You can enhance innovation in your organization by creating employee engagement programs. They can work if they’re accessible, action-oriented, and authentic.
As the Aberdeen Group found in their 2015 report, companies with effective and consistent employee engagement programs achieve 26% greater year-over-year increase in annual company revenue, compared those who do not have formal programs. And companies with an employee engagement program enjoy 233% greater customer loyalty.
And I’m not talking about employee Frisbee leagues, but about consciously designed policies that develop the best qualities of your employees and relate to job performance.
Setting clear goals is one example. It sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed at how many leaders fail to set clear goals. Leadership IQ surveyed 5,000 workers in various fields to study the impact of goal-setting on employee engagement models. They found that people who set motivational goals are up to 75% more fulfilled than people who set routine goals. The right goals can motivate people to achieve extraordinary results.
One of the key goals you can set is for innovation. The production of new ideas should be just as much an everyday part of your business as the production of your product or service.
Gamification works too. As reported by Axero, stodgy old IBM—which happened to be ranked number 37 on CareerBliss 50 Happiest Companies in America—employs video game-like solutions throughout its intranet. One game is about making a virtual city more efficient. Others allow users to simulate business scenarios. The idea is to turn a boring or difficult task into a game of collaboration, competition, and innovation.
But beware! If they’re shallow, temporary, or done just for show, then by making employees cynical about the company’s motives they’ll do more harm than good. Surveys have asked employees what they think are the most pointless activities they are asked to engage in every year, and many say, “The annual performance review and the annual employee engagement survey.” Why do employees dismiss these staples of American business? It’s simple—they rarely ever see any results or positive action taken as the result of employee surveys or reviews.
Similarly, employees often see a splashy human resources launch of an employee recognition program as just another motivational “flavor of the month,” designed only to make the bosses look good.
If you make an organizational effort to boost employee engagement—which you definitely should do!—be sure to make it sincere, action-focused, and consistent. And remember—the most innovative employees are the one who are the most engaged. They’re the ones who are most likely to look for new ideas and then bring those new ideas to your attention.
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