints and encourages them to put forward really useful suggestions.
The main problem within this sytem is that rewards for hints are often procrastinated. Hints are usually evaluated by a number of boards whose members reward those who presented practicable hints. However, in some sectors like that of technical projects, hints can be easily evaluated on the economic side, whereas in others like customer service, the economic value of a new idea cannot be easily evaluated. To speed up this procedure which may be very long, it is preferable to formally acknowledge hints within a short time from their presentation, no matter what quality they are. In this way you prevent this useful tool from becoming inefficient.

CLASS	B
PHASE	Internal mapping
DESCRIPTION	This technique aims to develop the company cognitive potential which is too often overlooked. It is about encouraging employees to suggest ideas to improve their company and rewarding them for their suggestions. “The “Hint Box” was first introduced into Scotland in 1880 by a shipowner whose name was William Denny; in the United States it was adopted by Bausch and Lomb Optical Co.in 1899. The United States Navy established this system without reservation in 1918; however, it became well-known only during the Second World War. The Army Hint System helped civilian workers to suggest 20,069 new ideas which allowed to save 43,793,000 dollars in 18 months. The Navy adopted such system in its 48 largest ground bases. In one of them over 900 suggestions were received and examined within 15 days. The “hint box” is becoming more and more popular in industrial organizations. Eastman Kodak had to pay over 28,000 dollars in one year for adopting some suggestions. 9,711 suggestions in all were adopted, i.e. 1,100 more than the previous year. In the same year four people working in a Kodak factory suggested each over fifty ideas. General Electric Co.gives its employees an average of 50,000 dollars per month for their suggestions. In the past, several companies paid some 5,000 dollars for an idea... The hint box system turned out to be very successful for General Motors. In only one year, 256,499 ideas were suggested and 68,378 were adopted. The winners received 3,260,000 dollars in all at that time. At A.C. Spark Plug Division, Al Simberg organized some courses of creative problem solving for about 600 employees. He carried out much research to investigate the effects of creative training on the hint box system. So, employees were divided into two groups...the one group suggested a large number of accepted ideas, whereas the other generated a very short list. Both groups followed a ten-class course about creative thinking. In the following year, the first group members increased their suggestions by 40%, while the second group members increased their suggestions by 47%... To keep national economy centred on an increased working production, you need to let new ideas flow. This is why John A.Barkmeier, who worked for Marshall Field, announced to 800 corporation managers: “Each company employee needs to think creatively from the bottom upwards.” This is the reason why hint box systems are so popular nowadays.” (Osborn, 1992) In his book “Serious Creativity Using the Power Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas”, De Bono suggests to turn to “little barrages” of specific hints. Example 1 “For example, you could stress safety at work through posters and signs for a couple of weeks. After stopping campaigning for a while, you could launch a hint plan to “cut costs”, followed by some campaigns for “energy saving”, “waste reduction”, “process improvement” and so on and so forth. Campaigns need to short and focused. Hints on a given theme must be presented within a fixed term.” (De Bono, 1998) Nowadays, the Hint Box System is an integral part of the Japanese culture. In Japan this technique is particularly successful because hints are usually examined and evaluated at their original level. On the contrary, in Western countries hints flow into the system and are then evaluated at a higher collection level. The evaluator, who has to manage a large number of hints, tends to select the most interesting ones. This system helps to prevent people from presenting “silly” hints and encourages them to put forward really useful suggestions. The main problem within this sytem is that rewards for hints are often procrastinated. Hints are usually evaluated by a number of boards whose members reward those who presented practicable hints. However, in some sectors like that of technical projects, hints can be easily evaluated on the economic side, whereas in others like customer service, the economic value of a new idea cannot be easily evaluated. To speed up this procedure which may be very long, it is preferable to formally acknowledge hints within a short time from their presentation, no matter what quality they are. In this way you prevent this useful tool from becoming inefficient.
REFERENCES	Osborn A.F., L'arte della creativity, Milano, Franco Angeli, 1992, ed. orig. del 1953. De Bono E., Serious Creativity Using the Power Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas, The McQuaig Group, 1992.