ADAPTING TO INNOVATION

 

ADAPTING TO INNOVATION

What is HR innovation?

HR innovation is the implementation of new ideas, methods, and technologies to better meet the ever-evolving requirements of the organization and its workforce. It’s about anticipating future needs and circumstances rather than simply finding a response to a changing present situation.

Innovations in HR management

Recruitment chatbots

Recruitment chatbots mimic human conversational abilities during the recruiting process. Chatbots are helping recruiters focus on other administrative tasks, asking screening questions, answering FAQs and streamlining the process.

Employee engagement software

Software such as We thrive enables leaders to send monthly surveys to their people, addressing a range of subjects including wellbeing, stress, teamwork, capability and confidence at work. Managers then receive an analysis of the results and specific actions they can take to improve engagement. “This type of software is making feedback easier to give and more transparent for the business,” says Taylor.

 Gamification

Gamification is creeping into all elements of HR, from the interview process to learning and development. Companies such as Accenture and Deloitte are already devotees, using tools to set lifelike workplace challenges in the recruitment stage and beyond.

Peer-to-peer recognition

Innovations in the peer-to-peer recognition arena are allowing employees to praise each other. With Thanks box, for example, employees can give special thanks, nominate others for awards and much more. “Reward and recognition tools like this can help employees feel valued and respected by the rest of their team and drive wider engagement for your business,” says Taylor.

Edgier corporate networking

Times have moved on since corporate networking comprised a round of golf with the company directors and HR is realising that it needs to go beyond the expected tropes to make an impact.

Mental health coaching

“One big innovation is the introduction of mental health coaching,” says Birgit Lundgren, head of clinical services at the mental health and employee wellbeing consultancy Validium, “Instead of waiting for people to become sick with stress and anxiety issues ,some innovative employers are now pioneering ways of preventing these issues from arising in the first place, with bespoke mental health coaching.” Mental health coaching with Validium involves assessing an employee’s ‘resilience batteries’ and getting clinical experts to provide bespoke one-to-one coaching on how to get the worst area back up to speed before it starts to impact on their health.

 

A holistic view of employees

HR professionals are taking a much more holistic view of employees, says Susy Roberts from Hunter Roberts Consulting. “We’re working with a large global management consultancy who have created a health and wellbeing strategy for the whole year. In general, Roberts says we’re seeing a lot more strategy in wellbeing, we’re seeing more confidential helplines being promoted and we’re seeing the data come through about how it impacts productivity.”

Personalization

Personalization is an increasing priority in the consumer world and HR professionals are recognizing the benefits to staff satisfaction too. 

 There are 3 things that HR Professionals can do to foster innovation:

1. Hire for innovation
2. Create a culture of innovation
3. Train and reward for innovation

 

1. Hire for Innovation

Hiring for innovation requires that we identify people who can “think outside the box.” Let’s not assume that everyone is equally innovative, but instead let’s recruit people for their innovation capabilities.

Another example of a culture that drives innovation is Apple. What makes Apple so unique and competitive is that on top of their great products, they also seem to have a great culture, and it’s this culture that drives their innovation, and hence their superior products.

2. Create a Culture for Innovation

HR and Culture
The most powerful force in business is culture. While corporate culture is not necessarily the responsibility of HR leaders, the people who are hired and the training and cultural imperatives placed on the business are done so through the role of HR, so HR leaders can have a big impact on whether or not the organization is culturally attuned to innovation.

The Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company and Booz Allen Hamilton completed studies, in 2007 on Innovation.

The ability to help create, protect and build organizational culture is a critical role for HR to play, as it is a major driver for innovation. However, management needs to support, plan for and nurture an innovation culture for innovation to be successful.

HR professionals play a critical role in creating a culture of innovation .Here are steps you can take to help your organization ignite ingenuity. 

 

·       Understand the Process

·       Hire differently

·       Make space for more understanding

·       Carve out time

·       Train leaders

·       Empower the front line

·       Design expansive work assignments

·       Share creative stories

There are many barriers to creating a culture of innovation.

1.    Lack of Leadership Support

·        Innovation driven by time and money

·        No strategy for innovation

·        The absence of a culture that supports innovation

 

2.    Rise-aversiveness

 

3.    Not engaging all employees

 Daniel Muzyka , Professor of Entrepreneurship and Dean of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia add an additional barrier to innovation as being, “a constant examination of quarter by quarter results versus longer-term planning.” He says that this, “creates a culture that is not supportive of innovation.”

