How Not to Engage…….

Posted on May 30, 2012 by ideasuk

Now, something about my home life that you should know is that my wife loves soap operas on television. Well, one in particular, and that is Coronation Street. For readers of this blog overseas, this is a soap that is set in the North of England and is set around a working class street.

So, what does this have to do with employee engagement I hear you ask?

Well, on Monday night, my wife was watching some episodes of this soap and something really struck me. In the show, one of the central points is a factory that manufactures ladies underwear run by a character called Carla.

This is not new though, this soap has been running for over 50 years and every owner of the business have been what can only been classed as bullies.

Is this how small business owners are seen by the main stream media?

Maybe, I can use this post to try and give Carla some tips on how to engage her workforce, so Carla, this is for you:

Stop using your employees as a disposal able resource that can be hired and fired at will.
Praise goes a long way in business; whether big or small, if you praise employees for a job well done then productivity will be much higher.
Recognise your best and develop the weaker employees in your business
Try setting SMART goals with your employees
Do you want to be a manager or a leader, there are vast difference between both?
Make some capital investment in your business to make the working environment a better place to be and to work.
Look at your own skills, are there any gaps in your key skills that need to be addressed?

I found this video on youtube this week when doing some research about engagement, take a look and tell me if you spot any of your behaviours here:

So before you try to lead other and engage your workforce, take a look at yourself and ask the question, would I be engaged if I was my manager?

Sponsorship Opportunities 2012

Posted on May 28, 2012 by ideasuk

One of the reasons why our Idea of the Year competition is free to enter, is that most of the cost of running the awards is covered by sponsors.

Our competition is seen as THE awards ceremony for employee driven innovation and attracts entries from all over the world.

Previous sponsors of our awards have included, HSBC, Bupa, Boots, Legal and General, Lloyds TSB and many others.

As we have changed the structure of our awards this year, we have a number of opportunities available for organisations to sponsor category trophies. The new awards are listed below:

Sustainability – (To be sponsored by Diageo)

Awarded in recognition of the suggestion that demonstrated the greatest contribution to the conservation of natural resources, protecting the natural environment or sustainable project. Also ideas that benefit the community outside the business.

Health and Safety

Awarded in recognition of the suggestion that demonstrated the greatest contribution to the improvement in health and safety of products, services or the workplace.

Customer Focus

Awarded in recognition of the suggestion that demonstrated the greatest positive impact to the customer or an idea which has been developed that puts the customer first.

Continuous Improvement

Awarded in the recognition of ideas which raise the general awareness and importance of continuous improvement within the organisation and improve the way in which work is planned and implemented.

Value for money

Awarded in recognition of the suggestion that demonstrated the greatest, cost savings, cost avoidance or income generation.

Global Award – (To be sponsored by The Dubai Quality Group)

Awarded in recognition of the suggestion that demonstrated the greatest global impact for an organisation.

Innovation Award – (To be sponsored by Dubai Aluminium)

Awarded in recognition of the suggestion that demonstrates the best in original thinking to achieve improvement. As well as truly innovate ideas this can include the application of exsisting ideas or procedures in an entirely new context.

Idea of the Year

The idea considered to be the best of all shortlisted entries.

Sponsorship packages vary depending on the award, as an example, as main sponsor of the conference you will receive:

Benefits:

Two complimentary seats at the Conference including all meals and accommodation.
Sponsorship of the Idea of the Year Trophy engraved with your organisation name.
Feature as a sponsor of the event in Press Releases and other PR opportunities.
Display of organisation’s logo in all marketing material.
Listing as Main Sponsor in the on the ideasUK website.
Organisation’s stand at the venue, enabling distribution of marketing materials.
Mention in all communication to be sent out to approx 1000 organisations worldwide
Organisation’s logo on stage backdrop at the event.
One day free on site visit from ideasUK post event

If you are interested in joining us this year at our conference in Bristol on the 6/7^th November as a sponsor, please contact us on 02920 020608 now to discuss your requirements.

Call for speakers 2012

Posted on May 24, 2012 by ideasuk

It is that time of the year again when the thoughts of all the team at ideasUK are focused on our annual conference.

Have you ever wanted to deliver a workshop or keynote at an International Conference?

YES?

