The term employee engagement refers to the status of collaborators who actively participate, with passion and dedication, in the life of the organization, up to taking on tasks that go beyond their role. Employee engagement is a great help for the development of a company. This is what Gallup’s research says, according to which companies that have good employee engagement boast higher productivity (+ 21%) and greater profitability (+ 22%).
A precious help, therefore, in the conduct of normal business activities. But not only. An actively involved team is also fundamental for the development of innovative initiatives. This is what emerged from the research of the Startup Intelligence Observatory, which confirms the importance of changing the organization to encourage innovation. The first step concerns the involvement of the top management: the initiative must start from the top to interest all the resources used in development. Managers, CEOs and sector managers will build a strategic plan, based on experimentation and study of the benefits.
This is the only way to move on to the second step, coinciding with the involvement of all employees. Each worker must actively participate in the project, assuming entrepreneurial behavior, associating the simple operational activity with the exploration and identification of new opportunities.
The Observatory’s research also shows how most companies invest in scouting, assessment and development of digital skills: three fundamental moments for the activation of a development plan that contemplates innovation. Therefore, the role of HR becomes even more important, immediately engaged in the change and training of employees, old and new.
A concrete change of the company follows. At this moment new tools are studied and implemented to make the organization suitable for the new mission: to be ready for innovation. Here the figure of the Innovation Manager intervenes, whose task is to make the company more “agile”, with an open and entrepreneurial approach.
Once the new plan has been established, it is essential to motivate the employees: internal contest and hackathon are useful to stimulate the skills of the workers. Furthermore, when the initiative is proposed, it is essential to maintain an attitude open to suggestions, giving everyone the opportunity to propose themselves as potential developers of the intervention plan.
Only with such an attitude will it be possible to identify winning and repeatable innovative development plans in the future. Many companies are acting in this direction, focusing on employee engagement, a useful tool to keep up in a world that evolves at the speed of light.