1. 2017 Benchmarking Report: Culture of Innovation
IPMA-HR International Training
Conference anD Expo
September 19, 2017
Presenter:
Lindsey O’Connor

2. What We Will Cover Benchmarking Study Survey Results Background
Organizational Culture
Objectives
State of Innovation
Demographics
HR’s Role
Methodology
Case Studies

3. Background Adapted key determinants that influence innovation
Communication
Collaboration
Support for Change
Autonomy
Vision and Mission
Chief Innovation Officer
Time
Framework from 2003 article “Building Organizational Culture that Stimulates Creativity and Innovation”

4. Objectives
Assess organizational culture’s strength and opportunities for fostering innovation
Evaluate how organizations structure and operations support a culture of innovation
Determine what kind of innovative HR initiatives are being implemented and who drives those initiatives
Assess the role HR plays in innovating best practices for key HR areas

5. Methodology & Demographics
IPMA-HR ed the survey to 5,275 members
311 respondents
±5% confidence interval with 95% confidence level
Level of Government Where Employed
n=234
State 9%
Local/County
78%
Federal 1%
Special District 5%
Educational Organization 3%
Other
Organization Size
Small
51%
Medium
40%
Large
10%
Job Title
n=235
Director
Manager
26%
Consultant/Partner
Analyst
13%
Coordinator 6%
Assistant 4%

6. Culture Communication Support from Leadership Collaboration
Innovation as a Priority
Support for Change
Autonomy

7. Communication
Three-quarters of HR professionals who responded to the survey agreed there are open lines of communication at their organization. 82% strongly agreed or agreed that there are open lines of communication between employees. Slightly lower between employees and management (66%) and communication between departments (65%). From the survey you can see that smaller organizations responded as having higher lines of communication than medium or large organizations.

8. Communication between Management and Staff
37% agreed agreed that staff feel comfortable giving feedback to their supervisors
31% agreed that management seeks input from staff on major decisions
35% feel neutral about the topic
Small organizations had a higher agreed or strongly agreed response rate than medium and large organizations.
Respondents from small organizations agreed more with the statement (42%) than did those from medium (32%) or large (24%) organizations

9. Collaboration High Levels of Collaboration
76% agreed staff in their department work well with one another
72% agreed departments in their organizations work well with one another

10. Support for Change
72% agreed they are encouraged to express their ideas for change
40% of respondents agreed that people in their organizations are supportive of enacting change
While there is a difference in how respondents from organizations of different sizes or different types rated communication, collaboration or support for change – the differences were not significant.

11. Autonomy
45% agreed that employees in their organization are encouraged to take initiative
60% agreed that their organization is supportive when staff make mistakes
Organizations that create and maintain a culture of innovation give staff a sense of autonomy and a feeling that they will be supported when they make mistakes.

12. Support from Leadership
Employees from organizations with high support from leadership report:
Better communication between staff and management
More encouraged to take initiative and make decisions
The good news – only about 26% of respondents felt senior leadership is slightly or not at all committed to a culture of innovation.

13. Organizational Attitude
More agreement with following statements from organizations with higher commitment to innovation:
However, significant differences were found between how highly respondents rated senior leadership’s level of commitment to innovation and how highly they rated communications between managers and staff and the autonomy they feel within the organization. Attitude toward innovation was asked of members focused on discussing, generating and executing new ideas. 60% reported that their organization viewed innovation as somewhat of a priority.
Senior Leadership's Commitment to Innovation

14. Structure Mission Statement Common Innovative Projects
Chief Executive Officer
Drivers of Innovation
Employee Engagement Surveys
Barriers to Innovation
Workforce/Succession Planning
Time for Developing Projects
In addition to a communicative and collaborative culture, organizational structure can be an influential force for fostering innovation.
In this section we look at whether organizations where IPMA-HR members practice support innovation via mission, vision and value statements, designating a chief innovation officer, and putting other structural pieces in place.

15. Mission Statement
HR practitioners from organizations that name innovation as a mission, vision, or value:
Report that their organizations place higher value on discussing, generating, and executing new ideas.
Gave higher average ratings for communication, collaboration, and support for change
44% of survey respondents reported that innovation is a part of their organization’s mission, vision or values statement. Those organization that have innovation as a guiding principle also gave higher average ratings for communication, collaboration and support for change than did members from organizations that do not call out innovation. These folks were also more likely to report that their organizations place higher valued on discussing, generating and executing new ideas.

