Training Tech Solutions Blog

I really enjoyed Steven Johnson’s keynote presentation this morning, and a few (of many) interesting tidbits stood out. Johnson talked about Google’s policy of requiring employees to spend 20% of their time on their own pet projects, on what they think is important (or what they think is just plain cool).

When I related this to a colleague of mine, he pointed out that the 20% rule lets employees re-assess their roles outside what’s been given to them. Well, this is your role, this is your job, but what are you really good at? And what actually needs to be done?

According to Johnson, some darn good things have come out of Google’s 20% rule (like Google’s popular social networking site, Orkut).

By giving employees the leeway to judge what needs responding to, to decide what they should really be doing, you are spreading the decision-making around (in Johnson’s words). And maybe end up with an organization that can successfully respond to change. What do you think? And what are you doing to train your people to deal with the unexpected?

- Kris Stokes