Taking on additional projects and innovation initiatives can be difficult for individuals or small teams.
That being said, innovation has to be a group effort. And since many of your projects and improvements will benefit the organization as a whole, there are ample opportunities to involve everyone company-wide.
Most people (read: your employees) are averse to change. When processes are altered, even for the better, there can be backlash. This friction can be difficult to avoid, but also opens up new opportunities for improved communication and employee engagement. Investing in new initiatives is a great time to focus on improving transparency company-wide. Explain why the changes are being made, and provide them with a chance to provide their feedback while keeping an open dialogue.
Create an opportunity for them to provide feedback on changes they’d like to see be made too. As we previously mentioned, your employees are an endless supply of often untapped knowledge, experiences, and feedback for changes and improvements that can be made within your operation and your products. Employees are far more engaged in their responsibilities when they know they have a chance to share their thoughts on the observations they’re making.
If you’ve got your employees thinking, give them opportunities to get involved on a deeper level too. As we said, new projects need additional resources, both monetary and human, and if your employees have expressed interest in stepping up to play a larger role in innovation (especially with their own ideas), oblige them. They don’t need to lead development teams, but can be involved in a number of roles like review teams and responsibilities like market research.
Innovation isn’t easy, and is even more difficult when your employees aren’t on board. Showing that you care about the experiences of your employees on the job, and giving them the opportunities to play a larger role in the development and growth of the organization keeps them involved and actively engaged in their responsibilities, and more receptive to the changes that your innovation program will bring to life.
Start turning Ideas into Repeatable Growth in 2018.