16. A majority of members (63%) reported that their organization did not have a chief innovation officer. Those organizations with a CIO or workgroup, most (82%) reported the position or group was created recently (last 4 years).

17. Chief Innovation Officer
As you can see, workgroups are more common than CIOs at all sizes and types of organizations.
Large organizations are more like to have a CIO or workgroup (57%), than medium-sized ones (32%) and small ones (22%)

18. Time for Collaboration and Independent Projects
Organizations that make innovation a priority allow significantly more time for independent work-related projects

19. Employee Engagement Surveys
41% conduct surveys, 88% share results. This practice is beneficial for fostering a communicative culture and a culture of innovation.

20. Workforce/Succession Planning
Open-ended responses included: gap analysis, successor identification, and performance incentives

21. Common Innovative Projects
Rank
Innovation Type
Example 1
Service Innovation (n=63)
Adopting new methods or technologies to improve services 2
Channel Innovation (n=59)
New methods to connect services to the public 3
Process Innovation (n=59)
New management systems and revised administrative processes 4
Structure Innovation (n=47)
Internal structural changes and new roles
Management is the primary driver of innovation.
Allowing staff time to brainstorm new ideas and giving staff time to work on independent projects related to work help to foster innovation. Organizations that make innovation a priority also allow more time for independent work-related projects.

22. Barriers to Innovation
Budgetary restrictions was the top choice across organization type and size
Lack of time and sufficient staffing were common open-ended responses.

23. HR’s Role Current Innovative Practices Technological Innovations
Recruitment and Hiring
Learning and Development
Primary Challenge
Compensation
Performance Management
Top Factor to Enable Innovation

24. Recruitment & Hiring Recruitment
New marketing materials
Building an online brand
New Software for Applications, Interviewing, and Onboarding

25. Learning & Development
New Programming
About half focused on Leadership Development
Adaption to new technology
Customer service
LMS
Focus on ongoing availability of materials

26. Learning and Development Topics
Effective Communication was the most common topic
Support high levels of communication reported through this survey
40% described updating or implementing a learning management system, with expanding the online availability of lessons and materials.

27. Compensation Pay Structures Pay for performance Broadbanding
Market value compensation for hard-to-fill roles
Pay for performance
Pay increases
Bonuses

28. Performance Management
Evaluation Approach
From numerical, past-focused to narrative, future focused
Feedback
From annual conversations to frequent coaching
Software
Implemented to facilitate changes
Moving away from ranking and more narrative forward looking methods for evaluating performance.

29. Technological Innovations
Overall replacement of or an update to their human resources information system (HRIS) to facilitate changes
Recruitment and hiring focus
Modernize online job announcement

30. Primary Challenge Small organizations report: Open-ended responses:
Budget Constraints
Open-ended responses:
lack of time
lack of staff
departmental culture

31. Top Factor to Enable Innovation
Support from leadership is top factor across organization size and type
Employees from organizations with high support from leadership report
Better communication between staff and management
Feeling encouraged to take initiative

32. Case Studies Online Onboarding Supplementary Pay Increase Program
Washington County, Minnesota
Supplementary Pay Increase Program
CPS HR Consulting
Embedded Videos in Job Postings
Sedgwick County, Kansas

33. Online Onboarding Washington County, Minnesota HR Department
1,200 full-time and part-time employees
HR Department
14 employees
Divisions: Recruiting, Risk Management, Labor Relations, Benefits
Initiative
Taking employees long to be fully integrated
Implementation
Hires are sent paperwork with offer letter
Outcome
Better first impression, improved experience, improved employee engagement

34. Supplementary Pay Increase Program
CPS HR Consulting
Self-supporting public agency, CPS HR Consulting provides a full range of integrated HR solutions to government and nonprofit clients
Initiative
If an employee gets an increase, while at the same time, the market has moved and the pay range moves up, the employee could potentially remain in the lowest quartile of the pay range
Implementation
Supplemental pay increase matrix not only take into account the employees’ performance for the year, but also give them an additional bump based on where their pay fell within the pay range.
Outcome
Used to program for a couple of years, but still inconclusive

35. Embedded Videos in Job Postings
Sedgwick County, Kansas
2,700 full-time and part-time employees
HR Department
19 employees
Divisions: Employment Services, Compensation and Classification, Benefits, Employee Development, and Work Environment
Initiative
Help with recruiting hard-to-fill position
Implementation
Communication department writes, films, edit mini videos; HR post in job description
Outcome
Good feedback, quality of applicants because they can see what the job really entails

36. Discussion