Games that fuel innovation
AN EMPLOYEE COMPETITION BASED ON A HIT TV SHOW IS ONE WAY ALEX LEE IS SPARKING INTERNALLY DEVELOPED IDEAS
Employees at Alex Lee, Inc.— the multibillion-dollar parent company to Merchants Distributors, Lowes Foods, W. Lee Flowers, and Souto Foods—who show potential for internal advancement are placed in five-person teams to develop potential business ventures. They ultimately face off for funding in a competition—clearly inspired by the popular TV show Shark Tank—called “Spark Tank,” in which the winners are awarded seed funding to further explore their ideas.
The competition is part of the North Carolina-based company’s one-year executive leadership development program. And the results have been lucrative: Employees have been empowered to innovate, and their winning ideas have collectively generated millions in additional revenue streams. It’s just one example of employee creativity—the result of efforts to ignite creativity at all levels of the company—that puts Alex Lee on Fast Company’s 2022 list of Best Workplaces for Innovators.
THE SPARK OF INNOVATION
Spark Tank participants submitted bottom line-boosting ideas that increased the profile of local stores (as well as local small businesses), while others found ways to make money from previously untapped (and overlooked) places.
One winning team came up with “Beer Run,” a program in which trucks from Lowes Foods in North Carolina and South Carolina now transport cases of beers from area microbreweries to other store locations throughout both states. “These partnerships have allowed us to have a footprint in the Carolinas with the most cutting edge, interesting kinds of craft beer,” explains Robert Vipperman, chief people officer and chief strategy officer at Alex Lee.
Another team proposed a plan to rent out frozen-storage space that was going unused at the company’s Merchants Distributors subsidiary, which had expanded its cold storage capacity to support expected growth. It turned out that frozen food storage has become a hot commodity—and that rental income has become a steady revenue stream.
To enable success stories like these, Alex Lee actively supports a culture that welcomes creative thinking. “We try and weed out some of the things that get in the way of innovation, whether it’s bureaucracy, politics, or even ego of senior leaders,” Vipperman says. “That clears the way for younger innovators to really thrive.”
The company encourages its 16,000 employees to launch individual projects. Leaders host twice-yearly hackathons and additionally manage a website where each month, employees can submit ideas, receive real-time feedback, and apply for a chance to earn cash and prizes for their submissions.
ENCOURAGING CURIOSITY AT ALL LEVELS
Alex Lee has seen big dividends in rejecting the practice of many companies that allow only senior leaders to initiate innovation. “Ideas can come from anywhere,” Vipperman explains. “It doesn’t matter what your level is. And if it’s clever, you’ll see most people go, ‘Yeah, that’s smart. Let’s do that.’”
And it’s that kind of open culture that helps set Alex Lee apart from its industry peers. “It’s almost shockingly rare that someone says, ‘Oh, that’s an interesting idea. Don’t try it,’” Vipperman says. “And that definitely differs from other places where I’ve worked.”