Recreation Guy

Does it seem like your department is running the same programs year after year? Do you feel that your staff doesn’t have the “buy-in” you’d like to see? As creative and innovative as you may or may not be, having your staff give their creative suggestions is something every company, including recreation organizations, should encourage.

Disney is a great example of the kind of company that encourages staff ideas. Below is an excerpt from a book that you should definately have in your library, The Disney Way.

In a thrice yearly event known as the Gong Show, named after a television program popular in the 1970s and ’80s, animators, secretaries, and anyone else who thinks he or she has a good idea can formally make a pitch to a panel of top brass that includes CEO Michael Eisner, Vice chairman of the board Roy Disney, executive vice president of the animation Tom Schumacher, and president of the animation division Peter Schneider.

On average, 40 ideas are presented as succinctly as possible. It is a tough milieu because the listeners at the table provide immediate and honest reactions. “You must have immediate communication and not worry about people’s egos and feelings, ” Schneider says. “If you do that enough and people do not get fired or demoted, they begin to understand that no matter how good, bad, or indifferent the idea, it can be expressed, accepted, and considered.”

The Gong Show is a valuable learning experience for many employees, helping them to see why one idea works and another doesn’t. It is also an experience that enhances the atmosphere of freedom – freedom both to dream and to share those dreams with the company’s highest authorities. And by creating an environment in which people feel safe to express their creativity, the Disney Company is giving itself the immeasurable benefit of literally thousands of good ideas – ideas so good that they have sewn the seeds for most of Disney’s animated features. Hercules, for example grew from an animator’s idea that a man is judged by his inner strength and not his outer strength. Though the story line ended up changing, the basic premise stood and the movie went on to be a commercial success.

Hold your own “Gong Show” by inviting everyone in your organization to give their creative suggestions in front of a panel of “top brass” which may include Board Chairs, The Executive Director, City Manager, Recreation Director, Supervisors, etc. Suggestions can be on anything from the brochure layout to a new special event, from the decor of the public restrooms to the registration process.  You can hold the contest monthly, bi-monthly, or annually.

Being a contest, there should be prizes. You can reward the person with the best idea, the person with the most number of creative ideas or each person who’s ideas will be used. Rewards can be anything from a cash ($20) prize – to a party – to a day off with pay.