HR innovation: low-threshold and accessible
HR innovation does not immediately have anything to do with technological innovations. “This amounts to only 25 percent of innovation success,” says Gaspersz. “The remaining 75 percent comes from social innovations. Innovating has everything to do with behavior and ideas. That's where HR comes into the picture: they must create a mindset and culture in which this behavior can manifest. Much depends on the way you define the concept of innovation."
"The broader you set this up, the more people you reach within the organization. Employees in the procurement department, for example, can also contribute by working with parties that use sustainable solutions. It's about these small steps. By creating a low-threshold definition of innovation, anyone who wants to can contribute to renewal. This goes hand in hand with good leadership: they must encourage people to take part in innovation projects."
HR innovation has everything to do with behavior and ideas. HR must create a mindset and culture where this behavior can manifest itself.
Connected thinking
One of the creativity techniques used to gather as many ideas as possible in a short time is connected thinking. A technique that Gaspersz used in the pre-corona era and is bringing out again post-corona. “Everyone in the room then gets a yellow sheet with nine boxes. At the end of my presentation I ask a question, after which everyone writes an idea or action on the sheet. They then pass the sheet to their neighbor, who may or may not build on the previous idea. This continues until all nine boxes are filled. If there are fifty people in the room, you have collected 450 ideas in a short time.”
After that Gaspersz asks his audience to circle the most valuable idea on the sheet. “In that way you make a selection of fifty ideas. Then I discuss with a few participants in the room which ideas have been circled and why.
"This technique is also applicable to issues for a small HR team of roughly eight or nine people. It produces better output than a brainstorming session, because some people are too introverted to say their ideas out loud in the group."
But according to Gaspersz, it is essentially not about a technique. “You foster innovation with the right mindset, not through a technique. You must be open to taking a different line of thinking and to stepping away from limiting, culturally conditioned thinking. That is the most important thing.”
Want to know more? Receive the e-book “Get Out of Your Shell!” by Jeff Gaspersz with 30 tips for a more creative team via www.ideebrief.nl .
