Employee Engagement Generated Through Online Ideas Suggestion Box Software

GLASGOW, Scotland, April 11, 2011 - Like many organisations, N.E. Lincolnshire Council had various employee
ideas (www.organisedfeedback.com/) and online suggestion box processes
as part of their employee engagement and Change Management strategy.
Typically these would be email-based or very basic discussion forums. However
participation was low and such systems that existed were not interactive, nor
particularly user-friendly. And most importantly, they did not allow for
prioritisation and decision-making driven by consensus nor did they
creatively address and encourage the many benefits of workplace democracy.

"The message is clear: any employee Ideas and stakeholder engagement
systems need to be owned by the participants, not the CEO or senior
Directors. Ideas thrive in the right climate. But that employee engagement
environment needs to be characterised by being 'bottom-up', not 'top-down';
more a democracy than an autocratic organisational structure. Trust is very
important in this context and is also clearly related to feedback,
acknowledgement and recognition. If Trust is not enabled and promoted as part
of the process of change management, then efforts will largely be in vain."
Says Jim Sproat CEO of OrganisedFeedback.

An employee suggestion box solution should involve employees (and senior
managers) providing metrics and participation measurement - overall and by
Department or Directorate - and therefore improve it. Participation is not
only desired in itself, it is a metric for employee engagement and that is a
high priority if 'more is to be done with less'; and through that discernible
commitment, better services delivered.

So, in any such Ideas management software you need to know the dynamic
facts. For example, how many people are involved? More this month than last?
What is that as a proportion of all employees? Just how many suggestions or
Ideas have been submitted this month or to date? Which ideas have most
comments, and how many is that? Which departments are most innovative? What
are the most popular themes? How many have been implemented, with what time
and money savings made?

Of course in any online ideas suggestion box you need the activity
reports to be automated and sent to key people easily and automatically.
Participants also need to be able to see what is going on too. Jim Sproat CEO
of OrganisedFeedback stated that "User reports and personal menus and Blogs
to acknowledge, encourage and publicise effort are important. For many
conventional, more static systems, that is not easy, or even possible".

In conclusion, there is an obvious point to be made about employee
engagement and change management. It is a Group phenomenon. Success is about
Teamwork. About making people feel part of the process. It is that which
gives employees a stake in the outcome. It is the team's and stakeholders'
ideas which lead to success but initial vision or ideas often need to be
refined, qualified, developed and improved through incremental change. "1%
inspiration, 99% perspiration" is still as true now as in Thomas Edison's
day.

    John Robinson, USP Ventures +44(0)7773-818183

    Related links
    www.organisedfeedback.com

John Robinson, USP Ventures +44(0)7773-818183