There’s a lot of buzz right now at Best Buy about how our employees are our most valuable asset. About how we will grow the company using their insights. How we will – to use the ever-popular corporate jargon – empower them. And how we are relying on them even more through this difficult economy.

This is a great vision. The idea that our company is built on the strength of its people, and that we can grow stronger by relying even more on our people is, I believe, a differentiator and has the capacity to carry us far into the future. The principles of mass collaboration and open innovation are the waves that are transforming our society right now; building our company upon them ensures us a solid future.

This approach is driving some great behaviors throughout the organization. I see more openness, humility, teamwork and respect than ever before. Corporate leadership is getting to know our field employees. Complaints from retail staff about out-of-touch management are becoming more rare. People are connecting names to faces. And some great ideas are seeing the light of day.

It’s all making a difference. People are thinking differently, behaving differently, and pushing themselves to the boundaries of what open architectiture could mean. 

At the same time, I think we walk a fine line in this space. Not only do we need each employee to bring their best ideas to the table, but we need to listen carefully to the needs and work together to act upon them. The scary part is, the former is happening faster than the latter.

In recent weeks, I have been in countless rooms of retail teams who are diligently working to drive local growth. They discuss that “the answer is in the room.” They act as small business owners. They brainstorm. They prioritize. They decide. They test. They measure. They are, indeed, empowered. And, they are scared.

The fear sits behind their eyes, and hovers like a cloud above the tables. No one wants to talk about it. People finally have the power to make change, so how can they admit apprehension now?

This fear exists because the teams don’t have all they need. There is not a menu of options from which to choose to drive their businesses. There is no suite of tools to help them succeed. In general, there are just not a lot of resources to help them along the way.

We are making strides in providing more of these resources – local marketing is a great example - but we are not moving fast enough. So, right now the collaborative model is limited — by who you know, what you know, and when you have time to get it done. Not to mention your budget (or lack thereof).  And yet, the business needs move on, at lightning speed, in an economic environment that brings more pressure each day.

Meanwhile, the need to listen, to support, to collaborate, remains. We listen in pockets, when we have time. But we have not reframed our priorities to focus on the needs.

To a certain extent, we are sitting back and waiting for “the crowd” to come up with the answer. We need the entire organization to jump in with both feet to make it happen.