Lesson 1.3: Integrating Innovation Opportunities – the ENWIN workplace innovation Case Story

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this activity, learners will have the opportunity to:

  • Identify the innovation catalyst roles in this case story.
  • Analyze the three strategies used by ENWIN to create an innovation culture.
  • Recognize the potential for organizational innovation leaders to engage in Innovation Adaptation with research insights and exemplary practices from external sources.

Background for the ENWIN Case Story[1]

ENWIN is a municipally owned and operated energy and water services utility for the greater Windsor region in southwestern Ontario. Part of the organization’s vision is “to be a trusted leader in providing exceptional value and services to customers (90,000) and stakeholders” by engaging its 320 employees in continuous improvement and innovation.

In 2018, ENWIN identified the desire to engage its employee base and build a culture that encourages, promotes and values innovative problem-solving. Grassroots initiatives were supported and shared through the organization’s first ENnovation Day. Two senior Innovation Catalysts served as co-leaders of the ENnovation initiative: ENWIN’s manager of human resource services (Rosana Kemsley) and the director of operations (Barry Leavitt, whose position was subsequently retitled to include both operations and innovation).

Over the next three years, employee teams participating in the ENnovation program produced 13 design innovation project proposals. This included 18 employees who became innovation project leaders, 50+ employees involved in the annual ENnovation Ideation Day to share ideas across teams, and over two dozen additional employees who received training in innovation and design thinking. The team tested the ENnovation model for three years via independent research, third-party advisors and continuous engagement and consultation with employees to support their efforts.

Adapting an external Innovation Practice for the ENWIN Context

ENWIN recently began to enhance its culture of innovation by transitioning from program-based to culture-based innovation strategies, including building design thinking and other innovation activities into the existing performance management ecosystem, and incentivizing the right solution over the immediate (short-term) solution. As the ENnovation leaders, Barry and Rosana were keen to adapt exemplary practices and insights from beyond ENWIN. Along with their industry association, Electricity Human Resources Canada, they participated in an applied research project sponsored by the Government of Canada’s Future Skills Centre which also included a team of external Innovation Catalysts who had special expertise in adaptation.

One of the ideas that particularly interested them was a model of a complete organizational infrastructure for advancing workplace innovation by employees. The Fifth Element model from Europe, shown in the Figure below (EIPA, 2019), highlights four key elements supporting workplace innovation: Employee Capability, Job Design, Employee Voice, and Organizational Processes and Policies (WINEU, 2023).

 

infographic for the fifth element model. At the centre of an atom image is the phrase "enhanced innovation and working life"; encircling that text is a thick outlined circle containing the text "engagement, culture of innovation, resilience, and enterprising behaviour"; at the top right hand corner is a purple circle containing the text "employee-driven improvement and innovation"; in the bottom right hand corner is an aqua circle containing the text "structure, management and processes"; in the bottom left hand corner is a yellow circle with the text "co-created leadership and employee voice; on the top left hand corner is a blue circle with the text "jobs, teams and technology".
Figure 1. The Fifth Element Model (EIPA, 2019) (of Organizational Capability for Workplace Innovation)

The model also highlights the crucial need for connections to align innovation planning across these four elements – i.e.; a Fifth Element, shown in the centre of the figure, and to integrate the other strategic elements. (further learning will be available on the Fifth Element model in Lesson 2.2 to enable you to apply these insights in your own future workplace, and you can learn more about it on the Workplace Innovation Europe website.)

Barry and Rosana used this external insight to reframe a disconnect they had previously observed between the ENnovation initiative (in the top right corner of the diagram) and the existing Stretch Goals Human Resource management process at ENWIN (in the bottom right corner). Stretch Goals had been implemented as an employee career development and performance improvement tool. In the Stretch Goals process, each of the 100 employees in the central administration and leadership team agreed with their managers on annual personal goals in three areas:
  • Build the Tools: If you’ve found a better way to do something, make it into a tool that other employees can use (e.g., add it to a manual of procedures or a webpage)
  • Make it Better: If you see a way to reduce our costs or improve our services to customers, contribute the idea to our employee suggestion system or talk to your work team colleagues about how we could move it forward.
  • Move the Needle: If you see a way to contribute to one of ENWIN’s strategic goals through your work, be sure to highlight that with your manager or connect with the team pursuing that goal within ENWIN.

