Innovation is an employee engagement strategy. Learn how to harness the innovation in your people to develop and future proof your organisation.
Most organisations have struggled with the idea of employee engagement – especially now, because employees have more choices, greater flexibility, and less loyalty.
What’s more, the rules of engagement have changed.
Maybe you remember a time when all it took to engage employees was to pay an appropriate wage, provide a reasonable work environment, and promise job security to those who didn’t mess up. In return, the employees would be happy to be treated as “human resources”, as long as the organisation kept their side of the bargain.
But that doesn’t work anymore, because:
- People don’t feel empowered, so everything needs approval and hierarchy – which is way too slow
- Leaders don’t have all the right answers anyway
- Employees bring their own assets to the job
- Employees want more – and that “more” means more than money
You might try shifting the focus to teams and teamwork. Employees are chosen for teams because of their specific skills, valued for their contribution to the team, and rewarded for the team’s achievements.
This is better, but it still leaves a lot to be desired – especially for modern employees, who want personal achievement as well as team achievement, career growth as well as the organisation’s growth, and meaning as well as money. They aren’t willing to sacrifice the bulk of their waking hours to serve somebody else’s agenda. They want their own voice to be heard, and their own goals to be achieved.
What if could harness that talent instead? Our organisations are full of smart, talented, motivated, passionate people who will happily engage if you give them something engaging. And don’t just engage them to keep them amused; engage them to improve your team and your organisation.
In other words, treat employees as innovators.
Listen To the Episode
Featured Guest – Nils Vesk
The brilliant Nils Vesk is an expert in creativity, innovation, and making ideas happen. Nils is fantastic at making things practical – taking ideas out of your head and turning them into reality. In this episode, Nils talks about how to tap into the innovation skills of individual employees.
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