Employee-led Innovation and the Quality of Work - Trailer

This week on #ForWhatitsWorthwithBlakeMelnick, the season 4 trailer for our series, #TheManyFacesofInnovation, #EmployeeLedWorkplaceInnovationand theQualityofWork, where we speak with innovators from across multiple fields of endeavour to hear about their innovation journey and through their stories, seek to better understand how to unlock  and support Innovation dynamic within yourself and your organization regardless of its nature or size ...For What it's Worth

The music for this episode, "High Water"  is written and performed by our current artist in residence, #DouglasCameron. You can find out more about Douglas by visiting our show blog and by listening to our episode, #TheOldGuitar

Workplace Innovation Network for Canada
Every Graduate is Innovation-Enabled; Every Employee can Contribute to Innovation

Knowledge Management Institute of Canada
From those who know to those who need to know

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Employee-led Innovation and the Quality of Work - Trailer

[00:00:00] Blake Melnick: Well, welcome to this week's episode of For What It's Worth, I'm your host, Blake Melnick, and this is the trailer for our new series, the Many Faces of Innovation. . So why innovation? Well, admittedly, this series is a passion project for me. Researching and deepening my understanding about innovation has been central to my entire career as a graduate student studying knowledge, construction theory, human cognition [00:01:00] and human development, and applied psychology as a teacher, delving deeply into pedagogy, the theory of teaching and learning.

[00:01:07] As a researcher at the University of Toronto, applying knowledge building theory to practice and witnessing very young people creating new knowledge when they're able to drive the learning process. As a Chief Knowledge officer, helping organizations tap into their greatest asset, their people, and the knowledge, experience, and know-how they possess in order to create high performing cultures of innovation that lead to better performance for the organization and better work for employees.

[00:01:32] The satisfaction that workers derive from their employment has been a long running concern for employees and employers and for researchers and policy makers. While Canada's economy is navigating conflicting signals about its future path, current low unemployment rates and labor shortages have necessitated that we pay more attention to the quality of work that Canadian jobs provide.

[00:01:56] Understanding quality of work is important for the future work in [00:02:00] Canada. It reflects the health of the labor market, combining not only income and benefits, but also employment, security, workplace culture, professional growth, potential, and long-term sustainability. For workers, the quality of the work experience can affect the decisions about how they want to work; where they want to work,  and how much effort to invest in their role.

[00:02:22] For employers, addressing issues related to quality of work, affect how successfully they attract and retain talent, and derive benefit from the supporting the innovation capability of their people, to enhance productivity, deliver excellence, generate loyalty, and drive growth.

[00:02:39] For policy makers, understanding job quality provides a nuanced perspective on labor market performance, as well as a glimpse into how well our socio-economic institutions are providing for our citizens. 

[00:02:53] Aside from the present challenges around the very nature of work stemming from the pandemic, along with advances in digital [00:03:00] technology, it should be noted that Canada's track record in terms of innovation, investment, and economic impact from these investments into innovation has been lackluster when compared to similar industrialized nations around the world.

[00:03:12] We need to rethink both our understanding of and our approach to innovation with the objective of making it accessible, actionable, and systemic . We need innovation capable graduates, and innovation enabled employees. We need employers who see the benefit of investing in creating employee led workplace cultures of innovation 

[00:03:35] In this way, we can create a systemic, sustainable innovation ecosystem within Canada which will help ensure the future prosperity of our nation. 

[00:03:42] join us next week on for what it's worth, in our many Faces of innovation series, where my guest will be Dr. Terry Soleas from Queens University. We'll discuss his ground breaking research around what motivates people to innovate for what it's worth.[00:04:00]