The Power of Involvement

Over the years, McKinsey has conducted brilliant research on organizational health and have helped quantify things we previously believed were immeasurable.

They have found that the most healthy organizations outperform their peers with three times greater returns. And yet, many leaders worry that the efforts to improve organizational health will distract people from mission-critical priorities. Crazy, I know.

Two insights jump right off the page, when you review McKinsey's research:

• Employee involvement leads to stronger direction.

• Employee involvement leads to innovation.
  

As a former Chief Information/Innovation Officer, I experienced this firsthand. I learned that the people closest to the problems had the best insights about what needed to be improved.

And even better, they often had the solution. However, it was clear that I would need to develop my ability to "listen at scale;" to crowdsource, and to crowdsolve the problems.

I've attached Chapter 10 of my book, "Dumbo Comes to Mind." I hope you’ll check it out. I share some storytelling about employee involvement and easy ways to achieve it in any organization.

Chris Laping is the best-selling author of People Before Things. He is also the CEO of Change Needs Leaders, Inc. (proud makers of POPin). Kickstart honest, real-time conversations with your team by starting a 14-day trial today!