(H817 - block 1, activity 8)
As part of activity 8 in block 2 of H817 I have been thinking about innovation at my workplace.
Do you sense that your innovations (as supporters of learning) have been valued, encouraged, supported?
I am facilitating the adoption of new IT applications in our organization. We are a team of two people supporting several such projects and naturally our possibilities do not always meet the needs. There is clearly potential for using more elearning technology to increase our efficiency and reach a wider (and geographically distributed) audience and we are stubbornly suggesting such innovations. One of the biggest issue we encounter when trying to implement such innovations: initiators of technological innovations often are different people than those who are most affected by them.
What evidence do you have to support your view?
Management and governance of IT projects in our organization focus very much on delivery while training and adoption tend to get underestimated or even neglected. However, the importance of preparing users for change and helping them adopting new systems and processes in order to realize the full potential of innovations, is acknowledged - one reason why I am attending H817
How widespread is innovation in your organisation?
The travel industry has completely changed over the last ten years due to technological innovations: online booking and interactive travel forums like TripAdvisor have made the traditional travel agency redundant. On the other hand, these innovations have also opened up very interesting new business options. Innovation is therefore hot topic with two faces in my organization.
Are there policies or statements that relate to innovation? If yes, how are they implemented?
There are such policies in place and they are implemented via dedicated management training courses to recognise external trends and opportunities and understand their implications for the business.
What implications, if any, does this have for your attitude towards innovation?
It is interesting to see how an organization copes with change. For me personally it is already quite an effort to keep up at least with those innovations I think are relevant to me (not to mention innovations I have not even noticed). For a bigger company with structures and processes established over many years, this is challenging to say the least.