Despite what are arguably some green shoots of recovery, times are still tough in many organisations – particularly certain parts of the public sector where cuts have been toughest. The streets are hardly awash with cash for those expensive external consultants to come and tell you how to enhance your organisational performance. One often underutilised route for enhancing an organisation is its own staff. After all, they see the organisation every day, at close quarters, at its best and worst. And across your organisation your staff’s collective knowledge covers your processes and operations end to end. So are you doing enough to solicit suggestions from your staff on how you improve? Even if you think you have this nailed it’s always worth a quick health check. Here are 6 ways to get started in creating a culture which maximises opportunities to learn from staff (or helps to a health check in this area).

1. Want to
Improve?
Ask Your
Team

2. One often underutilised route for enhancing
an organisation is its own staff. After all, they
see the organisation every day, at close
quarters, at its best and worst. And across
your organisation your staff’s collective
knowledge covers your processes and
operations end to end.
http://www.workinconfidence.com

3. So are you doing enough to solicit suggestions
from your staff on how you improve?
Here are six ways to get started in creating a
culture which maximises opportunities to
learn from staff.
http://www.workinconfidence.com

4. Make It Known
Make it known to staff that you welcome
suggestions on improvements and
enhancements. It sounds blindingly obvious but
it’s a basic step too many organisations miss.

5. Avoid Criticism
When your staff start stepping forward with
ideas then make sure the first step your
organisation takes is of appreciation. Not all
ideas are great, but great ideas often come
after lots of not so great so make sure you
encourage people to keep trying.

6. Provide the Means
Not everyone thinks or expresses themselves in
the same way. Make sure you provide the means
for as many staff as possible to surface and share
ideas.

7. Follow Through
Make sure there is a way of developing and
implementing the best ideas. After you have
got so much valuable feedback it would be a
shame if none of it sees the light of day.

8. Show It Is Valued
Find ways to demonstrate very publicly that
ideas are being considered and put into
practice. Share them, pin them up, broadcast
them and celebrate them!

9. Share the Warmth
Make sure when successful ideas are used that
the credit is shared with all who have
contributed – again as publicly as possible.

10. AND FINALLY…
http://www.workinconfidence.com

11. Make it a Habit
Make sure when you have done the above that
it sticks as part of your culture and isn’t just a
one-off or brief programme. Learning, evolving
and developing is a continuous process.

12. Read more content like this every
week on our blog:
http://blog.workinconfidence.com
http://www.workinconfidence.com

13. At WorkInConfidence we are all
about providing a way for staff to
reach out to you to raise ideas,
issues and concerns in a safe
environment by providing their
feedback anonymously.
http://www.workinconfidence.com

14. www.workinconfidence.com
Understand your staff better to
unlock their true power and potential