the misuse of employee ideas as career assessment tools. Instead it would provide a common platform for maximum potential creativity. Meanwhile, company management could work on transforming feasible ideas into projects and rewarding the vendor of the idea, setting aside the others to serve as food for thought for future developments.
5. Don’t set unbreachable parameters of work
Unfortunately, companies also tend to impose further restraints on their employees with job descriptions that play a key role in the development of their careers. Employees may possess the requisite qualities to excel in their respective jobs and climb up the corporate ladder– while lacking the crucial ability to come up with constructive ideas or to recognize them for what they are. This keeps many companies from tapping their employees’ true creative potential. Instead of creating a work environment that constricts employees to completing a specific number of set tasks, their jobs should help them to hone all their talents to the maximum. To benefit from the cumulative input of their workforce, companies need to establish a permeable structure that allows ideas to flow across departments and functions– without
the limitations of a traditional hierarchy. Employees need to be encouraged to step across the boundaries of their functional responsibilities and produce ideas that are beneficial to the company, even if these ideas have no connection to their particular field of expertise. One could even say it would be advisable for companies to make their management and other personnel engage in two separate lives! The first, their standard work-life in which daily tasks are dealt with. And
the second, a fantasy life, in which employees are able to freely express their creativity. Such an approach would certainly reflect positively on the work reality. One easy way to address these innovation roadblocks? In practical terms, a company could set up an intranet that allows employees to contribute to and discuss ideas anonymously. This would prevent superiors from filtering ideas, help avoid accusations of interference with other disciplines, and prevent
Creativity is stifled if people fear that their ideas might be rejected by their superiors, perhaps even unfavorably affecting the evaluation of their professional performance. To maximize the development of useful innovative ideas, companies need to bypass these organizational blockages.
Mohammed Nosseir is a Senior Marketing Advisor with SimonKucher & Partners, Middle East.
INJAZ Al-Arab teams up with corporations to combat Arab youth unemployment
From left to right: Ibrahim Tadros, Head of Business Development & Strategy, Wamda, David Leman, Chief Human Resources officer for Middle East and Africa, Marriott International, Bernard J. Dunn, Vice President Boeing International, President, Boeing Middle East, Boeing, Mazen Hayek, Official Spokesperson of MBC Group, Akef Aqrabawi, Chief Executive Officer, INJAZ Al-Arab, Raji Hatter, Chief Sustainability and Compliance Officer, Aramex, Tamer Zumot, Project Management and Execution Manager, INJAZ Al-Arab.
Trying to figure out your career path? Non-profit organization INJAZ Al-Arab has announced its “Expand Your Horizon” initiative with key corporate partners to help address youth unemployment in MENA. The project will present jobseekers with prospective roles in the private sector, mainly in five industries such as aviation through a partnership with Boeing, hospitality through Marriott International, media through MBC Hope, logistics through Aramex, and entrepreneurship through Wamda. Besides offering employment and internship opportunities, the project’s website will also impart practical tips and know-how on developing a resume, interviewing and other career-related skills. The project is also supported by Hill+Knowlton Strategies, YouGov and Bayt. www.eyh-injaz.org
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