Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contribute To Workplace Innovation
Contribute To Workplace Innovation
Examples of innovation
Here are some examples of innovation in the workplace.
Receptionist
Paper factory
Small business
Large organisation
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Some people make notes about ideas. Others spend a few minutes each
day thinking how they could do their job better.
Be observant
Be curious
Be a creative thinker
Improving processes and procedures involves developing more efficient and beneficial
ways to carry out tasks and duties. It may involve changing the order you do things in, or
reducing the number of steps it takes to achieve a particular result – anything that helps
you make the best use of your time at work and ease workload pressure.
For example, you may have been instructed to process email requests for information
about a service or product in the order you received them. You find that some requests
are handled quickly and easily, while others take a long time and require a great deal of
research. You come up with an idea to handle the easy ones straight away and leave the
more difficult ones until later on in the day. This way you can respond to most inquiries
quickly and efficiently, and in the afternoon you can deal with the others in a more
leisurely manner.
Work practices
Work practices are the way your organisation does its business; that is, its policies and
general methods of operation. This can include the way teams are made up and change
over time. Sometimes teams need to change because they are not working as effectively
as they could.
An example is a bank deciding that it wants to attract more customers. There are two
other banks in the same suburb. At a staff meeting, a worker suggests changing the
opening hours so that customers can access their bank earlier than the other banks.
The physical environment may need to be changed if people are not able to work to their
best ability; for example, if the layout is inappropriate, something is unhealthy or unsafe,
or something is not pleasant for staff or clients.
For example, an increase in staff in an office means that some workers are placed in an
area not previously used by people; this area is not well ventilated and becomes very hot
in the afternoons. New air-conditioning and vents could be installed and blinds placed in
front of the windows to make this area safer and more comfortable for staff.
Organisations need to review and update their storage and maintenance procedures
regularly and build in ways to deal with future growth. Staff need to know what needs
to be stored and where, and how to dispose of anything not required. Maintenance
schedules for a wide range of equipment need to be developed, costed and adhered to.
An example involves a spa and pool company with several large outlets. Each outlet
has the current range of stock and some also have old stock at discounted prices. At a
planning day, staff agree to move several of the outlets to smaller sites, have less stock
on site and set up an online shop to sell old stock and where customers can select and
design spas and pools based on their bathroom or garden measurements.
Brainstorming
Mind mapping
… continued
Which category, from those listed below, does each of Chen’s ideas fit into?
•• Processes and procedures •• Work practices or services •• Changes in the physical
•• Storage or maintenance •• Team communication environment
procedures •• Staff changes •• New technology
•• New customer base •• Job role changes
Fill in this table.
Time-saving considerations
In some instances, you may be able to take some preliminary actions that could
save time and money before any attempt is made to explore your innovative idea.
These include getting some feedback from others and/or exploring the potential
cost of your proposal.
Getting further feedback from others can help you decide whether your idea
would be useful and therefore likely to be accepted. You could do this by asking
selected staff members to respond via email as to whether they think your idea
might improve current practices. This way you also have a useful written record.
Obtaining brochures and quotes for services, new equipment and software can
save a lot of time, especially if you are aware of any budgetary limitations. Getting
a few quotes can help you compare and contrast these, or if there is a preferred
supplier you can ask for the special customer rate.
Review information
After you have collected information about your idea, you need to review it for:
• currency – whether it is up to date
• relevance to the idea – whether the information directly supports the idea
• suitability in your situation – whether the information is likely to be viewed as
useful and practical
• likelihood of fixing the problem or achieving positive change – whether it will
be seen as worthwhile to invest time, money and/or other resources to make
use of this information.
Colleague
Colleagues who work in the same area will have a
direct interest in your idea, so it is wise to include
them. They may be aware of the same issues and
have other good ideas about how to fix them. They
may also come up with other problems and issues
that you have not thought of.
Supervisor
level of the person you are speaking to; for example, you would be
more formal when presenting to the managing director as opposed
to a colleague.
Medium level
Medium–low level
‘What ifs’
‘What ifs’ allow you to gain other people’s perspectives on your ideas and
proposed solutions. You start off with your idea, putting ‘what if’ in front
of it. When many people answer ‘what if’, you are able to clarify many
potential consequences and repercussions of your idea. You could run
a ‘what if’ session or seek individual feedback to your ‘what if’ question
from a range of key people.
Rethink the idea Think through the idea again by revisiting the
original problem or situation that led to the
need for change.
Test and modify ideas Test any modified or new ideas by presenting
them to others (preferably people who have
already been involved in the process).
You have been following a systematic process for developing ideas. First, you
obtained supporting information for an original idea of yours about something
that needed to change. Then, you explored the usefulness of finding people who
can and should provide extra input, how to share your ideas and also how to
receive feedback from them. Now, you need to review the feedback you have
received and make any necessary changes.
Document feedback
Feedback usually needs to be documented in some way before it can be used.
There are many ways you might document your feedback; however, three common
methods to use are a key points summary, a SWOT analysis and a pros and
cons table.
When producing a key points summary, you may like to add the name of the
person who raised each point. When using a SWOT analysis table, you will
describe your idea’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Finally,
when using a pros and cons table, you create two columns listing arguments in
favour of the idea in one, and those against in the other.
Reasons for documenting feedback may include:
• keeping track of the historical development of an idea
• acknowledging and valuing others’ time and effort
• saving time by not going back over steps or having people re-raise issues that
have already been dealt with
• ensuring that you get the best possible outcome
• providing evidence that you have followed all necessary steps, in case problems
arise later.
How does an innovative idea become a new work practice? Innovation in the
workplace is not about taking things into your own hands and making decisions
without communicating with others. Unless you are an owner or manager, the
final decision will usually be up to others to make. However, if you can show
how your idea will benefit the organisation, your ideas are more likely to be
accepted and lead to greater satisfaction for yourself, your work colleagues and the
organisation’s clients.
Whether the change is small or large scale, innovation generally follows a process
that goes through several stages.
Stages of innovation
Ideas do not always lead to change straight away. Your organisation may decide
not to implement any changes at that time. This does not mean the idea should not
have been raised. Someone may still thank you for your foresight at a later date.
Below is a summary of each of the stages of innovation and some further
information about each. Note that stages 4–6 all involve obtaining approval to
implement change.
└└ You need to ensure that you have the appropriate authority to proceed. While
your idea may have been supported in a meeting, or your boss gave verbal
agreement when you made your presentation, this does not necessarily
indicate that you have the authority to proceed.
It is always best to get approval in writing: an email, signed form or initials and
a date on your letter may suffice.
└└ You need to ensure you have taken into account other things that may be
going on in the organisation generally, as well as in your immediate work
area. Consideration to deadlines and peak periods also need to be taken into
account.
For example, moving furniture may need to be done at the end of a work day or
after work so as not to disrupt workflow.
Verbal presentation
Written presentation
2 Issues
This is where you outline all the reasons why it is a problem
for you, others in your team and/or the organisation as
a whole.
3 Solution
This is the best option as determined after careful
deliberation, research and getting feedback from others.
Show how it will fix the problem or lead to improvements
4 Discarded solutions
These are other things that could be done to overcome the
problem but were not as good as the solution chosen.
6 Effects
Show how your change will benefit the organisation. You
want to maximise people’s comfort about the change and
minimise any likelihood of the change being unsupported
because it will have a negative impact on another aspect of
the organisation’s work.
7 Costs
Costs may be in terms of financial expenses, resources,
time or effort. Reassure people the impending change is a
cost-effective solution.