These slides, developed by our Innovation Thought and Action Group give you some tools to see the connection between innovation and employee engagement. You can use the four enablers and their mapping to the enabler of innovation to make improvements in your organisation.

1. Employee Engagement and
Innovation

2. 5
WHAT IS ENGAGEMENT?
>‘A workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are
committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to
contribute to organisational success and able at the same time to
enhance their own sense of wellbeing.’
>Professor David Guest
>OR, IN OTHER WORDS…….
>‘It’s all about the people!’
ENGAGE FOR SUCCESS 2013
26/11/13

3. ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
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See and feel the impact of disengagement every day!
ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION ARE WE CLEAR?

4. ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
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ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION ARE WE CLEAR?
“Innovation is about harnessing and exploiting good ideas, whether
big or small, to make us better at what we do”
Incremental Improvement Radical Advance
People that have ideas and people who turn ideas to reality

5. ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
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We have all seen and fundamentally get
the connection between employee
engagement and firm performance:
- Productivity
- Profit
- Customer service
- Efficiency
ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION ARE WE CLEAR?
But the link between engagement and
innovation?

6. £26m of improvement opportunities
59% of engaged employees say work brings out their
most creative ideas – only 3% of disengaged
employees agree
Engaged employees are more likely to search out new
methods, techniques and transform innovative ideas

7. ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
1.We know employee engagement matters: there is solid evidence that
companies with highly-engaged employees outperform those with less-
engaged employees.
2.We know innovation matters. While there is no direct link between
R&D expenditure and firm performance, studies looking more
systematically at the underlying process provide evidence that
companies investing in innovation outperform those that do not.
3. The link between engagement and innovation, while intuitively
obvious, has not been carefully studied in the management
literature.
7
Julian Birkenshaw
WHAT DID THE RESEARCH TELL US?
2/28/14

8. ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
8
Innovation
Inputs
Innovation
Process
Innovation
Outputs
Engaged employees
simply work harder, so
they provide greater and
higher quality inputs
(Sauermann & Cohen)
Engaged employees
look for new ways of
adding value to the
process, e.g. continuous
improvement, making
connections, collaborating
(Sparrow)
Engaged employees
find direct
opportunities to
innovate, they come up
with ideas and follow
them through (Pinchott,
Kanter, Birkinshaw,
Burgelman)
High levels of employee engagement lead to
greater levels of innovation
WHAT DID THE RESEARCH TELL US?
2/28/14

9. ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
Focussed our energy on identifying what drives and enables
an innovative culture
Identified how that links back to the four enablers of engagement
Identified the measures, case studies and tools that will enable
organisations of all sizes to realise the potential of all of their
employees to innovate enabling incremental improvement through
to radical advance
WHERE HAVE WE FOCUSSED OUR ATTENTION?
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10. ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
WHAT DID WE FIND?
• The words and the music matched at all levels
• There was an energy and commitment to engagement to drive
innovation
• There was a clarity that incremental and radical where both valued
• Most of all there was a link back to the four enablers ……….
Enablers of Engagement
1.Strategic narrative
2. Engaging managers
3. Employee voice
4. Organisational Integrity
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11. Engagement and Innovation
Enablers of
engagement
Enablers of innovation
Strategic
Narrative
1. Thought strategically and often take the long-term view
2. Customer-focused and market-oriented
Engaging
Managers
3. Senior managers demonstrated through words, actions and
resources that innovation was important
4. Employees where empowered to experiment and make decisions;
things could happen without much bureaucracy or fear of blame if
things don’t go well
Employee
Voice
5. Transparent organisation; communicate clearly and often with
each other, whatever the level or team
5. Encouraged to and have the opportunity to question and
challenge the way we do business in our own and other parts of
the business
Organisational
Integrity
7. Innovation is embedded in our values and is expected from
everyone
8. Those who innovate get recognised and rewarded in our
business
ENGAGAMENT AND INNOVATION
Links to the four enablers
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12. Engagement and Innovation
Enablers of
engagement
Enablers of innovation
Strategic
Narrative
1. Thought strategically and often take the long-term view
2. Customer-focused and market-oriented
Engaging
Managers
3. Senior managers demonstrated through words, actions and
resources that innovation was important
4. Employees where empowered to experiment and make decisions;
things could happen without much bureaucracy or fear of blame if
things don’t go well
Employee
Voice
5. Transparent organisation; communicate clearly and often with
each other, whatever the level or team
5. Encouraged to and have the opportunity to question and
challenge the way we do business in our own and other parts of
the business
Organisational
Integrity
7. Innovation is embedded in our values and is expected from
everyone
8. Those who innovate get recognised and rewarded in our
ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
Links to the four enablers
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13. ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
Indicators
ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
Links to the four enablers
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14. ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
• Sweat the small stuff day
• Down tools
• 9 postcards
• Whiteboard tours
• Recruiting entrepreneurs
• Just go with it – 70% confidence
• Ella’s thinking day
• Give it a go programme
• Ella’s classroom
HCL
10 Case
studies that
link back to
the enablers
Allow you to
learn and
apply
• The Value portal
• Mad Jam
• American Idol
• The Power of One
ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
The case studies
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15. Engagement and Innovation
Once you know where you are we will provide you with the case studies
and the tools to help you try to move your position
In the
running
ENGAGEMENT AND INNOVATION
Links to the four enablers
15