What is Hothousing?

A hothouse is a heated glass building in which plants that require a warm, constant temperature are grown. Today, the word “hothousing” is often used to describe situations in which special conditions are created to speed up the growth or development of someone or something. For example, one talks about “hothousing ideas” in a workshop. Another example is “hothousing children”, meaning to create an environment in which children develop intellectual, social and other skills at an earlier age than usual.

“Hothousing” is also used to describe a management strategy to business efficiency. The idea is to create a special working environment in certain areas of company in order to improve its services, finances, working relationships and working methods. Managers and workers at all levels are encouraged to find out what problems are preventing efficiency in these areas, and what can be done to solve them. When new ideas have been “hothoused” in one part of the company, they are then “rolled out” to other parts of the business.

“Hothousing” was first proven in retail environments, and has since been deployed successfully across a range of sectors and organisation types. With effective hothousing, teams get swiftly into their creative stride, implement ideas quickly, evaluate effectively, prove concepts and identify areas for improvement – and then iterate. The result is fast-paced, highly productive, high-speed evolution leading to optimal business solutions.