Ponencia impartida por Peter Totterdill, jefe ejecutivo del Work Network de Reino Unido (Organización UKWON), el 3 de julio de 2013 en la II European Summer School of Social Innovation

1. Professor Peter Totterdill
EUWIN / UK Work Organisation Network

2. Professor Peter Totterdill
EUWIN / UK Work Organisation Network
So why are we talking about workplace
innovation at a Social Innovation
Summer School?

3. A not-for-profit partnership between social partners, public agencies and universities
Spreading evidence-based workplace practice through research, policy advocacy, pro-
bono dissemination and consultancy
A lead partner in EUWIN – the European Workplace Innovation Network
Workplace
Innovation
www.workplaceinnovation.eu
Contact Peter Totterdill
peter.totterdill@ukwon.net / +44 115 933 8321
UKWON
The UK Work Organisation Network
www.ukwon.net

4. So why are we talking about workplace innovation at
a Social Innovation Summer School?
1. What happens at work is important
• productivity
• innovation
• resilience
• quality of working life
• health
• social inclusion

5. So why are we talking about workplace innovation at
a Social Innovation Summer School?
1. What happens at work is important
2. The past is an increasingly unreliable guide to the future

6. Times of economic downturn
are times to invest in people
and workplace innovation.
Now is the time to engage
people in finding creative
solutions.

7. Anticipating the future is tricky

8. Anticipating the future is tricky
“It will be years – not in my time – before a woman
will become Prime Minister.”
Margaret Thatcher, 1974

9. The past is an increasingly unreliable guide to the future
Globalisation
Scarcity
Climate change
Security
Ageing
Technology
Consumer values
Health and
wellbeing
Engagement

10. The past is an increasingly unreliable guide to the future
Globalisation
Scarcity
Climate change
Security
Ageing
Technology
Consumer values
Health and
wellbeing
Engagement
Traditional ways of organising
work and traditional approaches
to management are inadequate in
an increasingly volatile world.

11. So why are we talking about workplace innovation at
a Social Innovation Summer School?
1. What happens at work is important
2. The past is an increasingly unreliable guide to the future
3. Effective organisational change is a social process

12. A knowledge
economy is based on
workplaces in which
employees at all
levels can use their
knowledge, skills and
creativity to the
fullest possible extent

13. Leadership

14. Quick Guide to Leadership Theory

15. Quick Guide to Leadership Theory
DON’T worry about:
Charisma
Personality
Strategy

16. DO worry about:
Self-directed teams
Delivery
Reflection
Learning
Trust
Entrepreneurship
Quick Guide to Leadership Theory
DON’T worry about:
Charisma
Personality
Strategy

18. “Cascading down”
Resistance

19. “Cascading down”
Resistance
Working in silos
Policy/implementation
gap

20. Dialogue,
Reflection,
Negotiated
Action

21. Dialogue,
Reflection,
Negotiated
Action
Shared
Knowledge &
Common Agenda

22. Workers as knowledgeable participants
Engaging workers in innovation and improvement
Harnessing the potential for win-win-win outcomes

23. The Four Enablers of Staff Engagement
• Visible, empowering leadership providing a strong strategic narrative about
the organisation, where it came from and where it’s going.
• Engaging managers focus their people, give them scope, treat them as
individuals, and coach and stretch them.
• There is employee voice throughout the organisation. Employees challenge
and are seen as central to the solution.
• There is organisational integrity. Values are reflected in day to day
behaviours with no ‘say–do’ gap.
www.engageforsuccess.org

24. The importance of voice

25. Recognising the force of
the better argument

26. Recognising the force of
the better argument
. . . whoever it comes from

27. FORMAL,
RIGHTS-BASED
REFLECTIVE AND
KNOWLEDGE-
BASED
TEAM-BASED
PROBLEM SOLVING
INFORMAL
Trade Union or
Workplace
Representatives
Employees participating as
experts or professionals
Self-organised teamworking
Empowering job design and
individuals engaged in dialogue

