Submitted by: Howard Deutsch

Ingenuity is the ability of your organization and your employees to invent new products and services and new, better ways of doing all the things done across your organization every day. Ingenuity includes coming up with and implementing better processes, policies and business practices. Successful ingenuity/innovation includes two key components, coming up with new ideas and then implementing those ideas.

Ingenuity requires a corporate culture that encourages positive change, that removes barriers to innovation and change, and that puts in place an environment and resources that nurtures, accepts and rewards positive change. Ingenuity often requires collaboration and teamwork. Ingenuity also requires a corporate culture that allows and encourages employees with new ideas and approaches to challenge the status quo and established business practices without fear of retribution.

In ingenuity friendly organizations employees are comfortable challenging people that are more senior than themselves and managers at all levels are open to having ideas, processes, policies and business practices challenged. A really good book describing a national and corporate culture environment that is ingenuity friendly is Start-up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer. The book describes the national and prevailing corporate culture in Israel. It is must reading for any organization wanting to become more innovative and ingenuity friendly .

Employees in ingenuity / innovation friendly companies are highly engaged. They tend to enjoy their jobs and keep thinking about the challenges of their work around the clock. They are Inspired to come up with ideas and to get their ideas implemented.

Employee Satisfaction Surveys / Employee Engagement Surveys Assess Your Organization s Ingenuity/Innovation Culture:

Employee satisfaction surveys / employee engagement surveys / employee opinion surveys assess the organization s ingenuity / innovation and entrepreneurial culture and identify the barriers to ingenuity / innovation and entrepreneurship. Here are some of the questions typically included in our customized employee surveys. Employees are asked about their level of agreement with these question statements and are able to provide their comments and suggestions for each question:

1 – Our company encourages positive change and new ways of doing things.

2 – I am encouraged to come up with innovative ideas on the job.

3 – My ideas and suggestions are given serious consideration by my 4 – manager and other who need to consider and approve ideas.

4 – I have authority to make important decisions that affect my job.

5 – Within my team, employees are encouraged to exchange ideas.

6 – I can disagree with my manager without worrying about getting into trouble.

7 – My team and I can take action without excessive formal approval processes.

8 – A sincere effort is made to understand the opinions and thinking of people in our company.

9 – Communication between teams and departments occurs on a regular and effective basis.

10 – My work gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

11 – I have the resources and equipment/technology I need to do my job.

12 – I have access to the information I need to do my job.

13 – Actions are seldom delayed because of the number of people who must be involved in the decision-making process.

14 – Our company encourages and actively supports entrepreneurial actions, positive change and new ways of doing things.

Organizations that embrace ingenuity / innovation and entrepreneurship have a flexible hierarchy. Rather than top down, decisions in these organizations are typically made at the appropriate level by employees that are close to the situation and details. Information flows freely upward, downward and across the organization.

Employee surveys / employee opinion surveys are a powerful tool for leaders in ingenuity / innovation friendly organizations:

Leaders in some organizations are cautious about conducting an employee satisfaction survey / employee engagement survey and customer satisfaction survey as well for fear that the survey will identify problems that may make them look bad. In companies with a strong ingenuity / innovation culture, leaders embrace employee surveys / employee opinion surveys as a means of confirming that they do have a healthy ingenuity / innovation friendly culture and they take action based on the employee survey findings. They count on employee surveys to surface new ideas and to identify opportunities for improving performance.

How ingenuity /innovation friendly is your organization and how do you know?:

Conducting an employee satisfaction survey / employee engagement survey is a fast and cost-effective way to assess just how ingenuity / innovation friendly your organization really is, and to find out what needs to be done to enhance your ingenuity / innovation culture. The payback can be enormous.

About the Author: Howard Deutsch is the CEO of Quantisoft, a full service survey company. Contact Howard Deutsch at (609) 409-9945 or hdeutsch@quantisoftdotcom Quantisoft survey Info

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