TECHNICAL-VOCATIONAL DEPARTMENT

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS

PLUMBING NC I

Student/Trainees Name: _____________________

Learning Activity Sheet No. 5 Topic: Support Innovation (400311105)

Learning Outcomes:
The learner…
LO 1.1: Identify the Need for Innovation in One’s Area of Work
LO 1.2: Recognize Innovative and Creative Ideas
LO 1.3: Support Individuals’ Access to Flexible and Innovative ways of working

Module Descriptor: This module covers the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to identify,
recognize and support innovation.

Identify the Need for Innovation in One’s Area of Work

Value of Innovation

 Innovation is the creation of new ideas and application of solutions that address a
given situation.
 A workplace innovation includes designing new ways to provide better services,
bringing new products to market, as well as improving an internal work process
 By being innovative, a business can:
 Offer products and services that competitors do not offer
 Save costs and increase profits
 Improve service
 Increase productivity
 Improve employee morale
 Workplace innovation can be a new practice or a combination of existing practices

Example of being innovative:

 Jollibee wants to limit in-person contact during the pandemic, so they installed self-
order machines and vending kiosks in different stores.
 Anna had problems getting receipts form staff during reimbursements for meals. She
decided to open a Corporate Account for compony staff on foodpanda to make
tracking meal expenses easier.

An innovation does not have to be a new technology or an advanced tool. You can
create an innovation in your workplace by starting to use a new practice or a combination of
existing practices that improve the quality of working life and performance. Innovations can
help create a better future, solve the world’s challenges, bring more comfort to your home,
and make you happier at work.

The value of innovation in organizations can be an increase in income, decrease in

expenses, better transparency, faster service, higher productivity among staff, and many
others.

Innovative Practices for a Happy and Productive Workplace

Innovation does not only result in improved processes and better efficiency, but also
employee well-being and productivity.

An innovation-oriented environment produces

employee-related benefits such as personal
satisfaction, an interest in ideas, lower turnover
rates, higher employee morale, and
enhancedproductivity3 and performance.

Identifying the Need for Innovation in the

Workplace

Listed below are examples of workplace problems. Two solutions (one can be considered a
simple solution– and the other, an innovative solution). Afterwards, read the effects column of
each solution

Workplace Problem Solution 1 Solution 2

Employee tardiness because Allow staff to work from Impose salary deductions for
of traffic and the long hours home or remotely at least staff who are above
of commute. 3times a week. 10minutes late.
Delayed salary payouts Hire another payroll Introduce a payroll software
because the Payroll Team accountant to help with the so everything is automated.
has to manually compute workload.
everything.
New hires have no Buy an excess of 5 laptops Recruitment uses an app to
equipment because every quarter so that there’s notify Procurement when
Procurement is not informed always something in the they are hiring for a new role
by Recruitment on time. storage to use. and their target start date for
the new hire.

Workplace Problem 1: Employee tardiness because of traffic and the long hours of
commute

Solutions Effects
1. Allow staff to work Staff are happy because they spend more time doing actual work
from home or remotely instead of going through traffic to get to the office. Their sleep
at least 3 times a patterns are better resulting into healthier employees. Productivity
week. levels are the same.

2. Impose salary Employees wake up 3 hours ahead of work schedule allotting 2

deductions for staff hours for traffic. They feel anxious when they clock in 15minutes
who are above 10 late because they know there will be a salary deduction. Staff lack
minutes late. sleep, feel stressed, and are generally in a bad mood when in the
office.

Workplace Problem 2: Delayed salary payouts because the Payroll Team has to manually
compute everything.
 Solutions Effects
1. Buy an excess of 5laptops Laptops are stored for a long time as the company is not
every quarter so that there’s always hiring, which takes up storage space. The
always something in the storage company is losing money for the depreciation of the
to use. equipment not used by anyone but already paid for.
2. Recruitment uses an app to Procurement is notified ahead of time and buys the
notify Procurement when they equipment before the target start date and can
are hiring for a new role and immediately turn over the laptop to the new hire on their
their target start date for the first day.
new hire

Recognize Innovative and Creative Ideas

 Innovation development starts with recognizing the problem or opportunity and then
create ideas that are then select to further developed into a solution. The innovative
solution is then tested to get better understanding of the problem and leading to further
improvement.
 The ideas leading to an innovation can involve merging existing tools, equipment,
system, or technology or creating new ones.
 Supportive workplace environment nurture creativity which is a key driver of
innovation.

 An important innovation practice is to ideate or create new ideas. Everyone can

spark off creative ideas in many forms including questions, solutions, drawings, or
diagrams. Interactive activities such as brainstorming and mind mapping can help
generating ideas.

Ideation can be an exciting process. The goal is to create many ways to solve the
user’s problem without rejecting any idea. Often, reviewing others’ idea can inspire newer,
better ideas. The team can then work together to sort and select the best, most practical and
innovative ideas. When the new idea is brought to test, it does not always produce the
desired results the first-time round. Learnings can be gathered to further improve the
solutions. This process is summarized in the following diagram.

