ENGAGEMENT– identifying and engaging key stakeholders in creating a shared vision and an inclusive plan for workplace innovation.
The Engagement dimension begins by building a broad consensus about the need for change; it then facilitates creative and inclusive thinking about the direction of change; finally it frames and plans the specific actions needed to deliver real and sustainable change. ‘Change’ in this context typically refers to improvements or innovations in the working practices described by the four Elements – in short, employing evidence-based approaches to the enhancement of business performance, capacity for innovation, and employee wellbeing by engaging the experience, insights and creative thinking of employees at every level.
The Engagement section of the Practitioner Programme describes some powerful tools available to you as a Senior Practitioner. Resources such as Workplace Innovation Diagnostic®, Group Recall and Dialogue Conferences (for example) are highly effective ways of engaging people in the idea of change, and of grounding it in their day-to-day experiences (both good and bad) of the workplace. Likewise the Engeström triangle can help you align the internal resources and support you need to minimise potential obstacles and make the change successful.
Action Planning is also an important aspect of the Engagement dimension. You will recall that Innovation Projects are central to the Workplace Innovation Practitioner Programme because they enable individual participants to translate their learning into practice. Of equal importance, an Innovation Project should deliver tangible benefits to the participant’s organisation in terms of enhanced workplace practices.
As a Senior Practitioner, you will be coaching and mentoring Workplace Innovation Practitioner Programme participants from your organisation as they formulate and implement the Action Plans for their Innovation Projects, either individually and/or in groups. The Action Planning for Innovation Projects module will provide you with practical guidance, ensuring that the planning process is inclusive and fully aligned with your organisation’s values and strategic goals.
Engaging people at senior, managerial and frontline levels involves sensitivity, clear communication, and often the ability to facilitate dialogue events using a range of different approaches. The Emotional Intelligence and Presentation & Facilitation modules will be of value here, complementing and building on the guidance and resources already covered in the Practitioner Programme.
The Engagement section of the Practitioner Programme describes a range of tools that can help you to work with employees and other stakeholders in identifying the need for change and building a shared vision. Of course other tools are available, but the outcome – commitment across the organisation to a common direction of travel built on inclusive dialogue and participation – should be seen as an indispensable building block for effective and sustainable change. The following Learning Log question asks you to describe and justify the approach you plan to use in your organisation. Later on, you can come back to the question to evaluate the outcomes and to identify the lessons learned.
This section is all about Action Planning, and complements the Action Planning for Innovation Projects module in this Programme. It focuses on the collaborative creation of measures to translate the vision into practice – with an emphasis on “collaborative”. Throughout the Practitioner and Senior Practitioner Programmes we place considerable emphasis on ‘ideation’ (the creative process of generating and developing new ideas) as a collaborative act that brings together, and draws upon, the diverse bodies of knowledge, experience and insight to be found in any organisation – from the strategic perspectives of senior team members to the tacit knowledge and day-to-day experiences of people at the front line. Nowhere is this more important than in framing the actions that will deliver real change to organisational practices and culture – inclusive participation not only leads to the identification of richer solutions but it reduces the risks associated with unforeseen outcomes. It also offers those who might resist change the opportunity to help shape it instead.
As the following diagram shows, there is value in avoiding the temptation to rush towards solutions – this is unlikely to generate fresh thinking and may only lead to the regurgitation of existing practices.
Focus rather on a free-ranging exploration of divergent ideas and solutions – in which no idea is a bad idea. Many possible solutions can be explored in a short amount of time, often making unexpected connections between the ideas and insights of different participants. Common themes which link these different ideas can then be identified, eventually leading to convergence towards a single, consensual solution. The major underlying principle here is that the force of the better argument should prevail, no matter who makes it – a principle to which all participants should sign up at the outset.
The following Learning Log question asks how you’re involving people in the process of idea generation.
Defining actions is only the beginning. How can you make sure that you, and your organisation, are fully aligned with the change?
Take another look at the Engeström triangle under Planning to make change happen in the Practitioner Programme. Previous participants on the Programme have found it to be a useful tool for planning the implementation of changes, particularly when used collaboratively with a cross-section of people across the organisation. How can you use it to strengthen your Action Planning process?
