We need to share our knowledge

“The management needs to give employees a say in strategic decisions. The result of this participation should be that employees themselves give content to their job and share their knowledge.” Peter Totterdill, director of the British Workplace Innovation, has a far-reaching vision on employee management.

Julie Landrieu

In a first step toward employee engagement a company needs to work with more autonomous teams, thinks Peter Totterdill, who is also joint chief executive of the UK Work Organisation Network (UKWON), a network of specialists that reflects on new work methods. He is also guest professor at the Kingston University Business School in London. “Unfortunately this teamworking only works sustainably for a minority. It's a shame because if people are able to control how they fill their day, the boost in performance is huge.”
According to Peter Totterdill employees need to talk about their working life and what it means to them. “They often tell stories about what happens at work, but do not have the opportunity to use them as a source for improvement and innovation.”

Backing
In the United Kingdom, Totterdill took a closer look at the health sector, which was also aiming at performance improvements. Just one organisation was able to keep up engagement. “They managed to do this simply because one person was prepared to be entrepreneurial, to get together other people and, not unimportantly, had the backing of the management”, remembers the HR specialist. “In another hospital someone did the same thing, but without the support of its management. Her career was blighted”, admits Totterdill.

Job design
Apart from a management that backs you, job design is a second must to achieve employee engagement. An employee must be able to shape at least half his job content. Peter Totterdill is currently working with a company that requires two things of its people: they need to complete their tasks and reflect creatively on how to improve. “We have seen companies where employees are encouraged to stop working when a problem occurs. They then try to find a creative solution to deal with the problem.”

Generations
“Employers need to adjust how they handle older employees”, says Peter Totterdill. “Take healthcare: a sixty-year old obstetrician has valuable knowledge and experience that he can apply in difficult situations, which a younger colleague does not have. But this also works the other way around. Younger colleagues can teach their older colleagues new technologies.”