After the ENnovation program had been running for some time, Barry and Rosana realized that there were opportunities to merge ENnovation activities and employee Stretch Goals and leverage the established incentivized stretch goal program to help embed the steps of the innovation process (or design thinking).

In November 2022, Rosana and Barry made a proposal to ENWIN’s executive team to revise ENnovation and Stretch Goals to enable better integration. They received enthusiastic approval from the executives and the enhancements to both programs were implemented in 2023 with successful outcomes. Employees were able to fulfill a Stretch Goal requirement through a variety of innovation projects, including:

  • “Build the Tools – To Innovate” employee goal/objective was focused on engaging in a supporting role, such as volunteering to be an Innovation leader, Innovation mentor, sitting on a process improvement committee.
  • “Innovate and Make it Better” employee goal/objective was important as it intended to encourage employees to identify an area of interest and move through the design thinking steps to solve a problem OR employees could become a suggestion program ambassador and partner with someone who made a suggestion to move it through the design thinking process
  • “Move the Needle”  – joining a corporate project team OR taking on incremental work to support a colleague who is dedicating time to a strategic innovation project

Employees could also choose to ‘Move the Needle’ by taking on incremental work to support a colleague who is dedicating time to a strategic innovation project.

Practice Exercise: Reflecting on the Innovation Catalyst Roles in this Case story

Use the following prompts to reflect on the Innovation Catalyst Roles in this Case story.

Enter your thoughts in the Response box below each question, and then we’ll share some of the insights we gained from working with Barry and Rosana.

 

Results and Lessons Learned

When asked to reflect on the evolution of ENWIN’s strategy for workplace innovation, Barry and Rosana shared the following:

“ENWIN has learned that buy-in is vital. Leadership must support and reinforce the investment of time, resources, and money. Those staff members who are enthusiastic must be encouraged to lead. They must have the time to learn and grow, be open-minded, and approach challenges with a beginner’s mindset.

Psychological safety is a key pillar in building an innovation culture. More specifically, the culture must welcome new ideas, encourage divergent opinions, and be willing to empower team members at all levels and with all outcomes (e.g., surprising outcomes must be applauded).

Celebration is a tenet of ENWIN’s approach to innovation, which includes having fun! Collaboration with peers and celebration of ‘a-ha’ moments and learnings are important, as is taking the time to support team building.”

As this Case Story illustrates, ENWIN believes in integrating innovations into established systems and processes to support systemic change and in recognizing that the expectations must be built into the systems rather than being above and beyond employees’ work. Rather than dictating to employees the types and forms of innovation that are acceptable, they must have the opportunity to choose innovation activities that are comfortable for them. While ENWIN encourages stretching, the element of psychological safety in doing so is paramount for all.

References for Lesson 1.3:  Finding Innovation Opportunities – The ENWIN Workplace Innovation Case Story

WINEU (2023). The Essential Fifth Element Guide to Workplace Innovation. Workplace Innovation Europe. Accessed on March 03, 2024, at https://workplaceinnovation.eu/the-essential-fifth-element-guide-to-workplace-innovation/

EIPA (2019). Introducing Workplace Innovation in the Public Sector. European Institue of Public Administration. Accessed on March 03, 2024, at https://www.eipa.eu/blog/introducing-workplace-innovation-in-the-public-sector/

  1. Adapted from Future Skills Centre report, Inclusive Workplace Innovation and Quality of Work (2023) Annex 1 ↵

License

Enabling Inclusive Innovation in the Workplace Copyright © 2024 by Thomas Carey and Anahita Baregheh is licensed under a Ontario Commons License – No Derivatives, except where otherwise noted.

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