The Cycle of Innovation Process

 Understandin
g the problem
nad the users

Learn if and
how the Generate lots
solution of ideas
works

Select best
Test the ideas that can
solution be solve the
problem

The 4 Categories Method

The ideation stage – and the succeeding ideas that come up during this stage can be
categorized into four types. Below are the categories and their corresponding continuum in
the lower field.

Here are a few examples for you. On the bottom row, is further explanation about thesolution
and why it fits into the category it is listed under.
A Learning and Innovative Environment

Innovation needs a good atmosphere in which to develop. It should be built in the

culture of the workplace and must be nurtured and encouraged inside every organization. To
encourage people to think in unusual and creative ways, the environment must be set for
them to do it.

“Setting an atmosphere in which innovation is encouraged is often highly correlated

with the long-term success of a company.”

Work environment that supports innovation includes:

 Making sure everyone knows that innovation (or new thinking) is valuable.
 Encouraging team members to be creative and supportive of new ideas.
 Allowing some flexibility in work process (if possible).
  Looking for changes, measure them, then adapt quickly.
 Support employees to learn new skills and try new technologies.

Support Individual’s Access to Flexible and Innovative Ways of Working

 Some best practices in innovation and creativity include: optimism, trust, diversity and
continuous improvement.
 Introducing an innovation in a workplace many face obstacles in many ways.
Recognizing these obstacles and addressing them in the implementation will improve
the success of implementation and may even lead to a new innovation.

Best Practices in Innovation and Creativity

Best Practices How can I help building this?

 Optimism, patience, and openness,  Share ideas in respectfully and
especially of the leaders. professionally. Do not be afraid of
criticism
 Trust and good relationships in the team.  Take part in collaboration work and casual
team building activities.
 Diversity and inclusion in the workplace.  Be a good listener and openminded.
These lead to empathy (understanding  Try to connect with people you are different
others) which is important to creating from you.
successful innovation.  Listen to other people’s ideas. Honor it and
give honest (and polite) feedbacks.
 The workplace should embrace  Consistently look for opportunity to improve
challenges and see problems as your everyday work.
opportunity to innovate for improvement.  Use your creativity to come up with new
ideas to optimize your work process.

Identifying Obstacles to Innovation

Obstacles to innovation in the workplace might come in many different forms. Often,
the obstacle is as simple as a process or procedure that has been in place for so long that no
one questioned it or considered doing it differently. From previous example sand exercises in
this module, you may have noticed that obstacles came in the form of an unsupportive
supervisor, or an environment that makes people afraid to speak out.

The following are some examples of obstacles to innovation in the workplace.

With Coworkers

 A coworker who always compares her achievement to everyone else’s

 A coworker who talks about people negatively behind their backs
 Someone who is lazy and does not do the tasks assigned to them, delaying other
projects
 A coworker that takes credit for the work other people do

With Supervisors

 A supervisor that scolds his subordinates in front of the whole office

  One that gives overwhelming amount of work to his subordinates with tight deadlines
 Does not listen to the issues his employees raise
 An abusive supervisor that uses his power and position to act superior to others

With the Work Environment

 Employees are not allowed to raise issues or concerns about the company
 Promotions are given based on who is closest to the boss, and not who is the best
worker
 There is no respect among colleagues
 Employees are treated unfairly through low wages and lack of benefits
 TECHNICAL-VOCATIONAL DEPARTMENT
LEARNING ACTIVITY/TASK
ACTIVITY 1

I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
Instructions: Circle the best answer for each of the following questions.

1. Which word best describes a new practice or combination of practices that enable
employees to be part of an organization change, and improve their working life and
performance?

a. Creativity
b. Promotions
c. Innovation

2. Which of the following is the greatest obstacle to innovation?

a. Limited budget
b. A workplace culture that encourages uniformity
c. A lack of access to technology.

3. The following statements about innovation are true, except which one?
a. It makes the company do work more efficiently.
b. It keeps the company relevant, despite changes in business trends.
c. Sticking to the old ways is better because they are tried and true.
4. These are procedures or practices that has been shown by research and experience to
produce the “best” results.
a. Creative ideas
b. Best practices
c. New Practices
5. An idea that pushes innovation further to bring existing and non-existent technology
together. What type of ideation is this?
a. Long Shot
b. Most Delightful
c. Darling

II. Identify if the following phrases describe a best practice or an obstacle.

1) Encouraging suggestions
a. Best Practice
b. Obstacle
2) Supervisors expect only perfection
a. Best Practice
b. Obstacle
3) Incentives for new ideas
a. Best Practice
b. Obstacle
4) Everyone in the office happily follow orders
a. Best Practice
b. Obstacle
5) Innovation is well-defined internally
a. Best Practice
b. Obstacle
Answer Key

Part I
1. C – Innovation
2. B - A workplace culture that encourages uniformity
3. C - Sticking to the old ways is better because they are tried and true
4. B - Best practices
5. C – Darling

Part II
1. A - Best Practice
2. B – Obstacle
3. A - Best Practice
4. B – Obstacle
5. A - Best Practice