The Idea-driven Workforce: Finding New Ways to Engage Employees in Innovation

By Allison Dahl Mar 15, 2011

The ability to generate, assess and rapidly deploy new ideas in any economic cycle — a notion of sustainable innovation — has become a critical capability in today’s environment. Emerging trends and new technologies can become market-dominant forces in a matter of months, and consumers have been trained to upgrade to new-and-improved features on a regular basis. Organizations need to approach innovation in new ways if they are to keep pace with rapidly changing market conditions.

While innovation has traditionally been the domain of product managers, engineers and corporate R&D departments, some companies are taking advantage of new collaborative technologies to involve more employees in the innovation process. This notion of an idea-driven workforce is already proving itself to be a winner on many fronts. Not only have these companies identified new ways to cut costs, improve service and expand product lines — they have engaged and motivated their employees in the process.

According to a Gallup Management Journal study, engaged employees are shown to be more profitable, create stronger customer relationships and stay longer with their company. Plus, the process fuels itself as engaged employees are more likely to contribute to future innovation.

Five Characteristics of Effective Employee Innovation

Driving employee innovation takes effort, as the concept of innovation can be intimidating to many employees. It's important to recognize that innovation includes not just the breakthrough blue ocean opportunities, but that process improvements, new procedures or even a modest change to an existing form can help create better customer experiences or result in new value.

Every employee within an organization is capable of innovation, and it’s the responsibility of business leaders to tap into the collective talents, ideas and experiences of their teams.

In order to find new ways to engage employees in innovation, you need to understand the five characteristics of effective employee innovation:

1. Cultivate Conversation & Collaboration

To be successful, organizations need to foster dialogues. Web 2.0 technologies provide for an interactive dynamic, one where employees can engage each other to brainstorm, build upon one another’s ideas, add comments and collaborate.

While such employee interactions can help develop a sense of community, the most successful innovation initiatives don’t stop at employee-to-employee communications. For a true two-way dialogue to take hold, management must also engage in the conversation to provide feedback, offer encouragement and help shape idea fragments into actionable opportunities.

2. Tackle Today’s Business Challenges

To generate quick, visible results one should focus people’s attention on current business problems, unit objectives and market opportunities.

Challenge employees to tackle specific questions. Problem solving allows employees to start from a common framework and build outward.
Ideas and solutions generated from such an approach are more likely to be implemented because they deal with an organization’s most pressing business needs.
When employees see that business units value their ideas on real problems, they will be more willing to engage in innovation going forward.
Shared problem solving helps build a sense of community and collaboration.

When employee-driven ideas match up well with established business priorities, existing business units may already have the staff and infrastructure in place to evaluate, build upon and execute these ideas.

3. Own the Problem — and the Process

Employee innovation cannot happen on its own. To foster a culture of innovation, companies must develop and manage a process to take ideas to action, with success contingent on the involvement of four constituents: