"It's amazing how often the best answers come from those who are closest to the daily operation of the business - your employees," says Tim Gebauer, store manager for the Mason City, IA, Wal-Mart store. Gebauer oversees some 300 employees who help him keep the Wal-Mart store running 24 hours a day, 362 of 365 days a year.

"They know their piece of this business better than I do," notes Gebauer. "One of the most important keys to developing your business is to simply make use of the tremendous resources of experience and knowledge that are already within your organization."

"The knowledge locked up in their [employees'] heads is the big resource," says Gebauer. "Computers and technology we use every day, but what's up in somebody's head - that's what can make a huge difference in how we use the technology .They come up with some pretty innovative solutions sometimes!"

Gebauer says that soon after he came to the Mason City Wal-Mart store, he had an employee asking to put a new product line in a premium space at the store. Gebauer admits he thought it was a terrible idea, but the associate (all Wal-Mart employees are called "associates") strongly believed it would work, so Gebauer agreed to a 30-day test.

Gebauer was fully expecting to say "I told you so" at the end of the 30 days, but he didn't get the chance. The new product line turned out to be one of the most profitable in the store!

Gebauer says he admitted later to employees at a meeting that the associate was right, he [Gebauer] had been wrong, and the idea was a great idea. "After that, more ideas surfaced," says Gebauer.

"Once employees know that their ideas are indeed considered and used, they'll be more open to tackling the problems and opportunities in the workplace. Your people usually know there's a problem or opportunity before the leaders do. However, they won't say a word unless they know they'll be listened to and know that some of their ideas will be put to use. An important part was for people to see me using others' ideas."

"People do take a personal pride, satisfaction in seeing their ideas put to use," says Gebauer. Gebauer doesn't have a suggestion box. "I like employees to come to me," he says.

He doesn't use every idea. "But if you listen and make an effort to use a reasonable number of them...they'll keep coming."

Often when presented with an idea, Gebauer says he asks the associate, "How do you think our customers will react to that?" "Sometimes they'll answer the question themselves," says Gebauer. "When they look at it that way, they see maybe it won't work."

Gebauer often takes time to consider an idea, and may even have to get an OK from higher management before acting on an idea, but he lets the employee know whether their idea will be put to use. That's important," says Gebauer.

Gebauer recently got his management team together to help him brainstorm for a corporate meeting he was scheduled to attend in Dallas. Gebauer's assignment to prepare for the meeting included a list of "What would you do if" scenarios.

"I got about 20 people around the table and talked about an hour and came up with a whole lot more ideas than I would have on my own -I'll take maybe a hundred ideas along to Dallas," observes Gebauer.

"Some of them are good ideas, some are great ideas, some may not work. The total of all the ideas...is what I think makes a business successful."

Last winter an associate came to Gebauer and said, "I think we could sell a lot of pop next summer if we had it cold." Gebauer acted on the idea, working with vendors to stock cold drinks in a cooler near the front of the store.

"It's been wildly successful. They were right!" notes Gebauer.

Another associate who works in the garden department came to Gebauer before the spring gardening season and said he thought they ought to have a forklift to help handle pallets of heavy things like rocks and soil, instead of dragging them around with a pallet jack.

"Forklifts are expensive, even to rent," says Gebauer. "So I challenged him to write me up a proposal, telling why he thought it would work. I helped him crunch some numbers, and we decided to go ahead and rent the forklift...for a substantial sum. It was pretty pricey."

The result? He's a believer now.

"I will never go through another season without a forklift!" says Gebauer. "It's been wonderful. We were so much more efficient. We had no associate injuries in that area this summer - strains like other years. We're a quantum leap ahead - it's a piece of equipment we should have had years ago."

Wal-Mart associates are rewarded for their good ideas, says Gebauer. Gebauer makes sure upper levels of management are aware of the contributions of his associates. It helps them achieve their goals, such as moving up through the management ranks, says Gebauer. "I give merit raises to people who are real productive, who help us make more money. We try to recognize financially those people who help us with good ideas."

Gebauer recalls having a problem between workers on different shifts when he was at another facility. "I called a meeting, stated the problem and its effect on the organization, and asked for suggestions," says Gebauer.

The group came up with suggestions to help make their culture more encouraging. "As the leader, I took their suggestions to heart and resolved personally to be more encouraging and to offer more praise," says Gebauer.

“People in management underestimate how much their people watch what they do,” says Gebauer. “In management, we live in a fishbowl. How we behave has a big effect on how employees behave, and whether they come forward with good ideas.

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