28. Trade Union or
Workplace
Representatives
Employees participating as
experts or professionals
Self-organised teamworking
Knowledge
Sharing
FORMAL,
RIGHTS-BASED
REFLECTIVE AND
KNOWLEDGE-
BASED
TEAM-BASED
PROBLEM SOLVING
INFORMAL Empowering job design and
individuals engaged in dialogue

29. Trade Union or
Workplace
Representatives
Employees participating as
experts or professionals
Self-organised teamworking
Knowledge
Sharing
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
INTO STRATEGY
STRATEGY INTO
PRACTICE
FORMAL,
RIGHTS-BASED
REFLECTIVE AND
KNOWLEDGE-
BASED
TEAM-BASED
PROBLEM SOLVING
INFORMAL Empowering job design and
individuals engaged in dialogue

30. Eight of the top 10 drivers of engagement are linked with job design:
1. I get a sense of achievement from working here
2. I enjoy my work
3. In my job I have the chance to do what I do best
4. I am proud of the work that I do
5. I feel valued and recognised for the work that I do
6. My job makes the best use of the skills and abilities that I have
7. I have the right opportunities to learn and grow at work
8. I have the freedom I need to get on with my job.
People Insight Survey

31. Nottingham City Hospital Paediatric Renal Unit

32. Good practice The John Lewis Partnership
The UK’s Favourite Retailer (Consumer Satisfaction Index)
“Many of our [staff] have worked for the business for many
years. They’re interested in what they sell, and have excellent
product knowledge: all our [staff] are trained on products, sales
and service . . . we are delighted that so many customers remark
on our [staff]’s friendliness and helpfulness.”

33. Good practice The John Lewis Partnership
“Many of our [staff] have worked for the business for many
years. They’re interested in what they sell, and have excellent
product knowledge: all our [staff] are trained on products, sales
and service . . . we are delighted that so many customers remark
on our [staff]’s friendliness and helpfulness.”

34. 1. Make staff care about customer
service
2. Teach protocol - but empower staff
to make decisions themselves
3. Enable front-line staff to feedback
on what customers want
4. Be exceptional
5. Maintain customer service levels
online
Good practice The John Lewis Partnership

35. Trade Union or
Workplace
Representatives
Employees participating as
experts or professionals
Self-organised teamworking
Knowledge
Sharing
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
INTO STRATEGY
STRATEGY INTO
PRACTICE
FORMAL,
RIGHTS-BASED
REFLECTIVE AND
KNOWLEDGE-
BASED
TEAM-BASED
PROBLEM SOLVING
INFORMAL Empowering job design and
individuals engaged in dialogue

36. Teams as Fountains of Innovation
• Require teams to search for new ways to improve.
• Require teams to be relentlessly upbeat and self confident.
There’s no problem that can’t be solved, no status quo that
can’t be bettered.
• Require teams not just to listen to patients – that doesn’t
capture it. It requires active engagement, not just passive
listening.
• Require teams to actively suspend normal perceptions.
Observe how others behave and to ask: “why?”

37. The Green Room

38. Trade Union or
Workplace
Representatives
Employees participating as
experts or professionals
Self-organised teamworking
Knowledge
Sharing
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
INTO STRATEGY
STRATEGY INTO
PRACTICE
FORMAL,
RIGHTS-BASED
REFLECTIVE AND
KNOWLEDGE-
BASED
TEAM-BASED
PROBLEM SOLVING
INFORMAL Empowering job design and
individuals engaged in dialogue

39. From complaints to continuous improvement

40. From complaints to continuous improvement

41. “This is my vision, tell me how you
think we’ll need to behave in order to
achieve it.” Phil Bentley, MD
• The Honest Conversation. An opportunity for all staff to
feed ideas for improved customer trust and service
directly to the MD.
• My voice, my world. An online feedback tool for
Services staff.
• Employee forums, enabling staff and union
representatives to discuss strategic issues and their
impact on customers and the workforce.
• It drives my crazy world. A method developed in the
Cardiff Customer Services Centre to start reflective
conversations on service improvement and culture
change. bespoke approach.
Bespoke approaches in each business unit.
For example:
Good practice British Gas