Well read on!

IdeasUK has now started planning for our International conference in Bristol on the 7^th and 8^th November 2012 and this year we want it to be the best conference we have ever hosted. So why not join us at what we consider to the best conference on ideas programmes within the United Kingdom.

We are looking for enthusiastic, motivational speakers who can add value to our conference on the following topics:

Employee driven innovation

Internal communications (Developing communication plans and internal marketing)

Employee Engagement

Reward and Recognition

Our conference, now in its 27^thyear, attracts delegates from all over the world and together with our annual awards ceremony is the highlight of the ideasUK calendar.

The brief is very simple:

Keynotes are for 45 minutes with 10 minutes for questions.

Workshops are expected to be around 50 minutes and interactive with the delegates able to take away learning points to use within their own organisation.

Although, being a charity we do not pay our speakers or presenters, we can offer you the opportunity to network with innovation professionals from organisations worldwide. We can also offer you overnight accomodation at the conference hotel and even a delegate place for the rest of the conference is you wanted to stay!

So, if you are interested in joining us for our 27^th conference, just drop us an e-mail asking for more details.

What are you waiting for? Do it now!

Guest Post – Flip-chart foraging and why its worth trying the Draw Something application

Posted on May 23, 2012 by ideasuk

Today’s post comes from a good friend of ideasUK, if you have never visited What’s the Pont, I suggest you go over and have a look, it is a great site to visit .

One of my pastimes is checking out the abandoned flipcharts I find in the variety of offices and meeting rooms I get to frequent. It’s quite a revealing pastime (possibly about me unfortunately). Occasionally you do stumble across sensitive material, obviously this goes straight in the confidential waste bin, or back into the hands of the originator. However, it’s the other material on flipcharts that fascinates me. I reckon you can get a useful insight into an organisation from the debris gets left behind on the flipcharts. The more frantic the scribbles, the more I like it. Line & box diagrams, mind maps, dodgy graphs, stick people and bullet points all feature. Whatever form it takes it’s all a great informal record of organisational life. The real story of what’s going on from the hands of the people who know the place best.

This helpfully gives me an opportunity to talk about some recent experiences where a drawing has helped focus a discussion.

Twice recently I’ve sat in meetings, slightly bored and detached from the action (a familiar situation for many I suspect). What this allowed was the opportunity for a bit of observation and testing a theory of mine about the impact of flipchart drawings.

Meeting 1. Business Process Review. Nine people sat around a table discussing a document management process. It felt like something from a Dilbert cartoon. The alpha males and females (3 people) were vying for superiority, while two others were doing the best they could to get heard. The rest were in various stages of disengagement. Plenty of arm waving and use of technical language to demonstrate ‘one’s own cleverness’ was going on. What looked obvious to me was that there were at least two versions of the truth being spoken about, and a contractor (supposed to be delivering the solution) looking confused, frustrated and increasingly desperate.

Eventually some bright spark suggested the contractor draw the process on a flipchart. Bingo! Suddenly everyone was talking about the same thing and rapid progress was achieved. It took 40 minutes to get to this point and 10 minutes to agree some action.

Meeting 2. Comparing Supplier Costs. Thinking about it now, this was a completely daft situation. A group of 7 people were trying to compare two sets of figures. Most people had the first set of figures. Only one person had a copy of the second, and had only shared them verbally. The discussion was passionate and detailed, with strongly held views about the figures, but completely pointless.

Eventually someone wrote down the figures on a flipchart. It immediately became obvious where the issues where. This was incredibly not in the place where people had been expressing strongly held views! The group then got around to concentrating on the most important issues and developing options. Again, this one took about 40 minutes (of wasted time) before someone wrote on the flipchart and focused the discussion.

A few things I learnt from observing these events:

Some people love to talk and express an opinion, no matter how irrelevant;
A lack of a clear objective or point of focus allows the misguided (or even the meeting saboteurs I previously mentioned) to flourish;
People quickly disengage in these situations; and
A few ‘scribbles’ on a flipchart puts it all back on track.

If this is what can be achieved with a few amateur scribbles, imagine what can be achieved through expertly drawn graphics? Have a look at an earlier post about graphic facilitation and the fantastic material organisations like Delta7 generate by working with the people in organisations.

