An asset is defined as “a useful or valuable thing or person”. The problem in business is that most leaders forget about the “person” aspect of this definition. Business leaders typically focus on tangible or intangible assets that the firm owns. Many assets that are front-and-center within day-to-day business are inventories, buildings, equipment, patents, copyrights, or financial assets such as stocks or bonds. However, this limited perception ignores the most valuable corporate asset; every, single employee.
Study after study communicates the high costs of losing an employee. The costs of recruiting and training new employees can easily be in the tens of thousands of dollars. And some studies say the costs can be as much as twice the annual salary of high earners. Happy, involved employees are the key to business success. Losing an employee can result in:
Costs of hiring and on-boarding a new employee
Lost productivity
Poor employee morale
Negative corporate reputation
In today’s fast-paced, rapidly changing business environment, all businesses, no matter the size or location must leverage every asset to its highest potential. Leaders need to measure the return-on-investment (ROI) or its employees, not just the organization’s raw materials, equipment, or patents.
A key method for high employee engagement, is allowing employees at every level and every role to help improve the organization. Many firms adopt suggestion systems to allow employees the opportunity to provide improvement ideas. However, most suggestion systems are just one directional. An employee submits a suggestion for someone else to review and possibly implement. Leaders need to allow employees to be directly engaged through improving the areas they work in.
Creative Idea Suggestion System
A Creative Idea Suggestion System (CISS) is the foundation of a successful organization. A CISS was the key to legendary corporate success stories like Toyota, Motorola, and 3M. A CISS differs from a typical suggestion system in that ideas are developed by employees to improve their own work, and to be implemented by themselves. This allows for employee development, improved morale, and a sense of contributing to the success of the organization. In addition, continuous improvement activities positively affect the organization through:
Reduced costs
Improved quality
Improved safety
Increased customer satisfaction
Elimination of waste
As employees improve their problem-solving skills, they can gradually move to team problem solving, learning additional skills, such as:
Research
Statistics
Decision-making
Root-cause analysis
Zombie Workforce
The days of employees coming to work, doing their job, and going home are over. For an organization to leverage its most valuable asset, it must engage, train, and ensure every employee is a key contributor to the success of the organization. Expecting employees to maintain the status quo, and “just do their job” will lead to lack of innovation, lost customers, and declining revenues. Locked inside every employee is a desire to learn and develop new ideas. Every employee has an infinite capacity to make improvements through new, creative ideas.
It’s critical for leaders to leverage creative ideas from all employees. Leaders need to unlock the hidden potential of every employee, and to bring new excitement and joy into the workplace, increasing morale and job security. Every employee needs to be involved in improvement activities. Every employee needs to fully participate in solving problems and finding new solutions. It takes strong, forward-thinking business leaders to unlock the creative potential of every employee.
Employees have infinite good ideas on how to improve their own work. The problem is employees are hardly ever asked for their ideas, and most companies do not have a system to encourage their employees to develop, install, manage, and sustain those ideas. But CISS can be the key for lasting success and long-term employee loyalty. If you want to ensure long-term growth and sustained profitability, start engaging your employees.
Conclusion
You need to ask yourself the following:
Is your current performance adequate to compete successfully?
Are your products and services market leaders?
Are your profits growing each year?
If your answers are NO, you need more effective ways to drive creativity and innovation. Start using your most valuable asset to its maximum. Allow your employees to help improve your business for everyone’s benefit. Don’t wait, start today creating a corporate culture based on engagement, continuous improvement, and never-ending innovation.
Involve workers in improving the business. Create a company culture in which people can work together harmoniously and experience personal satisfaction. Understanding the role of individual creative effort within the company will super-charge your performance and allow you to wow customers and move beyond typical day-to-day competition.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset
https://www.peoplekeep.com/blog/employee-retention-the-real-cost-of-losing-an-employee