The power of everyday ingenuity

Few months ago I was invited to talk at the Global Business Intelligence thanks to Jacquie Perryman . I have summarised in this article the key messages I presented on the day as this is a topical subject at the moment especially when trying to help organisation to transform the culture and to empower employees in an organisation. It's easy to blame technology for not delivering but an organisation is often a mixed of people who must work together to serve the customers.

Everyday ingenuity

Large scale transformation is a noble pursuit. The complete digitisation of products and platforms, enterprise-wide cloud migrations, contact centre modernisation –?the list goes on.?But what happens to everyday ingenuity when you focus company talent, time, and money on multi-year programs?

Everyday ingenuity encapsulates everything from moving the dial on user experiences and internal processes, to introducing innovation labs that challenge the status quo and welcome new ideas to business challenges. Whilst not regarded as impressive as the delivery of a transformation program, these smaller innovations succeed in engaging employees, attracting new talent, satisfying customers, and giving stakeholders something tangible to buy-in to. They add purpose to the everyday, so you have the right people for long-term transformation.?

This talk looks at the benefits of everyday ingenuity, the importance of innovating for employees and customers, and?how to retain talent in a very?competitive?market!

1. (The real life presentation started with my introduction)?
2. Digital transformation?is the buzz word - pretty much up there with “Hybrid working” or “which CRM to go for between Salesforce and MS Dynamics” or “new ways of working (NWOW)”.?

Companies do love creating big central teams to control and direct these huge programme.?Mission, aim and vision are often lacking and not seen as the foundation of the pyramid of change. But how many of these are actually successful and how much change do they drive??A recent McKinsey Global survey suggests that?success remains the exception and not the rule. In last year talk we debated about ‘the power of Innovation' and had an healthy discussion about it. We talked about big central teams focussed on themselves more than the customers and the lack of transforming innovative ideas into customers outputs.?Difference between ground breaking innovative changes vs evolution which still bring innovative changes but they are not perceived so dramatic.We agreed that innovation is not always the new big product but often is the improvement of processes and the life of internal customers who end up delivering better products.

3. Why??should we empower more employees??

Companies are often so focused on innovation for external customers but often ignore internal customers/employees.?Gary Hamel (author of Humanocracy) has conducted a research:?

1. respondents spent 27% of their time on bureaucratic tasks
2. the average person works in an organisation with more than 6 management layers
3. 2/3 of non-managers report little or only moderate control over their work methods and priorities
4. 75% of respondents say new ideas are met with indifference
5. 95% say it is not easy or is very difficult for frontline employees to launch a new initiative
6. 62% of respondents believe political skills determine who gets ahead

?Why empowering employees now is even more important than ever?

1. Because Covid has accelerate the digital agenda?and changed a lot of things
2. Opportunities have multiplied
3. Market is very hot - people can choose what they want to do
4. Location is not longer an issue hence the market has expanded
5. People's values and priorities have changed post Covid

4. How to foster 'ingenuity'?

Here are some ideas:

• Look at?kids?- they have no boundary and no filter and they can see things in different ways. It's exactly the same when you bring graduates into companies or new employees with different ideas. Let's empower this 'innovative' way of seeing things and not try to mould people into the 'norm'.?
• Allocating high performers to the highest-value initiatives. Rather than overloading high performers with too many initiatives,?companies should?keep these individuals focused on the biggest, and often highest-profile. Other McKinsey research shows that?the burden placed on these high performers can be too high.?
• For smaller initiatives, it’s best to involve a wider coalition of managers and employees, which builds broader buy-in and reduces the potential for delayed value capture.
• Empower teams – it does seem easy but how many senior teams are prepared to actually do this?
• Support diverse thinking – if someone challenges you, it doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t embrace the culture. It’s great to have people thinking differently – that’s how we grow and we grow a company
• Allow flexibility - there is no one fit all and people do need different things/pattern depending on their personal situation. It doesn't matter how many hours people 'show up" - measure the outcome you need.
• One does not have to be a high-level manager to voice an ingenious idea.. Problem solving or idea generation should not be reserved for elite-level individuals. Hearing a varied collection of thoughts, opinions and suggestions could yield quite fruitful results
• Encourage open feedback but be prepared to allow anonymous feedback – remember that not anyone is comfortable in speaking up.?
• Organise creative thinking sessions – you will be surprised how many ideas can ‘bubble’ up
• Encourage people to dedicate 10% of what they do to what they like as long as they make a difference for the company?>>>?Creativity/Ingenuity is a Business asset!
• Provide rewards for innovation and creativity: Be sure to incentivize and motivate employees with financial bonuses and other rewards for coming up with innovative solutions.?
• Executive leaders often schedule creativity into their calendar because building vision and strategy is part of their job…but lower-level employees need to justify their time with discernible results. Which may be why 35% of workers say they're only given time to be creative a few times a year, or less often.
• And finally …park the excuses ....Need money, Need people, Need time

5. What are the benefits of an innovative company??

Just a few…

• Happy employees don't leave
• Happy employees make customers happy
• Better engagement?
• Motivation drives productivity?
• Many corporations are seeing intrapreneurship?as the future of growth and innovation and are taking steps to formalize it as a track for motivated employees.?
• Data shows a link between workplace engagement and creativity, and everyone recognizes the link between innovation and market share.
• Managers should make it clear that observing, thinking, making connections - basic creativity - is part of every employee's job role and will be a factor in their performance development.?

Hire the best people and trust them to do the right thing!