So, what’s the PONT?

Focusing a discussion or a meeting by putting something down on paper can (usually does) help everyone understand and ‘speak the same language’.
Using drawings, graphics or other illustrations can really help, especially with complicated processes, ideas or difficult situations.
Next time you are in a meeting going nowhere, have a go yourself, start drawing and see what happens.

If you are wondering, here is the connection with Draw Something. If you are slightly nervous about putting something on paper, download the Draw Something app and start drawing. Practice makes perfect … possibly. I wonder if I can fit Elvis into a work context…….?

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?

Posted on May 16, 2012 by ideasuk

Innovators challenged for International Ideas Week

Are you hassled at home, stressed at studies or whacked out at work?

What one idea would make your day better? Which one simple change could put a smile on your face and take some stress out of your day?

This year’s International Ideas Week (commencing May 14), is inviting people across the country to nominate one idea that would make their day easier. Continue reading →

Top Ten 11th May 2012

Posted on May 11, 2012 by ideasuk

Normally on a Friday, I give you a top ten websites I have been looking at over the week. As International Ideas Week starts on Monday. I thought I would give you a top tips on how to engage employees and generate ideas. Continue reading →

Brainstorming Infographic for Ideas Week 2012

Posted on May 9, 2012 by ideasuk

We received a fantastic tweet today (@ideasworldwide) from @cashzilla to help celebrate International Ideas Week 2012 which is happening next week.

Cashzilla have created an amazing infographic on brainstorming techniques , including information on Osborn’s Method, Brainstorming in Business, the Left Brain vs the Right Brain and Brainstorming Techniques.

Here’s the infographic: Brainstorming

Cashzilla is a blog run by a group of people working for a digital marketing agency. They’re not trying to sell anything but they end up blogging about clients or companies with connections to our clients. As it seems they have done in our case and we’re very happy they have done so.

Here’s what Cashzilla say about International Ideas Week and why they’re getting involved with it:

“But, why celebrate an International Ideas week? The main purpose is promoting suggestion schemes and innovation in businesses. The people behind this project want to encourage employees to submit new ideas and employers to start new schemes or to transform old ones.

They believe that many employers do not operate reward and recognition programmes and sometimes they don’t do it due to lack of support. One of the main objectives of the project is highlighting the benefits of a well-organised ideas scheme and to encourage employers to integrate employee participation as part of their business and management strategies.

We’ve created this brainstorming infographic that may give you a better understanding of the whole ideas generation process.

How are you going to take part in the celebrations of the International Ideas Week?”

As for their last question, don’t forget we’re still looking for your idea that would make your day better. If you have an idea, be it feasible or not, then share it with us and you could be in with the chance of winning an iPad 2, courtesy of International Ideas Week 2012 sponsors, Improlity Ltd.

Win an iPad 2 – What’s the big idea?

Posted on May 3, 2012 by ideasuk

Join us in the challenge to find the one idea that would make your day better!

Are you hassled at home, stressed at studies or whacked out at work?

Do you dream of breakfast in bed, a relaxing massage or just to be able to make one little change?

This year to celebrate International Ideas Week, we are looking for the one idea that would make your day easier.

Your idea does not have to be practical or be able to be implemented, we want you to have fun and come up with ideas!

We will then take a selection of ideas and publish them on this site over the next few weeks.

To be in with a chance of winning an iPad just submit an idea before the 31st May and follow us @IdeasWeek2012 and tell all your followers. We will then pick one person at random to receive an iPad 2, simple as that!

Why an International Ideas Week

Having an International Ideas Week™ can help promote suggestion schemes and innovation. It gives us a wonderful opportunity to advertise our own schemes and to encourage employees to submit new ideas and is a great way to engage people in your business.

It can be used to encourage employers to start new schemes or to rejuvenate old ones.

It can be used to encourage new members to ideasUK thereby adding to the wealth of experience and benchmarking opportunities available to all members.

So, to be in with a chance of winning a brand new i-pad, just go to the International Ideas Week page and tell us the one thing that would make your day better you can also follow us on twitter @ideasweek2012 for updates of the events we are running during the week.

So, why not pass this on to everyone you know and lets have some fun with ideas and lets show people how creative we are!