42. ThinkUp

43. Trade Union or
Workplace
Representatives
Employees participating as
experts or professionals
Self-organised teamworking
Knowledge
Sharing
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
INTO STRATEGY
STRATEGY INTO
PRACTICE
FORMAL,
RIGHTS-BASED
REFLECTIVE AND
KNOWLEDGE-
BASED
TEAM-BASED
PROBLEM SOLVING
INFORMAL Empowering job design and
individuals engaged in dialogue

44. Tegral

45. Kaiser Permanente
“Value is with the workers”
The Value Compass

46. Trade Union or
Workplace
Representatives
Self-organised teamworking
Knowledge
Sharing
TACIT KNOWLEDGE
INTO STRATEGY
STRATEGY INTO
PRACTICE
Quality of Dialogue
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS &
PROCEDURES
PRODUCTIVE
REFLECTION
FORMAL,
RIGHTS-BASED
REFLECTIVE AND
KNOWLEDGE-
BASED
TEAM-BASED
PROBLEM SOLVING
INFORMAL Empowering job design and
individuals engaged in dialogue
Employees participating as
experts or professionals

47. . . . creating workplaces where all employees can
use and develop their full range of knowledge,
experience and creativity in their day-to-day jobs
Hi-Res Study

48. Competitiveness and good jobs
- convergence, not a trade off

49. So why are we talking about workplace innovation at
a Social Innovation Summer School?
1. What happens at work is important
2. The past is an increasingly unreliable guide to the future
3. Effective organisational change is a social process
4. There is a massive gap between evidence-based practice
and common practice in Europe

50. People-Centred
Change?

52. Change is messy

53. Change is messy
“While planning is a crucial element of
any organisational change, once you
begin the change process a lot of it
goes out the window. You have to be
prepared to adapt and be flexible.”
John Dalton, CEO
Castolin Eutectic

54. So how can EUWIN promote workplace innovation?
. . . as knowledgeable participants in
workplace innovation

55. Launch
of EUWIN
The European Workplace
Innovation Network
Brussels, 10 April 2013

56. Keynote events across
Europe
A widespread campaign
A knowledge bank to
support practitioners
A community of
enterprises, social
partners, policymakers
and researchers
The European Workplace
Innovation Network

57. Customer focus
Employee
engagement
Enabling culture
Resilience
Positive employment
relations

58. Customer focus
Employee
engagement
Enabling culture
Resilience
Positive employment
relations
HIGH PERFORMANCE
GOOD WORK
SUSTAINABLE ORGANISATIONS

59. Work organisation
• Job design
• Teamworking
• Integration of technology
• Flexible working
Structure and systems
• Reducing organisational
walls and ceilings
• Incentivising enterprising
behaviour
• Fairness and equality
Workplace partnership
• Dialogue
• Representative participation
• Involvement in change
• Openness and
communication
• Integrating tacit and
strategic knowledge
Customer focus
Employee
engagement
Enabling culture
Resilience
Positive employment
relations
HIGH PERFORMANCE
GOOD WORK
SUSTAINABLE ORGANISATIONS
WORKPLACE INNOVATION
THE FIFTH ELEMENT
Learning and reflection
• Individual/team discretion
• Continuous improvement
• High involvement innovation
• Learning and development
• Shared knowledge and
experience

60. Partnership forums: what do they do?
Organisations with mutually reinforcing
workplace practices achieve superior
performance as their collective impact is
greater than the sum of individual measures.

61. FACILITATORS OF WORKPLACE INNOVATION
Public Policy Research Expertise Social Partners Dialogue

62. Join EUWIN at
www.workplaceinnovation.biz/euwin
. . . and become a
EUWIN Ambassador!

63. We’re part of the UK Work Organisation Network, a not-for-profit partnership between
employers’ organisations, unions, public agencies and universities (www.ukwon.net)
Workplace Innovation Limited
www.workplaceinnovation.eu
Peter Totterdill
peter.totterdill@ukwon.net or +44 115 933 8321