It is very difficult for management today to build successful innovation processes in organizations. This is because management is often encumbered with constant short-term, bottom-line oriented pressures as well as a shorter term to accomplish change. The decreasing lifespan of executive teams diminishes the focus on the long-term innovation process and tends to increase the focus on sustaining the status quo and existing product line. That’s a dangerous move in volatile markets.

As HR leaders, how often do you prototype new and/or improved Human Resources initiatives? How many of you allow your employees to take calculated risks? What is your organizational culture for innovation? Do you give employees time to innovate? Is it part of their job responsibilities?

Creating Your Innovation Culture

To begin an initiative for innovation here are some steps to take:

1.    Create a steering committee made up of individuals from different positions but also representing different experiences, levels and generations.

2.    Define a purpose and mandate for the steering committee (essentially, to oversee the cultural change required to create an innovation environment)

3.    Complete a cultural assessment to identify the current culture for innovation within your organization as compared to the “ideal” environment, as identified by all staff.

4.    Identify the strategies to close the gap between the present and the ideal innovation culture. These might include a kick-off event to help celebrate the development of the innovation culture.

 

 

3.Train and Reward for Innovation

Reward for Innovation
The right rewards system provides a powerful force for reinforcing commitment, directing employee professional growth, and shaping the corporate culture to be more innovative. HR departments must look at the reward mechanisms in place and ask if they are doing the right things to develop the employees and culture of the organization. This should include: compensation strategies, performance management tools, and other targeted recognition and reward programs.

 

Tie Innovation Efforts to Performance Reviews

It is natural for employees to focus their time on the activities on which they are evaluated. So if organizations want workers to spend time on innovation, they should measure employees’ effectiveness toward that goal.

Measuring Innovation

Here are some innovation metrics to apply now and in the future:

Employee engagement. Yes, employee engagement encompasses much more than innovation, but how open-minded supervisors are to suggestions from entry-level employees is a good benchmark of the company’s overall innovativeness. 

Number of new ideas. How many new ideas did HR receive last quarter? Five? Ten? None? Why? “Look at the process you have for ensuring that input of those closest to the work is considered. You can’t be innovative if you’re not set up to receive ideas,” McKenna says. Is there a routine by which HR reviews change management cycles, or do leaders wait for the wheel to start squeaking before new ideas are considered? Measure ideas in the innovation process pipeline and monitor their status.


Solicited feedback. It is commonplace to request customer reviews to help evaluate past employee performance, but it is less common to request customer feedback about new ideas. “That can be as simple as adding a survey link to the signature line in your e-mail: ‘I welcome your feedback. Click here to give it,’ ” McKenna says. 

Time spent on innovation. While this metric may be hard to quantify, it is still crucial. Ask employees how much time they spend working on innovation versus how much time they spend on their day-to-day responsibilities. If employees are not spending enough time—or any time—on innovation, how can the company expect to bring new products and services to market?


Revenue growth. Return on innovation investment provides a tangible measurement for the overall process. “Look at your organization’s total profits from new products, new services and key business processes generated through the innovation process”

 

CONCLUSION

Without fostering innovation, employees can become disenfranchised with their day-to-day work, and not have a visible career path. This can lead to businesses experiencing staff turnover, with employees seeking better opportunities for growth elsewhere. HR leaders need to understand the critical importance of innovation today and how to contribute to organization’s Innovation mandate by attracting and keeping the most innovative people, constantly improving their skills and creating a culture of innovation. This will enable for organization to differentiate itself. 

REFERENCESS

AIHR Digital (2020) Examples of Successful HR Innovation (online) .Available at https://www.digitalhrtech.com/examples-successful-hr-innovation/.Accessed on 27^th April 2021.

Aycan. D & Chow.S (2021) Innovation Challenges (online). Available at https://medium.com/ideo-stories/innovation-challenges-26abe0ce69d4 Accessed on 27^th April 2021.

Tyler. K (2019) Unlocking Innovation at your Organization (online).Available at https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/spring2019/pages/10-steps-to-unlocking-innovation-at-your-organization.aspx. Accessed on 27^th April 2021.